Labor MP fails to back Bill Shorten over business tax
PRIME Minister Malcolm Turnbull has seized on the moment a Labor MP failed to back Bill Shorten’s decision to hit small and medium-sized businesses with a $20 billion tax hike.
NSW
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PRIME Minister Malcolm Turnbull has seized on the moment a Labor MP failed to back Bill Shorten’s decision to hit small and medium-sized businesses with a $20 billion tax hike.
Labor MP Ross Hart, speaking to Brian Carlton on the Tasmania Talks program, repeatedly avoided backing Mr Shorten’s idea, even when asked directly.
“Do you back your leader Bill Shorten’s call to repeal the tax cut for companies of a turnover of between $10 and $50 million?” Mr Carlton asked.
“Well, that’s a matter that has been announced by Mr Shorten,” Mr Hart said.
“You don’t support this, do you? You don’t support what your leader has done,” Mr Carlton asked.
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“I’m not saying that, Brian. I’m not saying that,” Mr Hart responded.
“Yeah, but you’re not saying you agree with him either, are you,” Mr Carlton asked.
“Let’s have a conversation about that at another time,” Mr Hart said.
Mr Turnbull later told Question Time the episode “read like a cry of pain” from a Labor MP unhappy with Mr Shorten’s anti-business stance.
He told Parliament in Question Time that Mr Shorten had probably hauled the Member for Bass in and said “Oh, Mr Hart, what a mess”.
“How betrayed did [Mr Hart] feel? How much, Mr Speaker, did he yearn for a leader of the Labor Party that understood business, a leader that wanted to evoke the great traditions of Bob Hawke and Paul Keating, who cared about business, who recognised when they are doing well, the workers are doing well,” Mr Turnbull said.
Earlier, the Prime Minister told Question Time Mr Shorten was waging war on business.
Mr Hart, who had called the radio program, won the electorate of Bass from the former Liberal MP Andrew Nikolic at the last federal election.
But Labor is facing a difficult situation in Tasmania, including in the nearby seat of Braddon, where former MP Justine Keay is fighting a tight by-election after being evicted from Parliament for holding a dual British citizenship.
Mr Hart, after more than a dozen questions from Mr Carlton, said: “I have supported this decision. I have told you that the question of the tax that is paid by something is not just a headline rate.”
Mr Shorten yesterday confirmed Labor would repeal the Turnbull government’s small and medium-size business tax cuts – negotiated last year dropping the rate from 30 per cent to 25 per cent – and was considering hitting companies turning over as little as $2 million annually.
The policy has yet to make it through Shadow Cabinet, and hasn’t been put to Labor MPs, leading to some private disquiet yesterday while also allowing Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and Treasurer Scott Morrison to lead attacks on Mr Shorten as the “snake of envy”.
Mr Morrison yesterday put the extra cost on small and medium businesses at about $20 billion over a decade, with the changes expected to impact at least 14,000 companies.
A Labor spokesman said the party had “never supported these tax cuts for big businesses — we voted against them and we haven’t changed our position.
“As Bill said, we’re considering a threshold of $2 million or $10 million turnover,” he said.
“That will be decided by the Shadow Cabinet, in the normal way.”
If the tax cut repeal was extended to the lower threshold, it would affect 94,000 businesses employing more than 3.3 million workers.
Mr Shorten is under government pressure to reveal Labor’s position on legislated tax cuts for companies with annual turnovers between $2 million and $10 million.
“Tell us today, end the mystery” Treasurer Scott Morrison demanded on Sky News today.
The decision will affect about 20,000 businesses and retrieve about $20 billion in lost tax.
Mr Morrison said more 100,000 businesses employing three million people were in the $2 million-$10 million range.