Sharri Markson: Two-faced Shorten on track to be PM?
BILL Shorten is getting away with gross political hypocrisy as people hate Malcolm Turnbull more for the unforgivable sin of overthrowing an elected prime minister, writes Sharri Markson.
Opinion
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The rate he is going, Bill Shorten will be our next prime minister.
The Labor leader is riding a wave of positive Newspolls. Momentum is in his favour. In Parliament, he is supported by a backbench that is energised, lively and loud — often tipping over to rowdy and rude.
They are colourful in contrast to the Coalition backbench — a sea of grey suits.
Like Jeremy Corbyn in the UK, Shorten is playing the fairness card, engaging in political populism and exploiting class warfare.
He is an effective politician, an opposition leader in much the same mould as Tony Abbott.
Lobby groups are devoting as much time and money to schmoozing the opposition as they are the government.
Yet for a man likely to be Prime Minister in less than two years’ time, Shorten is escaping scrutiny by the gallery and the commentators.
Gallery journalists, realising there’s a good chance Shorten will be PM before too long, are loath to fall out of favour with the next leader of the country.
Shadow Cabinet is only lightly reported on.
Labor is not hammered by Canberra journalists for being obstructionist in opposing government policy without reasonable grounds — even when it has been Labor policy, as in the case of the Medicare levy, which Shorten is now opposing for those earning less than $87,000.
Shorten is also not scrutinised to the same extent a Labor leader would usually be by the conservative media, for the simple reason that they hate Malcolm Turnbull more than they hate Shorten.
They hate him not just for his perceived ideology but for the unforgivable sin of overthrowing Tony Abbott, a prime minister elected in a landslide by the Australian people.
As a result, some of the most powerful voices in our country, people like Ray Hadley, Alan Jones and Andrew Bolt — all three I respect immensely, I might add — are playing their part in weakening Turnbull, by encouraging anger about government policy in areas like Western Sydney, home to crucial marginal seats.
And thus, Shorten’s standing among the voters strengthens, as Turnbull’s declines.
And the result?
The Opposition Leader is able to get away with gross hypocrisy.
Is hypocrisy too strong a word? Am I being fair?
Let’s have a look at a few examples.
In Parliament this week, Shorten argued the government had ripped away a pensioners’ supplement that would mean elderly Australians would go without heating this winter.
The fact: the energy supplement for pensioners on welfare was compensation for the carbon tax. The carbon tax was scrapped in July 2014, yet the compensation, bizarrely, continued. The government now has legislation before Parliament to try to remove it for future welfare recipients, including pensioners, aimed at saving $933 million.
Outrageous, right?
Then there’s Shorten’s claim that Turnbull is giving a tax cut to millionaires.
The fact: during the time of a budget emergency (ironically, there was a budget emergency when the deficit was a third of what it is now) Abbott and Hockey announced there would be a 2 per cent “deficit levy” on high-income earners to help return the budget to surplus.
Labor opposed the levy and fought against it, before eventually agreeing they would support it if it only lasted three years. A compromise was struck and the levy automatically expired after three years, expiring this June 30.
So Turnbull isn’t giving a tax cut to anyone — it was Labor that had argued for the tax to be lifted this year. And it does so automatically without the government lifting a finger.
The second gross hypocrisy about this is that it’s not a tax cut for “millionaires” — the levy applied to people earning over $180,000 a year.
Wealthy as they may be, they are not, by any definition, millionaires.
Shorten also argued in favour of company tax cuts as assistant treasurer in 2011.
“Cutting the company income tax rate increases domestic productivity and domestic investment. More capital means higher productivity and economic growth and leads to more jobs and higher wages,” he said.
Now Shorten is fighting vehemently against the tax cut of $50 billion to companies.
His position also changed on a plebiscite, on coal and on the maximum marginal income tax rate.
In a normal political environment, Shorten would be receiving hammer blows over these and countless other issues from the government and the media.
This is no ordinary environment. In reality there are two opposition leaders, Bill Shorten and Tony Abbott, taking full advantage of the fact Turnbull is not actively winning the hearts and minds of voters.
Turnbull’s star spangled manner
Are we so humourless that we are going to condemn our Prime Minister for having a spot of comedy?
Turnbull has made it clear, over and over again, that he admires the leader of the free world, United States President Donald Trump.
He admires his business success, his political strength and the importance he places on family. If you were on board the USS Intrepid, as I was, watching Trump and Turnbull celebrate the Australian-US alliance, you would know that Turnbull’s words of praise ring true.
There is nothing wrong with Turnbull now impersonating Trump at an off-the-record journalists’ dinner. Trump is one of the most impersonable characters in recent political history.
And our relationship with the United States is built of stronger stuff than to be jeopardised by some thoroughly entertaining humour.
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