Labor leader Bill Shorten declared war on big business at a recent Business Council of Australia lunch
BILL Shorten’s behaviour at a recent business luncheon revealed the wannabe PM’s far left, anti-capitalist agenda aimed directly at our prosperity, writes Miranda Devine.
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DISGRUNTLED conservatives obsessed with tearing down Malcolm Turnbull ought to be careful what they wish for.
The only outcome of their prolonged jihad against the Prime Minister is to guarantee Bill Shorten’s ascension to power.
And the evidence is in: the former trade unionist would lead the most left-wing government this country has ever seen.
After a private boardroom lunch two weeks ago that has sent shockwaves through the business community, corporate leaders now see Shorten as the Australian version of socialist UK Labor leader Jeremy Corbyn.
MIRANDA DEVINE: SHORTEN DECLARES WAR ON BUSINESS
It was a balmy Thursday in Sydney on November 23 when the board of the Business Council of Australia (BCA) hosted the Opposition Leader for lunch on the 61st floor boardroom of King & Wood Mallesons law firm, with panoramic views across the shimmering harbor below.
As they sliced into steaks and sipped mineral water, they expected to meet a politician who took seriously his role as future prime minister.
Instead, what they heard shook them to the core. The Labor leader had come to declare war on big business.
He told them corporates “should expect nothing from a Shorten Labor government” and that “it’s good for his political prospects to be at war with big business”.
He also said “I like it when you criticise me. By all means keep doing it”.
Those around the table, including BCA President Grant King, BCA Chief Executive Jennifer Westacott, Woodside Energy CEO Peter Coleman, Rio Tinto Managing Director Joanne Farrell, and Qantas CEO Alan Joyce, were said to be “shocked” and “taken aback” by Shorten’s attitude.
“His body language wasn’t friendly,” said one participant. “It was just prickly. He has the view we haven’t stood up for the unions [and that] we didn’t defend the union movement during the Royal Commission, but what do you say about that other than it’s not our role?”
This account of that “unfriendly” 90-minute meeting is constructed from the recollections of three people in the room that day as well as two people who were not there but had discussions with participants immediately after the meeting. All tell the same story.
They felt Shorten was “cocky” and confident that he would win the next election.
“He thinks a class war will be good for Labor and he is supremely confident. He thinks he’s a shoo-in,” said one observer.
“His demeanour was actively rude. He made it clear he doesn’t want to work with us.”
When asked by Westacott for advice about how to deal with the unions, especially ACTU President Ged Kearney, Shorten said of Kearney: “She’s hopeless”.
“He said that she should not be the person we should be talking to,” said one participant. “Everyone was quite surprised by that.”
Shorten’s rejection of the Turnbull government’s company tax cuts was a strong point of disagreement during the lunch.
Shorten was asked: “Can we at least keep the options open? Trump is going to do it [cut company tax]. We think there’s a serious threat to the competiveness of the economy if we don’t.”
Shorten replied: “No, I think company tax cuts are a drag on the economy.”
“He said he is going to run a health-education agenda,” said one participant, “and is going to constantly say that company tax is a handout to big business, and that the government’s on an anti-union crusade.”
“Our concern is the industrial relations system needs fixing and he has a different view,” said another.
The conversation on corporate tax cuts went round in circles.
The business leaders tried to tell Shorten that opposition leaders who “rule things in and out all the time... just bring us back to Groundhog Day where we’ve been for the last 10 years, where when they find themselves in reality land they end up breaking promises…
“When you press back and say ‘How do you improve the economy then?’, he says ‘You improve education and health’. And we say, ‘How will that create one single job that isn’t taxpayer funded?’”
Shorten had no answer.
Another business leader said of the Labor leader’s intransigence: “Shorten’s opposition to corporate tax cuts in light of progress on US tax cuts is going to… leave us less competitive in a world that needs investment and job creation.”
Labor Senator Penny Wong, who accompanied Shorten, appeared to be “uncomfortable” during the increasingly acrimonious lunch, according to one observer, especially when Shorten turned his back on Westacott.
Wong tried to find common ground with the business leaders on issues such as Vocational Education and Training policy.
“She was saying let’s at least lock down on that rather than disagreeing on other issues.”
But Shorten showed little sign that he was interested in finding common ground.
“He is cocky and he is arrogant,” said one observer. “My takeaways were: One, it’s extraordinary that he called Ged Kearney ‘hopeless’; two, he obviously is trying to pick a fight; and three, I think it’s a miscalculation, because it’s created a sense among those in the room that this guy has got to be stopped, which didn’t exist the day before.”
The BCA board decided not to tell the media about Shorten’s behaviour “because we thought it would play into his hands”. But word of the meeting found its way to me through third parties this week.
One former BCA board member who has dealt with Shorten since his AWU days says: “Shorten’s a bloke that cosied up to business quite a lot. Now he’s captured by the Left in Melbourne… he’s taking a very negative view, that sort of Social Democrat view from Europe, or worse.
“He is the Aussie version of [Jeremy Corbyn]. I don’t see much difference between them.”
This respected business leader also sounds a warning to disgruntled conservatives that a Shorten Labor government would make “Red Dan” Andrews in Victoria seem conservative.
“With all the ructions going on with the Liberal party this is what people don’t realise: it could get worse.
“People don’t realise how bad it could get. I was [in business] through the Rudd-Gillard-Rudd period and we’re still paying for it. I think it’s quite alarming.”
In other words, if you think you’re disgruntled now, just wait for Prime Minister Shorten.