James Campbell: Bill Shorten rolls the dice again

ANOTHER day, another roll of the dice from Bill Shorten. And from the way he is behaving, it is clear Shorten is betting his opponents will be unable to capitalise on the opportunities he is handing them, writes James Campbell.

ANOTHER day, another roll of the dice from Bill Shorten.

Last week, he promised to cancel the second round of the government’s tax cuts. This week, he has announced he will try to reverse the government’s company tax cuts for businesses with a turnover of between $10 million and $50 million.

BILL SHORTEN UNDER FIRE FOR TAX ROLLBACK PLEDGE

It is clear Shorten is betting his opponents will be unable to capitalise on the opportunities he is handing them. Picture: AAP/Mick Tsikas

Add this to earlier promises to roll back negative gearing and cash refunds for dividend imputation credits — throw in his yet-to-be-detailed vow to rewrite the nation’s workplace relations laws — and it’s clear a Shorten government is not going to be a re-run of the Hawke-Keating era, or even the Rudd and Gillard administrations.

In an earlier era, the Liberal Party would be deluged with offers of time and money from the frightened middle classes.

But from the way he is behaving, it is clear Shorten is betting his opponents will be unable to capitalise on the opportunities he is handing them. And on the evidence yesterday, he’s not wrong.

For on the day Labor promised, again, to increase taxes, the government was struggling to sell its energy plan to its own backbench and Tony Abbott gave his strongest hint yet he will vote against it.

He might not be alone. The Labor premiers might still kill off the National Energy Guarantee but if it survives there, it is far from clear it will have the votes to pass the Lower House.

Labor hasn’t yet said it will vote against it, but if the option presents to humiliate the government, chances are Shorten will take it.

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