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Live updates: Labor and Coalition criticise rival economic plans as election announcement draws near

ROLLING UPDATES: AFTER initially refusing to reveal costings, the Turnbull government has now disclosed company tax cuts will cost nearly $50bn over 10 years.

Staff writers
less than 2 min read
May 6, 2016 - 11:17AM
News Corp Australia Network

WITH an election set to be called within days, the two major parties are at each other’s throats over economic management.

Industry Minister Christopher Pyne kicked off the day by clearing confusion over the cost of a 10-year plan to cut tax rates to business. Mr Pyne said the cost of the cornerstone Budget measure is $5.3 billion. It comes after Opposition Leader Bill Shorten last night presented Labor’s take on the Turnbull government Budget, declaring it punished people who can’t afford it and rewarded those who didn’t need it. “Worse than that it speaks for a lack of vision, a lack of understanding of what makes this country great,” he said. Mr Shorten outlined some of his plans, including legislating to ensure Medicare can’t be privatised, cracking down on dodgy private training colleges and $71 billion of Budget savings. But Finance Minister Mathias Cormann dismissed Mr Shorten’s speech as “all politics and no plan”. “All we got was another Labor push for higher taxes which hurt jobs and growth. What the Australian economy needs right now is a national economic plan for jobs and growth,” he said. Follow our live coverage of today’s events below:

Live Updates

1.40PM AEST: Comment that got Bill mocked

Opposition Leader Bill Shorten has been mocked on social media after invoking the Beaconsfield mining disaster during his Budget reply speech.

Mr Shorten, regarded as the human face of the 2006 mining disaster in his role as national secretary of the Australian Workers’ Union, last night spoke about Australia being a “nation of courage, community and compassion.”

“This is the Australia I witnessed at Beaconsfield, a decade ago,” the Opposition leader said.

The Labor faithful applauded but some on social media thought otherwise.

For more on this story click here: 

Comment that got Bill mocked


1.07PM AEST: 

Malcolm Turnbull making his way to a press conference at the Commonwealth Parliamentary Offices in Sydney this afternoon. Picture: John Feder/The Australian. 

12.56PM AEST: Miners, banks help market recover

Theshare market has recovered from its early sharp fall as mining and bank stocksfirmed.

The benchmark S&P/ASX200 index was down 0.2 percent in early afternoon trade, an improvement on its early fall of more thanone per cent.

Mining shares were among the best performers, withBHP Billiton up 1.4 per cent after Brazil’s federal court ratified a settlementreached with the country’s authorities over a deadly dam spill. FortescueMetals was up 4.8 per cent, while OZMinerals had gained 2.5 per cent afterannouncing plans to expand its Carrapateena copper and gold project in SouthAustralia.

Among the banks, NAB and Westpac were around 0.5per cent higher, while ANZ and Commonwealth Bank were in negative territory.Macquarie Group was steady after reporting a record $2.06 billion annual profitand forecasting a similar profit in the year ahead. 

12.24PM AEST: PM defends youth internship plan

Malcolm Turnbull is continuing his address to the media in Sydney.

He has just defended the controversial Youth PaTH jobs Budget measure to get young unemployed people into the workforce, following criticism from the Opposition.

“It is a matter of great shame that the Labor Party and the unions … are standing in the way of young people with poor prospects transforming their lives for the better and they should be ashamed,” the Prime Minister said.




12.13PM AEST: Labor student costings under question

Treasury has cast doubt on a $6 billion Budget saving proposed byLabor.Labor leader Bill Shorten revealed in his Budget reply speech a move tosave $6 billion by introducing a loan cap of $8000 a year in the VET FEE-HELPprogram – which provides loans for vocational education students. 

Under Liberal questioning at a Senate estimates hearing today, seniorTreasury official Michael Brennan said any limit placed on the size of such aloan “would have a positive impact on the fiscal balance”.

 “But over time, probably a slightly negative impact on theunderlying cash balance,” Mr Brennan said.

However, he said he could not comment on the specific policy withoutfurther analysis.

11.53AM AEST: 

Mr Turnbull continues: “We need an economic plan and that is what the government has delivered (referring to the Budget).

“As key part of that plan is the way we are opening our doors to these dynamic markets in Asia”


11.49AM AEST: Turnbull praises “massive upgrade” of Singapore relationship

Malcolm Turnbull is holding a press conference in Sydney..

He has kicked it off by speaking a new arrangement with Singapore that will see it double the number of troops training in Australia and triple the time they can spend training.  

Singapore will pay $2.25 billion to upgrade facilities at the Shoalwater Bay Training Area and Townsville Field Training Areas, for use by up to 14,000 troops for 18 weeks each year.

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Original URL: https://www.news.com.au/national/politics/live-updates-labor-and-coalition-criticise-rival-economic-plans-as-election-announcement-draws-near/live-coverage/d2ce8083287ed1df11ce194f33103a55