‘Serious policy on the table’: Teal MP names her terms for support in a hung parliament

Independent MP Sophie Scamps has challenged Labor and the Liberals to back a new agency to build the case for long-term reform, as she sets out her approach to deciding which side takes power if the election leads to a hung parliament.

On Monday, Scamps proposed a commission to consider the wellbeing of the next generation out of concern that children today will be worse off than their parents unless the country acts on housing, tax, climate and other priorities.

Teal MP Sophie Scamps says how the campaign is run will help her determine who she supports in a hung parliament.Credit: Peter Rae

While the private member’s bill – introduced on Monday as the wellbeing of future generations bill – is unlikely to gain major party support, her move has highlighted a dispute on policy when the Liberals have proposed tax breaks on business lunches and Scamps has argued for a tax-free threshold for small business instead.

Scamps said she would decide her support in a hung parliament based on policies including public integrity, climate change and health – a key issue given her background as a doctor on the northern beaches of Sydney.

“I personally have not been impressed with the policy ideas that are coming out of the Coalition,” she said.

“Their lunches policy is lightweight – it’s a lightweight sugar hit. It’s not serious policy. I want to see serious policy on the table about how you’re going to make this a more prosperous, stronger, safer, secure country.

“That’s the only thing I’m worried about.”

Scamps has appealed to small business voters with a proposal for a tax-free threshold of $20,000 for their company tax rate, while the Coalition is proposing to give small companies an annual tax deduction of $20,000 on business lunches.

The Liberal Party is seeking to regain the northern Sydney seat of Mackellar with candidate James Brown, who served as an army officer in Afghanistan and Iraq and is a former president of the NSW RSL. Scamps is a former athletics champion who worked as a general practitioner and in the emergency department of Mona Vale Hospital before entering parliament.

While Scamps won Mackellar with 52.5 per cent of the two-party vote at the last election – a tighter margin than some of the other “teal” contests – ABC election analyst Antony Green says her margin is slightly bigger – at 3.3 per cent – due to last year’s redistribution.

Scamps said she wanted the “commission for wellbeing” because governments needed better advice on the reforms needed to help future generations.

“People know that short-term decision-making is utterly failing us. We look at the climate crisis, we look at the housing crisis, we look at the obesity crisis, we look at our ageing population and the fact that we haven’t reformed our tax system.

“People know we are not responding to these crises. Many of these crises have been developing for decades now, and our political system is failing to address them.”

Asked her approach in a hung parliament, Scamps said she would seek action on her priorities – such as climate and housing – but knew that Labor had broken agreements it made in the hung parliament of 2010 when Julia Gillard was prime minister.

Scamps said she was yet to take a “hard position” on seeking a written agreement to support one side or the other in a hung parliament.

She said one factor would be conduct during the campaign at a time she believes the Liberals are misleading voters by telling them she stands for higher taxes.

“There’s been a very direct advertising campaign – ads on social media and on TV – saying that I’m for increasing taxes, which is not true,” Scamps said.

“I voted for the stage three tax cuts. And I’ve got my own policy on a tax-free threshold for small business.

“What I have argued is that multinationals need to pay their fair share of tax, which I think most of Australia agrees with. And we need to seriously look at our Petroleum Resource Rent Tax and how Australians are benefiting from the sale of our own resources, such as gas.”

Labor modified the PRRT last year to raise an extra $2.4 billion but the Greens and some crossbenchers argued for a bigger change to collect more revenue, while the Coalition attacked the government for increasing the tax without speeding up project approvals.

Scamps said the Liberal campaign against her was “funded by the coal industry” given that resource companies have donated to the Liberal Party over many years.

Asked if the Liberal advertising would influence her decision in a hung parliament, Scamps said integrity was an issue alongside the robustness of a party’s policy platform.

“Integrity is a huge issue. I believe they’re not acting with integrity because the advertising that they’re pumping out is funded by the coal industry, and it’s deeply misleading,” she said.

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