Treasurer fires up over tax and deficits but Labor’s not buying

Plus: Budding bromance, The Age and ABC get scatological, and a new job for Kevin Rudd?

Scott Morrison warns of a new era of the “taxed and the taxed-not”, Sydney, yesterday:

On current settings, more Australians today are likely to go through their entire lives without ever paying tax than for generations. And more Australians are likely today to be net ­beneficiaries … than contributors — never paying more tax than they ­receive in government payments.

This has been an issue for a while. Adam Creighton writing in The Australian, March 1, 2014:

Put simply, only the top fifth of households paid any tax. The bottom 6.9 million households, while often incurring income tax liabilities and regularly paying GST, received more in cash welfare and services than they paid in.

Bill Shorten with his own critique, yesterday:

No amount of bad-tempered foot-stamping is going to fix the nation’s problems. I think that Mr Morrison and Mr Turnbull need to go to a quiet place, get over the tantrum they have had since the election and start governing.

We think the Treasurer may be being optimistic. More from Morrison, yesterday:

We are asking Labor to vote for measures they have already said and indicated they support …

Sounds like the old tone to us. The Opposition Leader dreams about the new parliament, Wednesday:

Set a new tone and put the nation ahead of partisan politics …

Malcolm Turnbull setting 2GB’s Alan Jones straight on pledging to support budget repair, June 5, 2014:

Alan, I am not going to take dictation from you.

Jones reacting to Turnbull taking the reins in Canberra, September 15, last year:

Judas, Judas, people not happy, the way it’s done, I mean the way it was done was beyond belief. The way it was done, unbelievable.

Things are cosier now, somewhat. The Prime Minister arguing with Jones over superannuation policy, yesterday:

Turnbull: This will be a first, Alan, I’m going to put some words into your mouth.

Jones: I never do that, Prime Minister, you know that.

Turnbull: I know. We’re old friends. We can pull each other just a bit, I think, here.

The programmatic specificity of rates, roads, rubbish. John Harrison suggests Kevin Rudd would make a great lord mayor, Brisbane Times, yesterday:

Kevin Rudd, as member for Griffith, was the ultimate local member with his self-funded fight against a Brisbane Airport flight path, his mobile electorate offices and his kids bikes program. With his much-touted international contacts Rudd might be the ideal person to take Brisbane into its next decade …

News you can use. Headline, The Age website, yesterday:

Toilet anxiety: Yes, it’s real … and it’s tearing many of us up

Is there something in the water this week? ABC News website, ­Wednesday:

Quiz: How much do you know about poo?

Olympian Kim Brennan, happy to be in Sydney, ­Wednesday:

I think I speak for pretty much everyone here that I’d like to go home and probably sleep for a week. And enjoy flushing toilet paper down the toilet.