Captains of industry are under fire from all sides

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton, left, and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese are on track for a likely hung parliament and horse trading with the Greens and crossbenchers to form government. Picture: Martin Ollman/NewsWire

Big business is in the political doghouse and is unlikely to find a way out anytime soon.

The Greens want to raid hundreds of billions from the private sector and the wealthy, Labor has imposed costly industrial relations and environmental reforms, and the Coalition hasn’t forgiven “woke” corporate Australia for ditching them in 2022 and backing the voice referendum.

Adam Bandt – presenting himself and colleagues as Robin Hood and the merry men and women – on Wednesday will demand Labor back the Greens’ $514bn tax slug on big business in return for support to form minority government after the next election.

The Greens’ first strike on coal, gas, oil, banking and retail companies will be followed by other eye-watering tax hikes targeting Australians deemed wealthy by the radical left-wing party.

With polling indicating a hung parliament after the next federal election, the expanding Greens can no longer be considered a minor player. Anthony Albanese – who despises the Greens after years of fighting them in his inner-Sydney electorate of Grayndler – could become the Labor leader who edges the ALP closer to a coalition with his political enemies. After the election, the ALP could potentially hold the same number of seats as the Greens in Queensland.

Peter Dutton, who has a mountain to climb to win the election, will seize on Bandt’s tax bombs to warn voters that life will be more expensive under a Labor-Greens coalition government.

“Robin Hood” and his band of thieves – seeking to present themselves as heroes stealing from the rich and giving to the poor – have inflicted significant hits on the private sector in this term of parliament, securing backroom deals with Labor in return for their votes.

Albanese – who claimed he would be pro-business and unite employers and unions – has delivered IR, environmental and climate change laws that have jacked-up costs and red tape.

Seeking to win votes from households and small business owners struggling with the cost-of-living crisis, Dutton has called out corporate Australia and told business leaders to focus on their jobs instead of woke causes.

Exasperated business leaders find themselves stuck between a rock and a hard place.