Cormann clear on no tax plan deal with crossbenchers: Hanson

The Coalition won’t negotiate on its tax plan, says Pauline Hanson, but Jacqui Lambie wants a deal.

07/05/2019: Senator Pauline Hanson holds a doorstop interview on the first day of the new NSW parliament. Hollie Adams/The Australian

Finance Minister Mathias Cormann has ruled-out striking a deal with crossbenchers on the Coalition’s flagship income tax cut plan.

Speaking on Sky News this afternoon, One Nation leader Pauline Hanson said Mr Cormann had made it clear he wouldn’t negotiate with her or other crossbenchers over the controversial three-stage deal.

Meanwhile, Jacqui Lambie is “very open” to backing the Coalition’s full suite of tax cuts and changes to asylum medevac legislation but is set to demand more funding for Tasmania in return.

“I spoke to Mathias Cormann this morning,” Ms Hanson said.

“He gave me a phone call and he said ‘I’m not negotiating with crossbenchers on this at all’. [He] also said, ‘you know we have our three stages and we’re going to pass that no matter what’ …

“They’re not prepared to actually look at it, listen to reasoning over this whole thing. I just don’t think it’s the best way to go.”

Everything is open: Lambie

Senator Lambie said today she was willing to “do a deal for Tasmania” with the Morrison government, potentially including the last tranche of its tax cuts and the medevac changes.

“I’m very open on all that,” she told ABC local radio.

“Obviously, I still need to get into those department heads and speak to them. I also need to speak to the ministers.

“But everything is open. Nothing has been shut off. It’s like ‘well, what have you got? This is the deal I’m looking for, what can we do here’?”

Senator Lambie said she wanted the Coalition to provide further funding to address the “big disaster” of Tasmania’s health system, as well as homelessness and TAFE.

Other crossbench senators were likely to make their own demands, she suggested. “They’ll be deals going on, left, right and centre,” she said.

She had made no decisions but was speaking to Finance Minister Mathias Cormann about the reform agenda, including the third tranche of tax cuts, to take the rate to 30 per cent for all incomes between $45,000 and $200,000.

“He (Senator Cormann) is doing everything he can to move meetings to make sure I can get to what I need to as soon as I get up there (in Canberra),” she said.

Returning to the Senate 18 months after resigning over a dual citizenship, Senator Lambie said Tasmanians were “confused” about the tax cuts but might be relaxed about her backing them.

“I think they understand that those last tranches of the tax cuts won’t be … until 2024-25,” she said. “There’ll be another election in there.

“Those ones that are a little bit more switched on are saying ‘well, you know, you could probably do the deal and look at putting that stage three through because it may never eventuate’.”

She appeared to endorse Centre Alliance suggestions the last tranche of tax cuts could be conditional on certain economic indicators.

“Is there a way that you can measure it against something in the economy, so if it drops this far, that’s it, the deal is all over?” Senator Lambie said.

“So it’s (a case of) looking at all that. But I need to see experts into all that. I think Tasmanians are a bit like me: they’re watching which way it is, whether or not I will do a deal for Tasmanians if they support that stage three … All that’s up in the air.”

Refusal to negotiate

While the Coalition has previously played down striking a deal with crossbenchers to get its legislation through, Centre Alliance senator Rex Patrick met Mr Cormann in Perth on Monday to discuss energy policy.

Senator Patrick has demanded action to reduce gas prices to give long-term assistance to pensioners in exchange for his support on the personal income tax cuts that deliver short-term relief for average workers.

The government’s refusal to negotiate comes as Labor divides on the issue, with some members such as inner-city Melbourne MP Peter Khalil urging his party to back the Morrison government’s full tax agenda.

The Coalition has previously ruled out splitting up the package, arguing the later stage will bring much-needed structural reform.

If it fails to secure Labor’s backing, the government will need the support of four crossbenchers in order to get the legislation through the Senate when parliament resumes.

But Ms Hanson is standing firm and has refused to support the plan, saying it “wouldn’t benefit people on pensions or welfare payments” with rising electricity prices.

“It’s not the sensible thing to do, we’re talking about $158 billion in tax cuts, and I’ll go on about this again, it is that far down the track how do we know what the economy is going to be like at that time.”