Howard takes aim and warns of Shorten’s class warfare

The former prime minister joined Scott Morrison and NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian on the campaign trail yesterday.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison and former prime minister John Howard at the campaign rally at Sydney Olympic Park yesterday. Picture: AAP

John Howard has accused Bill Shorten of fuelling a new class war, arguing his tax rises are “economic madness” and accusing him of fostering “envy and division” as the government announced a temporary freeze on Australia’s refugee intake.

Mr Howard and the newly re-elected NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian yesterday introduced Scott Morrison at a western Sydney campaign rally in the multicultural Liberal-held marginal seat of Reid — an event that was used to talk up the Coalition’s immigration and population policies.

Mr Howard took aim at Labor’s tax policies and warned that Mr Shorten had created a “new dictionary” that classified more Australians as the “big end of town” in a move that was fostering class war divisions.

“Anyone who is in the gunsights of Bill Shorten’s tax rises are the big end of town,” he said.

The former Liberal prime minister also said Labor’s changes to negative gearing — which stop people using the tax loophole in the future on existing homes — did not make sense while the housing market was softening.

Former prime minister John Howard: “The only real asset you have is your family home”. Picture: AAP Image

“The only real asset you have is your family home,” he said.

Mr Morrison yesterday sought to bring immigration back into the campaign, with a pledge that he would not lift the number of refugees coming to Australia and to orientate the humanitarian intake more towards women in need.

The Prime Minister said he would cap the refugee program at 18,750 people a year for the next term of government if the Coalition was re-elected in May.

The humanitarian program would also be overhauled so that women made up 60 per cent of incoming refugees with 40 per cent settled in regional Australia.

While the Coalition has already pledged to cap the permanent intake at 160,000 people a year, the number of temporary migrants entering Australia has boomed due to an increase in student visas.

The 2018-19 budget relied on an assumption of 234,600 temporary and permanent migrants in Australia in 2018, and 231,400 in 2019.

But the 2019-20 budget revealed the overall “net overseas migration” figure blew out to 259,600 people in 2018, with an expected 271,700 people coming to Australia this year.

Launching the government’s policy to cap permanent migration and limit the humanitarian intake, Mr Morrison said: “If you believe in immigration being a key part of Australia’s future, which I do, and my party does, then you have to make sure you have an immigration program which is sustainable, which has integrity, which focuses on people being able to come and get jobs and become part of the community.”

Mr Howard has previously said he regretted some of his remarks on immigration. He famously suggested in 1988 that Asian migration should be reduced.