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Federal election 2019: Campaign Day Eight: ALP carbon costs $35bn says PM

PM says business will pay $10bn more than experts claim under Labor’s emissions reduction target.

Richard Ferguson and Rosie Lewis
15 min read
5:17PMApril 18, 2019.
Updated 5:44PMApril 18, 2019
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We are with Scott Morrison and Bill Shorten for live coverage of the federal election campaign.
We are with Scott Morrison and Bill Shorten for live coverage of the federal election campaign.

Hello and welcome to PoliticsNow, The Australian’s blog coverage of Day Eight of the federal election campaign.

Scott Morrison was in Tasmania today where he announced a health package for the northern regions of the Apple Isle. Bill Shorten was in the Northern Territory today where he announced $115 million in election promises to address key indigenous health issues.

Richard Ferguson 3.50pm: Howard seeks Liberal Party donations

John Howard has written to Liberal supporters seeking donations as the first week of the election campaign comes to an end.

Scott Morrison told The Australian yesterday that Australia’s second longest-serving prime minister was one of his key election advisers.

The fundraising email sent out today shows Mr Howard will play a lead role in the Coalition campaign, just as he did in NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian’s successful state election campaign last month.

Former prime minister John Howard. Picture: AAP
Former prime minister John Howard. Picture: AAP

“We are now one month away from an election that presents a stark choice,” Mr Howard writes in the fundraising email.

“If elected, Labor would increase taxes by hundreds of billions of dollars – including on retirees, housing, incomes, investments and family businesses.

“These tax hikes would not only penalise those who work hard to get ahead. They would also hurt many Australians who have, in good faith, planned their retirement according to certain rules, only to have those rules radically changed to their detriment.

“This year, the Morrison Government will return the budget to surplus. Last financial year, for the first time, over 100,000 young Australians got a job.

“We need the Morrison Government to be re-elected to ensure a strong economy, and an Australia where families and small businesses can get ahead.”

The Prime Minister said yesterday he rarely made major policy decisions without consulting Mr Howard.

“I do talk to John, usually around some critical decisions. I won’t make a huge decision often without taking a sounding from him. Usually, I’ve got to say, we’re pretty aligned. Instinctively we’re quite similar,” Mr Morrison said.

Rosie Lewis 2.20pm: PM wraps up campaigning

The ScoMobile (a plane, actually) will soon make its way back to Sydney in time for Easter. That’s the PM’s campaigning done for the day, though he’ll be at the Cronulla Sharks’ home game tonight against the Penrith Panthers.

1.58pm: New episode of The Scrutineers out now

In the latest episode of our federal politics podcast, Alice Workman chats to Troy Bramston, Caroline Overington and James Jeffrey on: ScoMo’s bingo call at Windsor RSL, Bill Shorten’s grilling over costings for the emissions reduction target, Labor’s bad week, what politicians today could learn from Robert Menzies, Shorten’s women voter problem, the Americanisation of Australian campaigning and much more.

Listen below or in the podcast app of your choice.

Rosie Lewis 1.45pm: Is it an election campaign without babies?

Rosie Lewis 1.15pm: PM spruiks Tassie

Scott Morrison tries to pump up the crowd.

“You want the growth to continue here in Tasmania”

“You want to see more jobs in Tasmania?

“You want to see more Tasmanians calling Tasmania home? And more mainlanders calling Tasmania home?”

There isn’t such a loud response from the crowd on the last two questions.

“There’s only one choice, and you’re looking at it.”

Rosie Lewis 1.10pm: ‘You gotta know the detail’

Mr Morrison takes a swipe at Bill Shorten after the Labor leader was unable to say how much his emissions reduction policy would cost.

“You wanna run the country, you’ve got to know the detail ... you’ve got to know what your plan is, you’ve got to know what it costs.”

Then we’re onto some familiar lines: “If you can’t manage money, you can’t run the country.”

“There’s a very clear choice at this election, there always is. There’s a big cost involved if we change the government ... we’ve come so far, now is not the time to turn back.

“It’s a choice between a government I lead and a Shorten Labor government that will make Australia weaker, not stronger.”

Rosie Lewis 1.06pm: ScoMo’s marital advice

ScoMo recalls the Boags Red he had with a young man in Devonport last night, and tells the crowd he put the “hard word in” to pop the question to his girlfriend.

“Jenny’s with me here today and so I gave him some marital advice Jen.”

Rosie Lewis 1.04pm: ’Jobs change lives’

We’re onto jobs.

“I said it last Sunday, jobs change lives, jobs change communities, jobs change states ... and they change nations too,” Mr Morrison says.

“1.3 million jobs have been created now, with the most recent figures released today ... 48,000 full-time jobs created in the month of March alone.”

Rosie Lewis 1.03pm: Tassie ‘has its mojo back’

Will Hodgman is helping to open the Tasmanian Liberal campaign rally. He warns a future Labor government would be “propped up by the Greens” and says the last time the ALP was in power “our state slipped into recession and business confidence slumped”. There is a lot of stake at this election, the Liberal Premier says.

ScoMo has been in Tasmania seven times this year, according to Mr Hodgman.

“Tasmania’s got its mojo back under Will Hodgman,” Mr Morrison declares.

He says the Liberal premier has turned around the apple aisle, adding: “I tell you what, things are turning around for us (the Liberal and National parties) ... as we’re going into this election.”

Wife Jenny Morrison has joined the Prime Minister for the rally.

Richard Ferguson 1.00pm: Shorten promotes indigenous health

Labor Leader Bill Shorten has promoted his $115 million Indigenous health plan on Bathurst Island today.

Mr Shorten met local GP Sam Hone at Julanimawu Primary Health Centre, who first worked in the community 25 years ago and has returned to practice in the Tiwi Islands over recent years.

“Thank you for your work,” Mr Shorten said.

“We hope that what we contribute will help your frontline efforts.

“We want to remind the rest of Australia that this country can only be the country we want it to be want to be if there’s proper justice for our First Australians.

“And justice is not just a legal concept - it’s the right to grow old.”

Dr Hone said he was pleased the ALP has promised to give more control over decision-making to local Aboriginal health service providers and hoped the party followed through on the pledge, if elected.

The ALP policy aims to reduce the number of Indigenous children dying of suicide and rheumatic heart disease, along with preventing other diseases affecting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

Mr Shorten toured the facility alongside Shadow Assistant Indigenous Affairs Minister Patrick Dodson, Northern Territory Senator Malarndirri McCarthy, Shadow Health Minister Catherine King, Member for Lingiari Warren Snowdon and Northern Territory Health Minister Natasha Fyles.

12.30am: Employment growth beats forecasts

Employment grew strongly in the Australian economy in March, dampening expectations of an interest-rate cut in coming months and lifting the Australian dollar.

The unemployment rate rose to 5.0 per cent in March from 4.9 per cent in February, as expected by economists.

To read the story in full click here.

Dow Jones

Richard Ferguson 12.25pm: PM slammed over nuclear power

Labor has hit out at Scott Morrison for opening the door to nuclear power on Tasmanian radio today.

Opposition environment spokesman Tony Burke said today that the Prime Minister would need to change the law if he were ever to accept a nuclear power station proposal.

“Nuclear power is against the law in Australia. It is extraordinary that Scott Morrison is now contemplating changing the law to allow nuclear power stations in Australia,” he said.

“Several places have been identified in the past for nuclear power stations – like Jervis Bay, Townsville, Bribie Island, Mackay.

“Where is Morrison proposing to put his nuclear power plants? Which coastal community is under threat?”

Mr Morrison said today that nuclear companies could put power plant proposals to his government if they could prove they were self-sufficient.

Richard Ferguson 11.55am: PM open to nuclear power

Scott Morrison says he is open to nuclear power in Australia if “it can stand on its own two feet.”

“It’s not not on the agenda, wherever it can come from is fine, but it has to be self-sustaining,” he told Launceston FM today.

When pushed on whether if he would be happy to take proposals from the nuclear industry on going ahead with power projects, the Prime Minister said they would be allowed to do so.

“If they want to put them forward they can,” he said.

“(Nuclear physicist) Ziggy Switkoswki did a major report for the Howard Government on this issue, and it came back and it didn’t say it could support itself.”

Dennis Shanahan 11.40am: Bill has time to fix mistakes

Bill Shorten has performed the first big about-face in substance and style of the campaign but should emerge the better for it.

To read the article in full, click here

Rosie Lewis 11.25am: McCormack defends Christensen

Member for Dawson George Christensen.
Member for Dawson George Christensen.

Deputy Prime Minister and Nationals leader Michael McCormack has been forced to again defend his Queensland MP George Christensen, following reports the member for Dawson missed eight inquiry hearings into the development of northern Australia because he was in the Philippines.

“George Christensen has been in his electorate since July last year. I had a conversation with George last year when I found out he had been spending a considerable time away (in the Philippines) from his electorate and he’s been very much concentrating on making sure for him and for his people that jobs are the number one priority.

“He understands that he has a job to do, he understands he has a role to do and he’s playing that role.”

Mr Christensen holds the marginal seat of Dawson on 3.4 per cent.

Rosie Lewis 11.10am: PM grilled on emissions

Bill Shorten has faced repeated questioning over his emissions reduction policy but today it was Scott Morrison’s turn.

The Prime Minister said the government’s plan to reduce emissions by 26 to 28 per cent on 2005 levels by 2030 would cost $3.5bn.

He rejected the policy would equate to 0.6 per cent of lost GDP.

“The cost (according to BAEconomics modelling) was 0.6 per cent (in lost economic growth), that’s to GDP, but that wasn’t based on the same policies we’re now proceeding with,” Mr Morrison said.

“A lot of the modelling you see on the 26 per cent is actually based on an economy-wide carbon price ... It is not our policy to have an economy-wide carbon price.

“It is our policy through the $3.5bn climate solutions fund is to have ... a reverse auction where we purchase the abatement, the emissions reduction, and that cost is a direct cost to budget and that cost together with the other initiatives we’ve already announced is $3.5bn.

“What Bill Shorten is doing, whether it’s the requirement of companies to purchase these tens of billions of dollars of foreign carbon credits from goodness knows where ... our estimate is it’s $35bn, that is a direct cost on the economy.”

Rosie Lewis 11.03am: PM: ALP carbon costs will hit $35bn

Scott Morrison claims Australian businesses will be slugged $35 billion under Bill Shorten’s emissions reduction target as they purchase international carbon credits, nearly $10bn more than experts in The Australian estimated today.

“One day he can’t make his negative gearing policy add up, so he takes it off the website. The next day he can’t remember that he’s putting taxes on superannuation, some $34bn, and today he still can’t tell Australians what the cost of his emissions reduction policy is on Australians,” the Prime Minister said.

“Today he can’t even tell you how much money that companies are going to have to send offshore. The Australian reports today $25bn, we actually think it’s higher than that. I understand it’s around $35bn that they will force companies to send offshore for those foreign carbon credits that could be invested here in Australia in employing more people, increasing wages.

“They have a 1.33 billion plus tonne carbon emissions reduction job they’ve set for themselves. Ours is 328 million tonnes and if Bill Shorten thinks it’s the same cost to the economy of 328m tonnes for 1.33bn tonnes then he knows less about his policy.”

Rosie Lewis 10.40am: Shorten “getting more desperate”

Scott Morrison says Bill Shorten is “getting more desperate” as the federal election campaign rolls on, after the Opposition Leader mistakenly pledged there would be no new taxes on superannuation under a future Labor government.

Mr Shorten had to clarify he meant there would be no new super taxes other than those announced in 2016, which will increase tax on high-income earners.

“We already saw yesterday and the day before he couldn’t even remember a $34 billion superannuation policy, he said he misheard the question ... he forgot the entire policy as if it never existed,” the Prime Minister said while campaigning in Tasmania.

“I’m a pretty keen sports fan and I might forget the name of one or two players on the roster but I don’t forget the entire team, and that’s what Bill Shorten did yesterday.

“As the campaign goes on and he gets more desperate and makes more desperate claims, that’s what the people of Australia see it as.”

Richard Ferguson 10.35am: Shorten heads to Bathurst Island

Bill Shorten has now headed off to Bathurst Island in the Labor-held seat of Lingiari, occupied by Warren Snowden on 8.2 per cent.

The Opposition Leader will meet with local islanders at a community barbecue, and visit Julanimawu Primary Care Centre.

He will then head to Melbourne for Good Friday.

Richard Ferguson 10.10am: PM’s “tax fraud”

Bill Shorten has launched a extraordinary attack on Scott Morrison’s tax cuts and ramped up fears the Prime Minister could be forced into massive spending reductions to pay for them.

“On the first round of tax cuts, it’s all the same except we’re slightly better for people under $40,000.

“On the second and third round, they don’t come in for a number of years and what we found when you study the fine print of the fraudulent claims that of this government on tax

is that they’re fraudulent claims,” he said.

“Let me explain how they pay for it - cuts, cuts, cuts.

“I never lose sight of the fact that current prime minister was the treasurer for the last

three years. He’s the cutter in chief of schools, cutter in chief of hospital, cutter in chief of services.”

The Herald Sun reports today that Labor will go much harder on accusation of government cuts after the Easter weekend as a part of a campaign reset.

Earlier this week, the Grattan Institute said Mr Morrison would need to cut $40 billion a year in spending up until 2030 in order to deliver his tax package and keep the budget in surplus. The government denies those claims.

Richard Ferguson 10.00am: ‘Climate denying cave dweller’

Bill Shorten has angrily dismissed claims his carbon reduction policy could cost business $25 billion as “nonsense” and labelled Scott Morrison a “climate-denying cave dweller.”

“First of all, it is just a nonsense claim. It is a nonsense claim,” he said in Darwin today.

“And it is built upon the back of a big lie. It says somehow that using international offsets to help abate carbon is a bad thing.

“Well, if it’s a bad thing, why don’t they go to Josh Frydenberg, the current treasurer, who used to believe it didn’t matter where you cut the carbon from as long as you were cutting the carbon.

“The $25 billion figure is a lie. It’s using... You can make any number work for you if you pump in the assumptions you want to.”

“The Prime Minister - a coal-wielding, climate-denying cave-dweller on this issue - they (Mr Morrison and his allies) all say, ‘Look at the cost,’ but never mention the cost of extreme weather events, do they?

Experts believe the price of international carbon offsets could hit $62 a tonne over the decade but, allowing for an average of $50 a tonne, the hit on businesses would be about $25bn to meet Labor’s target.

This is based on an assumption that more than 500 million tonnes of abatement would have to come through either the purchase of international carbon credits or further land-clearing controls and reforestation, which would prove politically explosive in the bush.

Rosie Lewis 9.30am: PM to announce $8m grants

First stop for the ScoMobile is at Parramatta Creek rest area, off the Bass Highway in the Labor-held electorate of Braddon. Scott Morrison and Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack have their second campaign appearance together today at this spot.

They’ll be announcing $8 million in capped grants to help upgrade the 175 existing Driver Reviver locations around the country, improving amenities and supporting the establishment of new sites.

The announcement comes on the eve of Easter. The PM notes this will be a busy thoroughfare from tomorrow.

Sascha O’Sullivan 9.14am: Tax cuts ‘for high end’

Anthony Albanese has criticised the government’s tax cuts, saying they will come at the cost of hospital, education and infrastructure funding.

“(The government’s) tax cuts are for the high end, high income earners rely on $40 billion of cuts to expenditure,” Mr Albanese said. “That means that means hospitals, that means infrastructure, every year, in order to deliver for the big end of town. We don’t think that that is prudent.

“They’ve been too busy fighting each other to fight for the interests of the nation and to put together a coherent economic policy,” Mr Albanese told Sky News.

Mr Albanese did not answer questions over whether Labor would rule out raising tax rates if they were elected on May 18.

Sascha O’Sullivan 9.00am: Captain GetUp death threats

Political mascot Captain GetUp! has received death threats in the first week on the campaign trail.

Garard Benedet, the National Director of Advance Australia, the conservative activist group behind the mascot, told Sky News this morning the group had received threats online, but neither Captain GetUp nor Advance Australia would be deterred.

To read the article in full, click here.

Rosie Lewis 8.30am: Health package for north Tassie

The ScoMobile is winding its way from Devonport to Launceston, where the Prime Minister will announce a $25.6 million health package for northern Tasmania. We know we’ll be back in Sydney tonight, as Scott Morrison will be attending the Cronulla Sharks versus Panthers rugby league game at Shark Park.

Paige Taylor 6.00am: Labor to tackle indigenous issues

Labor will promise $115m to tackle indigenous issues. Picture: Kym Smith.
Labor will promise $115m to tackle indigenous issues. Picture: Kym Smith.

A Shorten Labor government would pay Aboriginal health organisations to send more medical teams including Aboriginal health practitioners into Australia’s most vulnerable communities in a bid to reduce indigenous youth suicide.

Opposition leader Bill Shorten will today announce $115 million in election promises to address key indigenous health issues including poor mental health, the syphilis outbreak in northern Australia, rheumatic heart disease, preventable eye disease and blindness.

Labor would give an additional $29.6 million to Aboriginal Community Controlled Health organisations, describing this as an urgent investment to address Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander youth suicide in highly vulnerable communities.

Those organisations already provide primary healthcare to about 350,000 indigenous people a year and have been calling for funding for regionally based multi-disciplinary teams.

Labor has responded, saying the money is for teams of paediatricians, child psychologists, social workers, mental health nurses and Aboriginal health practitioners.

A guiding Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Mental Health Plan would be developed by the

National Indigenous Health Equality Council and the National Mental Health Commission.

Indigenous Australians are twice as likely to commit suicide than other Australians.

The rate is higher among indigenous youth. There was an outcry in January when five indigenous girls aged 12 to 15 took their own lives in a nine day period.

The Coalition has pledged $503 million for mental health including 30 new Headspace centres, $22m for indigenous suicide prevention research and $19.6m to “help build resilience and leadership skills in at-risk communities”.

What’s making news:

Australian businesses could be forced to spend more than $25 billion on international carbon credits to meet Labor’s 45 per cent emissions reduction targets by 2030, jeopardising one of Bill Shorten’s fundamental election pillars.

A young female executive assistant working for pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline was paid compensation after making a bullying complaint against former Liberal MP now independent candidate Julia Banks.

Treasury’s pre-election forecasts have revealed the sliding housing market remains the key risk for an incoming government after next month’s election, with the deficit for the current financial year blowing out by $100 million.

Australia’s Foreign Affairs Department is losing influence among the country’s leaders because of its poor communications strategy, Liberal candidate and former ambassador to Israel Dave Sharma has argued.

Clive Palmer will contest a Queensland Senate seat at the May 18 federal election, stepping aside for a high-profile candidate to run for the Townsville-based seat of Herbert, believed to be former State of Origin star Greg Dowling.

Victorian Liberal MP Kevin ­Andrews has warned GetUp its claim that he “advocated for discredited, damaging and cruel gay conversion therapy” is defamatory

Greg Sheridan writes: It is important for Australia, for the health of our political culture, that Tony Abbott wins re-election as the member for Warringah.

Dennis Shanahan writes: Bill Shorten has performed the first big about-face in substance and style of the campaign but should emerge the better for it.

Read related topics:Bill ShortenScott Morrison

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Original URL: https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/politics/politicsnow-bill-shorten-vows-115m-to-tackle-indigenous-issues/news-story/298906296beda122d592c7463e33895d