PoliticsNow: Bill Shorten delivers budget reply speech
PoliticsNow: Bill Shorten says Labor won’t stop the Coalition’s new tax on banks, that’s about where the support ends.
Welcome to PoliticsNow, The Australian’s coverage of the happenings in Parliament House. Bill Shorten has given his budget reply speech.
• Read a recap of the key measures Mr Shorten outlined here.
• Earlier in Question Time, Labor seized on revelations that company tax cuts will rise from $50bn to $65bn, which caused the government to stumble.
See how the rest of the day unfolded below.
Sarah Martin 9.30pm: Shorten’s figures ‘don’t add up’
Finance Minister Mathias Cormann said Mr Shorten’s speech was “full of political rhetoric” but had no measures to grow the economy, as he argued the government’s budget was fairer than Labor’s alternative.
“There was not a single policy to strengthen growth, create more jobs or give Australians higher wages,” Senator Cormann said.
Calling for Labor to submit the speech to the parliamentary budget office for costing over the forward estimates, Senator Cormann said that Mr Shorten’s figures “did not add up” and could threaten the country’s credit rating.
“If Bill Shorten is serious he needs to come clean with the Australian people about how much bigger the deficit will be over the forward estimates period as a result of the announcements he has made,” he said.
Responding to Mr Shorten’s claim that the government was borrowing the “slogan” of fairness but did not believe in the concept, Senator Cormann said the Coalition’s budget was “responsible and fair”.
“It is fair for us to bring our budget back into surplus by 2020-21, which he clearly has failed to commit himself to; he wants to continue to borrow from future generations of Australians for longer forcing them to pay higher taxes or accept deeper spending cuts down the track - that is not fair.”
9.13pm: ‘Not as pessimistic as you’
Bill Shorten followed up his budget reply speech with an interview with 7.30’s Leigh Sales.
He reiterated his claim that the NDIS was fully funded when Labor left office, and said it would be fairer for the government to dump its $65bn business tax cut, rather than increasing the Medicare levy for everyone earning more than $21,000.
“What is not fair is putting the burden on people who earn $50,000 a year when this Government is giving millionaires a tax cut on 1 July,” he said.
“We are the champions of the NDIS.
“I just don’t buy the argument that the only way that NDIS or other schemes the government can get funded is by increasing the taxes of people on $50,000 or $70,000 a year. There are smarter ways to do it and fairer ways.”
Ms Sales asked Mr Shorten when he would be honest with people earning more than $180,000 a year and tell them that Labor wanted to permanently impose a two per cent tax increase on them, by keeping the temporary deficit levy.
“I wouldn’t be as pessimistic as you,” Mr Shorten said.
“Your question assumes that the government will not get back into surplus.
“We certainly would look at it again when we were back in surplus.”
Bill Shorten says it's unfair to raise the #Medicare levy for all Australians to fund the #NDIS. #auspol #abc730 #budgetreply pic.twitter.com/DycH6C7my0
— abc730 (@abc730) May 11, 2017
Asked why he had said he would fight the deficit levy in April 2014, describing it as “a tax increase on ordinary Australians”, and was now supporting making it permanent, Mr Shorten said Labor had “ended up” supporting the levy in 2014, and the current state of the government’s books meant this was a fair way of balancing them.
Asked why he supported the banking levy if he was concerned it would be passed on to customers, Mr Shorten said that if he was in government, Labor would hold a royal commission into the banks.
“We need to examine the excessive economic power of the banks and how they use it and what are the best responses to ensure that customers get a fair go,” he said.
“I am not inventing the stories of tens of thousands of people, small business people, people who are retirees or near retirement who have simply been ripped off. Their stories are heartbreaking and nothing less than a royal commission will satisfy me and Labor.”
Asked whether the budget deficit would be larger or smaller under a Labor government should he win the next election, Mr Shorten again deflected, saying there hadn’t been a projection the government had made that it has kept.
“Remember they used the bag out Labor in terms of economic management? Well this is a government who has got higher unemployment than they projected, lower wages growth than they assumed and they are precariously relying on our terms of trade, the ability of high export prices for our iron ore and coal and commodities,” he said.
“This government doesn’t have a plan to create genuine domestic growth.”
9.00pm: Shorten’s speech recap
Here’s a quick recap of the key measures Bill Shorten outlined in his budget reply speech:
- Labor will oppose the removal of the Abbott government’s two per cent budget repair levy on individuals earning more than $180,000, and support the 0.5 per cent Medicare levy increase only for those earning above $87,001. Labor says this will result in $4.45bn more revenue than the government’s plan.
- On Medicare, Labor wants the government to immediately reverse the freeze, rather than a gradual unfreezing over the next three years.
- Labor won’t support the government’s plan to enable first home buyers to save $30,000 in pre-tax income through their superannuation account.
- Shorten has pledged to drive the construction of 55,000 new homes over three years and create 25,000 new jobs every year.
- Labor won’t oppose the bank levy, but Shorten says: “if the banks pass on a single dollar of this tax to Australian families - then that should be the end of this Treasurer, this Prime Minister and this government.”
- Shorten has pledged to close multinational tax loopholes which he says will deliver an additional $5.4bn to the budget bottom line over a decade. He will cap the amount individuals can deduct for the management of their tax affairs at $3000, which he says will net $1.3 billion from fewer than one in 50 taxpayers.
- On education, Shorten pledged to restore $22bn Labor claims the Liberals have cut from schools, and oppose cuts to universities, increases in student fees and changes to the repayment threshold.
- On TAFE, Shorten pledged to reverse $600m in cuts, allocate two out of every three dollars raised by increasing the fees on temporary work visas to public TAFE, and create a new $100 million Building TAFE for the Future Fund for capital improvement at TAFEs (kitchens, workshops etc).
- On apprenticeships, Shorten has pledged to require one of ten people employed on commonwealth infrastructure projects to be an apprentice.
- Labor will double the number of indigenous rangers.
- Shorten has identified another $1 billion of government measures Labor won’t support, including $162m for Trans Pacific Partnership negotiations, $40m for government advertising, $300m for state regulatory reform, and $170m for a same-sex marriage plebiscite.
John Lyons 8.23pm: Battle of the big spenders
Australian politics is now a race to the bottom of the economic canyon, writes John Lyons.
Bill Shorten’s budget reply speech tonight crystallised the dangerous new political reality in Australia.
The political battle is now between a Coalition government who have made clear that they will increase spending money that the nation doesn’t have and a Labor Party who will spend even more money that the nation doesn’t have. Read John Lyons full analysis of Shorten’s budget reply speech here.
8.18pm: Better days ahead - but who will benefit?
Shorten concludes by saying that the government’s budget means “better days ahead” for millionaires and multinationals, investors and tax minimisers and the “big end of town”.
He says it means bad news for battlers.
“The Prime Minister says this budget is about ‘helping Australians realise their dreams’, unless you’re a working class kid, who dreams of going to university, or a small business owner, dreaming of a decent NBN, or a young couple who dream of owning your first home,” he says.
“This Prime Minister of many words has learned a new one – fairness – and he’s saying it as often as he can.
“But repetition is no substitute for conviction.
“Fairness is not some slogan you can borrow, it’s not a domain-name you can register.”
Shorten says this isn’t a Labor budget or a fair budget.
“Because we are not you - and you will never be us.”
He says only Labor believes in fairness and will deliver fair funding for education, protection for Medicare, a fair deal for Australians with a disability, a fair chance at a job, penalty rates, a fair start in the housing market, action on climate change, equal pay for women and closing the gap.
8.12pm: Indigenous rangers
As Shadow Minister for Indigenous Affairs, Shorten pledges to double the number of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander rangers.
“I’ve seen the pride that comes from wearing the ranger uniform, people working for this country on their country and their waters,” he says.
“Combining the latest environmental science with traditional knowledge, these rangers benefit the environment, tourism and develop new enterprises.
“It is our privilege to support their work.”
8.11pm: ‘We’ll train more tradies’
Shorten pledges to reverse $600 million he says the government cut from apprentice training on Tuesday night.
“Whether you choose university, TAFE or an apprenticeship – the government of Australia will give you every chance to be your best,” he says.
He says the government’s crackdown on 457 visas will only affect 8 per cent of visa holders.
“I congratulate the Prime Minister for getting tough on foreign antique dealers and goat farmers…but we need a lot more than that,” he says.
“That’s why Labor will train more nurses, cooks, carpenters, carers and electricians here at home - and help them fill the jobs we know our country needs.
“In their past three Budgets, the Liberals cut $2.8 billion out of training and Australia has lost over 130,000 apprentices on their watch. On Tuesday night - they cut another $600 million.”
Shorten also pledges a Labor government would allocate two out of every three dollars raised of public vocational education funding to public TAFE.
He’s also introducing a new rule to require one in 10 people employed on major commonwealth infrastructure projects to be an apprentice.
8.09pm: On education
Shorten claims that the government’s new policy on schools, coming after what Labor says was a $30bn cut under the Abbott government, represents a $22bn cut and is akin to “the arsonist turning up after the fire and expecting a thank you.”
He appeals to the Catholic sector.
“We understand not every parent who sends their child to a local Catholic parish primary school is wealthy,” he says.
“When you look at the mess the government has made of its policy - you have to ask: whatever happened to the Liberal Party that supported choice in education?
“Of course, there is no genuine choice if our public schools are under-funded and students and teachers go without the resources they need.”
Shorten promises Labor will restore “every single dollar of the 22 billion the Liberals have cut from schools- down to the last cent.”
On universities, Shorten says Labor will oppose the Liberals’ cuts to unis and increases in student fees, saying the change in the repayment threshold will hit women, Indigenous Australians and low-income earners the hardest.
“We will never cheat smart, hard-working young and mature-age Australians out of the chance to get a degree, because we believe a university education is an opportunity you earn – not a privilege you inherit,” he says.
8.03pm:
Read Bill Shorten’s full budget reply speech here.
8.01pm: Budget worse than a handbrake on potential
“Bob Hawke and Paul Keating changed Australia from an industrial museum to a modern, outward-looking, competitive economy,” Shorten says, but we can’t live off their legacy forever, and education is the future.
He says that at the very moment when Australia should be focused on creativity, skills and education, the Liberals are cutting money from the lot, listing “$22bn ripped from Australian schools, $3.8bn from universities, making Australians pay more, faster for a degree, and continuing cuts to TAFE and apprenticeships.
“This budget is worse than a handbrake on our national potential – it actually drags us back in the global pack,” he says.
“Every time we settle for second best in education, it gets harder for us to catch-up.”
7.57pm: Labor’s answer to debt and deficit
Shorten nominates $128.5bn he says the government could save and put towards addressing debt and deficit, saying they could raise $37bn by adopting Labor’s policy on negative gearing and capital gains tax, $6.7bn from cracking down on multinationals and individuals avoiding tax, $19.4bn from extending the temporary deficit levy and $65.4bn from dumping business tax cuts.
7.53pm: Cap on tax deductions for lawyers, accountants
Shorten introduces his new measure to crack down multinational tax avoidance and on wealthy individuals claiming huge deductions to pay for lawyers and accountants to minimise their tax.
“In 2014-15, 48 Australians earned more than one million dollars and paid no tax at all, not even the Medicare levy,” he says.
“Instead, using clever tax lawyers, they deducted their income down from an average of nearly $2.5 million…to below the tax-free threshold.
“One of the biggest deductions claimed was the money they paid to their accountants - averaging over one million dollars.
“These individuals are not just counting cards in the casino – they are bringing their own dealer and their own deck.”
Shorten says Labor will cap the amount individuals can deduct for the management of their tax affairs at $3000.
“This affects fewer than 1 in 100 taxpayers and will save the budget $1.3 billion over the medium-term,” he says.
7.50pm: Labor ‘fully funded NDIS
Shorten gets big cheers when he speaks of the NDIS as a Labor legacy.
“Labor didn’t just create the NDIS - we fully funded it, we budgeted for it - and Treasury confirmed it,” he claims.
“After 3 years of Liberal Cabinet leaks questioning the cost and the value of the NDIS - we will not have our commitment challenged by those opposite.
“Working with Jenny Macklin, Julia Gillard, and more importantly, tens of thousands of Australians with disability and their carers, to design and deliver the NDIS is one of the greatest privileges of my parliamentary career.”
Shorten says he will never forget the promise Labor made to elderly parents of disabled children in setting up the NDIS.
“For our party, the National Disability Insurance Scheme is an article of faith,” he says.
“Labor fully-funded it in government, we will fight for it in Opposition - and we will never see the people who rely on it, go without the money they need.”
7.48pm: Backing for Medicare levy - but not for all
Shorten says the 0.5 per cent increase in the Medicare levy will effect anyone with an income of$21,000 or more.
“A worker on $55,000 will pay $275 a year,” he says.
“For someone on $80,000 it’s an extra $400.
“When wages growth is at record lows, when insecure work is on the rise, when the cost of essentials continues to increase, Labor cannot support making people on modest incomes give up even more of their pay packet.”
“We’ll back the government’s 0.5 per cent increase in the Medicare levy, but only for Australians in the top two tax brackets.”
Mr Shorten says costing from the Parliamentary Budget Office show that Labor’s plan to keep the temporary deficit levy but only apply the Medicare levy to those earning more than $87,000 will deliver more revenue than the government’s over the medium term.
7.47pm: A ‘tax cut for millionaires’
Shorten claims the government’s decision to end the temporary two per cent deficit levy on those earning more than $180,000 is a “tax cut for millionaires”.
“This Prime Minister is so determined to deliver a tax cut for millionaires, he’s declaring ‘mission accomplished’ on budget repair,” he says.
“He’s cancelling the deficit levy, to deliver a tax cut for high-income earners.
“Labor will not support spending $19.4 billion on the wealthiest 2 per cent of Australians.”
7.45pm: Company tax cut costs
Shorten capitalises on Treasurer Scott Morrison’s admission today that the government’s business tax cuts will in fact cost $65.4bn over the decade from July 1, up from the Coalition’s previous estimation of $50bn.
“This is a recipe for fiscal recklessness on a grand scale,” he says.
“It is a threat to Australia’s triple-A credit rating - and therefore a threat to every Australian mortgage holder, and the only defence the Liberals have mounted, is that it will lead to an increase in workers’ wages.
“On the government’s own numbers, we’re talking about an extra $2 a day…in 20 years’ time.
“Those are the crumbs from the Prime Minister’s table, $65 billion for big business - and ten bucks a week for workers in 2027.
“There’s never been a more exciting time to be a multinational in Liberal Australia.”
7.44pm: What Labor won’t support
Mr Shorten says that since Budget night, Labor has identified $1 billion of government measures it will not support, namely:
- $162 million for trying to revive the Trans Pacific Partnership deal
- $40 million on government advertising
- $300 million paying the states “for regulatory reform they should be doing already”
- $170 million for the same sex marriage plebiscite
But, he says, Labor does support “overdue changes to the Family Court” and new initiatives to help veterans.
7.42pm: A ‘poison pill for superannuation’
On housing, Shorten says the government isn’t serious about tackling the crisis in housing affordability because they won’t reform negative gearing and capital gains tax.
He describes the government’s measure which will enable first home buyers to put up to $30,000 of pre-tax income into their superannuation account and put it towards a home deposit as “a poison pill for superannuation - just to make houses more expensive”.
“The sad lesson of first-home owner grants is that any extra cash in the pocket of people looking to buy is eaten-up by price rises,” he said.
“When you study the detail, this program offers microscopic assistance for young people.
“If you divide the cost of this program in the budget by the number of first homes sold each year, the government is allocating $565 for each first home.”
“For most people, it won’t even cover the costs of the removalists.”
7.40pm: Labor to back banks levy
Shorten says Labor won’t stop the Liberals’ new tax on the banks.
“But we are deeply sceptical of a banking culture that takes every opportunity to hit customers with higher fees and charges, and we are worried the weakness of this government will turn a $6 billion tax on the banks into a $6 billion charge on every Australian with a bank account or a mortgage,” he says.
“The big banks know they can run right over the top of this weak Prime Minister.
“He’s giving them a levy with one hand, a tax cut with the other and a free pass for bad behaviour.
“I’ll give them a Royal Commission.”
Shorten says any single dollar of the bank levy passed on to Australian families “should be the end of this Treasurer, this Prime Minister and this government because their weakness will be there for all to see.”
7.39pm: Saving Medicare
Shorten gets a huge clap for saying Labor will “save Medicare”.
He says Labor would reverse the “unfair freeze” (which was introduced by Labor), saying the reality of the government’s measures is that the freeze won’t be eradicated until 2020.
He claims that over the past four years the Liberals have taxed, cut and tried to privatise Medicare.
“Now they want to pretend it was all a misunderstanding, not because they’ve changed their minds or got the message, but because they’re trying to save their own skins,” he says.
Shorten uses that old political chestnut: “Who do you trust?”
“Who do you trust to protect Medicare? A Labor Party that knows Medicare speaks for who we are as a country, for the idea that the health of any one of us, matters to all of us, the Labor Party that built Medicare – and saved Medicare, or a Liberal Party which has spent 34 years trying to destroy it?”
7.37pm: ‘ How we’d do it better’
Shorten lists things a Labor budget would have done that this doesn’t: protect penalty rates, fund schools properly, invest in universities, respect pensioners - “not make brickies and pensioners work until they’re 70”, level the playing field for affordable housing, protect workers in labour-hire firms from exploitation rather than giving their employers a tax cut, close the gap rather than cutting $500 million from indigenous services, rescue TAFE, invest in renewable energy and take “real action” on climate change, and “stand up for middle class and working class families - instead of taking their money and giving it to millionaires and multinationals.”
7.35pm: No Labor budget
Shorten attacks the notion that the budget is a “Labor” budget, saying that where it seeks to imitate Labor policies, it “fails miserably”.
“Our policies are the real deal because they spring from our values,” he says.
“They weren’t cooked-up in a panic to try and neutralise a political liability.”
Shorten says the budget doesn’t conform to Labor or Coalition values.
“It’s a budget of big government, higher tax and more debt,” he says.
7.30pm: Coalition’s ‘admission of guilt’
Bill Shorten kicks off his budget reply speech by claiming that the Coalition’s 2017 budget is an “admission of guilt” and proof that the Abbott and Turnbull governments have presided over four years during which wages growth has hit a record lows, unemployment is up, under-employment has hit record highs and living standards have stagnated.
The Opposition leader seizes on the government’s “fairness” and “opportunity” slogans, saying there’s nothing fair about making middle and working class Australians pay more, while “millionaires and multinationals pay less”.
“There’s nothing fair about a $65 billion giveaway for big business, while you’re cutting $22 billion from schools,” Mr Shorten says.
“And there’s no opportunity in the Liberals’ war on young Australians: their education, their penalty rates, their chance to buy a home.
“This budget fails the fairness test - and it fails the generational test. It does nothing for families’ cost of living.”
6.54pm: Will the budget achieve anything for housing affordability?
While we’re waiting for Mr Shorten, Alan Kohler and James Kirby reflect on the Federal Budget and its possible outcomes for property and the bank levy. LISTEN:
Rachel Baxendale 6.42pm: Labor’s pledge on tax deductions
Bill Shorten is gearing up to give his budget reply speech at 7:30 this evening.
The Australian understands the Opposition Leader will pledge a $3000 limit on the deductions people can claim for paying lawyers and accountants to minimise their tax.
Labor says the move will raise $1.8bn over a decade, by cracking down on very wealthy people who have previously been able to pay minimal tax by claiming large deductions.
Mr Shorten is expected to focus on disputing the government’s claim that their 2017 budget is “fair”, depicting the lifting of the temporary budget deficit levy as a “tax cut for millionaires”.
The two per cent tax was temporarily imposed by the Abbott government in 2014 and applies to people who earn more than $180,000.
Mr Shorten will also paint the government’s 0.5 per cent increase in the Medicare levy as a tax on low and middle income families on a day when the Coalition conceded its company tax cuts will cost $65.4 billion in the decade from July 1.
Meanwhile, Finance Minister Mathias Cormann has written to Liberal Party supporters saying Mr Shorten has four key questions to answer tonight:
Finance Minister @MathiasCormann emailing the party faithful ahead of @billshortenmp Budget reply speech pic.twitter.com/QP6cXiqWTS
— Rob Harris (@rharris334) May 11, 2017
1. Will Labor keep or reverse the Coalition’s small business tax cuts?
2. Will Labor commit to the future of the NDIS after leaving a $55.7 billion funding black hole?
3. Is Labor committed to real education funding after leaving a $22 billion funding black hole?
4. How will Labor deliver housing affordability for first home buyers without a new tax on housing?
Rachel Baxendale 4.05pm: Senate Question Time
Labor focused on the economics of the budget during today’s Senate Question Time, repeatedly highlighting that gross debt will peak at $725 billion, and quoting conservative critics such as John Howard, Peter Costello and Peta Credlin.
Labor MP Chris Ketter kicked off the attack, asking Finance Minister Mathias Cormann why he wouldn’t name the $725 billion figure when asked six times by Andrew Bolt on Sky News last night.
Senator Cormann said the number was much smaller than it would have been under Labor.
Other Labor questions sought to highlight the most recent set of economic figures, showing GDP down from 2.5 per cent to 1.75 per cent, employment growth down from 1.75 per cent to 1 per cent, and unemployment up from 5.5 per cent to 5.75 per cent.
Labor Senator Kimberly Kitching referred to Tony Abbott’s apparently muted applause for Scott Morrison’s budget speech on Tuesday night and comment that the “gave the Treasurer the applause I thought he deserved”, and cited criticism from John Howard and other conservatives.
Government leader in the Senate George Brandis responded by accusing Kitching of undergraduate politics, and highlighting budget measures including funding for the NDIS, unfreezing Medicare, and school funding.
The government was meanwhile keen to highlight delays caused by Labor deliberations on native title legislation.
Resources Minister Matt Canavan claimed indigenous jobs were at risk if native title legislation wasn’t passed soon, using the Adani coal mine in North Queensland as an example and citing support from indigenous leader Warren Mundine, indigenous groups near the proposed mine, and the Queensland Labor government.
Labor is still consulting over the legislation which the government wants passed as soon as possible.
Greens senator Peter Whish-Wilson took up an issue championed by Derryn Hinch yesterday, namely the $14 billion drop in the value of major bank shares before the budget lock-up on Monday.
Senator Hinch yesterday called for an investigation into whether the details of the government’s proposed bank levy were leaked ahead of the lock-up.
Senator Whish-Wilson today asked whether any leak was being investigated, and whether the matter would be referred to ASIC, given banks have since revealed they were aware of the policy design before it was announced.
Senator Cormann said there was generally a lot of “rumour and speculation” ahead of a budget, and there was no evidence of a leak.
3.40pm: ‘A giant of journalism’
The Opposition Leader expressed his and Labor’s condolences to Mark Colvin’s family and colleagues.
“Across four decades, across mediums and continents, I think we all agree that Mark Colvin was one of the finest minds in journalism. We use the word ‘giants perhaps casually sometimes, but no-one I think would dispute that he was a giant of journalism.
“From Canberra to London, Tehran, Rwanda, Belfast and Baghdad, Mark explained to Australians what we needed to know in a way only that he could do. I think most Australians would know Mark best through ABC’s PM program. For two decades he had a calm and measured, mellifluous voice which is with us in the cars as we drive home, keeping us company on an evening shift, perhaps in the kitchen as we would get dinner ready.
“He had a certain manner. There was a disarming mix of gentleness and authority. He could cajole the most skilled, recalcitrant, non-answerers into finishing a sentence which passes through the mind of the interviewee, ‘Did I just say that?’
“It is a loss to journalism, as the Prime Minister said, but it is a loss to public discourse. It’s a loss to national life. To his family I say most Australians will never know him in the way you did, but it is a remarkable gift to know someone through their voice alone. And through his voice and the capacity and his values, to be able to know a person - that I think is the mark of the person who has passed.
“I think his life was interesting, rewarding, colourful and challenging. His was a life worth living. He was a man worth knowing. Journalism’s gentleman, a voice we will never forget. May he rest in peace.”
3.35pm: Tributes for ABC journalist
The parliament has noted the passing of veteran ABC journalist Mark Colvin, with Malcolm Turnbull and Bill Shorten deciding to pay tribute to him at the end of Question Time.
“Mark Colvin was as elegant as he was erudite, a prodigious reader, he was as well informed as all of us would like to be and more so, Mr Turnbull says.
“He came to Australia from the United Kingdom, the son of an officer in MI6, so the son of a spy, and he displayed some of his father’s adventure, adventurism, if you like, around the world, in many dangerous places, over 40 years working for the ABC, interpreting the world and its most challenging environments, its most war-torn places for Australians.
“Of course, he understood geopolitics brilliantly, the politics of the Cold War in particular. He travelled and reported from Rwanda where he became ill, seriously ill, and that illness affected him for the rest of his life, and as we know, caused him great pain and great suffering, but he was an inspiration in the way he dealt with his challenges, and he was a great advocate for and example of the importance of organ donation. He is truly heroic in that regard.
“But he was a gentle man, a calm man, an honest man, and somebody who spoke with a voice of well-informed authority into what is often a cacophony of spin and superficiality in 2017. He brought with him a breath, perhaps romantically from this perspective, of a more measured, better-read, less chaotic, less vindictive world of journalism where there was a truly objective well thought out voice.
“He will be sorely missed and I know that the Leader of the Opposition and I join with all honourable members in sending our deepest condolences to his family, particularly his mother, Anne, and his sons William and Nicholas.”
• Read the Leigh Sales tribute to Mark Colvin here
3.20pm: Deficit levy games
Opposition finance spokesman Jim Chalmers tries to outsmart the government on removing the 2 per cent deficit levy.
“If the deficit levy on high-income earners was necessary when the deficit for the coming year was $2.8 billion in Joe Hockey’s first budget, why isn’t it necessary when the deficit for the same year is $29.4 billion, or 10 times bigger, in this budget?”
Mr Turnbull is prepared.
“The deficit levy had a term of three years, which expires on June 30 this year. As a matter of principle, consistency and integrity, the opposition has to recognise that the deficit levy was one they opposed and denounced as a deceit (levy). They then voted for it on the basis that it had a three-year term and now they want to make it permanent. The deficit levy raises around $1 billion a year, a bit over $1bn a year. It is no substitute for increasing the Medicare levy by half a per cent, which raises current numbers around $4bn a year.
“It is not the answer to funding the NDIS because, simply, there are not enough taxpayers earning over $180,000. There are nine million plus tax filers in Australia, around 700,000 file income returns of over $180,000 or more. So the temporary deficit levy, whatever its merits at the time, contested by the Labor Party, is not the answer to the long-term funding (of the NDIS).”
3.15pm: More on that company tax figure
The Coalition has revealed how $50bn in company tax cuts over 10 years became $65.4 billion - Full story here
3.10pm: Labor’s Adani response
Hey @Barnaby_Joyce I thought the days of National Party scare campaigns about Native Title were over
— Jason Clare MP (@JasonClareMP) May 11, 2017
3.05pm: ‘Five different answers’
Bill Shorten on the company tax cuts plan again: “The government has given five different answers to the full updated cost of its big business hand-out. My question is why didn’t any of these numbers appear in the budget papers or the Treasurer’s speech on Tuesday night?”
The PM says: “The Treasurer and I have accurately described the 10-year cost of the enterprise tax plan from 2016 which is when it began and then the Treasurer updated that for a decade from 1 July 2017. It is a 10-year enterprise tax plan which is in operation and began on 1 July last year.”
3pm: Barnaby gets animated
Barnaby Joyce has fired up in a “CAAARP”-style performance in QT, declaring Labor no longer supports labourers after refusing to vote on critical amendments to the Native Title Act.
“We can all hang around tonight to listen to the Leader of the Opposition babble on ... but what people in central Queensland want to hear, what the coal miners want to hear, what the steel workers at Arrium want to hear is that you will resolve this issue in regards to indigenous land use agreements. You can do it right now. Today in the chamber in the other place, they had a vote for an extension of ours and the Labor Party is doing everything in their power to stop helping labourers.
“The labourers want to go to work on Friday but the Labor Party doesn’t. They don’t want to stand up for the steel workers, they don’t want to stand up for the coal miners. They don’t believe in the coal mining anymore. So much so that we have the Australian Workers Union, they are leaving you, they are leaving the Australian Labor Party because the Australian Workers Union recently realised the Australian Labor Party doesn’t believe in labourers anymore.”
2.55pm: Shorten attack continues
Bill Shorten is seizing on the revised $65.4 billion cost of the company tax cuts plan. He asks the PM, how much of it will flow to overseas shareholders?
Scott Morrison comes to the despatch box.
“The government’s tax plan, which delivers the incentive in our economy for businesses to invest, including attracting foreign capital to invest in the country ... is also subject over the medium term to a tax to GDP cap of 23.9 per cent. What I am suggesting to the opposition in how this measure is funded, is that our government is also committed over the medium-term to ensuring that our tax to GDP remains below 23.9 per cent. But the question that the Opposition Leader has to answer tonight is will he commit to the same thing?”
2.45pm: PM explains tax cut figure
Malcolm Turnbull attempts to clarify the Treasurer’s answers amid uproar from the Labor benches.
“I will firstly clear up what appeared to be some confusion on the other side. The government’s 10-year enterprise tax plan began last year. It began on the July 1, 2016 and the cost over 10 years is, as I described, $50 billion of which a little less than half - $24 billion - is the cost of the legislated saves, that is legislated reductions, that is companies with a turnover of less than $50 million and the balance of around $26 billion is for the larger companies that are unlegislated.
“In terms of 10 years from July 1, 2017, the cost is $65 billion, of which around $29.5 billion are for the legislated saves already, for reductions for savings for business cost to the budget but legislated reductions and $35 billion for the balance. That should be very clear. The answer that I gave was absolutely correct. It is a 10-year enterprise tax plan and it begins on July 1 last year.”
2.40pm: Some clarification
Company tax cut costs $65.4 billion over next decade from 1July.
— David Crowe (@CroweDM) May 11, 2017
This is legislated and unlegislated cuts. Addition of extra year scales up cost. https://t.co/z4rIZArvWO
— David Crowe (@CroweDM) May 11, 2017
Because 25% rate kicks in in final years, greatest cost in 2027. Was $48.7bn but now $65.4bn over decade. https://t.co/4dPhFu9p0L
— David Crowe (@CroweDM) May 11, 2017
2.35pm: Shorten attack becomes clear
The Treasurer says the total cost of corporate tax cuts for both the legislated and proposed cuts will be $65.4 billion. Previously we were told it would cost $50bn.
2.30pm: A pat on the back
Independent MP Cathy McGowan congratulates the Turnbull government on its “significant investment” in rail infrastructure and $100 million upgrade to the north-east Victorian line (running from Melbourne to Albury). She now wants the blame game between the state and federal governments to end.
2.25pm: And the answer is ...
Mr Shorten has another go at asking the updated cost on the 10-year company tax cuts. The Treasurer says it is $36.5 billion from July 1 of this year.
2.20pm: Taking care of business?
Bill Shorten wants to know an updated cost for the government’s 10-year enterprise tax plan – the tax cuts for businesses. A lower company tax rate for businesses with an annual turnover of up to $50 million has already been legislated – that will cost $24 billion - but the government wants to extend this to all businesses.
Here’s the PM:
“Is the Leader of the Opposition, having spent that $24 billion, is he going tonight to say he will repeal it? Is he going to say to all the hard-working, family-owned businesses, the Labor Party will increase taxes on them? Is he going to say to them, as they take the incentive and encouragement to invest and employ, is he going to say ‘That tax cut was a hand-out?’ Note the language. It is very insightful. He says a tax cut is a hand-out. What that means is the Leader of the Opposition’s views is that every dollar earned by a business actually belongs to the government.”
2.15pm: Abbott gets a mention
The PM gives a nod to his predecessor, Tony Abbott.
“The member for Warringah, at the time the NDIS was announced, as leader of the Coalition said this is a reform whose time has come. Now, the time has come to paper it. The time has come to fund it.”
2.10pm: Education ‘funny money’
Tanya Plibersek points the PM to a letter sent out from the NSW Department of Education to public school principals, which warns of a shortfall from the existing schools funding agreement of $1.8 billion.
Malcolm Turnbull hits back, questioning if Labor “actually has a schools policy at all”.
“She says she has 27 contradictory and secret deals. Funny money. Monopoly money - $22 billion she was not prepared to commit to only a few days ago. What we have done is fully implement the Gonski recommendations of national consistent needs-based funding.”
1.45pm: Labor won’t support higher-ed changes
The Turnbull government will have to rely on Senate crossbench support for its higher education package that includes funding cuts for universities and higher tuition fees for students.
Labor has confirmed its opposition to a two-year efficiency dividend on universities, an increase to student fees, and dropping the HELP loan repayment threshold to $42,000.
Fee increases will be capped at 7.5 per cent over the next four years, meaning the most students pay for a four-year degree is $50,000.
The most expensive, six-year medical degrees will cost students at most $75,000. “There is no fee deregulation. There will be no $100,000 degrees,” assistant education minister Karen Andrews told parliament on Thursday. But universities won’t see any of the extra money from students, with the government slashing its funding by the corresponding amount - on top of the 2.5 per cent cut to teaching funding in 2018 and 2019.
All up, the government hopes to save $2.8 billion from its latest plans to overhaul university funding.
“Clearly, Malcolm Turnbull thinks it’s fair to saddle young Australians with a big uni debt at the same time as they are trying to buy a house, or start a family,” Labor education spokeswoman Tanya Plibersek said on Thursday. “He is completely out of touch.” The Greens also oppose the cuts, meaning Education Minister Simon Birmingham will have to win over 10 of the 12 crossbenchers.
Independent senator Jacqui Lambie has already indicated she’s opposed. Legislation for the changes was introduced to parliament on Thursday. It will also tie 7.5 per cent of government funding to universities to performance measures, starting with admissions transparency in 2018 and student retention and achievement from 2019.
Ms Andrews emphasised the long consultation the government has had with the sector over its new plan.
“Informed by both public and targeted consultation carried out over many months, this bill contains an innovative, balanced and, above all, an achievable set of reforms that can position the sector for the future,” she told parliament. The new package does away with changes proposed in the 2014 budget, including a 20 per cent cut to university funding and complete deregulation of fees. Previous education minister Christopher Pyne made two doomed attempts to convince senators to support the old plan.
AAP
Rosie Lewis 1.40pm: ‘More questions than answers’
Australian Bankers’ Association chief executive Anna Bligh says today’s Treasury meeting on the big banks tax “raises more questions than answers”.
She says the $6.2 billion tax is “fraught with even more uncertainty” and Treasury officials “were unable to answer key questions at a briefing with banks in Sydney”.
She says the unanswered questions included:
• The basis on which Treasury calculated the $6.2bn estimate.
• How the new tax would affect transactions between the five banks and the Reserve Bank, and how that might impact the broader economy.
• Which of the banks’ commercial activities will be captured by the tax.
“Not only has the government kept the banks and the public in the dark on this new tax, it is now clear that they have kept Treasury in the dark too,” Ms Bligh said.
“It is even more clear that this is policy on the run, playing fast and loose with the most critical sector of the Australian economy.
“Alarmingly Treasury officials also confirmed the Government was abandoning normal processes in preparing the legislation.”
Ms Bligh has suggested Treasury was not as involved as it should have been in developing the new levy.
“Australians should be asking the question today, where was this policy cooked up? If it wasn’t finely calibrated by very capable Treasury officers with a lot of detail, the kind of detail you would expect when you put a tax on a single part of the economy, then where was it cooked up?”
And she has a warning – if you are a working Australian and have a superannuation account, this tax could affect you.
“When the Treasurer says banks should absorb it, it is code for passing this tax onto shareholders. Who are the shareholders of Australian banks? They are hundreds of thousands of individual Australian shareholders, many of whom are retirees, who are living on share dividends as a result of their retirement.
“The biggest investors, the biggest shareholders, in Australian banks are the superannuation funds of every Australian. If you are a working Australian and you have a superannuation account, then you own shares in one of the major banks in Australia. The Treasurer is saying that this tax should be passed on to your investments.”
1.30pm: Labor won’t support higher education changes
Labor has confirmed its opposition to the government’s higher education package that includes funding cuts for universities and higher tuition fees for students, reports AAP.
“Clearly, Malcolm Turnbull thinks it’s fair to saddle young Australians with a big uni debt at the same time as they are trying to buy a house, or start a family,” Labor education spokeswoman Tanya Plibersek said . “He is completely out of touch.” The Greens also oppose the cuts, meaning Education Minister Simon Birmingham will have to win over 10 of the 12 crossbenchers - but Independent senator Jacqui Lambie has already indicated she’s opposed.
Rosie Lewis 1pm: Tests ‘well-intentioned but nasty’
Malcolm Turnbull spent some of last year’s Christmas with hundreds of homeless people at Wayside Chapel. It is located right in the heart of his electorate, in Kings Cross. Its CEO and pastor Graham Long has written a blog post with his take on the budget, and says the random drug testing of welfare recipients is “well-intentioned but nasty”.
“It reveals that what the government understands about the causes of our deeply entrenched social disadvantage is about the same as what Kim Jong-un understands about diplomacy. It’s discouraging that governments know that “getting tough on the poor” is a message that seems to hearten those who point fingers and don’t understand.”
The tax on banks and a 0.5 per cent increase in the Medicare levy to fully fund the NDIS, however, has his tick of approval.
Emily Ritchie 12pm: CFOs emerge from talks
The CFOs of the five major banks have emerged from two hours of talks with the Treasury this morning after being slapped with a surprise $6 billion tax in this year’s federal budget.
The CFOs from ANZ, Commonwealth Bank, Westpac, NAB and Macquarie Group all met with Treasury secretary John Fraser in Sydney today and will now continue deciphering what the tax will mean for their shareholders and customers.
Westpac CFO Peter King said the meeting was productive and that the tax would likely be deductible, but didn’t give any further detail.
“We’ll now be working through all aspects of the levy,” he said.
Treasurer Scott Morrison announced the five major banks would be hit with a levy that is expected to reap $6.2 billion in revenue for the government over the next four years.
Australian Banking Association CEO Anna Bligh has slammed the policy in recent days, saying that every Australian will have to pay for the levy on the big 5 banks.
“This is bad policy, it’s policy on the run and every Australian is going to have to pay the bill,” Ms Bligh said.
11.30am: “Complete flip flopper”
Mathias Cormann famously questioned whether Bill Shorten would “continue to be like” the “wibble-wobble-wibble-wobble jelly on the plate” on budget repair. Now he’s accusing the Opposition Leader of being “a complete flip flopper” on the 2 per cent deficit levy imposed on high-income earners, which will be lifted from July. Mr Shorten will tonight confirm Labor’s opposition to removing the tax.
“Mr Shorten has been a complete flip flopper on all of this,” Senator Cormann says.
“I was here in this room when we announced the temporary budget repair levy and what did Bill Shorten say at the time? He opposed it. He said he’d oppose it and he’d vote against it in the parliament and of course when it came to the parliament he voted for it and now he wants to make it permanent.
“No we do not support making the temporary budget repair levy permanent. It was also designed as a temporary budget repair levy.”
Richard Gluyas: 11.20am: “No secret money vault”
ANZ Bank chief executive Shayne Elliott has conceded that the new bank tax will impede the ability of the sector to pay dividends, although it was “unlikely to happen tomorrow”.
As the four major banks and Macquarie Group continue to reel from the government’s proposal in Tuesday’s budget to raise $6.2 billion from the sector over four years, Mr Elliott said there was a united view in the industry that the tax was bad policy.
However, he said the banks would “pony up” and pay the tax, as Treasurer Scott Morrison demanded yesterday.
“Of course we are going to pony up - the legislation is clearly going to be passed,” the ANZ chief said.
“But with all due respect to the Treasurer, we don’t have a secret vault of money.”
That meant a variety of stakeholders would make sacrifices to help cover the bank’s higher costs, including shareholders through lower profits, and customers through lower income from deposits or repriced loans.
On the sensitive issue of dividends, Mr Elliott said bank dividends were a significant source of income for shareholders.
“I don’t think the general level of dividends is at risk,” he said.
“But if our profit decreases, it impedes our ability toi maintain dividends. All I’m saying is it’s unlikely to happen tomorrow.”
Senior executives of the banks are meeting with Treasury officials in Sydney and Melbourne this morning.
The banks are being briefed on the tax in greater detail, and will have only 24 hours to make submissions to the government on implementation of the initiative.
11.15am: Banks “already facing headwinds”
Ratings agency Moody’s has weighed in on the Australian banking sector following the announcement of the federal government’s extraordinary new levy on banks in the May budget released Tuesday night.
Currently holding a ‘AA’ rating on the sector, Moody’s says the new levy places further pressure on the sector’s profitability, estimating a reduction of 3.8 per cent in banks’ pre-tax profit as a direct result.
“This levy comes at a time when bank earnings and profitability are already facing multiple headwinds,” the ratings agency said in a release this morning.
It cites moderate credit growth, low interest rates, strong price competition for new business, rising capital requirements and the potential for rising credit costs as bottom line pressures in the industry.
In addition, Moody’s notes the housing affordability measure addressed by the government in the May budget will have little immediate impact on what it calls “latent risks in the housing market”.
11.05am: “Bill has been fudgin it”
Finance Minister Mathias Cormann says Bill Shorten must tell Australians tonight (in his budget reply speech) whether Labor will support or “stand in the way” of the government’s budget.
“Will Bill Shorten prove again that instead of the national interest his only focus is on his perceived political self-interest,” Senator Cormann says. “Because so far he’s been fudging it,” he added.
In a statement released by his office, Senator Cormann has “four key questions” for the Opposition Leader:
• Will Labor keep or reverse $24 billion in business tax cuts, which deliver benefits to 3.2 million small and medium sized Australian businesses and their 6.5 million workers?
• Will Labor commit to actually secure the future of the National Disability Insurance Scheme by funding it in full through a small increase in the Medicare levy, identical to that which his own former Government implemented?
• Is Labor still committed to spend an additional $22 billion on special deals for schools, over and above this Government’s record additional $18.6 billion investment in schools in this Budget?
• Can Labor guarantee the future of a strong private health sector in Australia by committing clearly, that they would not abolish the Private Health Insurance rebate?
10.55am: “Difficult Senate”
Immigration Minister Peter Dutton has conceded the government has made some cuts and increased some taxes in the budget that it “wouldn’t necessarily want to”.
But he said the Coalition was dealing with a “very difficult” Senate and rejected claims the budget was Labor lite.
A day after John Howard and Peter Costello said Scott Morrison’s budget had been shaped to fit the populist demands of the upper house and failed to look at long-term debt, Mr Dutton pointed out the Howard government also struggled to legislate bills.
“John Howard had a Senate that was dominated by the Democrats, he got a GST through the Senate but not in the form that he wanted. He had to negotiate and there were many bills since then that he wasn’t able to get through the Senate and there was great frustration. In some instances unfair dismissal laws for example, I forget the number now but it was something like 27 times they were rejected by the Senate. That’s what we have to deal with,” he told 2GB radio.
Mr Dutton said there was no point whinging about the Senate but the government had to be “realistic about how long you can knock your head against the wall”.
“In this budget cycle we get back into the position where we’re not borrowing every dollar that we’re spending on recurrent expenditure, it’d be like households having to borrow $500 each week just to continue to pay the grocery bill.
“Eventually the debt racks up, it’s too high, and we’ve had to take decisions both in terms of savings and taxes in this budget which we wouldn’t necessarily want to make.
“It’s much easier in government if you’re saying ‘we’re going to cut taxes and increase the amount of money we give out’, that makes you popular but that’s what (Kevin) Rudd and (Wayne) Swan did and we’re not going down that path.
“If people have a look at a detail of the budget there’s a lot that we’re doing there for businesses and families, for pensioners, and there’s a lot that’s going to make sure that we keep our country on track because you don’t know what’s around the corner in the international economy.”
Joe Kelly: 10.20am: Government denied extra time on Adani
Attorney-General George Brandis has failed to receive Senate backing for a motion to extend the Senate’s sitting hours to tomorrow to resolve a deadlock holding back the approval of the $16.5bn Adani coal-mine.
The motion was aimed at allowing Senators extra time to pass important amendments to the Native Title Act following the Federal Court’s controversial McGlade decision in February.
The motion -- which was debated this morning in the upper-house -- was defeated by 35 votes to 33 after Labor and the Greens combined.
The government has now been denied the extra time it wanted to try and close the legal loop-hole exposed in the Federal Court’s McGlade decision.
The Federal Court decision effectively required the unanimous sign-off of an indigenous clan to approve a “land use agreement” instead of the previous requirement of majority support.
An indigenous land use agreement or ILUA is a voluntary agreement entered into between a native title group and other entities about how their land and waters will be used.
The government is keen to amend the Native Title Act because the McGlade decision resulted in the freezing of all new agreements across Australia by the National Native Title Tribunal.
This threw a spanner in the works for Adani’s Carmichael coal-mine in Queensland’s Galilee Basin which was prevented from legally registering its land use agreement with indigenous Australians.
The Senate impasse now looms as one of the key obstacles to the mine going ahead.
The Indian conglomerate is looking to make a final investment decision on the mine within the month and the government is desperate to remove the native title roadblock as soon as possible.
9.20am: Labor “hypocritical” on deficit levy
The Greens have called out Labor on its decision to back an extension of the temporary budget deficit levy on high-income earners.
Ahead of Bill Shorten’s budget reply speech this evening, in which he will pledge Labor to keeping the two per cent levy, the Greens have reminded the opposition it previously voted against a move by the minor party to make the measure permanent.
“Look at the track record of the Labor Party - it’s been feeble and hypocritical on this issue,” Greens senator Peter Whish-Wilson told reporters in Canberra. The Greens will discuss how the levy can be extended beyond its legislated expiry date of June 30.
“In the spirit of Labor adopting another Greens policy we’ll be happy to work with them and the crossbenchers to come up with a solution,” Senator Whish- Wilson said.
The government refused to extend the levy in Tuesday night’s budget. Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce said the measure was always meant to be temporary and the coalition was raising the Medicare levy to fund the national disability insurance scheme.
“To do that we need a wide pool of funds because it is a massive cost,” he said. Senator Nick Xenophon backed the original Greens amendment, saying those earning more than $180,000 a year should be helping reduce the deficit. “We’ve still got a deficit for a few more years,” he said.
Liberal Democrat David Leyonhjelm believes Mr Shorten is struggling to find something to announce because the government has “stolen” all his policies.
AAP
9.00am: “Take a breath”
Scott Morrison has urged the big banks to “take a breath”. He says statements released by ANZ and the Commonwealth Bank, which warned “every extra cost needs to be borne by customers or shareholders, or a combination of both”, were “very measured”.
“This levy’s in, this tax is staying on the banks, this is a fair and reasonable tax,” he said.
“Today in Sydney officials from Treasury will meet with officials of the banks and work through the detail, and I think that’s important to do in a sober and considered way … (and) I would be very surprised if the banks were to take a different approach.”
.@ScottMorrisonMP: the banks need to 'take a breath' and work on a reasonable reply to the #Budget2017 levy. More: https://t.co/0P7j0ptEX9 pic.twitter.com/zIX43OphpY
— Sky News Australia (@SkyNewsAust) May 10, 2017
8.30am: Shorten ‘playing class war’
Scott Morrison has accused Bill Shorten of “playing class war politics with the disabled” as the Opposition Leader prepares to call on the government to maintain a temporary tax on the rich.
The 2 per cent deficit levy on high-income earners with taxable incomes over $180,000 will be lifted from July 1, while the Medicare levy - paid by most taxpayers - will increase by 0.5 per cent to 2.5 per cent in two years.
Mr Shorten is expected to hit out at the “fairness” of Tuesday’s budget, declaring it is “taxing middle class and working class Australians and spending it on millionaires and multinationals”.
But the Treasurer hit back on ABC radio, saying that keeping the deficit levy “doesn’t go anywhere near” the necessary revenue needed to fully fund the National Disability Insurance Scheme.
“Bill Shorten’s playing class war politics with the disabled, I really think that’s unfortunate. We sought to pay for the funding gap in the NDIS by putting forward savings, the Labor Party rejected that,” he said.
“So we’ve done exactly what they did when the first introduced this important scheme, which we supported. They put a 0.5 per cent levy on the Medicare levy and that is exactly the same thing we’ve done now. This is all going to the NDIS, the levy only comes in once the additional bills come in and that gives us the opportunity over the next two years to explain to Australians exactly what the NDIS is going to deliver.”
8.00am: “Not a war”
Scott Morrison has declared he’s “not having a war” with the big banks as he launched a strident defence of the government’s $6.2 billion levy, insisting it was a “pretty fair arrangement”.
Speaking on ABC radio, the Treasurer also moved to assure the business community this was not about “putting higher taxes on other large corporates”.
While Qantas CEO Alan Joyce this morning voiced concerns the government may simply impose more taxes on profitable businesses, Mr Morrison said the rest of corporate Australia should feel “very at ease”.
7.50am: ‘Budget for our times’
Malcolm Turnbull has taken the Today Show for a mini tour of his prime ministerial office as he continues to sell the budget, labelling it a “budget for our times”.
.@Ross_Greenwood takes a tour of @TurnbullMalcolm's office. #9Today pic.twitter.com/XNdZhqWc9E
— The Today Show (@TheTodayShow) May 10, 2017
Pointing out his standing desk, a painting of him kayaking with sharks “closing in” and a photo of his family on the day he was sworn-in to the top job, the Prime Minister said his office was a good space for a small meeting – such as a meeting of the Turnbull government’s leadership team.
Yesterday he declared he was proud of the budget, today he says: “It’s not a fantasy budget, you’ve got to live in the real world.
“It’s the budget for our times. It’s a budget that is fair, it’s responsible, it provides real incentives for business to invest and employ. It provides $75 billion for infrastructure, it guarantees Medicare.”
7.40am: ‘Don’t make Oz uncompetitive’
Qantas CEO Alan Joyce has warned against a policy of imposing more taxes to raise revenue, saying surprises and uncertainty are not good for business, and may make Australia less competitive.
“What’s important is that we have all of our industries, all of our businesses being competitive. That they have certainty about policy,” he told ABC radio on Thursday.
As the boss of a company which has other corporations as customers, Mr Joyce said he wanted to see others continue to grow and do well.
7.15am: Bankers set for showdown
Angry bankers are set for a showdown with Treasury officials over the $6.2 billion levy on Australia’s largest financial institutions in Tuesday’s federal budget.
Treasury officials are set to brief bankers in Sydney today. Treasurer Scott Morrison insists the levy is fairly standard in many countries world wide.
“If the banks want to send a message to Australia, that they want to horde this level of profit to themselves and not do their fair share to support budget repair, they can make that decision,” he told 2SM Radio, adding that Australians would turn around and say the banks are greedy.
Politics preview:
The bosses of the nation’s biggest banks said yesterday the cost of the government’s $6.2 billion federal levy would be borne by their shareholders, customers and employees, as Malcolm Turnbull and Scott Morrison ramped up their attack and vowed to withhold chief executives’ bonuses. David Crowe and Richard Gluyas take a look at the fallout and government’s defence of the tax here.
Other business leaders such as Qantas CEO Alan Joyce are questioning whether the government will “just start having an imposition on any profitable businesses”, cautioning against a policy of more taxes to raise revenue. More on his comments shortly.
Tonight Bill Shorten will deliver his budget reply speech and argue the 2 per cent deficit levy on high-income earners, due to expire in July, should be maintained.
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