Voters’ choice: who to trust on the economy, major reforms

Scott Morrison and Bill Shorten will battle over who is trusted more on the economy, better services and offering a “fair go’’.

Scott Morrison addresses a news conference at Parliament House in Canberra yesterday after calling the election for May 18. Picture: Kym Smith

• Federal Election 2019 Full Coverage

Scott Morrison and Bill Shorten have launched a 37-day election campaign battle over who is trusted more to improve the nation’s economy, deliver better services and offer Australians a “fair go”.

Framing a contest over radically opposed agendas, the Prime Minister will today warn that Mr Shorten would become the “highest taxing” leader in the nation’s history if elected with a tax bill now approaching $400 billion.

But Mr Shorten vowed to put Labor’s focus on working and ­middle-class people, promising to tackle cost-of-­living pressures and lift wages.

As both leaders campaign in Sydney today, the Coalition will release new Treasury analysis showing a $387bn blowout in extra taxes on households under Labor over the next decade. The costings suggest that households would be hit with $5400 more in taxes a year under Labor compared with a Morrison government.

Standing in the Prime Minister’s courtyard at Parliament House yesterday to launch his first campaign as leader, Mr Morrison used the incumbency of government to position the Coalition’s economic credentials as the centrepiece of his campaign.

“You will have the choice ­between a government that is ­delivering a strong economy and will continue to do so, or Bill Shorten’s Labor Party, whose policies would weaken our economy,” he said. “You will get to decide ­between a government that has fixed the budget or Bill Shorten’s Labor Party that we always know can’t manage money.

“You will have a choice ­between a government that is lowering taxes for all Australians, or Bill Shorten’s Labor Party that will ­impose higher taxes that will weigh down our economy. It’s taken us more than five years to turn around Labor’s budget mess, now is not the time to turn back.”

The Opposition Leader, flanked by deputy Tanya Plibersek, used the backdrop of a suburban loungeroom in Melbourne’s Liberal heartland to argue Labor’s case for better service delivery, action on climate change and a unified team.

“Australians face a real and vital choice at this election,” Mr Shorten said. “Do you want Labor’s energy versus the ­government’s tiredness? Labor’s focus on the future versus being stuck in the past.

“We’ll get on top of cost-of-­living burdens and we’ll get wages moving again in this country. And, we can manage the economy in the interests of working and ­middle-class people because my team is united … When everyday Australians are getting a fair go, then this economy hums.”

Mr Morrison tried to seize the agenda by calling a May 18 election, four days earlier than expected, after making an early-morning drive to Governor-General Peter Cosgrove’s Yarralumla residence.

Mr Morrison said that, had the election been called on Sunday, the close of nominations would have fallen on a public holiday.

Bringing it forward meant the Liberal and National parties were able to plan to have their postal vote applications arriving in letterboxes by today before families go on school holidays. Labor will have most of its postals arriving on Monday.

 

Mr Morrison leads a battle-worn Coalition seeking a third term in government with its third leader in the space of six years and lagging behind in the polls.

Mr Shorten, challenged by low approval ratings but with a party united, would be only the fourth Labor leader since World War II to have won government from opposition if he succeeds, following Gough Whitlam, Bob Hawke and Kevin Rudd.

The campaign starts with the Coalition and Labor now notionally on 72 seats each after changes to the electoral boundaries, the loss of Malcolm Turnbull’s seat of Wentworth to an independent, and Liberal MP Julia Banks’ defection to the crossbench.

The most recent Newspoll, in The Australian on Monday, had the Coalition narrowing the gap against Labor to 52-48 per cent on a two-party-preferred vote.

Mr Morrison blitzed television last night from the marginal western Sydney swing seat of Lindsay, which the Liberal Party believes it can take back from Labor.

Mr Shorten will arrive in Sydney today and spend several days there as he tries to fight perceptions the nation’s most populous state is leaning towards the government, following a poor result for Labor in last month’s state election.

Josh Frydenberg will today ­release the new Treasury analysis showing the $387bn blowout in Labor’ tax plans. The analysis ­assumes an increase of $230bn from Labor’s refusal to adopt ­phases two and three of the ­Coalition’s new income tax plan while the reintroduction of the deficit levy is costed at $6.5bn.

The abolition of negative gearing on existing dwellings would raise $31bn. The scrapping of ­refunds for unused franking credits, dubbed by the Coalition as the “retiree tax” would raise $57bn. Changes to the tax treatment of superannuation would raise $27bn while new taxes on trusts would impose $27bn in new taxes on top of $2bn in putting caps on tax-­deductible fees for accounting.

The move to steer the campaign debate to a contest over economic management came with the first ratings agency assessment of last week’s budget, which confirmed the country’s AAA credit rating. “The budget underscores Australia’s fiscal strength, a key support for its sovereign credit profile, although the outlook is subject to a number of significant risks,” the Moody’s report said.

It confirmed the Treasurer’s warnings of significant risks on the horizon that could undermine growth forecasts, including slowing global and Chinese output.

Labor is likely to exploit questions raised in the Moody’s report about the budget’s claims to ­improving wage growth, which it said were based on optimistic forecasts.

Mr Frydenberg accused Labor of making funding promises built on an unprecedented economic “experiment”.

Mr Shorten said the election was not about personalities, backbiting and division.

“You know what ­people hate about politics? It’s that too many politicians are consumed by themselves, too puffed up about their own identities and they’re not thinking enough about the ­people,” Mr Shorten said. “People are sick of politics-as-usual.”

Asked whether Labor would be the frontrunner at the election, Mr Shorten said: “We are competitive but my obligation and my pressure I don’t feel comes from the government so much as fulfilling the faith of the people.

“A lot of Australians think the system is broken.”

Opposition Treasury spokesman Chris Bowen last night ­accused Mr Morrison of defending “the top end of town”.