NewsBite

Company tax cuts in focus after ALP by-election sweep

Malcolm Turnbull has left the door open to policy changes following by-election result amid pressure to overhaul tax plan.

JOE KELLY
7 min read
9:09AMJuly 29, 2018.
Updated 9:33PMJuly 29, 2018
Print
Labor candidate for Longman Susan Lamb and Leader of the Opposition Bill Shorten claim victory in the seat of Longman at the Caboolture RSL Club. Picture: AAP
Labor candidate for Longman Susan Lamb and Leader of the Opposition Bill Shorten claim victory in the seat of Longman at the Caboolture RSL Club. Picture: AAP

Malcolm Turnbull has left the door open to policy changes following the Super Saturday by-elections amid growing pressure to overhaul the government’s plan to give a tax break to the nation’s largest companies, including the big banks.

The Prime Minister today said that Australia needed to have a competitive tax rate, but didn’t rule-out the prospect of changes to the policy after key Senate crossbenchers raised the prospect of supporting more limited tax relief for companies with a turnover of up to $500 million.

“We will look very seriously and thoughtfully and humbly at the way in which the voters have responded,” Mr Turnbull said. “The real test of a public opinion and political opinion is obviously at elections. Byelections do have special characteristics... We will be carefully considering the analysis of the byelections particularly in Braddon and in Longman. But I can assure you, we will remain committed to the strong national economic plan that is delivering record jobs growth (and) strong investment”.

Pressed on whether the company tax cuts had loomed as a major negative during the Super Saturday by-elections, Mr Turnbull said that he remained “committed to ensuring that Australia has a competitive company tax rate”.

“If you look around the country, if you believe that having record jobs growth is important and I do - I think most Australians do - you can see that’s coming because businesses are investing and they are hiring,” he said.

Mr Turnbull also attacked Labor for “lying” about cuts to health, saying that commonwealth government funding for the Caboolture hospital had increased.

“Labor has got a strategy of telling outrageous lies,” he said. “We have to really use the free media... to get across those facts and unfortunately politics is often reported like sport nowadays and not a lot of attention is being given to the truth or otherwise of what politicians are saying,” he said.

“I’m telling the truth. I think it is very important for everybody to ask this question - how important is it that politicians tell the truth. I think it’s enormously important. Bill Shorten has been lying and lying and lying.

“And in Longman the claim that we are cutting funding for public hospitals is nothing more or less than a lie because the funding has been increasing since we came into government”.

Mr Turnbull denied Labor’s emphatic victory on Saturday was a repudiation of his government, insisting the ALP has “nothing to crow about” over the result.

Labor candidates won four of the five seats up for grabs yesterday, with the fifth going to Centre Alliance’s Rebekah Sharkie. In Longman, where Mr Turnbull spent time campaigning with candidate Trevor Ruthenberg, the LNP suffered a 10 per cent swing against it.

“The reality is the Labor party has secured an average or conventional swing to it in Longman and has not secured any swing to it at all in Braddon,” he said.

“There’s not a lot to celebrate for the Labor party. There’s certainly nothing to crow about.”

HINCH: MY TAX OFFER STILL STANDS

Senator Derryn Hinch says he would support company tax cuts for businesses with a turnover of up to $500 million and vote with the government if they carved out the banks, in the wake of Malcolm Turnbull’s by-election losses.

As the Prime Minister came under pressure today from GetUp!, the Australia Institute and the ACTU over his government’s planned corporate tax cuts for big business, Senator Hinch said his offer to back a smaller tax package “still stands” and declared his proposal was looking “rosier by the minute”.

“Post Super Saturday my offer to the government to give company tax cuts up to $500 million - but excludes the banks - still stands,” Senator Hinch said.

ACTU secretary Sally McManus attacked the government over what she described as “trickle-down economics lies” and said the government’s proposed company tax cuts would not support wage growth.

“They equal less money for hospitals and schools,” Ms McManus said.

Social Services Minister Dan Tehan told Sky News this morning the government would need to learn the lessons of the of by-election outcomes which saw the ALP’s Susan Lamb strengthen her hold over the key Queensland seat of Longman.

Pressed several times on whether the company tax cuts were a problem for the Turnbull government — including in the crucial battle ground state of Queensland — Mr Tehan appeared reluctant to confirm the policy would be taken to the next election if the package failed to pass the Senate.

“That is our commitment. That is what we will try to do. When the parliament resumes in a couple of weeks time we want to get the company tax cuts through the parliament because they will generate jobs growth and set us up for the future,” he said. “We’ve got to make sure that we’re out there selling what the company tax cuts are all about. And what they’re about is the 14,000 jobs which have been created in Queensland in the last month. That is what those company tax cuts is all about”.

Mr Tehan said the government was still committed to trying to pass the company tax cuts through the parliament before the next election despite opposition from Pauline Hanson’s One Nation and the Centre Alliance voting blocs in the upper house.

“We want to get these company tax cuts through the parliament. We want to deliver these for the nation,” he said. “Let’s hope that we’ve got them through in the next few weeks when parliament resumes for the Spring sitting so that what we will be doing is seeing what other policies we need to put in place to ensure future jobs growth”.

The government has passed tax cuts for companies with a turnover of up to $50m, but Labor has opposed extending the tax relief for larger companies and accused the government of giving a handout to the big banks.

‘TURNBULL’S LEADERSHIP SAFE’

Mr Tehan dismissed questions about whether Mr Turnbull’s leadership was under threat, arguing that the only person troubled by the results would have been Labor frontbencher Anthony Albanese.

“In terms of the Prime Minister, the Prime Minister had us in a position as a government where it was being speculated that we could win a by-election for the first time in a hundred years from government,” he said. “So, I think the only person who would have been very disappointed and who wouldn’t have slept last night was Anthony Albanese”.

Mr Tehan said the party would continue to focus on the “hard yards” of governing and delivering outcomes for the Australian people.

He also defended the government’s decision to run Georgina Downer as its candidate in the seat of Mayo in South Australia — which was comfortably held by the Centre Alliance under Rebekha Sharkie.

“I think she is an outstanding candidate. And I’m so pleased that she’s announced that her campaign for the next general election starts today. Full support for her because she would make a significant contribution to the Australian parliament,” he said.

Following the outcome of the five by-elections, Mr Tehan said the government would need to learn the lessons of the campaigns in the three seats contested by the Liberals including in Longman, Mayo and the Tasmanian seat of Braddon.

Defence Industry Minister Christopher Pyne also admitted that the government’s company tax cut package was a hard policy to sell in the wake of the by-election results.

“Selling company tax cuts for small and medium enterprises is a lot easier than selling them for larger companies,” he told the ABC’s Insiders program. “But fundamentally even the Labor Party has said from Paul Keating to Bill Shorten that if you reduce company taxes you create jobs, growth, investment and higher wages. And that is true and we need to keep repeating that truism”.

Mr Pyne did not offer any guarantee that the policy would be taken to the next election in its current from, saying that the government was committed to trying to secure passage of the package through the parliament.

However, he argued it was the “right policy” and warned that Australia should not be the OECD country with the highest tax rates. “We will attempt to pass these company tax cuts in the Spring session. And we will work obviously with the Senate crossbench to make that happen,” he said.

Labor Deputy Leader Tanya Plibersek told the Insiders program the results of the by-elections were a vindication of the Opposition’s policies and its focus on health, education, jobs and workplace pay and conditions.

“And it’s been I think a repudiation of the government’s message that if we give tax cuts at the top end, those will trickle down to benefit ordinary Australians,” Ms Plibersek said.

Ms Plibersek also argued the result would put an end to speculation over the Labor leadership, saying the Opposition would continue to focus on its key strengths of health and education.

Left wing activist group GetUp also ramped up its push for the government to walk away from its corporate tax cuts with national director Paul Oosting saying that voters had delivered a strong message to Mr Turnbull.

“The vast majority of Longman voters gave the thumbs down to the Liberal party for its plan to give some of the richest businesses a tax handout,” he said. “The Turnbull government needs to learn the lesson here, and start by committing publicly to abandon their $80 billion tax handout to large corporations”.

GetUp said that hundreds of members campaigned against the government’s company tax cuts in Longman and made a total of 27,000 phone calls in a three-week period on the subject.

“Malcolm Turnbull must respect everyday Australians and drop the corporate tax cut that he has spent the last two years trying to ram through the Senate. How many times does he need to be told?”

More Coverage

Labor claims Super Saturday sweep
Sid Maher, Ben Packham
Bloodbath is a nightmare for PM
Simon Benson

Add your comment to this story

To join the conversation, please Don't have an account? Register

Join the conversation, you are commenting as Logout

More related stories

Original URL: https://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/government-needs-to-learn-the-lessons-of-the-campaigns-dan-tehan/news-story/fe8926832d28212c76ff81df9836df20