Mathias Cormann ‘committed’ to company tax cuts

Mathias Cormann says the government remains “absolutely committed” to company tax cuts, despite its by-election failure.

Mathias Cormann remains committed to corporate tax cuts. Picture: AAP.

Finance Minister Mathias Cormann says the government remains “absolutely committed” to company tax cuts, despite failing to win any seats in the Super Saturday by-election.

Senator Cormann’s resolve comes as senior cabinet ministers have privately warned that the government must resolve the company tax issue or face a wipe-out at the next election.

Labor leader Bill Shorten says Mr Turnbull should drop plans to extend a tax cut from 30 per cent to 25 per cent to businesses with annual turnover greater than $50 million and resign.

Senator Cormann said company tax cuts remained integral to the international competitiveness of Australian businesses.

“It’s very important that we protect all businesses across Australia from the impact of lower business tax rates in other parts of the world,” he told ABC radio.

Senator Cormann said the government still intended to put legislation for the cuts forward when parliament resumes in a fortnight.

“That is our intention. We said before the break that we had to do some more work,” he said.

“We are currently engaged in doing some more work, and indeed our intention would be to bring the legislation on for a vote in the next sitting fortnight.”

Asked whether the government would persist if the legislation was again rejected by the Senate, Mr Cormann said: “We are absolutely committed to this plan.”

‘We need to look long and hard at what worked and what didn’t’

Minister for Law Enforcement and Cybersecurity Angus Taylor said the government should not “over-react” to its losses in key marginal seats Braddon and Longman, but did need to look “long and hard” at what had worked and what had not.

“We know that by-elections typically yield significant swings against the government, in the order of four per cent, and we saw that in Longman,” Mr Taylor told Sky News.
“We did significantly better than that in Braddon, in fact it was a pretty good result in Braddon.

“It’s fair to say that there’s disappointment as well, and we should learn from this like we should learn from any election or by-election.

“I do think we need to have a hard-headed analysis of the impact of the campaign and policies on those outcomes, both good and bad, and use this as a learning experience.

“We’ve got 12 months before the next election. It’s time to actually sort some of these things out, and make sure we’re in a position to win the election.

“Ultimately what none of us want, and what no Liberal wants is to see Bill Shorten and his rampant class warfare governing the country. I think it would be a disaster for the country, and we’ve got to make sure that in the next 12 months we’re properly prepared.”

Asked whether a nine per cent primary vote swing against the government in Longman, where the primary vote went down to 29 per cent would send “shivers” down the spines of the Coalition given the simililarity of other Queensland seats, Mr Taylor said Newspoll had been indicating for some time that the LNP’s primary vote was down in Queensland.

“That’s not new. But it deserves a hard-headed analysis, and that’s exactly what we will do,” he said.

“The important point here is we’ve got time. By-elections don’t necessarily reflect general elections. People aren’t voting on who’s going to govern, they’re voting on what’s happening in their local electorates, so they’re not the same thing, but we do have time and we do need to do that analysis.”

Asked whether the government should shelve its plans to extend company tax cuts to larger businesses, Mr Taylor said he did not want to be part of a government which allowed corporate Australia to become globally uncompetitive.

“That’s something that I don’t want as a Liberal, because I know that will damage Australia’s prosperity into the future, for our kids and our grandkids, so I think we need to remain true to our principles and our beliefs in what we do, but we do as I say need to have a good, hard look at what we can learn from these by-elections, what it means for the general election, and how we ensure that we stay in government beyond the general elections,” he said.

“The intention is clear: it’s to take our corporate tax cuts to the parliament in the next sitting of parliament.”

Mr Taylor conceded company tax cuts were a hard sell during the banking royal commission.

“It’s tough, but it’s the right thing to do, and we should remain focused on what is right, which is keeping our business sector competitive,” he said.

Asked whether letters sent by Catholic schools in Longman to parents warning that they would face funding cuts under the Coalition had cost the government votes, Mr Taylor said he could speculate all day about how much impact different issues had.

“That analysis needs to be done,” he said.

“Of course, that’s what we should do, we’ve got a real life by-election here where people are voting, and we can learn from that, but today is not the day to speculate on what the outcomes of that work would be.”

‘Drop tax cuts & resign’: Shorten to PM

Mr Shorten said he wasn’t getting ahead of himself when asked whether he could “almost smell” being prime minister.

“The result showed me we are on the right track. I took it as a big sign post towards the next general election,” Mr Shorten told the Nine Network.

“Frankly these results made me realise the responsibility I and our united team have to put people ahead of our usual debates.

“People are over me and Malcolm Turnbull going cat and dog at each other. What they want to see is us talk about them.

“I will say this this morning, it appears that the Liberals are finally getting the message their corporate tax cuts for the big end of town are on the nose with everyday people.

“If Mr Turnbull drops these corporate tax cuts he needs to go with them. This is his one political economic idea. If you can’t back in your own core economic values get out of the way and let people who have alternative economic values which they believe in and give them a chance.”

Asked whether he would be Australia’s next prime minister, Mr Shorten said it was up to the Australian people.

“If you want to make sure you can afford to see a doctor, that you can go to a hospital and get the quality care and there are not cuts, I’m your man,” he said.

Mr Shorten said Labor’s message had resonated with voters because it was “about the people, not the politicians”.

“Mr Turnbull made it about leadership. The reality is he needs to drop the tax cuts on the way out of office, he needs to drop them, leave the keys to the Lodge and go.

“He has made his whole case to be Prime Minister on the basis of reducing corporate tax rates for big business.

“It’s a bad idea. But if he can’t even sell his own economic ideas he should hand over to someone who can sell economic ideas that actually believe him.”

Mr Turnbull maintains his lead over Mr Shorten as preferred prime minister, 48 to 29, in today’s Newspoll.

Mr Shorten said that lead had not helped Mr Turnbull on Saturday.

“That’s what you really count. You can talk about polls, I make a practice of never doing it, whether they are good, bad or indifferent.

“Mr Turnbull said it was all about him versus me, I said it was all about better hospitals not bigger banks.

“When the actual test comes, when people have to vote, fill in the numbers on the slip of paper and put it in the box, Labor did better.

“We were better not because of Mr Turnbull or me, but because of our ideas about looking after every day Australians.”

Asked what leadership rival Anthony Albanese should do now, in light of Labor’s success with Mr Shorten as leader, the Opposition Leader said Mr Albanese had been a loyal team member.

“The point about this is all my team members are loyal,” he said.

“The other thing here is I didn’t believe it was a problem last week and I certainly don’t now.”