PoliticsNow: Pauline Hanson to support $144bn tax package

PoliticsNow: Pauline Hanson to support the government’s $144bn tax package, saying she’s “confident” it will pass the senate tomorrow.

Opposition Leader Bill Shorten has taken aim at Malcolm Turnbull over his comments in Question Time. Picture: Kym Smith

• Tax bill passes Senate
• ‘Anxious time’ for Telstra staff
• Hanson leaves government hanging
• Treasurer channels Mr Miyagi

Hello and welcome to PoliticsNow, The Australian’s live blog on the happenings at Parliament House in Canberra. Malcolm Turnbull and Bill Shorten are set to keep the focus on income tax today after Labor revealed it would attempt to block most of the government’s $144 billion package.

• Top story: Labor targets ‘out of touch’ PM

Rhian Deutrom 10.25pm: Hanson throws support behind tax

One Nation leader Pauline Hanson has thrown her support behind the government’s $144 billion income tax package this evening, saying she was “confident” that the bill would get passed the senate in tomorrow’s vote.

Speaking on Steve Price’s 2GB program this evening, Ms Hanson said she supported the bill in a vote on Wednesday and would support it again tomorrow.

“Hopefully, the way everyone voted today to support the government on the tax package, it will pass the senate tomorrow,” Ms Hanson said.

“It’s very good”.

Ms Hanson was firm in her support of the bill, saying that “people doing it tough” needed a tax break.

“I’ve been voting with the government to pass this package and it will come back to finalise tomorrow before parliament and yes, I will be supporting it,” she said.

“I back this. I’ve looked at the figures”.

She said while implementing the package “would be tough”, she advised the government to reign in its spending and cut back on the wages of bureaucrats to assist in the rollout.

When asked by Price what the government promised in exchange for her support, Ms Hanson said she was assured that the coalition was working to introduce an apprenticeship scheme for rural and regional areas.

“I said to them I’m passionate about this because I believe that a lot of Australian businesses will take up apprentices under the scheme,” she said.

Under Ms Hanson’s proposed scheme, the governemtn would pay 75 percent of an apprentice’s first year of salary, 50 percent of the second and 25 percent of the third.

“But there’s a proviso. This scheme will start with rural and regional Australia first”.

“I want the kids out in rural and regional areas to have a fair go at getting a job as an apprentice to make sure they stay there in those areas with their families and not leave the country towns to come to the cities for jobs”.

Greg Brown 8.23pm: Tax bill passes Senate

The amended income tax bill has passed the Senate. It will go back down to the lower house tomorrow where the government will block the amendments and send the original legislation back up to the Senate.

Greg Brown 5.04pm Tax bill vote tonight

The Senate has voted in favour of a government motion that will bring on a vote for the amended income tax bill at 6.30 this evening.

This will enable the amended bill to be debated in the House tomorrow, where the government has the numbers to reject it and send it straight back up to the Senate in its original form.

Labor, the Greens and crossbench senator Tim Storer were the only senators who voted against the motion to put a time limit on the debate.

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Greg Brown 3.32pm Turnbull says he does know what the median income is

Malcolm Turnbull speaks at the end of QT to say he now knows what the median income is: $53,000.

The median income for full-time workers in 2016 was $66,000, according to Bernard Salt.

Greg Brown 3.11pm Turnbull denies aged care worker comments

Bill Shorten goes Malcolm Turnbull again on his comments yesterday, when he said a 60-year-old aged care worker was entitled to aspire to a better job.

The Prime Minister claims he never said it. And yet again the word “aspiration” gets a good run in his answer.

“The Labor Party may be mystified by aspiration but nobody is mystified by the way in which the Leader of the Opposition again and again misleads this House. I said no such thing,” Turnbull says.

Turnbull says Labor wants to deny workers over the age of 60 a promotion.

“They can’t aspire to anything ... the patronising smugness, slimy insinuation about older Australians, it is sickening,” he says.

“It would embarrass, and does embarrass, the men and women who were leaders of the Labor Party in years gone by.

“We don’t have to have doubt why Paul Keating said Labor is fading because it is not able to connect to aspiration or Australians.”

Greg Brown 3.02pm ‘Snobbish’ too far

Speaker Tony Smith has taken issue with Labor’s continued use of “abusive” adjectives to describe Malcolm Turnbull in questions.

For the most part, Labor MPs have described the Prime Minister as “arrogant and out of touch”.

But Smith says Labor MP Julie Collins took it to a “new low” when she described Turnbull as “snobbish”.

“My personal view is this demeans the house, because it leads to very aggressive questions, that have statements,” Smith says.

There has been no directive issued at the opposition but Bill Shorten’s team has been put on notice.

Greg Brown 2.42pm Turnbull’s wage ignorance

Labor’s Chris Bowen asks Malcolm Turnbull what the median wage in Australia is.

The Prime Minister admits he doesn’t know.

“Rather than make an attempt to pick a number, I will take that on notice and I will come back to the honourable member on it,” Turnbull says.

Greg Brown 2.14pm What did you give One Nation?

Labor’s Tony Burke asks Malcolm Turnbull what commitments he made to One Nation in return for the party’s support in the Senate today.

The Prime Minister fobs it, simply saying the amendments pushed by Labor on the government’s income tax package would be rejected when the bill comes back to the House.

“There is an opportunity for him to show a consistency (and a) steadfast commitment to push aside the mystification of the member for Sydney and vote for the bill and ensure that Australians at a fairer tax system,” Turnbull says.

Greg Brown 2.31pm Labor goes in on Telstra

Opposition communication spokeswoman Michelle Rowland uses Telstra’s sacking of 8000 workers to grill Malcolm Turnbull on his tax policies.

She asks if a telco executive from “Sydney’s North Shore” on more than $1 million a year gets a tax cut of $7000, while a western Sydney shop assistant selling phone plans would only get a break of $10 a week.

The Prime Minister says the package is equitable as there will be more people on the top income bracket of 45 per cent.

He also says the proposed flat bracket of people earning between $41,000 and $200,000 rewards aspiration.

“We are inspired by the aspiration of Australians, the Labor Party is mystified by it,” he says.

Greg Brown 2.21pm Turnbull accuses Bowen of dishonesty

Labor’s Chris Bowen goes Malcolm Turnbull on his comments in the parliament yesterday about 60-year-old aged care workers having the right to aspire to a better job.

The Prime Minister accuses him of being misleading.

“Nothing better summed up the character of the modern Labor Party than the dishonest question just asked by the honourable member,” Turnbull says.

Greg Brown 2.17pm Back to the Senate

Malcolm Turnbull uses a Dixer to tell the House the government will reject Labor’s amendments to its $144 billion income tax package and send it straight back to the Senate in its original form.

“We have a tax plan in the Senate, which we will, if it comes back here with the amendment, we will send it straight back,” the PM says.

This morning, the Senate backed a Labor amendment to separate stage three from the government’s package.

“Aspiration is what is driving the Australian economy,” Turnbull says.

“It is aspiration, the desire of Australians to get ahead, to do better for their families, to ensure that their kids have got greater opportunities than they had, to ensure that their businesses do well.”

Greg Brown 2.10pm: Insults start early

Bill Shorten opens question time with a jibe about Urban Infrastructure Minister Paul Fletcher’s response to the news 8000 Telsta workers would be sacked.

“When eight thousand Telstra workers lost their job today, the Minister for Urban Infrastructure shrugged his shoulders and said as a former telco executive, I can say these things do happen from time to time,” Shorten says.

“Yesterday the Prime Minister told a 60-year-old age care worker in Burnie to get a better job. Doesn’t this reveal everything the Prime Minister stands for?”

Malcolm Turnbull says Shorten is “smug and slimy”, and thinks 60-year-olds should not be able to rise to management positions.

“They refer to a 60-year-old because the insinuation there was that is it, you can’t do anything else, you can’t earn anything more,” Turnbull says.

“I have been 60 and I know ... 60-year-old’s have got plenty of energy, plenty of ambition, and there is a lot of them and they are going to come after you at the next election.”

Greg Brown 1.51pm: Cross-the-floor threat?

Liberal MP Craig Kelly refused to rule out crossing the floor if he was not happy with the final design of the national energy guarantee.

Mr Kelly has raised strong concerns about the likely design of the NEG, including the proposal to legislate emissions reductions targets from the beginning of the policy’s implementation rather than back-end it to the end of the decade.

“On every single piece of legislation, every single member of the back bench reserves the right to cross the floor,” Mr Kelly told Sky News.

“The reason I am passionate about this is because of the effects that I see it is having on constituents in my electorate.”

Mr Kelly threatened last month to cross the floor if he was dumped from his seat by the Liberal Party.

Greg Brown 1.45pm: Labor goes after the PM

Labor has released a new ad, using words Malcolm Turnbull used in the parliament yesterday to frame him as a “snob” and “arrogant and out of touch”.

Can you believe this guy? 🎩 WATCH and SHARE #auspol pic.twitter.com/5JkL9CIkA2

— Jim Chalmers MP (@JEChalmers) June 20, 2018

Joe Kelly 1.25pm: ’Why reform is so important’

Malcolm Turnbull said he had spoken to Telstra chief executive Andy Penn last night about the company’s plan to shed 8000 jobs over the next three years, saying it was a “reminder of why it’s so important to have a strong economy”.

“Telstra is putting in place a fund ... to support the transition of the employees that leave Telstra on to new occupations and new opportunities,” the prime minister said.

Mr Turnbull said the maintenance of a strong economy would ensure that, while one company might reduce its workforce, other businesses would still be creating new jobs.

“That is what our policies are doing. That is what our economic plan is doing,” he said. “It is what our tax relief is doing at the corporate level ... and of course it’s why our personal income tax reform is so important”.

Malcolm Turnbull has spoken to Telstra’s chief executive about planned job cuts. Picture: AAP

Greg Brown 1.10pm: Hanson implored to block tax package

Bill Shorten has urged Pauline Hanson to “remember who voted for you” and to back the battlers rather than Malcolm Turnbull’s income tax package.

With the One Nation leader indicating she is likely to support the Prime Minister’s package, the Opposition Leader urged her to “stop just doing everything the Liberals ask of you”.

“Pauline, remember who voted for you. You’re meant to be this champion of Queensland battlers,” Mr Shorten said.

“But it seems that now she’s come to Canberra, she’s forgotten who put her there and that’s a recipe for disaster. I say to Senator Hanson, back the battlers, Labor will. Let’s back them together. 1.9 million Queenslanders will be better off under our tax proposals, our tax refunds, than the government’s.

“Please stop just doing everything the Liberals ask of you and instead let’s just stand up for Queensland.”

Greg Brown 1pm: Batman gets the boot

The Australian Electoral Commission will rename Ged Kearney’s Melbourne seat, dumping early settler John Batman in favour of an indigenous activist. Full story here

Greg Brown 12.50pm: PM ‘insult’ attacked

Bill Shorten attended an aged-care centre in Canberra this morning to rub in Malcolm Turnbull’s comments in parliament yesterday, when the Prime Minister said aged care workers were entitled to “aspire to get a better job”.

“Not only was that grossly insulting to aged care workers, it just shows you how out of touch this government and this Prime Minister is with the Australian people and Australian society,” the Opposition Leader said.

Mr Shorten said aged care workers, and other low income workers, deserved bigger tax breaks than what the government was offering.

“Those aged care workers in there earn $50,000. Mr Turnbull doesn’t earn $50,000 and good luck to him,” Mr Shorten said.

“But for a lot of people in this country on $50,000 and $60,000 and $70,000 a year, they’re working very hard and they actually deserve a better tax break than this government is giving them.”

During a rowdy Question Time yesterday, the prime minister launched into a tirade against the opposition saying Labor wanted to end “enterprise and aspiration”.

Labor asked Mr Turnbull whether an aged-care worker in Burnie, Tasmania, should aspire to be an investment worker in order to better benefit from the tax cuts.

“The 60-year-old aged-care worker in Burnie is entitled to aspire to get a better job, entitled to get a promotion and earn more,” Mr Turnbull told parliament.

“Australians should be entitled to aspire to get ahead, to get a better job, to invest in their business, to make some real economic progress in their lives,” Mr Turnbull told MPs.

“It is what Labor used to stand for, but no more. This privileged elite opposite, they want to keep the workers in their place.”

— With AAP

12.25pm: Farmers get helping hand

Farmers in hardship will get an extra year of support under federal government plans to help rural and regional property owners, AAP reports.

The farm household allowance currently provides three years of income support, planning advice and re-training assistance for farmers facing hardship, including in times of drought.

But Agriculture Minister David Littleproud has introduced legislation to parliament to give those people an extra year of support.

It will apply to those currently receiving the allowance, those who apply in future and give an extra year of support to those who have already used their three years.

Greg Brown 12pm: Plastic bagged

Environment Minister Josh Frydenberg this morning visited a Woolworths shopping centre in the NSW town of Queanbeyan to hail to company’s move to ban single-use plastic bags.

Mr Frydenberg said plastic bags had been damaging for the environment.

“Today will be an adjustment for families who have come to Woolworths to buy their fruit and veg but it is an adjustment worth making in the interests of the environment,” Mr Frydenberg said.

“It won’t be long before their normal habits will evolve using a different bag as opposed to the single use plastic bag which has been so damaging to our environment.”

Ewin Hannan 11.35am: ‘Profits ahead of people’

The Communications Workers Union says drastic job cuts at Telstra will devastate thousands of families and shows Telstra is putting short-term profits above long-term services for the community.

Communications Workers Union national president Shane Murphy called on Telstra chief executive Andy Penn to reconsider the cuts.

Greg Brown 11.20am: Hanson squibs it on voting plans

Pauline Hanson has refused to reveal her position on Malcolm Turnbull’s $144 billion income tax package, but has given a strong indication she will side with the government.

The One Nation leader gave a 20 minute speech in the Senate but refused to outline her position, saying it would be revealed when the vote took place, which is likely tomorrow.

If Senator Hanson backs the government’s package it would probably pass the Senate and become law.

Senator attacked Labor for opposing stages two and three of the package, arguing the MPs should instead “knock back your pay rise”.

She also said teachers and tradies would be among the workers who would get better tax breaks under the government’s plans than Labor’s.

Senator Hanson told the upper house she was in a “dilemma” about the proposal because of Australia’s debt problems.

But she said it may be a better idea to look at hitting multinational companies to improve the budget bottom line.

“Hard working Australians need a helping hand, they need to know they are going to get something back, to see something is being done for them,” Senator Hanson told the Senate.

Greg Brown 10.55am: Treasurer channels Mr Miyagi

Scott Morrison says the government will not buy into the “class envy” and “anti-aspirational” policies of the Labor Party and split its $144 billion income tax package.

“We are committed to pursuing the full tax package. Why? Because it is the right plan, because we are not going to set Australian against each other,” Mr Morrison said this morning.

“This is the right plan that weeks to benefit all working Australians, we are not going to buy into the class envy, anti-aspirational, anti-jobs policies of the Labor Party.”

Using a Karate Kid “wax on, wax off” reference, Mr Morrison said it was “tax off with the coalition, tax on with the Labor Party”.

Mr Miyagi and Daniel-san do the ‘wax on, wax off’ in the Karate Kid.

Primrose Riordan 10.40am: Warning on anti-spy laws

The deputy chair of Parliament’s intelligence committee, Labor MP Anthony Byrne, has warned international critics of Australia’s new anti-spy laws to be “very careful” in their criticism.

“I say to those people it’s a very foolish thing to put Australians’ back up against the wall when we introduced legislation that seeks to protect our democratic process.

“Do not push back. Australians are famous in war, in floods, in fire and famine for being a strong and resilient people,” he told parliament this morning.

“Be very, very careful you are not acting in (another country’s) interest.”

Greg Brown 10.30am: ‘Anxious time for Telstra staff’

Scott Morrison says the 8000 sacked Telstra workers will be entering a positive jobs market.

The Treasurer said it would be a “hard” and “anxious” time for employees at the telecommunication giant who lose their jobs, but argued the green shoots in the economy would make it easier for them to find employment elsewhere.

“The government has been working hard to ensure that the economy that they will go back into now to find another job, there are more jobs in that economy today than there were before,” Mr Morrison said this morning.

“We are a government that has been delivering more jobs, and in that sector in particular there are much brighter prospects.

“But it still will be hard and it still will be an anxious time for those Australians and that is why we will only continue to redouble our efforts to ensure we are doing everything we can to create (a) stronger economy.”

Greg Brown 10.05am: US move ‘not the answer’

Foreign Minister Julie Bishop says she is “disappointed” Donald Trump has pulled the United States from the United Nations Human Rights Council.

Ms Bishop said Australia also held concerns about the UNHRC, especially its “anti-Israel bias”, but leaving the multilateral body was not the answer.

“Australia will continue to work constructively on human rights issues with other countries, including the US,” Ms Bishop said in a statement.

“It was our strong preference for the US to remain a member of the UNHRC and I had made this known to senior members of the Trump Administration.”

Greg Brown 9.58am: ‘Hanson should block tax plan’

Opposition finance spokesman Jim Chalmers says Pauline Hanson has made a “habit of siding with Malcolm Turnbull” after the One Nation leader indicated she may support the government’s $144bn income tax plan.

Mr Chalmers said Senator Hanson should stay true to her supporters and block the tax plan, which Labor claims favours high-income earners.

“Time and time again, when the pressure has been on, Pauline Hanson has sided with Malcolm Turnbull and the multinationals and the millionaires against the interests of the ordinary Australian battler,” Mr Chalmers said this morning.

“I think there has been some form there from Pauline Hanson not to do the right thing by the Australian battler.

“I think a lot of Pauline Hanson’s supporters would be very disappointed if she joined with Malcolm Turnbull again and sided with the millionaires and Malcolm Turnbulls of this world against the interests of people who work and struggle in this country.”

If One Nation supports the package the government would likely have the numbers to pass it through the Senate.

Senator Hanson and her One Nation colleague Peter Georgiou would likely deliver the Coalition the crucial votes needed to secure the passage of its full plan in the upper house.

She told The Daily Telegraph today: “How can I knock back this pay rise for average Australians out there earning up to $200k ... when I’m not saying anything about these pay rises to politicians and bureaucrats”.

One Nation leader Pauline Hanson has indicated her support for the government’s tax package. Picture: Kym Smith

Greg Brown 9.40am: ‘Split the bill’

Opposition defence spokesman Richard Marles has accused Malcolm Turnbull of being “bloody minded” in refusing to split his income tax bill and provide immediate tax breaks to low income earners.

Mr Marles said the government and the opposition disagreed on parts of the $144 billion tax proposal, but the Prime Minister should allow for the bill to be split for an easy passage of stage one of the scheme.

“We have got a tax plan that we think would be much better for ordinary middle-class and working-class Australians, the government don’t like it, the back end of the government’s plan, we think is profoundly unfair, we don’t like it,” Mr Marles told Sky News.

“We would be willing right now to pass the first phase of the government’s plan.

“So isn’t practical engagement in this parliament about getting that part of the package that we actually can get across the line so that it is in place by July 1? The government are being bloody minded in refusing to do that.

“We can get that tax cut in our law in the next 10 days if the government is willing to.”

Greg Brown 9.05am: Omen for the Maroons?

NSW and Queensland MPs dressed in their state’s colours and played a game of touch football outside Parliament House this morning, getting in the spirit for this Sunday’s State of Origin clash.

Anthony Albanese on the charge in Canberra. Picture: Kym Smith

Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack and Labor frontbencher Anthony Albanese were among the players who lined up for the Blues.

Resources Minister Matt Canavan and Labor senator Anthony Chisholm were among the MPs who played for the Maroons.

Queensland won the match 3-2, with Labor MP Graham Perrett being named man of the match.

Former Queensland captain Darren Lockyer and chairman of the Australian Rugby League Commission Peter Beattie were cheering on the winning side.

The second State of Origin game of 2018 will be played in Sydney on Sunday night.

Greg Brown 8.50am: Government ‘united’ on energy plan

Energy Minister Josh Frydenberg has played down divisions within the government about the national energy guarantee, declaring most MPs were fully supportive of the policy.

After seven MPs spoke out against the policy in the Coalition partyroom yesterday, Mr Frydenberg said the NEG was critically important for reducing prices and emissions while improving reliability,

Mr Frydenberg rebuffed Tony Abbott’s claim that the former prime minister only made an aspiration to reduce carbon emissions under the Paris agreement rather than a firm commitment.

“When the Abbott government entered into the Paris agreement we committed to a 26 to 28 per cent reduction and Tony himself said then it was a definite commitment,” Mr Frydenberg told Sky News.

“Tony Abbott made it very clear it is a definite commitment, we see it as a commitment, we will meet that commitment just as other Australian governments in the past have met their commitments.”

Mr Frydenberg also denied Mr Abbott’s claim that cabinet ministers were trying to silence the climate debate within the Coalition partyroom accusing dissenters of trying to bring down the government.

“That is not what ministers are saying, in fact they are saying that we do need to work through the detail but the national energy guarantee is critical to Australia’s long term national interest.”

Greg Brown 8.15am: ABC ‘self-indulgence’ caned

Liberal senator Eric Abetz has slammed the “self indulgence” of the ABC for its focus on a motion passed by the Liberal Party’s federal council to privatise the public broadcaster.

Senator Abetz criticised Radio National presenter Hamish Macdonald for focusing an interview on a motion to privatise the public broadcaster.

“If you were to ask a few questions about the ABC and then move onto other issues that were discussed, I would see that as fair and reasonable,” Senator Abetz told the program.

“But this whole interview has been fully focused on the ABC, by the ABC, ignoring all the other suite of policy motions that were discussed and voted on.

“”The ABC is focusing on one motion out of about two dozen solid policies that were discussed and instead of talking about vocational education and training, regulatory reform, defence of the Indian Ocean region, Syria, Jerusalem, a whole host of policy of other issues.

“It is all about themselves, it is all about the ABC.”

What’s making news:

• Bill Shorten has taken a major political gamble ahead of the crucial Super Saturday by-elections by refusing to back the government’s $144 billion in personal income tax cuts and vowing to repeal the bulk of the package if the Coalition manages to legislate it.

• Bill Shorten is clawing back critical electoral ground lost under the Rudd-Gillard government’s failed asylum-seeker policies, with the trust gap between the Labor leader and Malcolm Turnbull on the issue narrowing to its closest margin since they became rivals.

• Pro-coal Coalition MPs have conceded that they would have no choice but to support an energy policy they believe could be substantially flawed if it won endorsement from the states and territories in August.

• Canberra has called on Washington and Beijing to refer their trade dispute to the World Trade Organisation as Asian markets slumped after Donald Trump threatened to impose a third tranche of tariffs on Chinese goods for a total slug of $US450 billion ($610 billion).

• China’s ambassador to Australia, Cheng Jingye, has cast doubt on whether Malcolm Turnbull will visit China this year as he accuses Australia of “bias and bigotry”.

• A poll of foreign policy attitudes has found for the first time a majority of Australians oppose the current rate of immigration.

• Education Minister Simon Birmingham was warned of profound flaws with his $24.5 billion schools funding model six weeks before it was announced.

• Taxpayers will pick up the legal bill of Jobs Minister Michaelia Cash as she seeks to challenge a subpoena requiring her to give evidence in court proceedings brought by the Australian Workers Union.

• Dennis Shanahan writes that the election campaign has begun and the battlelines over tax have been drawn.

• James Jeffrey’s sketch: hopeless efforts to understand aspirations