Question Time: budget day but eyes are on election; tobacco tax attack

It’s budget day but all eyes are on the election; tobacco taxes and black holes; and Clive Palmer makes a rare appearance.

Industry Minister Christopher Pyne noted that Jenny Macklin was in “witness protection’’ over the “rounding error’’ remark.

1. It may be Budget Day, but all eyes are on the election

The Coalition’s sharks have detected blood in the water and were relentless in their pursuit of Labor over the $19.5 billion revenue writedown associated with its plan to hike tobacco taxes. Malcolm Turnbull said the opposition had only itself to blame for the “black hole” and should have had its policy re-costed after the midyear budget update revealed a slump in tobacco and alcohol excise. “Did they have their policies recosted? No. Instead the Leader of the Opposition has gone from school to school, claiming their policies have been funded. They’ve been caught out.”

2. Poor arithmetic — or even the perception of it — can be politically deadly

Turnbull and his ministers took turns bashing the piñata that Labor MPs have provided by, however fleetingly, dismissing the black hole as a mere “rounding error”. Industry Minister Christopher Pyne said Jenny Macklin, who he claimed was one offender, appeared to be in “witness protection” over the ill-considered remark while Barnaby Joyce offered in his typically bombastic fashion: “It is not a rounding error; it is a complete and utter cock-up.”

3. Black holes come much, much bigger than $19.5 billion

How do you feed the Industry Minister a Dorothy-Dixer about a shortfall in projected tobacco excise? Easily done if you’re Brett Whiteley, the MP for Braddon, who asked Mr Pyne whether he was aware of any supermassive black holes discovered by Australians recently. Pyne eventually got to the political point, but not before walking the parliament through CSIRO’s discovery of a gargantuan black hole on the other side of the known universe. At about 1000-times the size of the black hole at the centre of our galaxy, it makes the tax debate seem rather small.

4. Value-capture remains a relatively hazy policy

Labor’s Anthony Albanese repeatedly pressed Malcolm Turnbull repeatedly over his plan to build infrastructure by harvesting the windfall from rising land values. Albo wanted to know if that might include additional taxes on people whose land values were set to rise as a consequence of the new infrastructure. The Prime Minister initially dismissed the questioning as a “pathetic would-be gotcha effort”, ultimately answered: “I can assure the honourable Member that the Government has no intention, no plans, whatsoever, to impose taxes on land of the kind that he describes.”

5. Clive Palmer is a spent force in parliament

The MP for Fairfax, making a rare appearance in parliament, demanded the Prime Minister publish the Liberal Party’s finances and compel Cabinet Secretary Arthur Sinodinos to answer questions about alleged wrongdoing during his term as NSW party treasurer. The Prime Minister fired back that he should stop worrying about politics and take responsibility for the workers of Townsville.

The Verdict

Poking black holes in the opposition’s costings is a tried and true path to electoral success and the government would quite rightly think it’s landed some heavy blows on the ALP today. It goes far beyond the tobacco excise issue, for as Pyne argued: “If they could get this so wrong, what else is wrong?”