Pauline Hanson wins $60m apprenticeship deal in return for tax backing

The ONP leader has won a $60mn national apprenticeship pilot in return for supporting government’s corporate tax cuts.

One Nation leader Senator Pauline Hanson, One Nation Senator Brian Burston and One Nation Senator Peter Georgiou during Senate Question Time today. Picture: AAP

One Nation Leader Pauline Hanson has won a $60 million national apprenticeship pilot that will prioritise regional Australia in return for supporting the government’s corporate tax cuts as Malcolm Turnbull edges closer to winning a major Senate victory.

The pilot scheme would provide 1000 places for young people across the country and reveals One Nation on the verge of a breakthrough with the government to reduce the corporate rate to 25 per cent.

The Australian understands the pilot would cost $60 million and is aimed at skilling-up young people in regional areas in a bid to encourage companies to take on local labour rather than relying on foreign visa workers.

Senator Hanson said she had been pushing for a national scheme for “twenty odd years” and hoped it would see rural communities taking on more Australian workers and generate new career pathways for teenagers.

“The first year, the government pays 75 per cent of the wage; the second year, 50 per cent of the wage and the third year 25 per cent of the wage,” she said. “Businesses have told me under that scheme they will put on apprentices”.

“I am sick and tired of travelling through these rural and regional areas where towns are shutting down. Kids are actually having to leave their homes to try and find work.”

Senator Hanson said she raised the idea with Mr Turnbull in her first meeting with him after the 2016 double dissolution election and had also discussed it with Treasurer Scott Morrison.

If the program was a success, Senator Hanson said there would be a strong case to expand the number of places.

“Instead of having a lot of these kids on Newstart that are actually out there with no future for them whatsoever or on drugs, I think it’s a big benefit to them. You’re going to get them working,” she said.

Senator Hanson told The Australian that businesses would apply for the scheme and reduce reliance on the 457 visa scheme.

Mathias ‘getting close’ on tax

David Leyonhjelm says Finance Minister Mathias Cormann “believes that he’s getting close” to persuading the crossbench to support the Turnbull government’s company tax cuts.

The Liberal Democrats leader said he was not able to speak about all of the deals the government was doing to get the necessary nine out of 11 crossbenchers on side, but he believed a deal was close.

“Some deals that are occurring if I told you I’d have to kill you, but the ones that we know about, yes it’s close,” Senator Leyonhjelm told Sky News.

“I understand that Mathias Cormann believes that he’s getting close. He needs nine out of eleven.

“He can have two that say, well I’m not going to vote for this, and he’s still got the numbers. “What sort of deals is he doing? The one that’s in the public domain now is the one he did with Steve Martin from Tasmania, so Steve Martin has convinced the government to put some money into a few Tasmanian initiatives.

“They don’t add up to large amounts of money, and he’s got across the line. He accepts in fact the principle that the company tax cut is good for business, that it will be good for business. He’s agreed that that’s true.”

Senator Leyonhjelm said he was not concerned about banks and other companies using the tax cuts to fund share buybacks.

“They’re very temporary things, a tax cut is forever, so even if they do that, all that will do is reward their shareholders, either by selling their shares or seeing the value of their shares increase, but they don’t dividends, they retain some of it for investment and growth,” he said.

“That’s what’s supposed to happen. When the taxes go down, they don’t hand as much over to the government, they have more, then, for both dividends and for investing in growth and expansion.

“When a company invests in its future, expands, opens new divisions, sets up branches in new areas, offers new services, all sorts of things that banks would like to do and can do, they need more people, and they need expertise.

“Some of their internal staff will put their hand up and get promoted. They’ll get salary increases. I mean you don’t get a salary increase just for being there. You do have to actually work for your money, but the assumption is there’ll be plenty more opportunities for you to contribute to the banks’ future profits, and as a result you’ll be paid more.”

Earlier today fellow crossbench senator Derryn Hinch indicated he may support the company tax cuts if the big banks were excluded from receiving them.

“I’m afraid Derryn must have dropped out of economics 101 with a fail,” Senator Leyonhjelm said.

“Honestly, he’s got no idea. Who does he think owns the banks? It’s Australians. It’s Australian shareholders. The banks are not some kind of entity unto themselves. They’re just a collective of people owned by their shareholders, the vast majority of those shareholders being Australians, so a company tax cut that doesn’t include the banks would mean all of those shareholders have to pay more tax via their ownership of the banks than other Australians who own other companies. It’s absurd, absolutely absurd.”

Hinch yet to be convinced

A letter from big business is not enough to get Derryn Hinch over the line on the PM’s proposed company tax cuts. Picture: AAP

Derryn Hinch this morning described a letter from big business as “very kumbaya”, but not enough to get him over the line.

However, One Nation leader Pauline Hanson has indicated that she has moved closer to supporting the bill.

The nation’s biggest employers, including Woolworths, Wesfarmers, Qantas and BHP, have formally pledged to invest in creating Australian jobs and delivering stronger wage growth if the ­Senate crossbench backs in Malcolm Turnbull’s $35.6 billion company tax cuts.

Senator Hinch indicated the letter had no swayed him.

“I did get a letter from Mathias Cormann last night, it has some good stuff in it, but it doesn’t get it over the line,” Senator Hinch said on his way into parliament this morning.

“I’ll meet with him again some time. That letter didn’t persuade me. There’s nothing in there that guarantees that workers are going to get more wages.

“I’m still listening and I’ve said the other day that I’m not going to negotiate with the government on television.”

Asked what would be needed to gain his support, Senator Hinch said he may be persuaded by a genuine guarantee of wage increases and something that “perhaps helps pensioners”.

“The Business Council letter was very kumbaya yesterday, ‘We’ll do this, we’ll do that’, but it didn’t guarantee anything,” he said.

“They know where I’m coming from because I know I floated the idea the other day about, can you do some sort of thing where you’re promising, hard words, ‘yes if you give us this tax cuts, we will give wage increases’.

“The way that the American companies all committed to helping the economy and Walmart puts out a press release saying we’re going to give a $1000 bonus to all our employees, thanks for the tax cut. Turns out it only goes to Walmart employees who are full time and have been there 20 years.

“I don’t totally trust big business.”

Senator Hinch said the business leaders had presumably been acting “at the behest of the government”.

“They suddenly came out yesterday of all days,” he said.

“I hadn’t had a call from Twiggy Forrest or Alan Joyce in months, so I suspect it was government orchestrated, but it didn’t go far enough.

“There’s no contract here. Read the wording of it, it’s “we intend, we do this, we do that”. I’m not going to suddenly vote for something and then in three months’ time somebody comes to me and says, ‘well, they didn’t do it. Why did you vote for them when they didn’t do it?’”

Senator Hanson said it had been “very interesting” to get the letter from the Business Council.

“It was a sticking point, but Twiggy Forrest has been absolutely fantastic with this and he’s given his guarantee and assurance with it to me,” she said.

“It does help, very much so.”

The companies who have pledged to support.

Labor senator Doug Cameron urged the crossbench to “really take a close look at themselves and not just capitulate to a letter that means nothing.”

“Derryn’s here, and I hope Derryn actually takes a little bit of critical analysis to that letter, a little bit of critical analysis as to what’s happening to ordinary working people in this country,” Senator Cameron said.

Tasmanian independent senator Steve Martin yesterday revealed he would support the bill, which will extend business tax cuts to companies with turnover of more than $50 million.

The government needs to secure the support of nine of the 11 crossbench senators to pass the bill, which reduce the company tax rate from 30 per cent to 25 per cent over ten years.

Nick Xenophon Team senators Stirling Griff and Rex Patrick remain opposed to the bill, while Australian Conservatives leader Cory Bernardi, Liberal Democrats leader David Leyonhjelm and independent former One Nation senator Fraser Anning are likely to support it.

The government will also need the support of former Nick Xenophon Team senator Tim Storer who continuing to consider his position on the bill.

The government’s leader in the Senate Mathias Cormann on Monday said he intended to have the Senate vote on the tax cuts by the end of next week.

Senator Cormann has recently appointed former Minerals Council head Brendan Pearson to help him lobby the crossbench.

Additional reporting: RACHEL BAXENDALE, PRIMROSE RIORDAN