PoliticsNow: George Christensen warns of China’s slow creep of influence
PoliticsNow: Nationals MP demands an end to the 99-year lease of Darwin port over China’s ‘growing ambition in the region’.
- ‘Worse than Gillard, Rudd on boats’
- Frydenberg’s counterpunch on emissions
- One Nation thwarts Labor’s tax push
- Public service report due by end of year
Hello and welcome to PoliticsNow, The Australian’s blog on the happenings at Parliament House in Canberra.
Peter Dutton has backed Bill Shorten during Question Time, declaring he’d be better placed to deal with border protection than Anthony Albanese.
This is where we will leave our live coverage, join us again first thing tomorrow for the latest political news.
8.30pm: Warning over China’s ‘slow creep’
Australia must at some point put aside fear of lost trade and assess the “slow creep of Chinese influence”, an outspoken Nationals MP has told parliament, AAP reports.
Queenslander George Christensen has called for an end to the 99-year lease of the Darwin port to Chinese company Landbridge “given China’s growing military ambition in the Asia Pacific” he said on Monday night.
Mr Christensen’s electorate of Dawson has strong economic links with the country but he says that should never make Australia blind to the loss of human life, freedom and sovereignty by communist China.
“At some point we must put aside the fear of lost trade and assess the slow creep of Chinese influence and ownership of our strategic assets including farmland and agribusinesses given those assets are being and will be geared to serving China’s national interest and not our own,” he said.
He also said the government should “say no” to the involvement of Chinese company Huawei in Australia’s 5G network rollout and call out China’s kidnapping of the Tibetan Panchen Lama, the second most senior Buddhist figure, two decades ago.
He said the incursion of China into free territories including Tibet, Taiwan, the South China Sea and Pacific island nations should not be accepted.
— AAP
6pm: Hanson wants debt cap
Pauline Hanson wants to limit the amount of money the government can borrow by bringing back a debt ceiling, AAP reports.
The One Nation leader has introduced private legislation to parliament to set the debt cap at 35 per cent of gross domestic product, effectively reinstating the ceiling which was abandoned under former treasurer Joe Hockey.
“It is unfair and unconscionable for governments to borrow to pay for day-to-day spending and leave it to another generation to repay a debt for things they did not receive,” Senator Hanson told the upper house today.
Greg Brown 3.12pm: Government ‘turns the corner’ on debt
Bill Shorten asks Malcolm Turnbull about the problems associated with Australia’s “record” gross debt levels.
“Isn’t this the worst possible time to lock in a 10-year $80 billion business tax giveaway, fuelling national debt?”
The Prime Minister says the government has “turned the corner” on debt.
“The government, under the member for Warringah, inherited a shocking debt situation from Labor in 2014,” he says.
Turnbull also warns Labor’s negative gearing policy will have a damaging impact on the values of property, which is already moderating.
“The Labor Party will smash the savings of Australians, it will smash into the value of the largest single asset class,” he says.
Greg Brown 3.06pm: Bowen probes Treasurer on Medicare
Opposition treasury spokesman Chris Bowen asks if the government is putting services such as Medicare at risk by cutting tax cuts for wealthy people and big business.
Scott Morrison says essential services are best funded in a strong economy.
“A stronger economy is what takes our budget into balance and has ensured that in this year net debt turns around and in the next four years it will fall by $30 billion and in the next 10 years it will fall by more than $230bn,” the Treasurer says.
“I will tell you what a risk is to the Australian economy: more than $200bn in higher taxes. That is what the Shadow Treasurer’s alternative is.”
Greg Brown 2.56pm: Albanese worse on boats than Gillard and Rudd: Dutton
Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton goes into bat for Bill Shorten, declaring he would be better placed to deal with border protection than the Labor left heavyweight Anthony Albanese.
“The problem is that the member of Grayndler, he is even softer on border protection than even this Leader of the Opposition,” Dutton says.
“He would be, hard to believe, but he would be a bigger disaster than even Julia Gillard (and) Kevin Rudd.”
Greg Brown 2.52pm: ‘Long, cold winter for Albanese’
Defence Industry Minister Christopher Pyne uses a Dixer to speak at length about Anthony Albanese’s speech last Friday night at the Gough Whitlam Oration.
“The bloodied dagger masquerading as a speech from the member for Grayndler, plunged into the chest of the Leader of the Opposition,” Pyne says.
“This is the speech in which the member for Grayndler has (laid out) his credentials as the next leader of the Labor Party.
“Make no mistake, he is still holding out, he is still pretending that the Labor Party has a place for aspiration in it.
“He is refusing to accept that the Hawke-Keating legacy has been abandoned by the Labor Party.”
Pyne tells his friend Albanese that Bill Shorten was not interested in his aspirational vision for the party.
“(Shorten) wants the CFMEU to be at the cabinet table in a future Labor government,” he says.
“He was to reject the aspirations of Australians and reject the Hawke-Keating legacy. He scoffs at aspiration. I think it is going to be a long and cold winter for the member for Grayndler.”
Greg Brown 2.46pm: Company tax grilling continues
Labor’s Ed Husic asks why the government has more empathy for big businesses than the 8000 workers who will be sacked by Telstra.
“Why is the Prime Minister rewarding Telstra and the big banks and punishing workers?”
Turnbull reads out a series of quotes from Labor MPs, including Bill Shorten, that were supportive of company tax cuts.
“Every single Labor Party leader, including the gentleman opposite, has said precisely that. Lower company tax means more investment, more jobs, higher wages and stronger economic growth,” he says.
“The Leader of the Opposition and the Labor Party of today, much to the dismay of the member for Grayndler and so many others, has abandoned the very people it was founded to protect.”
Greg Brown 2.40pm: PM’s ‘politics of envy’ warning
Opposition legal affairs spokesman Mark Dreyfus asks Malcolm Turnbull about Labor’s attack ads on him, and whether he will personally benefit from a cut to the corporate tax rate.
The Prime Minister chides the opposition for playing the “politics of envy”, warning it has failed in the past.
“Labor leaders who have been successful have united Australians, and have called on Australians to be optimistic and ambitious, to look forward and to aspire,” Turnbull says.
“Australians know my life story, it is hardly a secret.
“Over the course of my life Lucy and I have worked hard, we’ve had good fortune. And we have paid tax, we have paid a lot of tax. We have given back to the community.”
Greg Brown 2.32pm: Frydenberg’s counterpunch on emissions
Energy Minister Josh Frydenberg has launched a counter attack on Greens MP Adam Bandt, who asked about the government’s “paltry” emissions reductions targets.
Frydenebrg says he will not take a lecture from the Greens MP who called senator Jim Molan a “war criminal”.
“We won’t take a lecture from the Greens who have been celebrating when people’s houses have burnt down and blaming it on climate change,” he says.
Frydenberg adds that emissions reductions will be achieved responsibly and not compromise affordability or reliability.
“The Greens and the Labor Party want to shut down our coal-fired power stations across the country,” he says.
Greg Brown 2.27pm: Shorten the ‘champion in trading away penalty rates’
Labor MP Gai Brodtmann goes again on the link between big business tax cuts and a cut to penalty rates.
She asks why the government supports a tax break for big business but won’t intervene to protect penalty rates from being cut.
Malcolm Turnbull says Ms Brodtmann has overlooked that the “champion in trading away penalty rates” was Bill Shorten, when he was a union leader.
“Nobody has been more consistent in trading away penalty rates and her leader,” he says.
“And he did so in return for secret negotiations with the employer.”
Greg Brown 2.20pm: Plibersek has ‘lost touch’: PM
Deputy Labor leader Tanya Plibersek asks Malcolm Turnbull if he apologised to workers at a cafe he visited this morning because their penalty rates will be cut.
The Prime Minister says the decision to cut penalty rates was a decision made by the independent umpire, the Fair Work Commission.
He also slams Plibersek for last week saying she thought the link between the government’s income tax cuts and aspiration was a “mystery”.
“Any deputy Labor leader who can state aspiration is a mystery to her (has) lost touch with what the Labor Party used to be about,” Turnbull says.
“The mystery of aspiration to the Deputy Leader of the Opposition has not left the Labor Party anywhere but utterly out of touch with the people it was once founded to represent.
“No wonder the member for Grayndler has had a gutfull of his leader.”
Greg Brown 2.12pm: QT begins on company tax
Bill Shorten opens up question time on company tax cuts.
He says company profits have increased by nearly 6 per cent in the past year, nearly three times as much as wage growth.
“So why does this Prime Minister support arbitrarily cutting the penalty rates of working Australians this Sunday, while he is giving an $80 billion handout to big business?”
Malcolm Turnbull uses the question the batter the Opposition Leader about Anthony Albanese’s pro-business speech on Friday night.
“I can understand the desperation of the Leader of the Opposition, faced as he is with a challenge from the Member for Grayndler, who has laid out he is wares and reminded everybody that there was a time when the Labor Party stood for aspiration,” the Prime Minister says.
Rachel Baxendale 2.06pm: Public service report due by end of year
CSIRO chair and former Telstra boss David Thodey says he expects to deliver interim findings from his review of the public service by the end of the year, with a full report due by the middle of next year.
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull announced what will be the first comprehensive review of the public service since a 1970s royal commission last month, to examine the “culture and operating model” of the organisation.
At the time, Mr Turnbull said the review was required to make sure the public service was “equipped to engage with key policy, service delivery and regulatory issues”.
Speaking on the sidelines of the Committee for Economic Development of Australia State of the Nation conference in Canberra, Mr Thodey said the review was covering everyone under the Australian Public Service Act.
“We have kicked off the work It’s about looking at the future of the public service out over the next two decades, so it’s a long-term view,” Mr Thodey told The Australian.
“It’s not about anything that’s wrong, it’s about what we need to do to make sure that the public service is fit for purpose or in the right position to really contribute to all Australians and to the government at the time.
“We’ve made good progress. We’re calling for submissions at the moment and we would welcome anyone to put in a submission and then we’ll be canvassing right across the community from public servants to industry, academia, small business, so we’re trying to have a very broad-based approach.
“We have a strong panel and we also have a strong international reference group who can as we start to look at what other countries are doing around the world to make sure that we’ve got the right processes and structures to make sure that we really are having innovative policy and strong delivery towards citizens.
“We’re planning on an interim report about the end of this calendar year, with the full report and implementation due the middle of next ear, so the middle of 2019. Specifically in the terms of reference they’ve asked for both recommendations and implementation.”
Mr Thodey declined to comment on Telstra’s decision last week to sack 8000 workers, having served as CEO from 2009 to 2015.
“Since I left Telstra I’ve never given an interview about Telstra, and I’m not about to change that. Never,” he said.
Greg Brown 1.57pm: Albanese aligned with Shorten’s policies: Leigh
Opposition assistant treasury spokesman Andrew Leigh says Anthony Albanese’s speech to the Whitlam Oration — where he called on the party to engage with big business — was in line with Bill Shorten’s policies.
“That is a speech that I think probably could have been given by Bill Shorten, certainly the comments about engaging with business are those that I’ve heard regularly from Bill, form Anthony, from Chris Bowen to Jim Chalmers, right across the economic team,” Mr Leigh told Sky News.
Greg Brown 1.27pm: Hanson planning to back company tax cuts: Labor
Opposition finance spokesman Jim Chalmers says Pauline Hanson’s decision to help block the immediate debate of company tax cuts in the Senate shows the One Nation leader is planning to support the government’s package.
“(Pauline Hanson was) given the opportunity to vote down Malcolm Turnbull’s big business tax cuts and she squibbed it. Pauline Hanson says that she opposes tax cuts for multinationals and the big banks but she refuses to vote them down immediately,” Mr Chalmers said.
“What Pauline Hanson is doing is buying herself time to do another dodgy deal with the Liberal Party which sells out the battlers, which puts the interests of millionaires ahead of the interests of middle Australia.”
Greg Brown 1.06pm: Labor’s proposal defeated
The Turnbull government has blocked a push by Labor to bring forward the debate on company tax cuts.
Labor’s proposal to suspend standing orders was defeated with the help of One Nation and Centre Alliance, by 36 votes to 32.
Greg Brown 12.55pm: No support for Labor from Centre Alliance
Centre Alliance senator Rex Patrick says the party will not support Labor’s push to suspend standing orders but claims it has “nothing to do” with the party’s position on company tax cuts.
Senator Patrick said the government of the day should be in control of the Senate agenda.
Centre Alliance is opposed to the big business tax cuts.
Crossbencher Derryn Hinch, who is also opposed to the government’s plans, told the Senate he would vote in favour of bringing the company tax debate on.
Greg Brown 12.52pm: Hanson’s ‘grubby deal’
Labor senator Doug Cameron has accused Pauline Hanson of planning another “grubby deal” with Malcolm Turnbull on corporate tax cuts, after the One Nation leader hit out at Labor’s push to bring on the corporate tax debate in the Senate.
“I think this debate has exposed exactly what is going on here and there is a deal on the offing between Senator Hanson and the government,” Senator Cameron told the Senate.
“If Senator Hanson is not doing another grubby deal with this government, to sell out working people in this country, then Senator Hanson will support this proposition.
“Because this proposition is about bringing this debate on, bringing this bill on and getting a decision that she claims she will support.”
Labor has moved to suspend standing orders to bring on the company tax debate earlier than planned.
Greg Brown 12.45pm: Labor pushes for company tax debate
Finance Minister Mathias Cormann is objecting to Labor’s push to change to order of business in the Senate to bring on the company tax debate.
Senator Wong has pushed to suspend standing orders and bring on the debate earlier than planned, in an attempt to wedge the government while it is still short on crossbench support for the plan.
Senator Cormann said the company tax cuts should be debated based on the normal Senate process.
Primrose Riordan 12.40pm: MPs’ custom scheme in new foreign interference laws
New laws to force those acting on behalf of foreign powers to publicly register are likely to include a separate scheme to apply to parliamentarians, according to a new report.
Parliament’s top intelligence committee, made up of Liberal and Labor MPs, has presented a bipartisan report which will mould the new foreign interference transparency scheme. The laws are due to be introduced into parliament this week.
The committee said the complexities of the activities of MPs and rules around parliamentary privilege means that politicians need a separate custom made scheme.
“Noting the potential for uncertainty in the interpretation of ‘parliamentary proceedings’ — and to avoid members of parliament being potentially required to register under two separate schemes — the Committee considers that members of parliament should not be subject to the scheme established by the Bill.”
“Given the unique nature of Parliamentarians’ work, and the unique status of the Parliament and its privileges, it is more appropriate that the Parliament establish its own registers,” the intelligence committee members wrote.
The Bill also provides extra exemptions for unions, charities and arts organisations.
“The Committee recommends the Bill be amended to provide exemptions for charities, arts organisations and industrial associations, which would operate to relieve those organisations of an obligation to register when they are making routine representations in accordance with their respective purposes,” the committee members said.
“The Committee notes that there is no exemption in the Bill for industrial associations. The Committee has considered evidence from the Australian Council of Trade Unions regarding the relationships it has with organisations that may be considered foreign political organisations.”
Attorney-General Christian Porter said about 20 of the 52 recommendations have already been drafted and the rest of the changes “represent minor and technical drafting amendments”, so he expected the laws to be put to parliament this week.
“The Government intends to accept all of the Committee’s recommendations for amendments to the Bill, with a view to debating and passing both Bills into Parliament this week,” he said.
Media organisations did not win extra exemptions beyond those recommended by the Attorney-General earlier in the month.
Greg Brown 12.11pm Shorten traded off penalty rates: Laundy
Workplace Minister Craig Laundy says Bill Shorten needs to “come clean on his history” of trading off penalty rates when he was a union leader, after the opposition this morning tabled a private members bill to protect penalty rates.
“As the National Secretary of the (Australian Workers Union), Bill Shorten cut penalty rates for some of our lowest paid workers,” Mr Laundy said.
“Under the infamous Cleanevent deal in 2006, he stripped workers of all penalty rates, with no compensation. What Labor and the ACTU don’t say is that some unions have been ripping of thousands of workers, particularly young Australians, for years through wage deals that strip them of penalty rates.”
He said the Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees Association had struck deals to completely cut weekend penalty rates.
“Labor now pretends to be outraged when the independent umpire, which it set up, is making it fairer for small businesses by reducing Sunday penalty rates in just four awards,” Mr Laundy said.
“Because of deals done by Bill Shorten’s mates, a 24 year old uni student who started weekend work at McDonalds three years ago would by now be around $15,000 worse off than if they’d been paid under the award.
“At Big W the worker would be around $13,400 worse off, around $9,500 at Woollies, $8000 at Bunnings, $11,400 at Dan Murphys and $14,000 worse off at Best and Less.”
Greg Brown 12.02pm Live sheep vote stalls
The Turnbull government’s proposal to reform the live sheep trade has stalled, with the legislation unlikely to be debated in the House of Representatives this week.
The Australian understands the government will probably delay tabling a bill to crackdown on the sector until at least August, when parliament resumes from a month-long winter break.
Government figures are understood to be concerned Liberal MP Sussan Ley will cross the floor and support Labor’s amendments to its legislation, which would phase out the industry over five years. There is also a concern the Senate would back Labor’s amendments rather than the government’s legislation in its original form.
The delay comes as 60,000 sheep are stranded in Perth after live sheep exporter Emanuel Exports was stripped of its operating licence.
Opposition agriculture spokesman Joel Fitzgibbon says the government’s inaction was “killing” the live sheep export sector in a “slow and painful way”.
“Now Labor has been consistent, we want to phase out the live sheep trade but we want to do so in a way which does no harm to sheep meat producers,” Mr Fitzgibbon said this morning.
“We want to help them on a transition to something better, to value adding and creating jobs here in Australia.”
Greg Brown 11.09am Palmer ‘coming after me’: Hanson
Pauline Hanson has accused Clive Palmer of “threatening” to withhold United Australia Party preferences to One Nation at the next election if the minor party does not support Malcolm Turnbull’s big business tax cuts.
Senator Hanson said she was standing firm in her opposition to the Prime Minister’s proposal and hit out at senator David Leyonhjelm for telling The Australian the One Nation leader was putting the Longman by-election ahead of the national interest.
She said she had also been threatened by Mr Palmer, who is lobbying for company tax cuts.
“I had Clive Palmer ring up my say staffer yesterday and say, ‘listen, I’ve got $450 million in the bank. If I move it overseas, I will get an extra million dollars in interest.’ He is lobbying for the government for the corporate tax cuts,” Senator Hanson told Seven Network.
“He said, ‘if you don’t back the corporate tax cuts, you won’t get our preferences’. He intends to come after me.”
“And if David Leyonhjelm wants to have a go at me, saying I am short term and only for the seat of Longman, he doesn’t not know me and he has never discussed this personally with me to do with corporate tax cuts. I will not be threatened. I will not be bullied by anyone.”
Senator Hanson denied she was siding with Labor and the Greens in blocking the government’s proposal, saying she was only doing it for the good of the nation.
“Let me make it quite clear: I am not siding with Labor or the Greens, I’m siding with what I think is right for the country and for people,” Senator Hanson said.
“I have said all along that the government has not given me any assurances that they intend to go after multinationals to get them to pay their taxes in this country.
“If we don’t start paying down our debts in the black hole that we have, we are going to have a huge debt for future generations.”
Chris Kenny 10.56am Turnbull needs to go on the front foot
With so many structural issues running their way — promising economic recovery, budget returning to surplus, border security issues highlighted by global trends while Labor figures urge softening, energy price pressure subsiding while Labor promises to double down on renewable targets, delivering tax cuts while Labor promises tax increases, mood for change overtaken by a need for stability — the Coalition’s central challenge is political advocacy. It is an area where it has struggled badly under Malcolm Turnbull.
Greg Brown 10.43am NEG will reduce power prices
Malcolm Turnbull says the national energy guarantee will reduce prices as he fights off dissent from his back bench over the government’s signature energy policy.
The Prime Minister caller the NEG a “great policy”.
“It will secure lower energy prices, it will secure reliable and affordable energy,” Mr Turnbull said.
“You don’t have to take my word for it, look at what the Energy Security Board says: it will reduce wholesale power prices.
“In fact, we’ve already seen wholesale power prices reduced under our policies by about 30 per cent over the last year.
“So we are turning the corner on higher energy prices because we have a plan for affordable and reliable energy.”
Rachel Baxendale 10.22am Electric cars could face charges
Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack says the government is considering making electric and automated vehicle owners pay road use fees, and will have more to say on the issue in future.
Currently owners of conventional vehicles pay taxes which go towards road maintenance in the form of the fuel excise, leaving users of electric vehicles effectively exempt.
Mr McCormack said the government was currently conducting stakeholder negotiations over electric cars, with 12,000 expected to be purchased over the next 12 months.
“That’s obviously got to be a consideration, because when you’ve got automated vehicles, electric vehicles on the roads, they’re not paying fuel excise, and of course who is going to actually pay for the roads of the future,” the DPM told the Committee for Economic Development of Australia’s State of the Nation conference in Canberra this morning.
“That’s got to be a consideration, but also it’s got to be a consideration in context with the cost of living.
“There’s no point in introducing road user charges, some call them a carbon tax on cars et cetera, if it’s going to push the price of trying to get from A to B through the roof, and it’s particularly prevalent for regional commuters who travel further, for whom getting to see a doctor and getting from one town to the next, to sporting and business commitments, or whatever the case might be, you don’t want to punish them unfairly because they just need to use their petrol-based car, so all these things need to be taken into consideration in the context of road use charges.
“We’re looking at it at the moment as a responsible government would, and of course we’ll have more to say on that in the future.”
Highlighting his role as Infrastructure Minister, Mr McCormack spoke of the importance of the government’s $75 billion ten-year pipeline of infrastructure investment from the perspective of reducing the road toll.
“I know my colleague, the Member for Wide Bay, Llew O’Brien, entered parliament, succeeding (former DPM) Warren Truss on the back of being a police officer for many, many years where he had to go and do the death knock all too often for that section of the Bruce Highway,” Mr McCormack said.
“We’ve committed $800 million to making sure that the project becomes a reality, and he was so emotional at the press conference because he knew in his heart of hearts it was actually going to save lives.
“He’s a former police officer who’s seen all too often the tragedy of single lane roads where people for one reason or another come to a calamity and then you have to go and tell their relatives. “That’s what makes infrastructure so important, as well as obviously freeing up congestion and making sure that we’re able to get trucks to places sooner and safer.”
Mr McCormack joked that Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull should rename Melbourne’s planned Airport Rail Link as the “Melbourne Airport Link”, so its initials spelled his name, “MAL”.
Greg Brown 10.10am Shorten savages Turnbull
Bill Shorten is speaking in the House of Representatives as Labor introduces a private members bill to overturn a reduction in penalty rates.
“If this legislation is passed we can save people’s incomes on July 1 this year,” the Opposition Leader said.
He savaged Malcolm Turnbull for supporting tax cuts for “millionaires” while being opposed to protecting penalty rates in legislation.
Greg Brown 10.06am Shorten supporting ‘big end of town’
Scott Morrison says Bill Shorten is supporting the “big end of town” in New York and Paris by not backing the government’s big business tax cuts that are set to be debated in the Senate this week.
“We are not for the big end of town, particularly when it comes to the big end of town in Paris and New York and London and Tokyo and Singapore,” the Treasurer said.
“That is who Bill Shorten is backing up by not supporting these tax changes.
“The big end of town overseas should not be getting a benefit from parliament this week by rejecting the government’s plan to make sure that our company taxes are more competitive.”
Mr Morrison said the government would not amend its plans to reduce the tax rate of all businesses to 25 per cent by 2026-27, arguing workers who are employed by big business are as important as those employed by small business.
“The government wants to see our entire enterprise tax plan implemented, the reason for that is because we don’t want to short change the Australian people, we don’t want to short change them on their jobs, we don’t want to short change them on their prosperity,” Mr Morrison said.
“We want a tax system that makes sure all of our business are competitive, if you work for a large business you should have the same tax system that supports your business being more competitive than other businesses that are smaller.
“We are out there advocating for everybody’s job, everybody’s businesses because all of those businesses is what creates a stronger economy.”
Greg Brown 9.41am Vanuatu PM arrives
Malcolm Turnbull this morning gave the Vanuatuan Prime Minister, Charlot Salwai Tabimasmas, a tour around Parliament House.
Mr Tabimasmas is in Australia until Friday.
Greg Brown 9.16am Coalition ‘relentless’ on multinational tax avoidance
Malcolm Turnbull says the government has been “relentless” in tackling multinational tax avoidance, after Pauline Hanson claimed she was blocking the government’s business tax cuts because not enough was being done to force global businesses to pay tax in Australia.
The Prime Minister said the government was doing more to tackle multinational tax avoidance than any previous federal government.
“In fact our multinational tax avoidance legislation, which is one of the toughest in the world, many people say it’s the toughest in the whole OECD, has resulted in $7 billion of additional corporate revenue coming into the Australian tax net,” Mr Turnbull said this morning.
Greg Brown 8.24am Labor has lost its way, Turnbull says
Malcolm Turnbull says the Labor Party is “abandoning everything it used to stand for”, after the party released an ad attacking the Prime Minister for being a beneficiary of company tax cuts.
Mr Turnbull said the ad showed Labor did not want people to be successful.
“(The ads) just appear to be an example of how the Labor Party is just abandoning everything it used to stand for,” Mr Turnbull said.
“They want to attack me for having a quid, they want to attack me and Lucy for working hard, investing, having a go, making money, paying tax, paying plenty of tax, giving back to the community, which we do.
“That is apparently not the Labor way anymore. You are not allowed to have a go or be successful.”
Greg Brown 8.13am ‘Class warfare writ large’
Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack has labelled a new Labor attack ad on Malcolm Turnbull as “class warfare writ large”, believing it will backfire for Bill Shorten.
“It is just typical Labor and the fact is many nurses, many police officers, many emergency workers, many school teachers, they have all got share portfolios,” Mr McCormack told ABC radio.
“They are all relying on the banks and big business to do well.”
The television ad attacks Mr Turnbull as being a beneficiary of the big business tax cut because of his investments.
“Turnbull has millions invested in funds which hold shares in dozens of big businesses that would benefit from the tax cuts,” the ad says.
Greg Brown 7.35pm Hanson’s tax chance
Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack says Pauline Hanson has “another chance to make a right decision” as he calls on the One Nation leader to back the government’s big business tax cuts.
Mr McCormack said he was not put off that Senator Hanson has vowed to block the final stage of the government’s enterprise tax plan, noting she had made similar reservations before backing income tax cuts in the Senate last week.
“She said that some weeks ago about the personal income tax cut too,” Mr McCormack told ABC radio.
“Pauline Hanson did the right thing last week, she gets another opportunity,
“Last week it was for personal income tax and certainly she made the right choice and the right decision there for Australian taxpayers.
“This week she gets another chance to make the right decision for more Australian taxpayers and they are the workers of Australian businesses.”
Greg Brown 7.07am What’s making news
Conservative crossbenchers have lashed Pauline Hanson for vowing to side with Labor and the Greens to block Malcolm Turnbull’s business tax cuts, as the government today intensifies its tax war with Bill Shorten by moving to force Senate debate on the final stage of its $65 billion plan.
Business leaders have hailed Anthony Albanese’s vision for closer engagement and less division between Labor and corporate Australia as Malcolm Turnbull argued a split was opening in ALP ranks over Bill Shorten’s rejection of corporate and personal income tax cuts.
Coalition elder statesmen are urging the government to facilitate the entry of new coal-fired power stations alongside the national energy guarantee to drive down electricity prices and secure reliability as they seek to avoid a new round of government infighting.
The total pay of taxpayer-funded political staff in Malcolm Turnbull’s and Bill Shorten’s offices has surged 32 per cent over two years to $21 million, almost seven times private-sector wage growth over the same period.
The Australian economy will need to produce 13 million extra jobs in the next half century just to accommodate population growth, according to Liberal senator Dean Smith, who has urged Malcolm Turnbull to put further curbs on immigration levels to protect the nation’s standard of living.
The Queensland seat of Longman sits on a knife-edge, while Liberal candidate Georgina Downer is headed for an emphatic defeat in South Australia’s Mayo, according to a ReachTEL poll commissioned by progressive think tank the Australia Institute.
The Turnbull government will oppose Labor’s bid to reverse looming penalty rate cuts, accusing Bill Shorten and unions of “hypocrisy”, given they struck workplace agreements that traded away penalty rates.
Graham Richardson writes that the Coalition is delighted at how the initial clashes over tax policy have been played out.
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