Pursuit of laughs lets Shorten off the hook

Bill Shorten listens to manager of opposition business Tony Burke during question time. Picture: Gary Ramage

Bill Shorten is on the ropes for threatening jobs by denying tax cuts to smaller businesses, but the Coalition is more interested in one-liners than finishing him off.

After a blundering start to the week, the Opposition Leader is still standing and fighting against internal and external threats.

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Following his “captain’s call” to claw back legislated company tax cuts for businesses with turnovers of between $10 million and $50m, Labor has not broken into public criticism of him, but is moving to clean up the mess.

Labor’s leadership group is expected to support the tax cuts for companies with turnovers between $2m and $10m today and, after due process, announce the decision by the weekend.

This hasn’t removed the threat to Shorten’s leadership from his old rival, Anthony Albanese, who repeated his alternative political and policy approaches yesterday.

Albanese again declared Labor must work with business, appeal to family and small businesses — including tradies and private contractors who aren’t union members, but who work hard and employ people.

On Adelaide radio, Albanese said: “Labor has to appeal to not just members of trade unions, but we have to appeal to small businesses … and that’s just common sense”.

Albanese is expressing concerns deep within Labor that the out-of-control CFMMEU has too much power over Shorten and a dangerous position in the ALP.

The idea of a Shorten prime ministership in hock to a union with $15 million in fines against its name and in league with ideological warrior and ACTU secretary Sally MacManus deeply worries some in the ALP. It is the antithesis of the successful political and economic approach of the Hawke-Keating years with Bill Kelty running the ACTU.

Yet, this singular legitimate political and economic argument is not successfully prosecuted against Shorten and nor does the Coalition seem capable of framing answers to his continuing jibes about “millionaires, multinationals and big banks”.

Speaker Tony Smith yesterday sat down three ministers and warned Malcolm Turnbull about the silly language, insults and one-liners directed at Shorten, in a bid to bring more decorum to parliament. Yet, telling ministers to answer the question instead of pursuing a laugh was sage political advice from the umpire.