Turnbull says Labor attacking him for 'having a quid' – politics live

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/live/2018/jun/25/coalition-polls-tax-hanson-politics-live

Version 1 of 15.

Richard Di Natale addressed Labor’s tax campaign ads during his chat with Sky News this morning – the too-long-didn’t-read version breaks down to, “not a huge fan of negative tactics, but in this case – where’s the lie?”

“It was the government who brought it on last week by attacking members of the opposition, the opposition leader and Tanya Plibersek and so on,” Di Natale said.

“The bottom line is, it is not the prime minister’s wealth which is the problem – it is the fact you have massive corporate donations going to the Liberal party and this is the Liberal party doing the bidding of their corporate mates at the big end of town.

“It is a stinker of a policy, it rips billions of dollars away from where we need them ... It will do very little to actually improve competitiveness within the business sector .

“... Multinationals make their decisions based on a number of factors and it is not just the headline corporate tax rate; we know it is a lot more complicated when it comes to working out where they are going to invest.

“... We won’t be supporting those corporate tax cuts. I think the prospect of them getting through the Senate is very slim. Having said that, we saw Pauline Hanson say she wasn’t going to support the income tax cuts and change her mind on that. Centre Alliance did the same thing, so I understand that the government is going to be piling the pressure on, but they [the crossbenchers] need to stay strong.”

Malcolm Turnbull has also addressed Labor’s latest campaign ad and Pauline Hanson’s multinational tax avoidance concerns.

On the ad:

The Labor party is just abandoning everything it used to stand for – so they are now – 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’s apparently not the Labor way anymore. You are not allowed to have a go and be successful.

The Labor party has turned on everything it used to stand for. It used to be a party that supported aspiration, people getting ahead, people aspiring to build businesses, get on to employ people, make a buck, pay your tax.

If you do that – Luce and I have done that all our lives. Absolutely all our lives, so now they want to attack that.

Really it is aspiration and investment and people having a go and being enterprising that actually makes the economy work.

... I have to say, the old Labor leaders, whether it is my old mate Neville Wran, or Bob Hawke, or Keating, they would be as horrified at Bill Shorten’s politics of envy, this mean-spirited negativity, as they would be as horrified of it, as obviously, Anthony Albanese is.

(Just a reminder that Turnbull inherited $2m – which is how he got his start)

Prime Minister @TurnbullMalcolm: @AustralianLabor wants to attack Lucy & I for having a quid. Labor has turned on everything it stood for. Neville Wran, Bob Hawke or Paul Keating would be horrified by @billshortenmp's politics of envy.MORE: https://t.co/qpyTIxcCeK #FirstEdition pic.twitter.com/TVt4d2WFoj

And on multinational tax avoidance:

We are doing more on multinational tax avoidance than any previous government. Any previous federal government.

In fact, out multinational tax avoidance legislation, which is one of the toughest in the world – many people say it is the toughest in the OECD – has resulted in $7b in additional corporate revenue coming in to the Australian tax net.

And that is one of the reasons why the budget is in better shape. So we have been relentless on this.

We are Liberals, we believe in lower taxes, but tax is not optional. It is compulsory. So we want to have lower taxes, but everyone has to pay their share in accordance with the law. And we are getting very good results from that.

So we are very committed to everyone paying their tax, whether they are big companies or smaller companies, everyone has to pay their fair share of tax.

Scott Morrison addressed the Ceda breakfast in Canberra this morning. It was all, tax, tax, tax, as you can imagine. Afterwards, he had a chat to the media about why the government was still pushing its company tax cuts. (One of Pauline Hanson’s latest demands is that companies be forced to have their call centres in Australia, which is not as an insane proposal as it may have once been, given that we saw the government try and force an energy company to do what it wanted with its privately owned asset not so long ago.)

The government wants to see our entire enterprise tax plan implemented. The reason for that is because we don’t want to shortchange the Australian people. We don’t want to shortchange them on their jobs. We don’t want to shortchange them on their prosperity. We don’t want to shortchange small businesses’ depend on larger businesses because they’re all part of the one economy. Larger businesses are doing better, smaller businesses are doing better, and vice versa.

We want a tax system that makes sure all of our businesses are competitive. If you work for a larger business, you should have the same tax system that supports your business being more competitive than other businesses that are smaller. Your job is just as important if you’re working for a large business, as the job of someone working for a smaller business.

That’s why we’re out there advocating for everybody’s job, every business, because all of those businesses is what creates the stronger economy that everybody [deserves]. Everybody’s infrastructure – their roads, their hospitals, their schools. It all depends on a stronger economy, and you will not get a stronger economy by having corporate tax rates at some of the highest levels in the advanced, developed world.

Darren Chester was on the ABC this morning (no one in the government appears to have a problem with the ABC when they are on it) talking about Labor’s latest campaign:

Well, that’s grubby politics and people see through the grubby personal attacks. The prime minister has made money in his life. He is a successful businessperson. It is grubby politics and it is beneath contempt and it is typical of the way that some people want to play politics in Australia today and I’m surprised the Labor party has gone down to such low levels.

Mark Butler also had a chat to the ABC and said that voters have a right to know how politicians benefit from legislation they pass:

It is appropriate that voters and people in the community generally understand what all politicians, whether the prime minister or humble backbenchers, have to gain or lose when we make decisions to vote on particular tax packages. I think, of course, we are in an election contest. This will be a hard-fought election, but it would be ridiculous of Malcolm Turnbull to complain about the ads, given the degree he went off at Tanya Plibersek and her husband in the parliament last week.

Pauline Hanson has appeared alongside senator Derryn Hinch on Channel Seven’s Sunrise to discuss company tax – and both reveal they have been lobbied by Clive Palmer to vote for the Coalition’s package.

Both have a remarkably similar account – that Palmer said he has $450m in the bank and could take that money overseas, presumably because Australia would not be as competitive without a company tax cut.

Palmer has announced a relaunch of his party in the guise of the United Australia Party and even pinched a senator from One Nation: Brian Burston.

Hanson claimed Palmer threatened her by saying “if you don’t back the corporate tax cuts, you won’t get our preferences”. “He’s lobbying for the government for corporate tax cuts,” she said.

Hanson said the government has not given her “any assurances they are going after multinationals to get them to pay their taxes in this country”.

Hinch explains that he wants the threshold for the company tax cut lifted from $50m to $500m, which would give 6,000 more companies a tax cut without rewarding “the robber banks”. He said Palmer had lobbied him too, which he found “insulting”.

Senators @PaulineHansonOZ and @HumanHeadline on corporate tax cuts and why they're NOT supporting them! #auspol #sun7 pic.twitter.com/28VMa5cdGP

I hope you enjoyed your weekend – because things are about to get crazy.

It’s the last sitting week before the six-week winter recess and both sides are doing all they can to position themselves ahead of the byelections – and full-on election mode.

So it is all tax, tax, tax. Selling the package the government just passed to the public, and selling the company tax package to the crossbench – mostly Pauline Hanson.

Hanson blinked late last week and said she would be open to talking to the government about company tax again, if they do something about multinational tax avoidance. Scott Morrison says the government has already addressed that – but it has reopened the chat lines. Longman is still top of Hanson’s mind – the latest Fairfax-Ipos poll showed One Nation was polling at around 6% nationally, but in Queensland, particularly those outer urban areas like Longman, One Nation polls much higher.

Hanson, whose party is now reduced to just one other senator, is fighting for her own political future. So you can expect her to react accordingly.

But Labor has drawn its line in the sand over tax, and it is not backing off. The Fairfax poll I just mentioned showed the opposition was ahead, 53% to 47%, although Bill Shorten is still behind Malcolm Turnbull as preferred leader. That’s a tricky measure – not everyone is as engaged in politics as this community, which means the opposition leader, no matter who they are, usually has a lower profile/recognition factor.

But don’t doubt the campaign has begun.

Labor put out its latest ads overnight, which has the government upset over the oppositon “playing the man, not the ball”. Peter Khalil was just on Sky News addressing that criticism as the government not understanding how football works. “He’s the prime minister, he has the ball,” he said.

Tim Wilson was on minutes later to say: “Labor attacking the prime minister ... yawn, frankly.”

Meanwhile, the government has jumped on Anthony Albanese’s speech on Friday night, when he urged Labor to “stick to its values” as showing division in the party, in terms of strategy. Labor says it is united about wanting to defeat the government. And the ball rolls on.

The Coalition has slammed a new @AustralianLabor ad attacking the Prime Minister over his corporate past. It's a new strategy from Labor which is trying to link @TurnbullMalcolm's personal wealth with the government's plans to cut the company tax rate. #auspol #7News pic.twitter.com/vfGIVoxo9j

And it is not even 9am yet! Mike Bowers is out and about – he is out the front of the building, where the parliament is preparing to welcome the prime minister of Vanuatu for the first time. Follow him at @mikepbowers and @mpbowers. He may also pop up in the story of @pyjamapolitics, if we get time to catch our breath!

You’ll catch me in the comments and @amyremeikis.

Ready?

Let’s go!