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| Scott Morrison hits back at Labor's 'tax grab to go' – politics live | Scott Morrison hits back at Labor's 'tax grab to go' – politics live |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| With Labor’s support, the government will pass its slate of foreign interference and anti-spy laws, but Amnesty has joined GetUp in terms of lingering concerns. | |
| From its Australian external affairs director, Claire O’Rourke: | |
| “Despite the welcome bipartisan announcement yesterday exempting charities from having to register under the foreign influence transparency scheme, Amnesty International remains concerned about the potential impact on our work from the other bill in the package. | |
| “The espionage and foreign interference bill in its current form could wreak enormous damage to Australian civil society. | |
| “By making it a crime to hold the Australian government to account on human rights, this bill will help shield government from accountability. These draconian laws proposed will make Australia more like the authoritarian countries this bill is supposed to protect us from. | |
| “It’s outrageous that parliament is rushing through this bill without properly considering the ramifications for Australian freedoms. | |
| “This bill must be amended to include robust exemptions for charities, so they can continue to contribute to Australian civil society without fear of criminal charges.” | |
| Labor’s employment services spokesman, Ed Husic, has commented on this story revealing complaints against the PaTH internship scheme, including “inappropriate trainer behaviour”, delays in $200 payments and a self-described “dish pig” told to work in 37-degree heat. | |
| Husic: | |
| “Minister Cash has no idea what is going on in this program. She’ll come out and make bold pronouncements that PaTH interns are protected, but it’s only in estimates that we find out the truth. | |
| “Minister Cash told the Guardian that [the department] closely monitors all internship placements, yet on May 29 in Senate estimates the department responded differently under questioning. | |
| “When asked about ensuring interns only work the amount of hours they are supposed to under the program, the department admitted: ‘We don’t collect data on how many hours each intern’s working.’ | |
| “We keep having our concerns reinforced that interns do not have their conditions or safety assured under this program. | |
| “The program hinges on the courage of young people, especially young women, to make complaints about their employers. There have been a couple of complaints about inappropriate behaviour but how many have gone unreported?” | |
| On Labor’s announcement that it wants to repeal the legislated tax cut for businesses sitting between the $10m and $50m thresholds. | |
| According to taxation statistics from the ATO, from 2015-16, there are: | |
| 941,166 businesses in Australia, of which 856,528 (91%) have total income less than $2m; | |
| 64,395 businesses (6.8%) have total income between $2m and $10m; | |
| 20,243 businesses (2.2%) have total income above the $10m threshold. | |
| The Turnbull government says there are roughly 14,000 businesses sitting between the $10m and $50m threshold, which equates to 1.5% of all businesses. | |
| So Labor wants to repeal the tax cuts for 1.5% of businesses. | |
| The Coalition will want the bottom 97.8% of businesses to identify with that 1.5% when it rails against Labor’s “job destroying” measure. | |
| More details are slowing emerging from the Yay the Neg! meetings held in the Coalition party room meetings from this morning: | |
| So in this morning's party room meeting: Tony Abbott, Barnaby Joyce, Eric Abetz and Craig Kelly raised issues with the NEG. Abbott said it needed to come back to the party room pre COAG – the PM said no, we'll bring back legislation after @AmyRemeikis | |
| Tony Pasin also said the NEG should have a price guarantee as well as reliability and emissions reduction obligations. But ten MPs spoke in favour, including Sudmalis, Banks, Broad, Wood, Entsch, Falinski, Ramsey & Irons @AmyRemeikis | |
| .@JoshFrydenberg got a lot of questions about the detail of the NEG. At the end of the meeting @TurnbullMalcolm told the party room the minister had strong support to proceed to COAG, with legislation to return afterward @AmyRemeikis | |
| Having failed to trigger a special party room meeting pre-COAG, Tony Abbott has not ruled out crossing the floor on the NEG legislation @AmyRemeikis | |
| A spokesman for Chris Bowen tells me that the full abolition (down to $2m) was in Labor’s 2016 election fiscal plan. | |
| Still making the decision on the $2m to $10m tax cuts though, and any decision on that will go to the next election. | |
| Fresh from trying to censure states for creating safe access zones, Fraser Anning would now like to censure states looking at euthanasia. | |
| He has put forward this motion. Labor has a conscience vote, and I think from memory, government senators do as well (but happy to be corrected). | |
| To move that the Senate: | |
| (a) notes that: | |
| (i) the introduction of euthanasia legislation undermines society’s position on the sanctity of life; | |
| (ii) euthanasia legislation has the potential, as seen in the Netherlands, for the expansion of euthanasia to allow elderly individuals to end their life when no medical issues are present; this increases the risk of elder abuse; | |
| (iii) in 2016 the Australian Bureau of Statistics recorded 2,866 people had committed suicide; | |
| (iv) in particular, the young adult suicide rate in Australia is exceptionally high, with over one-third of deaths (35.4%) among young people aged between 15-24, due to suicide; | |
| (v) creating a culture that accepts death as a solution, is counterproductive to combating Australia’s suicide epidemic, and risks the lives of our most vulnerable, and | |
| (vi) dying with dignity means using the medical advancements of palliative care as the solution to ease the pain of terminal illness, not the artificial ending of a life prematurely. | |
| (b) condemns the Victorian parliament for introducing a law which risks the well-being of Victorians and creates a climate of death. | |
| (c) calls on the Senate to reject any move that would allow the expansion of euthanasia. | |
| Interesting. Scott Morrison says Labor had flagged its repeal plan in the costings for its own tax plan: | |
| This was already in their costings. They actually put in their last set of costings that you have seen the full abolition of the enterprise tax plan. So if they are actually now shrinking what they are proposing to do, they would have less revenue than they were thinking about before. | |
| “They have a $10bn black hole out of what they will get out of the retirees tax. | |
| “The house of cards he built is crumbling and falling over. I will let him explain his number because he’s got to justify that to the Australian people. | |
| “Australians don’t trust Labor when it comes to finance. Bill Shorten will say anything and do anything and then Chris Bowen will stand there beside him looking like a numpy trying to make out it all adds up. Australians get it. They can see it. They don’t trust these guys with the economy or their own money and the rollback of tax relief that Labor are now proposing – $70bn on personal income taxes – ”vote Labor and pay higher tax”, roll back on making business taxes more competitive with a company with an average size of employees of 75. Give me a break. They are not multinationals. This guy needs to get out more!” | |
| Amanda Rishworth says Labor has been “very clear from the get-go” about its tax plan. | |
| “We have not supported the majority of the government’s corporate tax cuts because we don’t believe that we can achieve a budget repair that is fair, that still properly funds our schools and hospitals and gives income tax cuts to those that need it the most,” she told Sky News. | |
| “We have been very, very clear from the outset. We considered our position and now we have made a decision. There will be a clear choice at the election – there will be no uncertainty or illusion. There will be a clear choice at the election about what priorities we would have, that is funding schools, hospitals and income tax cuts for those that will benefit the most – those low- and middle-income households. | |
| “And there will be a clear choice between that and the Liberals’ plan to give big companies a tax cut.” | “And there will be a clear choice between that and the Liberals’ plan to give big companies a tax cut.” |
| Talking to some of the Labor peeps, the decision not to support the business tax cuts, which have already been legislated, was discussed by caucus. The decision to repeal those tax cuts was not. So perhaps a bit of a captain’s call, or at least a leadership group’s call, there. | Talking to some of the Labor peeps, the decision not to support the business tax cuts, which have already been legislated, was discussed by caucus. The decision to repeal those tax cuts was not. So perhaps a bit of a captain’s call, or at least a leadership group’s call, there. |
| Labor hasn’t said what it will do for businesses with a turnover over $2m. | Labor hasn’t said what it will do for businesses with a turnover over $2m. |
| There are about 94,000 businesses in Australia with a turnover between $2m and $50m, according to Treasury figures from a few months ago, and those businesses employ just over 3.3 million Australians. | |
| Not only the Snake of Envy. The man who gave us unbelieva-Bill, now presents: | |
| Bill Shafton. | Bill Shafton. |
| Scott Morrison is still talking: | Scott Morrison is still talking: |
| We believe the enterprise tax plan should apply across all businesses, as you know. By the time there are reductions in company taxes for businesses at that level, the banks already would have paid some $16bn in the bank levy. which basically completely wipes out any benefit that they would directly receive from a lower tax rate. | |
| “So, sorry ... We believe the enterprise tax plan should apply across all businesses. For the simple reason that small businesses do business with large businesses. | |
| “Take Qantas, for example. They have like 13,000 small-business suppliers. I mean, how do they do better with Qantas if Qantas is paying higher taxes? | |
| “I have never understood the argument for taxes remaining high. It is bad enough that there seems to be some view in the Labor party, even though, as we all know, they used to support these changes, that if you ask businesses, demand, mandate them to pay higher taxes, how that actually helps them be more competitive? | “I have never understood the argument for taxes remaining high. It is bad enough that there seems to be some view in the Labor party, even though, as we all know, they used to support these changes, that if you ask businesses, demand, mandate them to pay higher taxes, how that actually helps them be more competitive? |
| “How it helps them to employ more people, to increase wages or increase productivity? I don’t understand the argument which says, ‘Pay the government more tax and you will do better and the economy will be better off.’ What is even worse is the global movement in taxes on business around the world is down and if our businesses remain where they are, we will have the second-highest tax rate for business in the OECD. | |
| “Now, when it first came down, both under treasurers and prime minister Keating and treasurer Costello, there were 19 countries that had taxes higher than us. There will only be one. How long will that last? | |
| “They want to leave us up there in the stratosphere for higher taxes for our businesses and not afford them relief. Even for businesses with a turnover of between $10m and $50m. This is a naked tax grab. This is a tax grab to go and spend money all over the shop in some sort of big plate the cash splash. That is what Bill Shorten wants. He wants a big chest to just splash cash all over the country to pursue only one interest. And it isn’t the national interest. It is his own political interest.” | |
| Here’s what Bill Shorten told the Labor caucus today: | Here’s what Bill Shorten told the Labor caucus today: |
| “Turnbull has no clue how people actually live and I do believe his wealth is connected to that ... Longman is very close and Braddon is very difficult but we do have the better candidates, the better policies and the better values.” | “Turnbull has no clue how people actually live and I do believe his wealth is connected to that ... Longman is very close and Braddon is very difficult but we do have the better candidates, the better policies and the better values.” |
| Shorten cited the Coalition’s $144bn personal income tax cuts and total $80bn tax package as evidence of Labor’s superior “values”, arguing the income tax cuts would give parliamentarians a tax cut of $7,000. | Shorten cited the Coalition’s $144bn personal income tax cuts and total $80bn tax package as evidence of Labor’s superior “values”, arguing the income tax cuts would give parliamentarians a tax cut of $7,000. |
| Scott Morrison on Bill Shorten’s announcement: | Scott Morrison on Bill Shorten’s announcement: |
| This is terrible news for 1.5 million Australians who work in those businesses that will have to face higher taxes under Labor if Labor is elected. | This is terrible news for 1.5 million Australians who work in those businesses that will have to face higher taxes under Labor if Labor is elected. |
| How Labor thinks taxing those businesses with an average of 75 employees is going to help those businesses actually go out there and compete and make their way ahead is beyond me, and I think it just demonstrates how Labor just doesn’t get it when it comes to having plans for a stronger economy. | |
| Labor used to talk about the ladder of opportunity. We all remember that. They used to talk about the ladder of opportunity. Well, under Bill Shorten, under the Labor party today, what we have is the snake of envy. This is a snake and ladders game under Labor. It used to be the ladder of opportunity and now it is the snake of envy under Bill Shorten. Australians will slide down under Labor. They will slide down. They will either pay those taxes directly in higher taxes, as we know more than $200bn in higher taxes on the economy, or they will pay for them through the suffocation of the economy through higher taxes.” | |
| The ladder of opportunity dates back to Mark Latham’s first press conference as opposition leader in 2003: | The ladder of opportunity dates back to Mark Latham’s first press conference as opposition leader in 2003: |
| Now some people today of course will be asking, ‘Who is Mark Latham and what does he stand for?’ Well I stand for the things that I’ve been doing all my life: working hard trying to climb that ladder of opportunity, working hard, studying hard. | |
| I believe in an upwardly mobile society where people can climb the rungs of opportunity, climbing the ladder of opportunity to a better life for themselves and their family. I believe in hard work. | I believe in an upwardly mobile society where people can climb the rungs of opportunity, climbing the ladder of opportunity to a better life for themselves and their family. I believe in hard work. |
| I believe in reward for effort. I believe in a government that is there to help the people who are doing the right thing – the people who are getting stuck in, doing things the fair dinkum Australian way. | |
| And that’s always been the case for me, always the case of working hard and getting stuck in. | And that’s always been the case for me, always the case of working hard and getting stuck in. |
| That was me from public housing seeing that my mum was in a home of her own. I worked hard through school and got through to university, then I moved on to a good job and worked hard. | That was me from public housing seeing that my mum was in a home of her own. I worked hard through school and got through to university, then I moved on to a good job and worked hard. |
| I then ... had the honour to serve in my local community in local government and then for the last 10 years working hard in the Australian parliament. | |
| You’ve got to get stuck in and I believe passionately in climbing the rungs of opportunity. And I want that for all Australians. | You’ve got to get stuck in and I believe passionately in climbing the rungs of opportunity. And I want that for all Australians. |
| I believe in upward mobility. I believe in climbing that ladder. And the problem in Australia that we’ve got at the moment is the Howard government has taken out too many of the rungs. | |
| It has taken out too many rungs. I want to put them back in. The rungs of opportunity that come from good quality healthcare in our society, the opportunity that comes from a decent, affordable education, the basic services that all our community rely on. | |
| These are the things we’ve got to restore. We’ve got to put those rungs back into the ladder of opportunity in this country. | These are the things we’ve got to restore. We’ve got to put those rungs back into the ladder of opportunity in this country. |