Greens support needed to pass proposed changes but party concerned it will give government sweeping discretionary powers
Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast
Anthony Albanese has ridiculed Angus Taylor as a “Temu [Tony] Abbott” amid an increasingly bitter fight over tax changes in the budget, as the Greens raise concerns about key provisions of the government’s proposal.
Labor will speed the first tranche of its budget legislation through the lower house on Thursday, and hopes to pass it through the Senate within weeks.
Greens support is required to pass the proposed changes to negative gearing, family trusts and capital gains tax through the Senate, but treasury spokesperson Nick McKim said his party were concerned about the government having sweeping discretionary powers to change tax rules.
Albanese defended the changes in a speech to parliament on Wednesday, saying most workers had “never even heard of a discretionary trust”.
The Coalition opposes the changes and plans to move amendments to split the legislation in order to support the $250 Working Australians Tax Offset (Wato) while voting down the broader reform package – a move that is set to fail due to Labor’s large parliamentary majority.
Taylor continued his criticism of the reforms in question time on Wednesday, pointing to the release of national accounts which showed a slowdown in GDP growth and claiming that Labor’s “economic strategy has failed Australians”.
Albanese, who has been escalating his direct attacks on Taylor, described the opposition leader as “Temu Abbott … trying to press buttons”.
The former Liberal prime minister was elected unopposed as party president last week, and Liberal MPs have also noted the growing similarities between Taylor’s rhetoric and that of his predecessor.
Albanese also alluded to discussions about an alliance between the Coalition and One Nation, adding: “Those in the ‘Liberal One National’ coalition of the three parties speak about battlers from time to time, but give a battler a wage increase and they hate it.”
In an earlier speech to parliament, Albanese said the government’s tax changes would make it easier for first home buyers to enter the property market.
“Teachers and nurses and cleaners, police officers, people in retail and hospitality, millions of Australians who work their guts out to make ends meet and provide for their families have probably never even heard of a discretionary trust, and they will never have the means or the opportunity to use one to minimise the tax that they pay,” he said.
But Albanese said the government was “still not doing enough” to help Australians overcome the 400% rise in house prices since 1999. “In the same period, the rate of home ownership among Australians aged 25 to 34 has fallen by 7%,” he said. “We owe the next generation better than this, and that’s what these reforms are about.”
Meanwhile, the treasurer, Jim Chalmers, this week downplayed media reporting about discretionary powers he would have to alter tax settings as a “beat-up”, saying it was “not unusual in tax legislation for definitions to be settled in what are called legislative instruments”.
But the Greens said they have concerns, with McKim saying he wanted to investigate the legislative instruments during a short senate inquiry to be held before the bill is voted on in the upper house.
“We aren’t talking about minor tweaks and adjustments here. The treasurer would have the power to fundamentally alter these tax changes after it became law,” he told Guardian Australia.
“It is a concern to the Greens and it is something we want to explore in the upcoming inquiry.”
Negotiations continue between the government and the Greens. Sources close to discussions said the Greens’ position on the bill had not yet been determined, and that conversations had not yet turned to what concessions – if any – the minor party may seek for their senate support.
Source: Guardian - World News
