2 December 2019
Haunted By The Miserable Ghost
I still think back to that night in mid-May this year: scrutineering in some far-flung warehouse in suburban Melbourne, running down my phone battery to check seat-by-seat results, as it dawned on us that – seemingly against the laws of political gravity – Scott Morrison had pulled it off. Nobody had loathed Morrison’s predecessor more than I had, but even
4 December 2018
Turnbull’s Act Of Woeful Hypocrisy
It is disappointing that Malcolm Turnbull appears to be taking part in the same headline-grabbing antics for which he has criticised others. When his efforts to get clean air and run with a political narrative were disrupted by an intervention by Tony Abbott, prime minister Turnbull and his supporters were rightly frustrated and would blame his conservative rival for many
12 November 2018
Goodbye Old Blue-Ribbons, Hello New Heartland
The Liberal Party’s dramatic loss in the Wentworth by-election last month reveals an irreconcilable philosophical divide within the Party. Self-styled “moderates” within the Party are the first to write history, claiming a more credible stance on addressing climate change is required for the Liberals to hold seats such as Wentworth. They are right. The proportion of left-leaning voters in seats
2 November 2018
The Liberal’s Church Without A Pontiff
Two weeks on, the Wentworth byelection result continues to be the Rorschach test of Australian politics in 2018. Pundits and politicians are interpreting the outcome to mean whatever they want it to mean. The loss of what was assumed to be a safe Liberal seat has been taken by left-leaning Liberal MPs to mean their party must “do more” on climate change for example, while
22 June 2018
Tax Cuts? What Tax Cuts?
The government has pulled a switfy. They’ve got everyone thinking they are going to cut taxes. They aren’t. Taxes are going up under the government’s income tax plan which passed the Senate yesterday The government’s own budget figures show that revenue from personal income tax will rise six per cent in 2018-19, five per cent in 2019-20, and seven per
24 May 2018
It’s Not Just Tax And Spend But Tax And Lie
If Scott Morrison and Malcolm Turnbull were corporate CEOs, they’d be done for misleading and deceptive conduct. They claim that the 2018-19 Budget will cut taxes. To most people, this would mean the amount of tax they pay next year will be less than what they pay this year. Yet, the government’s own Budget figures show that taxes are rising
18 May 2018
Tax ‘Cuts’ Are Rises To Pay For Spending
The budget is littered with titbits mostly designed to garner political support. There’s the targeted, low and middle-income tax offsets which will provide relatively small tax cuts for those earning up to $125,000 per year. There’s the proposal to raise the top threshold of the 32.5 per cent tax bracket from $87,000 to $90,000, which will stave off bracket creep for
9 May 2018
Budget 2018: What Have You Achieved?
Treasurer Scott Morrison’s budget speech opened with the remark ‘What have you achieved?’ to which the chamber responded with howling laughter. This was the fifth budget of the Coalition government and may very well prove the last before the Australian people hand power to Bill Shorten and Labor. This provides an opportune time to answer – what have they achieved? More
8 May 2018
The IPA Reacts to the Federal Budget
The IPA’s Simon Breheny and Daniel Wild dissect the 2018 Federal Budget and talk about why they are so disappointed.
8 May 2018
Scott Morrison Must Show He Has Real Courage
When a politician promises to give you something in 10 years, you can bet it’ll never happen. Promised tax cuts in Tuesday night’s Budget won’t match expectations, and a Coalition government — which, after almost five years in office, should be renowned for getting government out of our lives — will have overseen further growth in government expenditure and debt. At
