‘Un-costed nonsense’: coalition economic plan blasted
The coalition has promised to deliver some of the biggest cuts to immigration in Australian history and overhaul the country’s tax system, but faces accusations that the reforms are “free nonsense”.
Opposition Leader Angus Taylor promised in his first budget response speech to index tax rates for inflation, claiming the move would provide workers with an extra $1,000 a year over the policy’s four years.
Under his plan, the bottom two tax brackets, covering people earning between $18,201 and $135,000, would be indexed from 2028/29.
The top two tax brackets will also be indexed starting from the 2031/32 financial year.
“This is tax reform for a generation. It’s fair, it’s simple and it’s honest,” Mr Taylor told parliament on Thursday night.
The opposition leader also vowed to cut welfare payments for permanent residents, including access to JobSeeker and the National Disability Insurance Scheme, claiming the move would save billions of dollars.
After his speech, Mr Taylor said the reforms would be reinstated so that existing permanent residents would not be left worse off.
“We’re not taking anything away from anyone,” he told ABC TV.
Under a wider crackdown on immigration, Australia’s foreign intake will depend on the number of homes built each year.
“I promise this much: The Coalition will deliver one of the biggest cuts to immigration in Australian history,” Mr Taylor said, without giving detailed figures on immigration targets.
One Nation MP Barnaby Joyce said Mr Taylor had effectively read his party’s script and had never seen the coalition move so far to the right on immigration.
Mr Joyce told the ABC: “I think the Australian public is feeling uneasy about where immigration is going and they are demanding that governments of all kinds give them a sense of security.”
Housing Minister Clare O’Neil condemned the speech, claiming Australian families were seeking answers to their cost of living and housing supply problems.
“Instead of real answers to these problems, they have been met with costless nonsense that is not even enough to build a single house or pay a single bill,” he told reporters at the parliament building.
“You can’t rule out One Nation, One Nation… if people like what Pauline Hanson criticizes, they’re going to vote for them, not you,” Ms O’Neil said.
Immigrant advocates responded angrily to the opposition leader’s speech, accusing him of “chasing votes through dog whistling, fear and divisiveness.”
“Taylor’s comments tonight are provocative and desperate,” Jana Favero, vice president of the Refugee Resource Center, said in a statement.
“The fact that they feel the need to blow the whistle on mass deportations of so-called ‘extra survivors’, many of whom are in fact trapped in a largely dilapidated court and judicial system created by years of coalition underfunding, shows that they are more interested in fueling fear than in offering serious policy solutions.”
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