2018-02-14
Greens Treasury spokesperson, Senator Peter Whish-Wilson, provides the following comments on the Labor Party’s newly announced policy position of supporting corporate tax cuts when the budget returns to surplus.
Senator Whish-Wilson said, “Labor is taking a socially reckless position of putting big business greed ahead of the needs of everyday Australians.
“It seems that the trickle-down faction of the Labor Party has won and they have committed to putting a corporate tax cut ahead of much needed social investment.
“If you don’t stand for something you will fall for anything. Labor has clearly shown today it stands for nothing.
“It has fallen for big business spin, or is it fear of a pre-election business advertising blitz, or perhaps loss of corporate donations?
“You can’t get a clearer picture of the differences between Labor and the Greens on economic policy. With a surplus we would fund and finance a significant public works program to make our cities and regions more liveable, a rise in the Newstart allowance, higher education, renewable energy and environmental repair, while Labor would hand back the money to big businesses instead.
“What Chris Bowen is falling for is the same thing that Kevin Rudd did in matching Costello’s tax cuts in the lead up to the 2007 election. And that set in train the deterioration of the budget and put pressure on the ability to fund core social services.
“If Labor sticks to this plan, it never will be able to bring the social support system back to a reasonable level or rebuild the public service. It is an albatross around the neck of any future Treasurer and the people who will pay for it will be everyone who is already doing it tough,” he concluded.