Tornado Alley (PROG)

[fuagf]

Bill Shorten gets final word with Budget reply as Labor sets up for Scott Morrison to call election

"Coalition [Aussiland's] budget woos low and middle-income earners with $19.5bn tax cuts"

By posting these in full i'm hoping to convey what a sense of politics could be more like here after Trump
and the meanness of his GOP. And of course to offer those interested more juicy stuff on Aussiland.

By political editor Andrew Probyn

Updated about 9 hours ago

Video: Bill Shorten matches Coalition tax cuts, pledges billions for cancer patients in Budget reply (ABC News)
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-04-04/bill-shorten-budget-reply/10972766

Related Story: Labor's Budget reply promises 'greatest investment in Medicare in a generation'
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-04-04/budget-reply-bill-shorten-tax-medicare-cancer-plan/10972110

Related Story: Voters are packing their bags — but the Coalition is asking for forgiveness
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-04-03/federal-budget-2019-analysis-andrew-probyn/10959290

Related Story: As it happened: Shorten triggers election showdown in Budget reply
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-04-04/bill-shorten-delivers-his-budget-reply-speech-live-blog/10972190

For a Government that's struggled for months to set the political agenda, it seems only fitting
that the final big show of the 45th Parliament should be Bill Shorten's Budget reply speech ..
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-04-04/budget-reply-bill-shorten-tax-medicare-cancer-plan/10972110 .

The Labor Party and the Opposition Leader have run rings around the Coalition for much of the past three years, tactically and politically.

"Our opponents spend a lot of time telling you to be afraid. Afraid of change. Afraid of new ideas. Afraid of the future. Afraid of each other," he told the Parliament.

"We offer stability and unity and a vision for the nation.

"We choose hope over fear. We choose the future over the past."

-----
What Budget 2019 means for you:

* Who are the winners and losers from the Budget?
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-04-02/federal-budget-2019-winners-and-losers/10939098

* This is a Budget that won't die wondering: Annabel Crabb
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-04-02/federal-budget-annabel-crabb-back-in-black/10962566

* Breaking down the Budget in one handy cheat sheet
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-04-02/federal-budget-2019-cheat-sheet/10959278

8 This Budget is a last-ditch plea for forgiveness: Andrew Probyn
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-04-03/federal-budget-2019-analysis-andrew-probyn/10959290
-----

The Liberal Party's aided its opponent at too many turns. Its infighting, its struggle to self-govern and then
its takedown of Malcolm Turnbull have debilitated the Coalition's brand, authority and the public's patience.

--
What if the government changes?

In this environment of global unpredictability, the very idea of forecasting four years into the future feels bizarre.
Even more so when we know this to be a document drafted with next month in mind, writes Annabel Crabb.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-04-02/federal-budget-annabel-crabb-back-in-black/10962566
--

Scott Morrison has done his best to pull the show together. But deep philosophical fissures run deep through the Coalition, still unresolved.

Prime Minister for just over seven months, Mr Morrison's last undiluted discretion will be naming the date of the next election.

But even then, his options are few. It will be May 11, May 18 or May 25. And of those three, only two now seem realistic.

In an hour of Thursday's Senate estimates hearings, Penny Wong extinguished any reasonable prospect of the Government attempting to skate unscathed through another week before the election's called.


Photo: The Coalition will campaign heavily on Labor leader Bill Shorten's unpopularity.
(ABC News: Nick Haggarty)

Senator Wong's skilful, artfully cynical and incisive questioning of her sparring partner Mathias Cormann — himself no slouch — showed the dangers for the Government allowing Senate estimates hearings to drift into another scheduled sitting next week.

Penny Wong combines the prosecutorial abilities of Labor's old duo John Faulkner and Robert Ray with a pantomime stroppiness for her political foes. Why expose the Coalition to a full week of that lethal Wong glare?

[Penny Wong is great. Memories of Julia Gillard.
Australia’s PM Julia Gillard Rips Misogynist a New One in Epic Speech
https://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=80369189]

--
Coalition asks for forgiveness

After a rocky six-year marriage, and one near-split, the Coalition has come begging for
forgiveness ahead of a date with electors in the divorce courts in May, writes Andrew Probyn.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-04-03/federal-budget-2019-analysis-andrew-probyn/10959290
--

So the PM will most likely call the election on Friday or Sunday, which would be the orthodox pick. That is, if being orthodox counts for being anything in these topsy-turvy times.

And Mr Morrison will use his prerogative as PM, in setting the election date, to assert the terms of the contest as he sees them. We already know them. He'll assert trust and economic stewardship.

He can't assert stability. Wouldn't dare. Not after two bouts of Coalition cannibalism, first in devouring Tony Abbott in 2016, then Mr Turnbull in August last year.

[Iinside -] Budget 2019
How much income tax will you save?

Indeed, Mr Shorten, an expert in political mind games, now says a vote for stability is to change government.

He has some evidence to call. He has been Labor leader since October 2013. Tanya Plibersek has been his deputy and Chris Bowen has been Shadow Treasurer for the same period.


Photo: Opposition Leader Bill Shorten smiles during Question Time on April 4, 2019.
(ABC News: Marco Catalano)

A dozen or so members of the Labor frontbench have been in their portfolios for much longer than their Coalition counterparts.

And there's much of the Labor manifesto that's gone unchanged for several years, including potentially dangerous policies on negative gearing and curbs on capital gains tax.

The Coalition's catch-up Budget on Tuesday .. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-04-03/election-battle-looming-as-coalition-releases-budget/10964644 , which matched Labor's unfreezing of Medicare rebates and sought to neuter Labor's appeal to low- and middle-income earners, set up attack points on surplus, tax reform and infrastructure.

--
Treasurer riding a gambler's luck

If his maiden budget is anything to go by, Josh Frydenberg certainly knows when to hold 'em and when
to fold 'em and, depending on the next few months, perhaps even when to run, writes Ian Verrender.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-04-02/federal-budget-2019-treasurer-frydenberg-gamblers-luck/10962612
--

It will also campaign heavily on Labor's "tax and spend" propositions and Mr Shorten's unpopularity (which Labor says is already factored in among voters).

Labor's crazy-brave decisions on negative gearing .. [https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-03-29/labor-to-end-negative-gearing-concessions-for-new-investors/10951194] , CGT .. [https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2019/jan/31/chris-bowen-says-labor-sticking-to-tax-policies-despite-political-attacks] .. and franking credits .. [https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2019/feb/07/geoff-wilson-told-investors-labors-franking-credits-policy-easy-to-avoid] , plus its decision to oppose the Coalition's proposed abolition of an entire tax rate in 2024, puts it about $150 billion ahead of the Coalition in construction of a rival economic plan.

That's an enormous sum to fund promises. Hospital and health programs will be a major beneficiary of Labor largesse.

The calling of the election date, replacing the faux campaign with a real one, will see the contest tighten. The public might even start listening. Very few federal elections turn out to be walk-overs. But the ScoMo Express will start the race with soft tyres and worn tread.

Now, we wait for the Prime Minister to take his jalopy for that short drive down Dunrossil Drive.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-04-04/bill-shorten-preaches-stability-as-election-campaign-looms/10972790

See also:

'Why was their trust betrayed?': Australia apologises to child sexual abuse victims
https://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=144389215

Australian climate politics in 2017: a guide for the perplexed
https://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=129417474

Catholic Church a 'law unto itself' Archbishop tells royal commission
https://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=128555582

Australia wins international legal battle with Philip Morris over plain packaging
https://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=127506897

Australian election issues .. of course education is one and you won't be surprised
to see which party it has been traditionally a strength for
https://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=123591114
.. in reply ..
In Australian Election, Discontent Is the Front-Runner
https://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=123617820

LOL/sheesh - 2013 BNB's, Possum infestation keeps Tony Abbott out of official residence
https://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=92087095
.. and later in the stream ..
edit: AWWWWW!!.. sorry Bull... you got it! .. eyelids closing SUCKS .. knew i was
tired!! .. course i read it! .. THANK YOU. Steph! .. lololol .. sheeesh...
https://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=92126059