Hinch up for bit of horse trading

ASK Derryn Hinch what was the steepest learning curve he has faced since being elected to Parliament and he will tell you it was the negotiations over the backpacker tax.

“I’ve hosted live TV shows, anchored the Hawke-Peacock election coverage from Canberra, in a marathon sevenhour cliffhanger, and edited a metropolitan newspaper with crunch deadlines, but, as I said, that was the most pressurepacked week in my entire life,” he wrote at the time.

On the second-last day of Parliament in 2016, the Government finally secured a 15 per cent tax rate for all working holiday visa holders with the support of the Greens.

At the start of the week Hinch had been a key part of the discussions but switched positions four times, forcing the Government to find a new way to lock in its compromise rate.

Hinch began the week by supporting a 19 per cent tax rate and later jumped to 15 per cent. In the end, he voted with Labor for a 10.5 per cent tax rate after flirting with the idea of 13 per cent.

It was messy and left many in the Government frustrated with the septuagenarian senator.

So keen was the Government to woo Hinch it even recruited Victorian backbencher Sarah Henderson to call the former shock jock and lobby him for support. Henderson, a former journalist, knew Hinch from their days working in Melbourne media circles.

Back in his heyday, the Human Headline had even chased Henderson for a few dates. Much to Hinch’s amusement, Government negotiators thought Henderson might be able to convince him to back the Government’s proposal. It didn’t work. In the end, the Government went it alone and locked in a rate of 15 per cent without having to negotiate with the crossbench.

The former shock jock ad- mitted he lost some skin over the backpacker tax but maintained: “I don’t horse trade.”

Fast-forward 15 months and Hinch has learnt from his mistakes.

This week the Government needs his vote to pass its ambitious company tax plan to reduce the business tax rate from 30 per cent to 25 per cent.

Having mastered the art of horse trading, Hinch’s vote won’t come cheap.

“I have learnt a lot in the past year in this place,” he told me this week.

On Thursday, the Government’s negotiator-in-chief Mathias Cormann wooed Pauline Hanson by promising 1000 apprenticeships across the country. The pilot program will cost the Government an extra $60 million in return for her support on corporate tax cuts.

Hinch’s vote could come with a heftier price tag.

The Victorian senator is close to locking in a deal with the Federal Government which would see new welfare recipients continue to receive a $14-a-week supplement it has been trying to axe.

The Coalition has already banked the $1 billion it would save from slashing the welfare measure in an effort to prop up its budget.

Also on Senator Hinch’s wishlist is a boost to rental assistance, which already costs the Federal Government $4.4 billion each year.

Hinch knows that his indecision and impulsiveness during the backpacker tax debate did little to boost his popularity in Canberra.

He now has the chance to extract some extra cash from the Government in return for backing its legislation.

As one minister said: “Having seen what Pauline extracted, he’s realised it’s now time to negotiate. All of a sudden he doesn’t mind a little bit of horse trade.”

“I’ve hosted live TV shows ... and edited a metropolitan newspaper with crunch deadlines, but, as I said, that was the most pressurepacked week in my entire life”