LABOR TO 25 MILLION AUSSIES: GET STUFFED

NEW Labor leader Anthony Albanese has made an immediate mockery of his promise to work for bipartisanship in the national interest and has failed right upfront his first big and important test of leadership.

Worse, much worse, he has failed all 25 million Australians by holding them hostage to Labor’s cynical political game-playing.

Let it be absolutely crystal clear, this is not just a political arm-wrestle over tax cuts, and so only of direct relevance to those who would get them – now or in the future.

This is fundamentally about urgent policy action to prevent the Australian economy sliding over a cliff – an outcome that would directly hurt every

Australian.

And I do mean every

Australian, including both the very youngest and the very oldest.

There’s a critically related point which gets more complicated: We need tax cuts now instead of the Reserve Bank slashing, feeling it has to slash, its official interest rate to nearzero.

And taking all saving rates down with it, but not lending rates, whether to homebuyers or business.

RBA governor Philip Lowe has made two things absolutely crystal clear, and done so both repeatedly and with increasing urgency and emphasis.

First, it was now urgent for the federal government to deliver fiscal stimulus: The quickest and most effective is the upfront July tax cuts, the first of the government’s proposed three tranches of cuts.

Lowe also wants more money spent on infrastructure, but the states are already doing that – and in any event, that’s longterm.

The economy needs upfront stimulus, especially for consumers, now.

Secondly, Lowe has made it clear that in the absence of

LABOR – shadow leader Albanese and his shadow treasurer Jim Chalmers – claim they are ready and willing to vote them through. They could be delivered this week.

The claim is a fraudulent sham.

The latest “offer” from Labor is that they will vote for them – provided the second tranche of tax cuts is brought forward to the 201920 year and the third tranche, in the “out years” is excluded.

In the most specific way, Labor is demanding to be allowed to govern from the opposition benches.

They have a leader absolutely committed to bipartisanship – provided the government does what Labor wants.

Earth to Albo: Do you understand why you are not sleeping in The Lodge? Not

that you ever would have been; if Labor had won, it would be Chloe Shorten’s husband doing so.

What you are now doing is announcing to 25 million Australians that you should never get to sleep in the Lodge.

How could we elect as PM someone who was prepared to deliberately hurt every one of his fellow citizens?

This said, what’s sauce for the goose – and boy, is Albo a juicy one – is also sauce for the gander.

In the absence of Labor being prepared to vote for the government’s entire tax package, as the government is perfectly entitled to demand – and the absence of the crossbench senators to step up to do their duty – the government must be prepared to separate out the first tranche for immediate approval.

Let me spell it out again, so there can be no mistake.

The economy and 25 million Australians need those upfront tax cuts.

At best, they stand between all of us and poor policy – the RBA overslashing rates.

But much more likely is that they stand between us and a serious slump in the economy.

Indeed, there is no guarantee they alone could head off such a slump; but they would be the most effective pre-emptive action we could muster.

And if it turns out, in the passage of time, that they weren’t absolutely needed, no harm is done: They are fully and responsibly budgeted for.

Again, a very important reason why it is completely inappropriate for Labor to both deny the government its mandate and to try to run fiscal policy from opposition.

The second round is not budgeted for in this 2019-20 year.

We just had an election. The Coalition won.

The Coalition not Labor gets to run Budget policy.

The alternative is political, policy and fiscal chaos.