"We will not be in the business of offering compensation for injury that is not caused" ... Joe Hockey. Photo: Louie Douvis
Finance Minister Penny Wong says there’s no guarantee a Tony Abbott-led coalition government would deliver tax cuts.
Mr Abbott on Tuesday outlined a coalition government’s commitment to tax cuts beyond the scrapping of the carbon tax in its first term, once spending is brought under control to create a stronger budget surplus.
The federal government later accused Mr Abbott of pushing out the timeframe for any tax cuts to the end of a first term.
But deputy Liberal leader Julie Bishop said there was no confusion over tax cuts.
‘‘We will aim for tax cuts in our first term,’’ deputy opposition leader Julie Bishop told Sky News on Wednesday.‘‘That’s a tradition of coalition, Liberal/National governments, that we aim for lower taxes, we deliver tax cuts.’’
However, Senator Wong says all Ms Bishop had done was confirm tax cuts under an Abbott were only an ‘‘aim’’.‘‘There is no guarantee they will be delivered,’’ she said in statement.
During his National Press Club address, Mr Abbott reaffirmed the coalition plans to scrap the carbon tax if he becomes prime minister.
Under the government’s carbon tax package, compensation tax benefits will start rolling out from May, including increased pensions and income tax cuts.
Opposition treasury spokesman Joe Hockey confirmed on Wednesday that, because the opposition would scrap the carbon tax, there was no need to provide compensation.
‘‘We will not be in the business of offering compensation for injury that is not caused,’’ Mr Hockey said.‘‘Having said that, Australians will be better off without the carbon tax package.’’
Families and Community Services Minister Jenny Macklin said that, if Mr Abbott becomes prime minister, the lack of the carbon tax compensation package will mean 3.4 million pensioners lose about $338 per year for singles and about $510 per year for couples combined.
‘‘After ignoring the needs of pensioners for almost 12 long years in government, Joe Hockey has made it clear that a coalition government will never look out for the best interests of older Australians,’’ Ms Macklin said in a statement.
This political argy-bargy came ahead of a speech by Prime Minister Julia Gillard to the Australia-Israel Chamber of Commerce in Melbourne where she will restate the government’s intention to deliver a budget surplus in 2012/13.
‘‘It is an ambitious goal, and to deliver it, the government will pursue an ambitious program of investments and reforms in 2012,’’ she will say.
But opposition finance spokesman Andrew Robb said no amount of ‘‘sugar coating’’ by Ms Gillard could mask how ‘‘truly dreadful’’ Labor’s economic management has been.
‘‘Our hapless prime minister will be out today ’gilding the lily’, telling us how much better off we are than the basket-case economies of Europe, that we are the envy of the world,’’ he said in a statement.
‘‘What we won’t hear are the damning numbers in Labor’s own budget papers that reveal the shameful Australian records that Labor owns in debt and deficit. Nor will Ms Gillard talk about the blow-outs in government spending since 2007 that expose the nonsense about fiscal consolidation.’’
AAP
