What we learned, Thursday 14 May
Angus Taylor has delivered his first budget reply as Liberal leader, making some big policy promises.
Thank you all for following along on the blog with us today. Here’s what we learned:
The Coalition will index income tax brackets in a bold political move that will cost approximately $22.5bn over four years from 2028-29 onwards.
Taylor promised one of the biggest cuts to overseas migration “in Australian history”, cutting levels to below 200,000, and will tie immigration intake to new housing builds.
The Coalition would also strip migrants and all non-citizens from accessing social welfare support (most which they already have to wait four years or more for).
Taylor would “rein in spending” by scrapping the net zero agency, electric vehicle tax breaks and other climate incentives.
He also committed to developing a new national security strategy and appointing a national security adviser to government.
Labor has rubbished the announcements as “uncosted nonsense” and warned the Coalition can’t “out One Nation, One Nation”.
Refugee and migrant groups have also slammed the immigration policies, calling them “fearmongering” and “dog-whistling”.
You can read more here:
Updated
‘Labor has given up on Australia’: Canavan
The Nationals leader, Matt Canavan, has delivered his own budget reply tonight from the Senate (at least he let Angus Taylor go first).
Unsurprisingly, Canavan’s speech – while making the same promises like a new future generation fund – is even more focused on mining and abandoning climate targets and getting more people out into the regions.
He also heavily criticised Labor’s budget and the commitment to scrap negative gearing and capital gains tax discounts:
After four years of higher prices and lower wages, Labor has given up on Australia. This week they flew the white flag.
Labor’s budget disappears into a mess of unworkable tax increases that confuse Australians, punish aspiration and fail even to deliver the promised benefits.
Updated
