Labor won Senate backing for its housing and tax reforms but won’t rule out more changes.
Mark Butler has insisted more legislation is still to come as the Coalition accused the Government of presiding over a “balls up from go to woah”.
Appearing on Sunrise on Friday morning, Health and NDIS Minister Mark Butler was forced to defend the Government’s handling of reforms after a series of concessions and carve-outs made since the Budget was handed down six weeks ago. Asked whether he would do anything differently, Mr Butler argued it was normal for major tax reforms to be refined as legislation progressed through Parliament.
“Every significant tax reform package this country has had a series of implementation details that take place over the course of months,” he said.
Mr Butler insisted the package delivered what Australians needed, pointing to tax cuts, support for first-home buyers and relief for small businesses. He also confirmed further legislation was still on the way, including measures covering start-ups and trust arrangements.
“We always said there would be two pieces of legislation over the course of this year,” he said.
The comments prompted fresh criticism from Deputy Liberal Leader Jane Hume, who argued the Government had repeatedly changed course after promising before the election not to alter negative gearing or capital gains tax settings.
“I’m not interested in the polling. I’m interested in the outcome for Australians, and this has been a balls up from go to whoa,” Senator Hume said.
She accused Labor of making repeated backflips after widespread opposition from businesses and investors.
“When the backlash came from business … the number of backflips and changes and carve outs that needed to be made went on and on and on.”
The Coalition also seized on changes affecting jointly owned investment properties after the death of a spouse, claiming Labor had failed to fix what it labelled a “widow tax”.
Mr Butler rejected suggestions the Government had ignored the issue, saying it would be addressed in the next tranche of legislation after independent senator David Pocock withdrew an amendment on the basis of Labor’s commitment to clarify the law.
The Health Minister also dismissed criticism from former Reserve Bank governor Philip Lowe that the capital gains tax reforms should have been confined to housing, arguing the Government wanted investment income taxed more consistently regardless of the asset class.
“We think what we need in this country is a more equitable treatment of income taxation, whether that’s income earned from wages … or income earned from investments,” Mr Butler said.
Despite the reforms now clearing Parliament, Senator Hume vowed the Coalition would repeal them if elected, declaring, “We were there, ready to fight these taxes from the very beginning. We will repeal it in government and replace it with lower taxes, lower and simpler and fair taxes.”
