Australia far-right party rejects proposed tax cut, adding to PM's woes

[webfact]

Australia far-right party rejects proposed tax cut, adding to PM's woes

By Colin Packham

 

FILE PHOTO: Australia's Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and German Chancellor Angela Merkel (not pictured) address the media following their talks in Berlin, Germany, April 23, 2018. REUTERS/Fabrizio Bensch/File Photo

 

SYDNEY (Reuters) - Australia's far-right One Nation party said on Tuesday it will not support the government's proposed corporate tax cut, all but ending Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull's hope for a policy victory ahead of a series of by-elections.

 

Turnbull's Liberal-National coalition government had proposed to reduce the corporate income tax rate by 5 percent to 25 percent for all companies by 2026-27.

 

The legislation has been stalled in the Senate where the government is in the minority and was struggling to win the support of enough independent lawmakers.

 

"The people in general don't want it. It has not been well­received," One Nation leader Pauline Hanson told The Australian in an interview published on Tuesday.

 

The opposition Labor Party, The Greens and several independent lawmakers have said they will not back the bill.

 

Without One Nation and its three votes in the Senate, Turnbull's centre-right government is well short of securing enough support for the tax measure, analysts said.

 

"I am obviously very disappointed with this latest development, but self-evidently I hope this is not the last word," Finance Minister Mathias Cormann told reporters in Canberra.

 

The stalled tax legislation is the latest problem facing Turnbull ahead of five by-elections triggered when a group of opposition lawmakers were forced from office after being deemed dual nationals this month.

 

Dual citizens are blocked from national elected office under Australia's 117-year-old constitution.

 

The dates of the by-elections have yet to be set but Turnbull's Liberal Party is leading opinion polls in the race for the Queensland state seat of Longman.

 

A victory there would give his coalition a two-seat majority from the current one seat, but analysts said the troubled tax cut and other setbacks limited the impact of a by-election win.

 

"These failures build a perception of a prime minister who appears weak and unable to secure reform," said Haydon Manning, a political science professor at Flinders University in South Australia state.

 

With just a razor thin majority, Turnbull has been forced into a series of policies that he had previously opposed, most notably a powerful inquiry into the country's financial sector.

 

Turnbull also faces internal pressure over the issue of live sheep exports after the death of 2,400 animals on a ship bound for the Middle East, prompted widespread criticism of the A$250 million ($190 million) industry.

 

The government introduced tougher oversight of the shipments, though a group of rebel backbenchers on Monday proposed a blanket ban - exposing fractures within the coalition government.

 

($1 = 1.3186 Australian dollars)

 

(Reporting by Colin Packham; Editing by Darren Schuettler)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2018-05-22

[car720]

Ah the fishmonger's wife strikes again. 

[simple1]

48 minutes ago, car720 said:

Ah the fishmonger's wife strikes again. 

She has altered the OneNation Constitution and appointed herself leader for life. Ensured all Fed Govt vote payments are accrued to her personal account. Tried to remove $400m from ABC funding after a critical documentary was broadcast and so on. Why people continue to support this aspiring authoritarian is beyond comprehension.

[Justfine]

Far right? Not even close. Half their policies are socialist.

[Rigby40]

7 minutes ago, Justfine said:

Far right? Not even close. Half their policies are socialist.

Far-right is just more mud slinging for those that are slightly right of Mao Zedong.

[simple1]

11 minutes ago, Justfine said:

Far right? Not even close. Half their policies are socialist.

Definitions have changed - Far-right politics are politics further on the right of the left-right spectrum than the standard political right, particularly in terms of more extreme nationalist,^[1][2] and nativist ideologies, as well as authoritarian tendencies.^[3]

 

^{https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Far-right_politics}

[Justfine]

Just now, simple1 said:

Definitions have changed - Far-right politics are politics further on the right of the left-right spectrum than the standard political right, particularly in terms of more extreme nationalist,^[1][2] and nativist ideologies, as well as authoritarian tendencies.^[3]

 

^{https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Far-right_politics}

Twisted by media

[Justfine]

11 minutes ago, Rigby40 said:

Far-right is just more mud slinging for those that are slightly right of Mao Zedong.

It's mud slinging and grossly inaccurate. Any party tough on immigration gets the label yet old school socialist countries have tough immigration policies.

 

 

[FitnessHealthTravel]

Tough Immigration is good Immigration.  Charity starts in the home.  Look at the US, starving people everywhere, homeless and destitute yet they still want their boarders and doors open.

[Scott]

An inflammatory post has been removed.   Making up names for people or political parties is not permitted.  

 

[car720]

19 hours ago, simple1 said:

She has altered the OneNation Constitution and appointed herself leader for life. Ensured all Fed Govt vote payments are accrued to her personal account. Tried to remove $400m from ABC funding after a critical documentary was broadcast and so on. Why people continue to support this aspiring authoritarian is beyond comprehension.

I have all but given up  on the mindset in Australia.  The only thing I can think of is that personal greed and situation surpasses all else.