Thought bubbles no substitute for good tax policy
In his hunt for announcements to distract from the disastrous budget, Joe Hockey has today released a series of half-baked ideas about multinational tax. That's not the basis for good public policy.
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THOUGHT BUBBLES NO SUBSTITUTE FOR GOOD TAX POLICY
Read moreJoe Hockey's announcement of 'new' multinational tax measures shows just how out of his depth the Treasurer is when it comes to making companies pay their fair share.
The proposal Mr Hockey has floated today comes with no details and no dollar figure attached.
At a time when he is crowing about every dollar ripped from the pockets of pensioners, families and university students, Mr Hockey cannot say how much new tax revenue he expects to make by pursuing international firms.
How much more will Hockey hook in from the states?
With the federal government's mini-budget due within days, it is increasingly clear that Joe Hockey is going to have to find new savings to make up for a big increase in the deficit. He's already hit the states hard this year with budget cuts - will he do it again?
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HOW MUCH MORE WILL HOCKEY HOOK IN FROM THE STATES?
Read moreJoe Hockey must set the states straight on whether he plans to yank more funding from their books to fill the growing hole in his upcoming mini-budget.
Several of the biggest states – including New South Wales and Queensland – have their own budget updates due before the end of the year.
Back in May, the Treasurer ripped $80 billion in health and education funding from the states with absolutely no warning.
This across-the-board cutback blew a huge hole in their finances, in some cases forcing the states back to the drawing board only weeks after they had handed down their own budgets.
The Treasurer is urgently casting about for new savings for replace his unfair GP tax and higher education changes, all of which are rightly being blocked by the Parliament.
Who owns the Eureka legend?
Read moreWhich side of politics owns the Eureka legend?
An after-dinner debate for the conference on “Eureka’s significance, then and now”
Australian National University
3 December 2014
My thanks to John Moloney for his introduction, Dave Headon for organising tonight’s debate, and the gathered historians for being here on this, the 160th anniversary of Eureka. Let me pay my respects to the Ngunnawal people, the traditional owners of the land and their elders past and present.
I want to particularly thank my three parliamentary colleagues: Nick Champion, Michael McCormack and Lucy Wicks. We don't do enough in parliament that is bipartisan. These three parliamentary colleagues are people who enjoy talking about the role of history in our national conversation, and recognise that history isn't just the stories gone by, it is part of the golden threads that link the past to what we do in the future.
Politics is a Team Sport
A thank you to my staff
House of Representatives
1 December 2014
Politics is a team sport. In 2014 I am fortunate to have had an exceptional group of people assisting me with speeches, articles, policy ideas and electoral engagement for the most populous electorate in Australia. Thank you to my paid staff: Toni Hassan, Damien Hickman, James Koval, Gus Little, Matthew Jacob, Michael Cooney, Joshua Turner, Jill Peterson, Taimus Werner-Gibbings, Jacob White, Thomas McMahon, Lyndell Tutty, Jennifer Rayner and my chief of staff, Nick Terrell. My interns, fellows and work experience students: Matthew Woodroffe, John Zerilli, Tom Russell-Penny, Kirrily Mackenzie, William Brown, Matthew Zagby, Annabel Johnson, Cameron Amos, Laura Rohan-Jones, Patrick Cooney, Joshua Woodall, Tim O'Hare, Jo Dodds, Caitlin Bunker, Jessica Hudson, Wolffe Gaunt, Daniel De Voss, Tim Griffin, Justine Ramsay, Griffen Murphy, Ben Molan, Harry Dalton and Lillian Bannock. And my office volunteers: Alison Humphreys, Ken Maher, Matthew Zagby, Hayley Pring, Rhianne Grieve, Joanne McCarron, Bernie Davern and Trishna Malhi. Each of these people has qualities I admire. Collectively they are smarter, more patient and more experienced than me. And it goes without saying that they are also funnier and better looking! To everyone on my team: thank you for what you have done this year to assist the people of Fraser, to help me and to make our small contribution to securing a better, fairer, more prosperous and more just future for our great nation.
Matter of Public Importance Debate - the Budget
Matter of Public Importance: The Budget
In this annus horribilis for the Abbott government: they have given Australia back knights and dames; they have taught us that the name of our North American friend is pronounced 'Canadia'; they have suggested that the US is at risk of default—and I am sure the member for Riverina would not have made a mistake like that. They have shown their common touch by smoking cigars just before handing down the most unfair budget in living memory; enlightened us about the link between breast cancer and abortion; taken to the barricades to defend the rights of bigots; told us that poor people do not drive cars; said that the Australian Submarine Corporation, despite being headed by Sophie Mirabella, still cannot build a canoe; and shown us that demon dialling is the way to every crossbenchers heart.
Read moreMeritocracy at risk of becoming a mate-ocracy
The government has ended the Parliamentary year with its budget in a real mess. In this op-ed for the Daily Telegraph, I've looked ahead to the Mid-year Economic and Fiscal Outlook statement to encourage Joe Hockey and his colleagues to find a better, fairer way.
Read moreMeritocracy at risk of becoming a mate-ocracy, Daily Telegraph, 5 December
Early last year, Joe Hockey pledged: "We'll deliver a surplus in our first year and every year after that." For the eighth time, he committed that an incoming Coalition government would never preside over a budget in deficit. Every Coalition budget, Mr Hockey pledged, would be a surplus budget.
Fast forward a year, and the only thing in surplus is red ink. When the Coalition came to office, the Charter of Budget Honesty laid out the state of the books. This year's budget deficit was forecast to be $24 billion.
So much for paying down debt. By the time Mr Hockey had delivered his first budget, he'd pushed this year's deficit up to $30 billion. Now, most informed sources have it blowing out still further when the mini-Budget is released in a few weeks.
Why is the deficit rising? Part of the answer is that Mr Hockey can't resist looking after his mates. A billion dollars to multinationals, a tax break for people with more than $2 million in their superannuation accounts, and soon you're talking real money.
Mr Mac's Lab
My Chronicle column this month is on one of Australia's star science educators, Geoff McNamara.
Read moreInspiring Our Scientists of the Future, The Chronicle, 2 December 2014
Geoff McNamara had a dreadful experience with science when he was at high school. But it stirred him. As he put it, ‘The empty green-box laboratories and sterile teaching that I grew up with made me want to do better than that for my students, and make science more real and engaging.’
Today, Geoff’s science classroom at Melrose High is known as ‘Mr Mac’s Lab’. It contains a plethora of equipment, including a seismometer, dinosaurs, GPS antenna and spacecraft. Students are encouraged to rigorously test theories against the evidence. For example, one experiment with a mirror and laser allows students to see that they can ‘flex’ a brick wall by pushing on it.
Dear Hockey: get your own house in order
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DEAR HOCKEY: GET YOUR OWN HOUSE IN ORDER
Joe Hockey’s hypocrisy appears to know no bounds, as he lectures European leaders about cracking down on corporate tax avoidance while re-opening $1.1 billion in loopholes here in Australia.
The Treasurer has reportedly written to the European Union’s tax commissioner urging him to tighten rules that allow profit shifting and lead to erosion of the national tax base.
Yet while Mr Hockey attempts to throw his weight around in Europe, back in Australia he could not be taking a lighter touch on multinational profit shifting.
Alarmed Andrews runs away from ACNC fight
Yesterday it looked as though we'd get to decide on the future of the Australian Charities and Not-for-Profits Commission once and for all. Today, the government has backed away from putting it to a vote. This uncertainty is bad for the charity sector and has gone on long enough.
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ALARMED ANDREWS RUNS AWAY FROM ACNC FIGHT
Social Services Minister Kevin Andrews has beaten a retreat from putting his plan to abolish the charities commission to a vote in the parliament, leaving not-for-profits in limbo again heading into Christmas.
Yesterday Minster Andrews finally allowed for debate on the bill to abolish the charities commission, 253 days after it was first introduced to the House of Representatives.
The debate was scheduled to continue today, but the government has now pulled its bill again and will not bring it to a vote before Parliament rises for the year.
Don't abolish the charities commission
Yesterday the government finally brought the bill to abolish the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission forward for debate. I kicked things off for the Opposition by explaining exactly why we need to keep this important, effective agency.
Read moreSpeech: Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission Repeal Bill (No.1) 2014
House of Representatives
I move:
That all words after “That” be omitted with a view to substituting the following words:
“whilst not declining to give the bill a second reading, the House is of the opinion that the Government’s plan to abolish the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission is an insult to the good work of the charitable sector, and to all Australians who want accountability and transparency when it comes to their generous donations.”
What the charities commission does
Let me start with a story of great concern. It is about some scammers who set up charities with names such as Friends of the Disabled Children's Task Force, Friends of the Underprivileged Children's Task Force, and Chronic Constructive Pulmonary Disease of Australia Incorporated. Australians, inspired by a deep sense of generosity, donated more than $1 million to them. It turned out that there was not much evidence of the money going to the disadvantaged or needy, and those charities have now been shut down.
All scammers are dodgy, but I have always regarded charity scammers as a particular form of low-life. Other scammers exploit greed or lust or ignorance, but charity scammers prey on our goodwill; they take that great Aussie tradition of wanting to help the vulnerable, and they use it to line their own pockets.