'Worrying shift': Liberals can no longer pretend to be the party of lower taxes after Dutton's pitiful $14-a-week cost of living pledge
The measly Coalition counter to Labor's rushed-to-legislation tax trims marks an alarming shift for a party that claims to represent hard-working Australians, writes Louise Roberts.
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As we navigate the May 3 federal election circus, we’ve had grandstanding from both Labor and the Coalition about giving us Nirvana-like cost of living relief.
Neither party, I would argue, has a plan to comprehensively address it and that meaningful relief, skewered by the anger we feel whilst looking at our bloated credit cards and rattling bank accounts, is a long way off.
Go to a supermarket and tell me you feel better this week about spending $40 to cook in your own home a simple meat and veggie meal for one dinner.
I’ll wait.
Labor’s rushed-to-legislation tax trims are small and delayed while the Coalition’s 50 per cent cut to fuel excise is temporary and by definition excludes non drivers.
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There’s plenty of calculations being tossed about but let me offer you the Big Mac index.
PM Albanese’s tax cuts don’t exactly shout “two all-beef patties with special sauce”.
Last time I checked, this burger was nudging $8 online yet taxpayers are meant to be thrilled with a measly $5 a week back in their pockets.
We’ve been reminded this week how former treasurer Peter Costello 22 years ago offered a $5 tax cut, mocked then as not enough to buy a “sandwich and a milkshake”.
However this time around you’ll have to wait 15 months to sink your teeth into that saving before it increases to $10 in the second year.
Shall we split a Big Mac and you can have the pickle?
Meanwhile Opposition Leader Peter Dutton’s halving of fuel excise is forecast to save households $14 on filling up an average 55 litre petrol tank once a week for 12 months.
To use the Macca’s yardstick, throw in a small fries and a small sundae.
You get the idea.
In the 2021 Census, only 36.9 per cent of people travelled to work in a private car in Greater Sydney.
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The Dutton strategy is to attract those in suburban battleground electorates on a smaller income but who rely on their own cars to get to work.
The rest who are getting public transport, walking or riding a bike are probably eyeing up with interest those Labor tax sweeteners.
Dutton barely grimaced in Question Time last Thursday, a few hours before his budget reply, when a minor league Greens MP Stephen Bates seized his moment for a headline and labelled him Temu Trump.
But a temporary fuel discount from the Coalition doesn’t exactly give you the Our Nation Comes First vibe that the US President so effectively drills home to Americans.
Dutton’s policy fails to acknowledge that not all Australians rely on cars.
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And lowering fuel excise does not guarantee that retailers will pass on the savings.
Plus they can obfuscate all they want but it is a worrying ideological shift if the Liberals think they can campaign on higher income taxes whilst still claiming their brand as the party of lower taxes.
The party faithful still need to believe they are champions of hard-working Australians who deserve to keep more of their own money.
If the Coalition can deliver cuts to our power bills - great.
Dutton will require gas companies to reserve supply for the Australian market, ensuring energy security and reducing wholesale prices.
Australia should have the cheapest power in the world but thanks to the Albanese government’s obsession with renewables, we are all piled into that EV gliding towards an energy catastrophe.
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What a joy it will be to see the end of appeasing inner city activists and instead focus on securing Australia’s energy future.
But let’s face it - supermarkets are Ground Zero in this campaign and that is where we need relief from both parties.
In delivering his Budget reply speech, Dutton said groceries were up by 30 per cent under Labor and spoke of “my travels across the country (where) Australians tell me that they're working hard but they're not getting ahead”.
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“In Perth, a mum in a grocery store, in tears, told me how her, her husband and children couldn't keep their heads above water with the bills stacking up,” he told the house as Coalition MPs in Canberra chorused “shame” at regular intervals.
“In Brisbane I listened to a young couple in their thirties who have moved back in with their parents because they simply can't buy a home, even though both of them are working overtime.”
Dutton’s right about this when he said we are swamped with “stories of rent and mortgage stress, stories of power, shopping and insurance bills going through the roof”.
Cost-of-living pressures go far beyond petrol prices and I would argue that both parties have an uphill battle ahead to convince us that they have our post-May 3 interests at heart.
Louise Roberts is a journalist and editor who has worked as a TV and radio commentator in Australia, the UK and the US. Louise is a winner of the Peter Ruehl Award for Outstanding Columnist in the NRMA Kennedy Awards for Excellence in Journalism and has been shortlisted in other awards for her opinion work.