Labor’s treasury spokesman Jim Chalmers concedes his party’s tax policies and “some of the language” he used about the top end of town contributed to a thumping election defeat in his home state of Queensland.
Dr Chalmers said the “complexity” of Labor’s tax proposals - which he helped sell as Bill Shorten’s shadow finance minister - and “mixed messages” on coal led to only one in four Queenslanders voting for the ALP.
Dr Chalmers is now the Opposition’s highest-ranking Queenslander and recently took a four-day, 2800km trip through the state to find out why his party was rejected at the ballot box.
Read Next
“In Queensland, we did underperform. We only got every fourth primary vote. Clearly that’s not good enough. And we lost a very good senator in Chris Ketter. So we have a lot of listening and learning to do and that’s what the trip was about,” he told ABC News yesterday.
“Obviously, there were some issues around the complexity of the tax proposals that we took. We couldn’t build a big enough constituency for the changes.
“We accept that some of the language that we used in the last term, and I used in the last term, didn’t strike the right chord in the Australian community.”
Dr Chalmers’ own transcripts throughout the campaign are littered with references to tax cuts for the “top end of town”.
Anthony Albanese conceded on Friday that the “top end of town” does not include workers earning $200,000 a year, who will benefit from the government’s full tax package.
On May 9 in Canberra, Dr Chalmers said: “Scott Morrison’s highest priority if he’s elected will be to give $80 billion to the top end of town and to big business.”
Dr Chalmers told Sky News on May 5: “If they (voters) want real action on wages, not more tax loopholes for the top end of town — then they will support Labor.”
And on ABC Brisbane radio in April 8 he said: “We won’t be defending these big tax cuts for the top end of town.”
The Labor treasury spokesman will now play a leading role in the party’s review of policies like its controversial negative gearing, capital gains tax and franking credits reforms.
Mr Shorten’s reluctance to take a clear position on the coal industry and the Adani Carmichael mine during the campaign hurt Labor’s campaign in Queensland.
Dr Chalmers, who did voice support for coal repeatedly in the last term of parliament, said yesterday that Labor needed to build on regional Queensland’s “traditional strengths” in producing coal and not appear to be against the sector.
“There was a perception, right or wrong, that we were sending mixed messages on the coal industry.,” he told ABC News yesterday
“The main message that I took from up there, or one of the main messages was that if we are to get the national economy growing again, we need to make sure that regional economies are growing strongly.
“That means building on the traditional strengths, whether it be agriculture or mining our tourism. Not abandoning the strengths.”
Reporter
Canberra
More stories on this topic
Topics
Read Next
Comments
Reader comments on this site are moderated before publication to promote lively, but civil and respectful debate. We encourage your comments but submitting one does not guarantee publication. You can read our comment guidelines here. If you believe a comment has been rejected in error, email comments@theaustralian.com.au and we'll investigate.
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "Why Labor lost the election: Jim Chalmers says tax, coal were issues in Queensland - The Australian"
Post a Comment