The Australian Labor Party has released it’s costings today, and Finance spokesperson Jim Chalmers discussed various talking points, also commenting about the record number of disendorsement of candidates by all major parties during the 2019 federal elections.
Labor was forced to disendorse at least two candidates owing to their jokes about rape and anti-Semitic comments.
“Clearly the processes need to be better on all sides. We need to get better at vetting social media and the parties have not been good enough in doing that obviously. That’s one of the things we need to tidy up for next time,” Mr Chalmers told SBS Punjabi.
When asked about dual citizenship concerns about ALP’s candidate for the Victorian seat of Deakin, Shireen Morris, Mr Chalmers said, “I am 100 percent sure this is not a problem for Shireen Morris.”
Concerns have been raised about Ms Morris being eligible for Fijian citizenship due to her mother’s nationality.
“She is genuinely one of the best candidates we’ve fielded anywhere in the country and I am absolutely certain there are no dual citizenship concerns relating to her,”said Mr Chalmers.
Talking extensively about the costing released by the Labor party today, he told SBS Punjabi, “I’m conscious that some people have voted early, but releasing the costings eight days before the elections is quite early – and substantially earlier than the norm.”
When asked if Labor’s proposed tax increase of $387 billion will make it the highest taxing government if it was voted in, Mr Chalmers said, “The ratio of taxes to proportion of economy would be similar to the time John Howard was Prime Minister.”
He added that “an overwhelming majority of people won’t be impacted” by Labor proposals.
“96 percent of Australians won’t be impacted by changes announced for cash refunds for excess imputation credits; 96 percent of Australians won’t be affected by the increase in superannuation tax; and 98 percent of Australians won’t be affected by changes to trusts.”
He also spoke about the impact of Labor’s proposal to change negative gearing, the impact on the housing market, as well as on employment.
When asked about what relief migrants can expect from a possible Labor government, Mr Chalmers spoke about Labor’s proposal for long stay parental visa, which will be “uncapped, will reduce the cost by 75 percent and will allow both sets of parents to visit their grandchildren simultaneously.”
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