Albo's massive call on GST tax change
Outlining his economic vision for his second term of government at Australia's Economic Outlook in Sydney, which was co-hosted by The Australian and Sky News, the Prime Minister said consumption taxes like GST did not fit in with Labor's agenda.
The 10 per cent tax is applied to most goods and services and has been set at 10 per cent since it was introduced in 2000.
'It's not something that we have given any consideration to,' he told Sky's Andrew Clennell.
'I'm a supporter of progressive taxation. Consumption taxes, by definition, are regressive in their nature. So that's something that you know doesn't fit with the agenda.'
While he didn't commit to specific changes on income tax, Mr Albanese said it would also be his preference that 'income taxes (are) as low as possible, and wages (are) as high as possible'.
Mr Albanese also said tax reform would play an 'important part' in ensuring the private sector and small business was equipped to drive economic growth and jobs, with the Labor acknowledging that 'government should be a driver of growth – but not the driver of growth'. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese shared his economic outlook for Labor's second term on Friday. Max Mason-Hubers/ The AustralianŠ Credit: News Corp Australia
Adapting and developing new technologies like AI, 'eliminating frustrating overlap' between local, state and federal regulations, strengthening domestic supply chains and ensuring female participation in the workforce were other key priorities.
'Our government wants you to be able to resume your rightful place as the primary source of growth in our economy,' he said.
The renewed commitment follows criticisms from the business community that Labor's first-term industrial relations policies like Same Job Same Pay had hampered businesses growth.
However Mr Albanese called on business leaders, civil society and union chiefs, to work together at Labor's upcoming productivity round table in August in order to 'build broad agreement for action'.
'Because very often the public debate about change in our economy is conducted only in terms of dire warnings about what the consequences for Australia will be if we get it wrong,' he said.
'In order to build the broadest possible support for substantive economic reform, we should focus on what we can achieve by getting it right.' Mr Albanese said Labor had not considered increasing GST to over 10 per cent. Max Mason-Hubers / Pool/NewsWire Credit: News Corp Australia
In response to the speech, Coalition spokesman for small business Tim Wilson was critical of the commitment and called on Labor to scrap Labor's flagged super tax.
When asked during the event, Mr Albanese continued to back the super tax, stating Labor had put the tax forward in its last term, and that the tax would impact just 'half a per cent of people'.
'The only way he is going to be able to deliver for small business is to actually address the root cause of the problems,' he said, naming issues like over-regulation, and reducing taxes,' he told Sky.
'A really simple good way to do it is to stop his plan for a family savings tax on unrealised capital gains, which explicitly hits unsold assets in superannuation, particularly for small businesses.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Advertiser
an hour ago
- The Advertiser
Site preparations for new Huntlee high school to begin as stage two awaits approvals
The first site preparation works for a new high school at Huntlee, promised in 2023 as part of a state significant development of thousands of new homes there, began this week after the developer was granted initial approvals. It comes as stage two of the Huntlee development, which will mean some 5000 new homes at Branxton, awaits approval and funding from last month's state budget. The public primary and high school in the rapidly growing area will serve the communities of Branxton, Huntlee and North Rothbury. It is slated for Reading Road and Personia Boulevard, with the primary school to include a pre-school. Huntlee is planned to house 20,000 people. The 2021 Census showed the areas population had grown from 900 to 2300 in five years. Classes are expected to begin in 2028, a spokesman for the NSW Education Department said. Testing and investigations began in May to inform the schools' designs, which remain in development. Once planning approval is received and a contractor is onboard, construction work will begin. "The project is currently in the planning and design stages. We will keep the community informed as the project progresses," the spokesman said. In the 2024-2025 budget, the state announced plans to create 100 new co-located pre-schools across the state and set aside $630,000 to deliver a kindergarten to year 8 school in Huntlee. Across the state, the government will invest $9 billion in school infrastructure over four years for new and upgraded schools. New schools were promised by the Labor state government in 2023 after parents in the burgeoning suburban hub raised concerns that the estate lacked needed facilities. "We were told Huntlee is this wonderful new town designed for 20,000 people, which is all well and good, but this town and its residents deserve education facilities," parent Lee-Anne Moore told the Cessnock Advertiser in 2023. "Given Huntlee will be home to 20,000 people, a similar size to Singleton, we need these education facilities, first a high school and then a primary school, to be built, and built now." The NSW Department of Planning was contacted for comment. The first site preparation works for a new high school at Huntlee, promised in 2023 as part of a state significant development of thousands of new homes there, began this week after the developer was granted initial approvals. It comes as stage two of the Huntlee development, which will mean some 5000 new homes at Branxton, awaits approval and funding from last month's state budget. The public primary and high school in the rapidly growing area will serve the communities of Branxton, Huntlee and North Rothbury. It is slated for Reading Road and Personia Boulevard, with the primary school to include a pre-school. Huntlee is planned to house 20,000 people. The 2021 Census showed the areas population had grown from 900 to 2300 in five years. Classes are expected to begin in 2028, a spokesman for the NSW Education Department said. Testing and investigations began in May to inform the schools' designs, which remain in development. Once planning approval is received and a contractor is onboard, construction work will begin. "The project is currently in the planning and design stages. We will keep the community informed as the project progresses," the spokesman said. In the 2024-2025 budget, the state announced plans to create 100 new co-located pre-schools across the state and set aside $630,000 to deliver a kindergarten to year 8 school in Huntlee. Across the state, the government will invest $9 billion in school infrastructure over four years for new and upgraded schools. New schools were promised by the Labor state government in 2023 after parents in the burgeoning suburban hub raised concerns that the estate lacked needed facilities. "We were told Huntlee is this wonderful new town designed for 20,000 people, which is all well and good, but this town and its residents deserve education facilities," parent Lee-Anne Moore told the Cessnock Advertiser in 2023. "Given Huntlee will be home to 20,000 people, a similar size to Singleton, we need these education facilities, first a high school and then a primary school, to be built, and built now." The NSW Department of Planning was contacted for comment. The first site preparation works for a new high school at Huntlee, promised in 2023 as part of a state significant development of thousands of new homes there, began this week after the developer was granted initial approvals. It comes as stage two of the Huntlee development, which will mean some 5000 new homes at Branxton, awaits approval and funding from last month's state budget. The public primary and high school in the rapidly growing area will serve the communities of Branxton, Huntlee and North Rothbury. It is slated for Reading Road and Personia Boulevard, with the primary school to include a pre-school. Huntlee is planned to house 20,000 people. The 2021 Census showed the areas population had grown from 900 to 2300 in five years. Classes are expected to begin in 2028, a spokesman for the NSW Education Department said. Testing and investigations began in May to inform the schools' designs, which remain in development. Once planning approval is received and a contractor is onboard, construction work will begin. "The project is currently in the planning and design stages. We will keep the community informed as the project progresses," the spokesman said. In the 2024-2025 budget, the state announced plans to create 100 new co-located pre-schools across the state and set aside $630,000 to deliver a kindergarten to year 8 school in Huntlee. Across the state, the government will invest $9 billion in school infrastructure over four years for new and upgraded schools. New schools were promised by the Labor state government in 2023 after parents in the burgeoning suburban hub raised concerns that the estate lacked needed facilities. "We were told Huntlee is this wonderful new town designed for 20,000 people, which is all well and good, but this town and its residents deserve education facilities," parent Lee-Anne Moore told the Cessnock Advertiser in 2023. "Given Huntlee will be home to 20,000 people, a similar size to Singleton, we need these education facilities, first a high school and then a primary school, to be built, and built now." The NSW Department of Planning was contacted for comment. The first site preparation works for a new high school at Huntlee, promised in 2023 as part of a state significant development of thousands of new homes there, began this week after the developer was granted initial approvals. It comes as stage two of the Huntlee development, which will mean some 5000 new homes at Branxton, awaits approval and funding from last month's state budget. The public primary and high school in the rapidly growing area will serve the communities of Branxton, Huntlee and North Rothbury. It is slated for Reading Road and Personia Boulevard, with the primary school to include a pre-school. Huntlee is planned to house 20,000 people. The 2021 Census showed the areas population had grown from 900 to 2300 in five years. Classes are expected to begin in 2028, a spokesman for the NSW Education Department said. Testing and investigations began in May to inform the schools' designs, which remain in development. Once planning approval is received and a contractor is onboard, construction work will begin. "The project is currently in the planning and design stages. We will keep the community informed as the project progresses," the spokesman said. In the 2024-2025 budget, the state announced plans to create 100 new co-located pre-schools across the state and set aside $630,000 to deliver a kindergarten to year 8 school in Huntlee. Across the state, the government will invest $9 billion in school infrastructure over four years for new and upgraded schools. New schools were promised by the Labor state government in 2023 after parents in the burgeoning suburban hub raised concerns that the estate lacked needed facilities. "We were told Huntlee is this wonderful new town designed for 20,000 people, which is all well and good, but this town and its residents deserve education facilities," parent Lee-Anne Moore told the Cessnock Advertiser in 2023. "Given Huntlee will be home to 20,000 people, a similar size to Singleton, we need these education facilities, first a high school and then a primary school, to be built, and built now." The NSW Department of Planning was contacted for comment.
Sky News AU
an hour ago
- Sky News AU
Anthony Albanese has ‘no understanding' of the struggles of small business
Shadow Cabinet Secretary Andrew Wallace says Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has got 'absolutely no understanding' of the industrial relations environment which has caused 'irreparable harm' to small business. Anthony Albanese and top business leaders discussed the major economic and political issues facing the nation at Australia's Economic Outlook 2025, hosted by Laura Jayes. 'Small businesses are going out the door like never before,' Mr Wallace told Sky News host Danica De Giorgio.
AU Financial Review
an hour ago
- AU Financial Review
Tax reform expectations watered down ahead of economic summit
Anthony Albanese has all but ruled out changes to the GST as he and a united business community downplay expectations ahead of next month's productivity summit, saying the roundtable should not be overtaken by debate about tax reform. Believing there are more quickly achievable reforms than another protracted debate about tax, the government on Friday sent letters to 37 regulators instructing them to submit proposals by August 1 to reduce red tape.
