PROGRESSIVE POLITICS PUT TANYA TO THE TEST

With the election only a few days away, Opposition Deputy Leader Tanya Plibersek spoke to City Hub on the issues that have dominated in the lead up to it, and there was no subtlety in her party’s objective – “Our complete focus is on defeating Malcolm Turnbull and the Liberals on July 2.”

Housing affordability, or lack thereof, has of course been one of the hottest topics of this election, particularly on the question of negative gearing. Labor’s plan as listed on their website states: ‘Labor will reform negative gearing and the capital gains tax discount to ensure that our tax system is fair, sustainable and targets jobs and growth.’

“If Malcolm Turnbull is genuinely worried about housing affordability, then he should also support our plan to address the issue. Most people that have negatively geared property have looked at our plan in detail and realised they won’t be affected because they’re already doing it.”

“I’ve had almost entirely positive feedback on the negative gearing proposal because people who own their homes more often than not have kids or think they might have one day. While they’re happy for their property to increase in a reasonable way over time, if they believe that the housing market is becoming unaffordable, they worry for their children.”

Marrickville councillor and Greens candidate for Sydney Sylvie Ellsmore, who is running against Plibersek for the seat (hoping to continue the trend of inner city seats going green), worries that Australia is becoming a nation of landlords and renters, particularly in Sydney:

“We have suburbs of 60% renters or more. Traditionally in Australia, most people own their homes, and it was normal for a young person to own their home within the first five years of leaving university.”

There’s a sense of pragmatism from Ellesmere on the issue of housing affordability. Unlike most European cities, Sydney or any other suburb in Australia has no laws in place to protect renters, and that’s the driving force for the Greens’ campaign on the issue.

“Realistically people are going to have to be raising their families in rental accommodation without any of the protection and the security that you get when you own your home, and our laws have not kept up to protect that, and that puts people at a lot of risks. That’s one of the main reasons why we’re campaigning for renter’s rights,” said Ellesmere.

Many political experts expect Labor’s campaign to falter on two issues: the Refugee policy and WestConnex. Commenting on the latter, Plibersek was especially critical of the ambiguity with the project, but could not offer a solution to it should her party win the election:

“Labor has been consistently critical of the process and lack of transparency around the Westconnex project. Like other infrastructure projects, including the East West Link in Melbourne, the Liberal Government broke its policy by making advance payments prior to the business cases being finalised,” said Plibersek.

“Of the funding for Westconnex, the $2 billion loan has been finalised, and nearly all of the $1.5 billion grant has already been paid. Labor has not provided for the allocation of any additional money beyond that provided by the Liberal Government.”

While political analysts are critical of Labor’s refugee policy, Plibersek (whose parents were migrants from Slovenia), holds the policy close to heart.

“We don’t want boats coming; we don’t want people drowning at sea… We don’t want vulnerable people ripped off, exploited by criminals who don’t care whether their clients make it to Australia alive or not. They don’t care whether this dangerous journey ends the life of an asylum seeker.

Migration has made this country great. We should never forget the debt we owe to generations of migrants and refugees who, in seeking a better life, have made Australia a better place for all of us.”

Labor’s potential weak points were possibly heightened by Liberal Treasurer Scott Morrison’s “war on everything” claim, in which he declared that Labor was waging “war on business” with “toxic taxes” and a “war on growth” using tax as its “bullets”.

Plibersek met Morrison’s claims with a typically dogged response:

“Scott Morrison’s legacy speaks for itself – cuts to health, cuts to education, cuts to the arts, cuts to the ABC and SBS, and no action on climate change. Under Scott Morrison and the Liberals, the deficit has tripled, net debt has blown out by $100 billion, taxes are up, and living standards are going backwards. He’s been a disaster for our country – Australia can’t afford another three years of Scott Morrison and the Liberals.” (AH)

BY ANDREW HODGSON