Liberal MP Bridget Archer has decried a "dangerous" descent over integrity in politics while she urges her "party of lower taxes" not to deal itself out of cost-of-living relief and embark on a wider discussion of tax policy.
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In an interview with The Canberra Times, the federal member for the Tasmanian seat of Bass said she was disappointed the Prime Minister had broken the election promise over the Morrison-era stage three income tax cuts, saying the last federal election was held "very much around issues of honesty and integrity".
A day before introduction in Parliament, shadow cabinet is poised to consider the legislation to amend the tax cuts before it goes to the joint parties on Tuesday. The Greens are also moving to form a position.
Ms Archer said her constituents would welcome the extra relief starting on July 1 even though it would be a "really bare drop in the bucket" as living costs escalate.
"More constituents in Bass will obviously benefit from these proposed changes than would have under the previous iteration," she told this masthead.
"There's also like a high proportion of people in Bass who are probably not paying tax at all, they're very low income and so I think that's another side of this.
"I think it is important to note that this is not an antidote to cost-of-living either. It's very useful, but it's not the answer to cost of living, particularly when we see the level of challenge that exists in my electorate. I mean the levels of homelessness are like I've never seen before and growing."
She said the conversation around modifying stage three tax cuts, while welcome, risks being a "kind of smoke and mirrors" for critical needs in the community. The MP listed needs such as access to childcare and access to affordable health care.
The Greens want Labor to go further on the tax cuts including a potentially high tax-free threshold, saying the government has not fixed the "unfairness" in the cuts.
Ms Archer, who co-chairs the Parliamentary Friends of Ending Poverty with Labor MP Alicia Payne, wants to see wider relief in the May budget for people on lower incomes, including pensioners and job seekers not paying tax.
"Raising the [JobSeeker] rate would be certainly a start and we saw during the pandemic that opportunity for people to actually be lifted out of poverty. So I think more could be done," she offered.
She said it would be "pretty hard" for the Liberal party, which champions lower taxes, to walk away from Labor's amendments that offer tax cuts for all taxpayers and 84 per cent being better off than under the originally legislated tax cuts.
But the Bass MP said that doesn't mean more can't be done around the bracket creep issue of people being sent later to high tax brackets or elsewhere.
"I think it's always good not to deal yourself out of the game," Ms Archer said. "I was reading something this morning that suggested that there would be potentially a windfall to government from these changes."
"Now, that's something that I think is worthy of a discussion. If the government is going to make savings by way of these changes. How are those savings intended to be invested? And could they be invested in tax relief for others, for lower income earners? Or a stage four tax measure?"
As for the broken promise, Ms Archer is unimpressed.
"I do think that the last election was held very much around issues of honesty and integrity," she said. "And I don't think it's okay to say that it's okay to be dishonest if it's an outcome that people are happy with. I think that's a very slippery slope."
"I think that's a very dangerous thing, because as soon as you start saying, 'well, it's okay to to lie or to be dishonest or to bend the truth a little bit as long as I'm happy with the outcome' that the natural extension of that is, I am certain, something that none of us are going to like and actually something that many of us have spent a lot of time and energy, trying to stop.
"I don't want people to say 'I expect politicians to lie'. That's what we don't want."
Mr Albanese on Sunday defended the walk-back on tax, insisting he was an "honest person" who was being upfront and listening to the community.
"I think it's also important to reflect that you are listening on the way through. So I don't think that the outcome is wrong-headed. It's the messaging on the way that he got there that is coming into question now," Ms Archer said.
Earlier on Channel Nine, Tasmanian senator Jacqui Lambie praised Mr Albanese for "having the courage" to revise his promise when economic circumstances changed.
"I don't see that as a lie," she said. "I see that as common sense and those people that need it most in society. We're going to pass some down to you. And so we should once again. That is the Australian way."
Senator Lambie called on the Coalition to back the revised plan or "let the Greens start negotiating".