From AdelaideNow:
NICK Xenophon has ruled out serving as a minister in a minority government and will demand more help for steelmaker Arrium and manufacturing industries in exchange for supporting a Malcolm Turnbull or Bill Shorten-led government.
Senator Xenophon on Sunday initially ignored an attempt by the Prime Minister to contact him by text message after failing to recognise Mr Turnbull’s phone number.
Veteran Queensland crossbencher Bob Katter said he would demand financial support for big power and development projects in his state while other independents declined to detail their negotiating positions.
The election of Rebekha Sharkie to the House of Representatives will place the Nick Xenophon Team in a powerful position if the Coalition misses out on getting the majority it needs to government in its own right.
Senator Xenophon, Ms Sharkie and newly-elected senators Stirling Griff and Skye Kakoschke-Moore said they would work together to decide which party to support if a hung parliament was returned.
“We will support the side the can form a stable government and that can listen to us in respect of key concerns which we think reflect the concerns of middle Australia,’’ Senator Xenophon said.
“Being concerned about manufacturing jobs, being concerned about farming jobs, being concerned about government accountability and of course predatory gambling.”
Let’s recall NXT’s recent history:
Independent Senator Nick Xenophon says the Labor Party’s negative gearing proposals go too far and he wouldn’t support them, but there may be a case for “very gentle tweaking” in close consultation with the property industry.
…Senator Xenophon said there may be a case for some tinkering around the edges on negative gearing policy, but it would need to be carefully managed so it didn’t impact the broader economy at a time when there was widespread transformation underway in Victoria and South Australia in particular, with manufacturing under pressure.
“It would have to be very, very carefully done and calibrated,” he said.
Outside the forum, Senator Xenophon said the fact that he had used negative gearing previously and owned four investment properties, which were now positively geared, had no influence on his own views about housing policy.
“I don’t see any conflict of interest,” Senator Xenophon told reporters in Adelaide. His directorship of a company which owns some apartments in a refurbished Adelaide office tower housing mainly international students has been under the spotlight.
That is a problem, Mr Xenophon. You see no conflict of interest despite:
- supporting negative gearing;
- supporting rampant population growth;
- supporting reform to boost property demand, and
- his own and his father’s slum lordship in the recent past.
It is the precise equivalent of being a poker machine magnate that resists anti-gambling reform. Only it’s kind of worse given that the reason there is a “widespread transformation underway in Victoria and South Australia in particular, with manufacturing under pressure” is in large part because of the property casino that is killing Australian competitiveness by raising the dollar and input costs like the price of land.
Let’s also not forget that Nick Xenophon had previously called for negative gearing to be abolished on pre-existing homes and retained on newly constructed dwellings, in order to boost supply (i.e. Labor’s policy):
“If it’s modified to ensure that there is a real driver in new home investments with respect to the rental market, affordable housing, then negative gearing could play a very useful social and economic role.”
So, it’s time for the real Mr Xenophon to stand up. If he really cares about manufacturing and agriculture (as opposed to just seeking a ARI bailout) then he cannot support Australia’s rampant house price subsidies.
Are you a property poker machine pusher, Mr Xenophon? Or are you a supporter of the manufacturing, agriculture and other tradable sectors?
