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It appears One Nation has killed the company tax cut. Via The Australian:

Pauline Hanson has dealt what appears to be a fatal blow to the government’s company tax cuts by withdrawing support for the package and producing a list of near impossible demands, declaring that Malcolm Turnbull has failed to sell the reform’s benefits.

…The only way for the government to have a chance of winning back Senator Hanson’s support would be to implement a dramatic overhaul of the Petroleum ­Resource Rent Tax and commit to a new gas pipeline connecting the west and east coasts.

…“There is nothing in the budget about a coal-fired power station,” she said. “Unless they start reducing energy prices we are going to lose businesses.”

Senator Hanson issued a new set of complex demands for the government to regain her support, including the provision of greater assistance for pensioners, lower power prices for consumers and greater efforts to crack down on multinational tax avoidance. One Nation’s demands also include an overhaul of the PRRT, the introduction of a “use it or lose it policy” for gas reserves off the West Australian coast and the new gas pipeline from the west to the east coast.

…Senator Hanson’s new demands include action to reduce the migration intake, accusing the government of failing to listen to the Australian people. “Even the states are complaining about the immigration numbers, that they can’t provide the infrastructure,” she said.

She also called on the Prime Minister to “get the banks to pay for this royal commission into the banking sector”.

The coal-fired power station is a silly idea that would only raise power prices, not to mention make it impossible for Australia to meet emissions reduction targets, but the rest of the platform is far closer to the national interest than the ruling Coalition is offering.

I am not endorsing One Nation. It’s history of racism makes that impossible for me. But the rest of it makes perfect sense! We need:

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  • gas market reform to break the east coast export cartel (though domestic reservation would be easier, that is something ON also supports) and new taxes for LNG which pays nothing;
  • a halved immigration intake to take pressure off wages, youth unemployment and crush-loaded living standards, as well as house prices longer term;
  • no smash and grab corporate tax cut that only benefits foreign shareholders, and
  • punitive banking reform that either gets the big four off public support or Tobin tax them back into civility.
About the author
David Llewellyn-Smith is Chief Strategist at the MB Fund and MB Super. David is the founding publisher and editor of MacroBusiness and was the founding publisher and global economy editor of The Diplomat, the Asia Pacific’s leading geo-politics and economics portal. He is also a former gold trader and economic commentator at The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, the ABC and Business Spectator. He is the co-author of The Great Crash of 2008 with Ross Garnaut and was the editor of the second Garnaut Climate Change Review.