Paul Kelly says so:
Bill Shorten has launched a political war against private enterprise in what will become a test of his leadership, the values of Labor in a globalised world and his gamble that the Australian public will keep voting for even more populist anti-enterprise, higher-tax policies.
The Opposition Leader made a mistake yesterday with his bizarre doorstop announcement. He looked like a leader stumbling under pressure. This call is a defining moment. His future depends on the Australian workforce being populist and irrational — denying a nexus between tax-competitive companies and the interests of employees who work for those companies via investment, jobs and higher wages.
…Shorten’s Labor now goes to the election pledged to repeal tax cuts for almost 20,000 medium-sized businesses employing 1.5 million people and with an annual turnover in the $10 million to $50m zone. These are not banks, multinationals or the big end of town. Scott Morrison told parliament they were family and hardworking Australian companies with an average 75 employees. This is a bad policy — a punishment of local firms underwritten by wilful determination to repeal the law and destroy any benefit from the tax cuts by announcing their future removal.
I’m inclined to agree with PK on this one. It’s probably a not a fight worth picking. It’s not terribly efficient having differential tax rate but it unites business against Labor.
That said, such unity will deliver Labor a crystal clear message about being for workers not business owners which will resonate in today’s environment.
Even if it isn’t true thanks to its egregious mass immigration policies.
