National Reform Summit: PM and summiteers leave
everything on the table
It was by all accounts a bright and positive meeting
between Malcolm Turnbull and the National Reform
Summiteers from the business groups, the welfare lobby,
the union movement and seniors organisations. Yet what
was actually achieved was not easy to discern from the
talking heads that emerged from the three-hour meeting
behind closed doors in Parliament House.
The Prime Minister should benefit from lending his
political authority to a summit process that the two
national newspapers – The Australian Financial Review
and The Australian – began out of frustration with
politicians. Tony Abbott and the ACTU did not exchange
words once while the former prime minister was in
office. Mr Turnbull by contrast now has the union
movement, the welfare lobby, and business groups
agreeing that things cannot stay the same.
The government has offered to look at tax
concessions on superannuation and capital gains tax that
largely favour the better-off, to check whether they
achieve their proper purpose. The Reserve Bank has
questioned housing-related tax concessions for capital
gains. The Business Council has conceded that super tax
breaks should be directed at the purpose of promoting
reasonable retirement incomes for ordinary Australians.
But both the ACTU and ACOSS are reluctant to see
that as a quid pro quo for a more profound, underlying
change in incentives in our economy, by lifting GST on
consumption and reducing income taxes on wages and
profits.
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