Another big win for scomo today that not surprisingly went unnoticed on here.
https://www.theaustralian.com.au/commentary/scott-morrisons-tax-cuts-victory-puts-labor-on-the-back-foot/news-story/716b7c98474518e98f604daa3bda389c
Probably because both sides of politics supported the first two stages for lower & middle incomes while stage 3 is 5 years away and will do nothing to address the current deteriorating state of the national economy.
The RBA is trying to do the heavy lifting by cutting already low interest rates to further record lows due to lack of action and reform by the federal government. However, while low rates help borrowers, it hurts those with savings accounts such as those on the pension. The latter are going backwards.
Australia needs reform and mass infrastructure spending to modernise and lower the cost of living to get the economy going again but that isn't going to happen when $158b is flittered away on personal income tax cuts; the bulk of which will go to those on higher incomes. The private sector isn't going to build this infrastructure (eg: public transport, energy, etc). Who knows what budget cuts to infrastructure spending and public services will be needed to pay for the stage 3 tax cuts. There's also going to be renewed pressure from big business to bring back the dumped corporate tax cuts which if implemented would hit the budget bottom line further. Of course, we could just follow the USA and rack up more and more debt for a sugar hit.
Anyway, the majority voted for "no change" (in more ways than one) so the rest of us accept the result and see what happens over the next 3 years under the current federal government's policies. They have a friendly Senate crossbench so there will be no excuses.
