Coalition tied in knots over EV, immigration policies
Jacob Shteyman and Andrew Brown |
Voters are getting a better idea of what the coalition would keep and cut if it wins the federal election, but fuzziness over the details is not helping Peter Dutton’s cause.
The opposition leader was forced to clean up two more campaign missteps on Thursday, as opinion polls show his chances of forming government becoming ever slimmer.
Mr Dutton on Monday said he would not repeal a fringe benefits tax break for electric vehicles, which has blown out in cost due to its unexpected popularity.
But late on Wednesday the coalition revealed they would axe the incentive, putting their leader’s earlier statement down to him mishearing the question.
Mr Dutton’s comments were the result of a misunderstanding and that he thought he was being asked about Labor’s vehicle emissions standards, the party said.
“What we said was that there’s no change to the policy. We’ve been very clear,” Mr Dutton told reporters on Thursday.
A cornerstone of the coalition’s campaign, which has featured frequent petrol station visits by Mr Dutton, has been its pledge to temporarily cut the fuel excise.
But the coalition has struggled to cut through with its messaging, with opinion polls falling away from the coalition over the course of the campaign.
Mr Dutton was also forced to clean up comments from immigration spokesman Dan Tehan, who earlier on Thursday confused the coalition’s permanent migration target with skilled visa numbers.
“We’re going to reduce the skill migration level, and we’ll take that down from 185,000 to 140,000,” Mr Tehan told ABC Radio.
“The program will continue at a reduced rate of 150,000 in years two and three, and then 160,000.”
But the coalition has not released its target to reduce skilled migration visas, which are currently limited at 132,200 per year.
Mr Dutton said he hadn’t seen Mr Tehan’s comments but reiterated his party was not seeking to increase the skilled visa intake, but instead was planning to cut permanent migration by 25 per cent.
The coalition was previously forced to backtrack on an unpopular policy of forcing public servants back to the office.
Questions also remain over the coalition’s promise to reduce the federal public service by 41,000.
Mr Dutton confirmed the cuts would come entirely from Canberra-based jobs, but with fewer than 70,000 roles in the nation’s capital and the coalition promising not to touch frontline services it’s unclear how the figure could be achieved.
ACT senator David Pocock said the coalition was being reckless with the livelihoods of public servants and the territory economy.
“The numbers don’t even stack up, you can’t cut 41,000 public servants from Canberra without touching defence, intelligence and frontline services, and still run the country effectively, it simply isn’t possible,” he told AAP.
But it wasn’t smooth sailing either for Anthony Albanese.
Mr Albanese had to grin and bear a blistering broadside from editor of the West Australian newspaper, Chris Dore, at a breakfast event in Perth, who accused him of conducting a masterclass in spin.
He was also forced to defend comments he previously made denying that he fell off the stage at an event earlier in the campaign.
As the push for The Lodge enters its home stretch, the mudslinging from party leaders has intensified as Mr Dutton ramps up accusations that Mr Albanese is a liar.
That approach is only likely to increase in the final days before the May 3 election as it is one of the most powerful tools parties have left in their arsenals to swing support, one expert says.
La Trobe University politics professor Andrea Carson said negative attacks were frequently seen in the last stages of a campaign.
“Studies show that negative campaigning works to some extent as it builds on people’s fears and fear is a powerful emotion to initiate action,” she said.
AAP
