Shorten: “I am Looking Forward To Hearing From You”

Live – The first question from the people’s forum was about cost saving and the business trend that is moving anything and everything off shore and what is the  plan to stop the outsourcing plan from Australia.

What plan do you have to attract multi-nationals to come to Australia. Turnbull said his plan is to lower taxes to attract them. When it came to outsourcing jobs from Australia the Prime Minister didn’t answer it.

Bill Shorten said under a government he leads it will oppose outsourcing of jobs from Australia. When it came to attracting companies to Australia Shorten said they will provide well-educated people.

Multinational tax avoidance was mentioned. Mr. Shorten said that Labor has been fighting this while in opposition and that it was obscene that average Australians paid more tax per share then multi-national companies.Turnbull claimed that Australia has the toughest laws when it comes to multinationals paying tax.

The GP co-payment was also asked. Turnbull claimed that bulk billing is up but still didn’t confirm if it was going to be introduced or not after which he claimed it isn’t in the budget. Mr. Shorten said that the Labor party is fighting tooth and nail to fight the cuts made to health . He said he didn’t think making it more expensive to go to the doctor cures people. He said Labor is opposed to bulk billing incentives. “Only Labor believes your Medicare card, not your credit card, should determine the health care of Australians” commented Mr. Shorten.

Privatization of national assets was raised and will the Turnbull Government continue it. In answer to the question Mr. Shorten said do you want to fund services or give tax cuts to big companies. Mr. Shorten said we should live in a community that controls the economy. Mr. Turnbull said we need economic growth and said that it was an issue for state governments and wouldn’t answer any questions around the issues facing Australia Post. He also wouldn’t confirm if hearing services would be privatized or not.

Extradition laws were also mentioned. Mr. Turnbull said that extradition laws are based on evidence and the courts have the final say. Mr. Shorten agreed with Mr. Turnbull.

Housing affordability was also mentioned with superannuation being used to pay for a deposit to buy a home. Mr Turnbull said Only Labor has a positive plan for housing affordability “Only Labor has a positive plan for housing affordability” and he also mentioned that someone earning $1m got a $16,715 tax cut in the Liberals’ Budget, while 3/4 of Australians got nothing. “The benefits for the capital gains tax discount is even more inequitable, with the top ten receiving nearly 70% of the total subsidy” said Mr Shorten.

Bank regulations and how it has negatively impacted on people was also mentioned. MR Turnbull’s response was that the Government has given extra power to ASIC and that banks a done just fine. Mr Shorten said that there needs to an inquiry into banks and their operations and confidence in Australia’s financial services industry has taken a hit after a range of scandals and high profile consumer ripoffs.

Mr Turnbull will talk at the banks, but won’t take action. We need a royal commission into the banking sector today #ausvotes #peoplesforum

— Australian Labor (@AustralianLabor) May 13, 2016

 

Mr. Turnbull mentioned TURC and ABCC and the audience didn’t respond.

The arts funding was mentioned and MR Shorten said that they would fund it in schools and fund the ABC.