Taylor goes big in battle to bring Liberal Party back to life

All of a sudden, federal parliament has turned into a big betting parlour.

Anthony Albanese’s call to scrap investor tax breaks on Tuesday set off one of the riskiest contests of his prime ministership after years of being labelled timid.

Two days on, Angus Taylor has put up big and contentious ideas on tax and migration.

Taylor lacks the eye-catching style of colleagues including Andrew Hastie and Matt Canavan, so he had few options but to put a few bold ideas up in lights.

Albanese believes his high-taxing, equality-focused budget will inject new energy into his midterm agenda to avoid drifting as he did in his first term. For Taylor, desperate to get his voice into the public consciousness to counter Pauline Hanson’s headline-grabbing populism, the contest on tax has reminded a confused and downbeat Coalition of its values on lower tax and aspiration.

On tax, Taylor wants to index tax brackets. Peter Dutton shied away from the proposal last term because it was difficult to afford and may not be easily understood by voters. Taylor will use the tax plan to remind One Nation voters of the Coalition’s old strength on economic management.

Growth-minded economists, as well as Labor luminary Bill Kelty, support indexation. They argue it would finally take pressure off wage earners after years of flat living standards.

Taylor’s decision to repeal Labor’s $100 billion tax hike, should he win the election, exposes him to a fear campaign from Labor on cuts that might be required to plug a budget black hole. Another Coalition policy to lift defence spending will also cost tens of billions, creating questions about how Taylor could possibly make the maths add up.

Taylor said he would cut social security benefits for permanent residents who are not yet citizens. The policy was styled on those of some European nations, some run by left-wing parties, trying to clamp down on migration.

As a Labor MP pointed out during Taylor’s speech, there are already long wait lists for permanent residents to become citizens. And denying benefits may push people into poverty.

Shadow ministers were largely left in the dark about Taylor’s policies, the breadth of which reflects the urgency of his effort to revive a party struggling to retain legitimacy as the chief opposition to Labor.

The uncompromising migration plan is driven in significant part by countering One Nation.

Taylor promised substantial migration cuts and claimed he would deport 75,000 people who overstay visas. He did not nominate a migration target, prompting taunts from Labor MPs watching the speech in parliament, and telling the ABC’s 7.30 only that it would be below 200,000.

One Nation’s Barnaby Joyce told the program after Taylor’s speech that the opposition leader should “acknowledge One Nation’s policies past, present and emerging”.

“It’s game on.”

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