The Opposition is promising an automatic cut to fuel taxes when oil prices reach a certain level, as Angus Taylor attempts to win over voters while under growing pressure to present a clear migration policy.
Every time oil hits $100 US a barrel, the Opposition says it would halve the fuel excise.
WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: Opposition pledges fuel tax cuts amid migration debate
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“There will be relief for Australians under a Coalition government,” the Opposition has pledged.
Treasurer Jim Chalmers hit back, saying the Opposition’s plan to fund that promise by lowering tobacco taxes does not add up.
“This is not about saving Australians from higher petrol costs,” he said. “It’s about saving the Liberal Party from One Nation.”
Opposition Leader Angus Taylor fired back: “Jim Chalmers is a fraud. He simply has never understood economics or the economy.”
As the Coalition tries to focus on cost-of-living pressure, pressure is piling on the Opposition to publish its migration targets. Labor and One Nation this week locked in figures.
New ABS data on Thursday showed net overseas migration is falling, dropping 5.6 per cent in 12 months. But Labor’s new target reduces it to 245,000 this year and 225,000 next financial year.
One Nation’s plan would hit a ceiling of 130,000 by 2029, after slashing the temporary migrant population by 750,000 over three years, with net migration going negative.
Professor Alan Gamlen from the Australian National University says we only need to look as far back as the COVID pandemic to see what the impact of such measures could be.
“The economy absolutely crashed,” he said. “Businesses failed en masse. The government had to step in with a big rescue package and we’re still cleaning up the mess.
“No wonder they did no costings on it because it would be diabolical for our economy.”
Meanwhile, the federal government’s intergenerational report out Monday shows Labor is ruling out a baby bonus.
The report will show population growth slowing in Australia, but rather than a baby bonus, the Treasurer is hoping more help with childcare and paid parental leave should help Aussies have bigger families.
The good news? Australians are expected to live longer, healthier lives, earn more and retire with more super. Life expectancy for men will rise from 82 to 86 and for women from 86 to 89.
But it won’t all be easy reading. The Treasurer is flagging economic risks and budget pressures, and an ageing population will be difficult for our health and aged care sectors.
By 2066, Australia’s population is expected to be just under 40 million.
