Albanese has one big advantage that Dutton doesn’t, but timing is everything

There should be no surprise when the bill is released because the government has released the broad Treasury costings, but the Coalition has said several times that it needs to see the draft legislation before taking a position. So Labor will help them speed things along.

Dutton will convene a shadow cabinet meeting on Monday to discuss the Coalition position before a party room meeting on Tuesday that is likely to debate the issue, while the Nationals will also gather on Monday to discuss their stance.

Dutton was asked on the Nine Network on Friday morning about his position when host Sarah Abo made the point that many people in his electorate of Dickson would receive bigger tax cuts from Labor’s plan.

“You don’t want to take money away from them, do you?” Abo asked.

“And we’re not going to,” Dutton replied. That is the clear answer to anyone who claims a Liberal government would attempt to “roll back” the changes after the next election.

“So you’re not going to stand in the way of these changes, as a party?” Abo asked.

“I’ve been very clear that the Liberal Party is the party of lower taxes,” he said. That suggests his alternative could offer more generous tax cuts than Labor over the decade ahead.

The message from this is totally logical: the Coalition would not try to block the revised tax plan in the final vote in parliament. This does not mean Coalition MPs have to be happy with the revised stage 3 package because many dislike the way it restores an entire tax bracket with a 37 per cent rate on earnings over $135,000 before a higher rate kicks in at $190,000.

If some Liberals had their way, Dutton would have a policy to restore some of the structure of the original plan, which would apply a 30 per cent tax rate on earnings from $45,001 to $200,000. The trouble is that it would be very, very expensive for the Coalition to take a highly ambitious plan to the next election.

Labor assumes the Greens will fight over amendments but will not prevent the tax changes going ahead in a vote by Easter, which means the Coalition does not have the numbers to block these tax cuts being applied from July 1.

Loading

Dutton, however, does not need to work to Albanese’s deadline. The Opposition Leader does not have the resources of Treasury to help devise and cost his alternative policy. More to the point, he has no interest in cutting short the argument over the prime minister’s integrity.

Cut through the noise of federal politics with news, views and expert analysis. Subscribers can sign up to our weekly Inside Politics newsletter.