The Liberal Party’s Julie Bishop and Labor’s Gary Gray went head-to-head this week to discuss just who is better for business.
Whether you are a Liberal or Labor supporter or your vote swings with the times, it is undeniable the past two months in Australia’s politics have been a whirlwind.
It is difficult to locate the beginning of Kevin Rudd’s demise as Prime Minister, but the nail in the coffin was most likely the announcement of the resource super profits tax along with the Henry Tax Review in May.
On June 24, Kevin Rudd was ousted by his party and Julia Gillard took over the reins.
Recognising she was not voted in by the Australian people, but fell into the role by way of an unprecedented political coup, Ms Gillard called an early election for the end of August.
Preach the word
When deputy leader of the opposition Julie Bishop and parliamentary secretary for Western and Northern Australia Gary Gray were invited to pitch their causes for the business vote at a WA Business News Success and Leadership breakfast, there is no doubt Ms Bishop felt she had the upper hand.
While it is still uncertain who will come out on top in this weekends election, it would be no surprise to Mr Gray that he was the underdog in a business vote battle with an audience made up of industry heads and business participants.
“I know and understand the election campaign is not going to be easy for Labor in Western Australia. I know that I face having my margin cut in half. It’s not easy to be Labor and west of Adelaide,” Mr Gray said.
It was clear which politician was preaching to which choir, with Ms Bishop pushing private enterprise as a vital contributor to future infrastructure projects and instrumental in the future success of the economy and Mr Gray labouring the importance of the government in building infrastructure and continuing to rebuild the economy.
“We believe in less government intervention, we believe businesses should be able to operate in an environment where they flourish, that business should be at the heart of the economy, not government,” Ms Bishop said.
“We should be supporting the people who create the jobs and take the risk.”
Mr Gray, meanwhile, focused on what he said is the important role the government already plays in providing infrastructure.
“I think it is time we accepted that the massive infrastructure investment is supported by the current Australian government and that includes port, road, rail investments, renewable energy technology, investments in education. Investments that have the real impact of removing economic bottlenecks.”
Question time
A panel of political and business experts consisting of ABN managing director Dale Alcock, professional non-executive director Fiona Harris and ABC state political reporter Peter Kennedy questioned the political leaders at the event.
Asked to comment on the state of immigration in Australia, Mr Gray said WA requires a different system to the eastern states when it comes to migration issues and skilled labour shortages.
“We put a migration policy in place that is demand driven and we underpin that with local migration plans to support the needs of industry,” he said.
Ms Bishop spoke of the band-style guidelines for migration, likening Liberal’s policy to the band policy the Reserve Bank employs for inflation targets.
“Over a period of time, we will set up the productivity and sustainability commission … it will be able to advise us on what is a sustainable net migration therefore population growth figure.
On the topic of broadband, Ms Bishop questioned why Labor would instil a filtering policy that will only slow down the network while she spruiked Liberal’s proposed $6 billion network that will harness the expertise of private enterprise.
While Ms Bishop pledged to Mr Alcock that a coalition government would not change the tax rules for independent contractors, Mr Gray was unable to comment on Labor’s policy on independent contractors and the state of skilled labour visas.
And while Ms Bishop promised the Liberals would ensure WA business voices are heard in Canberra, Mr Gray summarised his political stance, saying, “I am by nature a conservative, I am by nature someone who believes politics should purport around a centre ground.”
