Politics Live: Labor to oppose stages two and three of government's income tax package

Turnbull says the Coalition believes in Australians' enterprise and aspiration. 

"Aspiration is at the very heart of everything we are doing. Seeking to support Australians to realise their dreams," he says.

He then Tanya Plibersek for saying (in an interview this morning) that the Liberals' use of the term aspiration "mystifies" her. 

Turnbull accuses the Labor Party of being populated by elitist, privileged, university-educated apparatchiks.

Plibersek then gets ejected under 94a because she tries to table a document, isn't granted permission to do so, and complains. Speaker Tony Smith says he is sick of telling people the rules over and over again.

The call puts a public voice to concerns about the company within the Liberal Party ahead of crucial decisions about its right to bid for contracts with Telstra, Optus and Vodafone to build the next generation of mobile networks.

Fairfax Media has revealed deep concerns about the company within Australia’s top security agencies but the company has fought back this week by mailing every federal MP to assure them it poses no threat.

Fawcett is a senior Liberal senator from South Australia and a former member of the House of Representatives who also chairs the joint standing committee on foreign affairs, defence and trade.

Read more here. 

And she declared the public views the ABC as a "priceless asset" that should not be sold, no matter how much a commercial buyer might be prepared to fork out.

"[Australians] regard the ABC as one of the great national institutions [and] deeply resent it being used as a punching bag by narrow political, commercial or ideological interests", Guthrie said.

"Inherent in the drive against the independent public broadcaster is a belief that it can be pushed and prodded into different shapes to suit the prevailing climate. It can't. Nor should it be."

Guthrie said she wanted to respond specifically to the motion passed by the Liberal Party federal council at the weekend calling for the ABC to be sold off, "even if others are keen to downplay it".

The rationale for privatisation "completely ignores the public value of the ABC, both in direct dollar terms but also as far as the wider public good remit", she told the Melbourne Press Club on Tuesday.

Read more here. 

The government would argue that, while overall aid has been slashed and frozen since 2014, the money going to Pacific nations has been prioritised and largely protected.

Notable, though, that Shorten says "a lot more aid" should flow into the region. Earlier this year, Penny Wong promised that a Labor government would "to the fullest extent that financial circumstances allow, rebuild and grow the Australian aid program in a timely manner". 

Speaking in Canberra, ambassador Cheng Jingye indicated he was not aware of Ms Bishop’s remarks but said the proposition China was creating so-called debt-traps for small nations was “ridiculous”.

“We have a growing economic co-operation with some of the island countries. They are on [an] equal footing and I think it’s mutually beneficial, as has been said by the local people - both the local people and both the government," he said.

“The fact is there. I hope any comment will be made based on fact, rather than speculation.”

Read more here. 

"We're prepared to do what we think is responsible. We're prepared to – as shown time and time again in the economic debate in the last five years – to lead and take risks and be the responsible parties when it comes to the budget. We're providing better and fairer tax relief for Australians but also providing a more responsible budget repair approach.

You can find a rundown of the income tax cuts stages here. 

Shorten says the government's position is "radical". He says the Coalition should take the long-term plans to the next election. 

"It is an irresponsible plan from an irresponsible government and no responsible opposition would vote for it," he says.

Bowen makes clear: "If the Labor party is asked to vote yes or no on the total package including stages two and three, we will vote no," he says.

With Labor opposed, the government will need One Nation's two votes to get the full package across the line.

Despite young feminists now strapping red-stained sanitary napkins to their heads in protest, Coalition lower house MPs are expected to hold the conservative line and vote down a Greens-initiated bill to exclude sanitary items from the GST, which passed the Senate on Monday.

But you don’t have to be an aging white conservative man to think purchasers of tampons should continue to pay GST.

Miranda Stewart is a professor at the Melbourne University Law School and a fellow of the Australian National University’s Tax and Transfer Policy Institute.

She says women, as a group, stand to gain the most from a properly funded tax and transfer system.

“The debate about GST on tampons is a distraction. Women benefit from a well-funded tax system that can support public goods and services – that is what is under threat,” she says.

“We would be better off building the strength of our GST – by broadening the base – and also strengthening our income tax base, to ensure that we pay for services such as childcare and public education, rather than cutting the tax base further.”

Read the full piece here.