The Australian Labor Party and the Democrats are playing a dangerous and foolish game if they block the Government’s proposed $6.20 increase on the co-payment for prescription drugs.
The Democrats leader Senator Natasha Stott Despoja said, “”It is a national test of how we treat the most vulnerable in our community and if we pass the legislation that cuts PBS or DSP [disability support pensions] we will fail that test. That’s why the Australian Democrats will stop, will vote against this legislation in the Parliament.”
Labor has been less definite. Opposition Leader Simon Crean said, “”My very strong view is on this . . . is that we should oppose those measures. That’s a recommendation that I’ll be taking to my caucus committee.” Mr Crean is expected to confirm Labor’s stand in his Budget reply speech tonight.
It is very easy for an Opposition or a minor party to oppose single Budget measures. Every Budget contains a nasty item or two. It is easy to take the populist route and attempt to knock them out. But the Opposition and minors parties do not have to frame whole Budgets. Taxes and charges cannot be seen in isolation. Where will the money come from for other parts of the Budget?
Labor and the Democrats are leaving themselves open to the charge of believing money grows on trees.
The move is not very politically bright either. If they succeed, they will give the Government plenty of ammunition to argue that if anything goes wrong with the economy it was Labor’s fault for knocking back fiscal measures, that Labor was guilty of undermining the Government’s fiscal strategy and the cause of interest rate rises and so on. The politically smart thing to do would be to let the Government sink or swim on its whole Budget.
Political astuteness aside, there are important matters of principle here. Labor and the Democrats might well argue that they are not merely opposed to this one tax or charge, but they are opposed to the underlying philosophy of it — in this case they do not like the sick and vulnerable having to pay for increases in spending on defence and internal security. How far should that be pursued on the fiscal front? Labor and the Democrats are not the Government. The Coalition holds the majority in the Lower House where Governments are formed. Their role in the Senate is to scrutinise, argue for amendments and fine tuning of the major legislative items the Government put up at the election and to oppose if need be new legislative proposals that were not put to the election. But they should not mess around with fiscal measures.
There is no constitutional rule that prevents the Senate from blocking Supply (though that is not threatened by the Opposition here because the general appropriate Bill sits on its own), or from blocking proposed increases in fees and charges — which is proposed here. But convention and good sense suggest that the Government should get all its Budget measures through to enable stable and responsible government.
If Labor and Democrats succeed in killing this charge, future Governments – including Labor ones – will never be safe from populist picking off of measures in the future. It will make sensible government – already difficult by the power of the Senate – far too difficult. Labor should move back from the abyss. Given the events of 1975 it would be hypocritical not to.