Letter to the Editor: We are all in this together

DEAR News Of The Area,

MEMBER for Cowper Pat Conaghan must have been watching a different speech at the National Press Club by Dr Jim Chalmers, the Treasurer, to the one that I viewed.

His letter to your paper asserting “meaningless platitudes” and “uncomfortable contradictions” by the Treasurer may well be a more accurate description of his own words.

Mr Conaghan’s partisan description of the 25/26 budget as a one full of election sweeteners and his further hackneyed and mostly baseless analysis seems to be more of the same negativity that he and his “noalition” colleagues took to the election.

The task of bringing down inflation, growing wages and reducing budget deficits, whilst providing cost of living support and tax cuts was a significant, some say exceptional, economic success given the state of the economy inherited after the ATM years of mediocre outcomes, culture wars and climate change denial.

The missed opportunities for decent and effective tax reform, high grade, economically significant infrastructure investment coupled with the absence of any ideas for effective intervention in a growing housing crisis was evident in 2022 and remained so at the recent election.

Hence the result.

The logical and inclusive approach to the next term challenge for the Albanese Government, namely productivity improvement and a boost in productive business investment requires a consensus as outlined by the Treasurer, the Round Table initiative is a legitimate attempt to generate common agendas across business and civic society leaders and strategists.

That Mr Conaghan has seen fit to undermine this initiative indicates his inability to move on from his and his colleague’s reliance on the politics of division and negativity.

The continuation of tired slogan-based politics like “death by a thousand cuts” and “focusing on big government” displays a clear lack of any constructive analysis or progress.

There is no evidence of positive ideas or solutions.

His opposition to a modest tax reform on a small number of superannuation balances over $3million is old fashioned fear mongering.

His continued complaints about lack of support for cost of living measures whilst opposing nearly all of them during the last Parliament coupled with his opposition to this tax reform is simply illogical.

Now we have the spectre of the Nationals opposing the net zero target in the face of increasing frequency and severity of natural disasters.

Pat, I hope that you as our local representative, would start to accept that we are all in this together.

The need for national unity and consensus with the current challenges of geopolitics should prompt you to ditch negative, oppositional fear and division.

It is even more important now that you are a shadow economic minister.

Regards,
Paul SEKFY,
Yarranbella.