Friday 12th of June 2026
Home » Blogs » Gus Leonisky's blog

the phon/lib tandem wants to follow the crooked corrupt mad trump ways....

Perhaps it’s no surprise that Opposition Leader Angus Taylor would seek to jump on the orange bandwagon by cosying up to One Nation, and emulating Trump, given the PHONies’ recent surge in popularity and the Libs’ ever-plunging support.

It is surprising, however, given former Liberal Leader Peter Dutton’s Trumpian ways led to his devastating election loss when the Liberal Party he led at the time was throttled and he was unceremoniously evicted from his seat. It was the worst election result for the Coalition in 80 years. Since then, apart from his “jobs-for-the-boys” appointment to the Queensland Investment Board, no one has seen or heard from Pete or asked his thoughts on much at all.

Angus’ latest Far-Right approach is also surprising given Labor’s ability to pick up all those centrist Liberal Party voters, often referred to as the Liberal Party’s “base”, who have felt abandoned ever since Dutton parroted Trump.

It is also surprising, given the ability of the Teal Independents to gain so much ground in hitherto Liberal Party heartland.

It’s perhaps even downright suicidal given predecessor Sussan Ley’s inability to hold the Coalition together and remain leader of the Libs, largely because of the Nats' hard-line Trumpian approach to climate change, for instance.

And let’s not forget that when Senator Pauline Hanson and her band of racists first burst onto the political stage in 1997, she had already been expelled by the Libs for racist comments about First Nations Australians. John Howard, for all his many faults and utterly unbearable though he was, at least had the good sense to put her horrid little Party last, despite its electoral success at the time.

After all, this was the time during which the Liberal Party at least still pretended to be a “broad church”.

The fact that One Nation would not even be enjoying its current electoral success were it not for the Coalition directing its preferences there appears to have been lost on Rhodes Scholar Taylor and his fading Shadow Cabinet.

Nonetheless, apparently learning little from the bin-fire that is the slow and steady implosion of the party he now leads, Angus went for it on two fronts and to hell with the consequences! These can basically be summed up as, Let’s openly and obviously favour the wealthy and throw the poor to the wolves. And then, let’s blame foreigners! How very (ahem) original. Fantastic. Great move. Well done Angus!

1. TAYLOR-ED FOR THE WEALTHY, THROWING POOR TO THE WOLVES

Taylor chose to oppose every single Government measure in his budget reply.

He also promised that, if elected, he would index the income tax scales to the inflation rate, which would cost approximately $250 billion in the first ten years alone.

As Stephen Koukoulas wrote on IA, it is a ‘quaint idea’  that won’t work because:

While the specifics of the promise are scant, the concept is that once a year, the various income tax scales are increased by the amount of last year’s inflation rate.

 

At the moment, when wages rise, which they do every year by an average of about 4-5 per cent, many workers move to a higher income tax bracket, meaning that a larger part of the pay increase they receive is taken away with tax.

It will create further bracket creep, increase inflation and only add to the budget deficit and government debt. But no matter. Rich people will still benefit — and that’s the main goal, of course. Fantastic. Great move. Well done, Angus!

Those already at the top end, like Taylor, whose personal property portfolio is so convoluted, it was described by the Sydney Morning Herald as 'opaque and labyrinthine'. The wealth of the Opposition Leader and his one-percenter mates will continue to grow and will also be more secure. How … unsurprising.

2. LET’S BLAME “FOREIGNERS”

Then there’s the hatred and othering — a long-held weapon of the elites used to divide and conquer the masses.

Taylor, whose recent comments centred on whipping up as much fear and loathing as possible, as quickly as possible, lifted phrases straight from the One Nation playbook — which are also lifted straight from the Trump Land playbook.

Buoyed by One Nation’s recent electoral success, Angus claimed he wanted to “restore Australians' standard of living” and “protect our way of life” and then pointed a well-used index finger at the proverbial, yet unspecified, migrant threat:

“Our borders have been open to people who hate our way of life.”

That covers, well, anyone at any given point in time.

This prompted Pauline to pipe up with something like, Hey, stop copying me!.

(It’s unclear if Donald Trump has said words of similar effect to Pauline.)

Undeterred, Angus continued on his merry path of Far-Right populism, refusing to rule out forming government with One Nation and happily telling all who would listen that his door is “always open” to Pauline and her ramshackle group of misfits.

Asked by the media about Taylor’s latest diplomatic move, PM Albanese said:

“The door isn’t open — there’s no door. They’re in the same policy room.”

The PM added:

"There are now three right-wing parties in Australia, advocating policies that aren’t in the interest of social cohesion. Speaking about Australians as if they’re separate from migrants."

Indeed, it appears there are.

This editorial was originally published as part of the Independent Australia weekly newsletter. Subscribe to IA to access all our work from as little as $1.15 per week and help power our journalism throughout 2026.

Follow managing editor Michelle Pini on Bluesky @michellepini.bsky.social and Independent Australia on Bluesky @independentaus.bsky.social, X/Twitter@independentaus and Facebook HERE.

https://independentaustralia.net/politics/politics-display/feeding-the-rich-poor-fed-to-wolves-well-done-angus,21077

 

PLEASE VISIT:

YOURDEMOCRACY.NET RECORDS HISTORY AS IT SHOULD BE — NOT AS THE WESTERN MEDIA WRONGLY REPORTS IT — SINCE 2005.

         Gus Leonisky

         POLITICAL CARTOONIST SINCE 1951.

         RABID ATHEIST.

         WELCOME TO THIS INSANE WORLD….

 

sound budget....

 

Paul Keating

Government CGT changes structurally sound

 

Paul Keating says the Howard-Costello capital gains tax discount distorted the tax system, inflated housing prices and entrenched inequality between wage earners and wealth holders.

Before I began the major reform of the tax system, as Treasurer in 1985, capital profits in this country were completely untaxed.

The takeover merchants were taking-over industrial companies, closing down the businesses, selling off the assets, taking the profits free of any taxation.

Meanwhile, on the income side of the tax system, employees were fully taxed and at the time, under John Howard’s Treasury, at a top marginal rate of 60%.

The issue was simply that income was taxed and at exceptionally high rates while capital profits were completely tax exempt.

In 1985 I addressed this distortion by introducing the Capital Gains Tax, but at the same tax rates that employees paid on ordinary incomes though importantly, washing the inflation from the calculation – taxing only the ‘real’ gain.

This brought the taxation of income and capital to a concomitant point of equality – and for the first time in our history.

But in the face of this achievement, a couple of smarties, John Howard and Peter Costello, thought they could do their used car selling and dodgy accounting mates a favour by jacking a 50 per cent discount on to the taxation of capital profits – destroying the inflation discounting system I had set up to tax the ‘real’ gain only.

The accompanying graph illustrates how housing prices took off dramatically from the moment Howard and Costello introduced the 50 per cent discount in 1999. And not just took off, blasted off.

Yet wealthy people are out there now arguing against the government’s change notwithstanding the stark evidence of the price shock Howard and Costello induced. Housing prices rising from nine times income to sixteen·times income over the 25 years.

They scoff at an inflation adjustment to the effective CGT tax rate – because in their heads, they auto-assume inflation at the 2 per cent it has been under the RBA target for decades. But what if inflation hits 5 per cent or 6 per cent? They would then congratulate themselves in the preservation of their ‘real’ gains – which they would not have had under the 50 per cent discount.

And they want to split off startup capital and shares as if the individuals commentating have not made a feast of it already. They want to retain a preference for capital over wage and salary income.

They nominate tech and startups. But if a tech startup fires, like a Canva, the value acceleration and level of wealth makes any discussion of the tax rate absolutely secondary. If it doesn’t fire, the CGT or its discount is of no help to it.

Punters with a big idea won’t be put off by some marginal change to the tax-rate. The rush of entrepreneurial blood to the brain always dominates. The IMF, for instance, ‘recommends ‘phasing out broad capital gains tax discounts’ in favour of a ‘fairer broadly-based tax system’. That is precisely what the government’s changes will do in returning to a full rate system appropriately discounted for inflation.

Yet when Jim Chalmers announces a policy principle to restore the equity of taxing capital profits on a basis of equality with the taxation of income – we hear the howls for continuing preference.

The simple fact is that income is taxed too heavily while capital is taxed too lightly. That is the fact of it – and has been the fact of it.

And that distortion has made housing unaffordable for a whole generation.

The point is, a society that fails to house its children is a society in decline – this is what Jim Chalmers and his Prime Minister are seeking to arrest.

https://johnmenadue.com/post/2026/05/government-cgt-changes-structurally-sound/

 

READ FROM TOP.

PLEASE VISIT:

YOURDEMOCRACY.NET RECORDS HISTORY AS IT SHOULD BE — NOT AS THE WESTERN MEDIA WRONGLY REPORTS IT — SINCE 2005.

         Gus Leonisky

         POLITICAL CARTOONIST SINCE 1951.

         RABID ATHEIST.

         WELCOME TO THIS INSANE WORLD….

opportunity for all....

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has delivered an impassioned defence of his government’s tax policies, doubling down after days of criticism to declare the reforms are necessary to ensure “aspiration for all”.

Speaking at Victorian Labor’s annual conference on Saturday, in what was a soft launch of the party’s state election campaign, the prime minister toughened his stance about the need for controversial changes to negative gearing, capital gains tax and trusts that were unveiled in this month’s federal budget.

This masthead has reported that Albanese is open to tweaking how its changes affect testamentary trusts, drafted into wills, which the Coalition is attacking as a “death tax”.

But on Saturday, he signalled that Labor would plough ahead with the tax package overall and rubbished the broader backlash by saying that trusts were not an option for most Australians “working their guts out”.

“These Australians, millions of hardworking people, will never be able to access a trust. Never sat around a kitchen table and thought, have we thought of setting up a trust? I mean, seriously,” Albanese said.

“The biggest investment that the majority of Australians ever make and the biggest hope that they ever have is to work hard and buy a home of their own.”

Going off script at times, the prime minister repeated that Labor was the “party of aspiration”. He became visibly emotional as he described how young people were going to auctions and competing with bidders who could afford to spend an extra $30,000 on a property because of the deductions they could claim on their tax bill.

“We will not allow Australia to become a country where aspiration is only for some,” the prime minister said.

 

READ MORE: https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/aspiration-for-all-emotional-albanese-doubles-down-on-tax-changes-20260523-p60001.html

 

READ FROM TOP.

PLEASE VISIT:

YOURDEMOCRACY.NET RECORDS HISTORY AS IT SHOULD BE — NOT AS THE WESTERN MEDIA WRONGLY REPORTS IT — SINCE 2005.

         Gus Leonisky

         POLITICAL CARTOONIST SINCE 1951.

         RABID ATHEIST.

         WELCOME TO THIS INSANE WORLD….