Arabic version: دونيام يحث الليبراليين على التمسك بمسارهم
According to ABC News, outgoing Tasmanian Liberal senator Jonno Duniam used his valedictory speech to urge the Coalition not to abandon its roots as it seeks to recover support lost to One Nation. Duniam, who has spent a decade in the Senate, told colleagues the Liberal Party could offer Australians what they need by backing its values with conviction rather than “pretending to be someone else” or trying to appease others.
Duniam’s farewell speech came after he decided to leave parliament following the Liberal leadership contest earlier this year, citing the toll of the job on him and his family. He acknowledged the effect of several election losses but said the party’s challenge was not insurmountable. “My party has been around for decades. It isn’t populist. It isn’t flash in the pan. It is here to stay,” he said, adding that the party could return to government.
The government also faced pressure over small-business issues, including changes to negative gearing and the capital gains tax discount, an ATO credit card ban and discretionary trusts. Liberal frontbencher Angie Bell later conceded she had made a poor choice of words after saying minister Anne Aly and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese should be “shamed and stoned” over the ATO decision. Aly, the first Muslim woman elected to federal parliament, said she had received 19 death threats that week using similar language.
Labor is also confronting opposition to its proposal to reduce the private health insurance rebate for Australians aged 65 and over from next year. The government says the change would save $3 billion for spending elsewhere in aged care, with about $1.6 billion of forecast savings coming from pensioners. The Coalition, Greens and independent Jacqui Lambie combined to remove the bill from the parliamentary agenda on Wednesday, before Health Minister Mark Butler reintroduced the same bill. With three sitting weeks remaining before parliament rises for the year, the government faces further negotiations in the Senate.
