Malcolm Turnbull will dig in behind trade liberalisation and open markets, using a major speech before the resumption of parliament to warn that rising protectionism means higher consumer prices, “less opportunity, diminished prosperity and fewer jobs”.
In an address to the National Press Club on Wednesday, Turnbull will attempt to reboot the Coalition’s political fortunes by declaring his government stands for “opportunity and security”.
He will also confirm the government’s intention, flagged in an interview with Guardian Australia in December, to push ahead assertively when parliament resumes next week with childcare reforms, which have been the subject of protracted Senate negotiations.
The government will bring forward a bill combining the childcare measures with the savings required to fund them in an effort to pressure the Senate to end the deadlock over the package.
According to an excerpt of the speech circulated by his office, Turnbull will also continue to champion the government’s company tax cuts, which the Coalition will push in the coming parliamentary session, despite only having crossbench support to implement a tax cut for firms with a turnover of $10m.
The finance minister, Mathias Cormann, signalled on Tuesday he wanted the business tax cuts settled before the budget session of parliament, although he refused to be drawn about whether the government would remove the big business tax cuts from the forward projections in the budget if he hit an immovable Senate roadblock.
In an attempt to counter the political unpopularity of a big business tax cut at a time when workers’ wages are stagnant, Turnbull will argue on Wednesday that company tax “is overwhelmingly a tax on workers and their salaries”.
Turnbull will argue that if Australia’s company tax rate was at 25% – which is the government’s aspiration over the next 10 years – “full-time workers on average weekly earnings would have an extra $750 in their pockets each and every year”.
The prime minister will also attempt to match Labor’s political focus on jobs by arguing trade liberalisation is not a job killer, but a job creator. Trade means “more exports, which means more jobs and more opportunity”.
He will say his government is seeking even greater access to the global economy “because it is good for jobs, good for investment and good for Australia”.
“Of course we want 24 million Australians buying Australian but we also want 7.4 billion people around the world buying Australian,” Turnbull will say. “Why would we want to limit opportunities at a time when demand for made in Australia has never been stronger?”
With One Nation on the march in regional Australia, Turnbull will argue that trade is benefiting “communities across the nation” – and Australia will pursue opportunities beyond the Trans-Pacific Partnership, jettisoned by Donald Trump.
He will also resume attacks on Labor’s renewable energy target, with rising power prices and energy security a big issue in heavily contested states including South Australia. The prime minister will declare this will be a defining political issue in the new parliament.
Turnbull’s address follows a similar scene setter on Tuesday by Bill Shorten. The Labor leader acknowledged voter anger and declining partisan loyalty while placing housing affordability, jobs and political integrity measures at the centre of Labor’s agenda for 2017.
The prime minister enters the new political year under pressure on a range of fronts, with the controversial Trump administration presenting domestic challenges, former prime minister Tony Abbott continuing his voluble criticism of his successor, and with continuing speculation that the high-profile South Australian Liberal Senator Cory Bernardi may launch a breakaway conservative movement early in the year.
