Peter Dutton rules out return to politics in rare public appearance – as it happened

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Coalition says if Labor tries to raise taxes after roundtable it would be ‘major breach of faith’ with Australian people

James Paterson, the shadow minister for finance, says if the government moves to increase taxes it would be a “major breach of faith with the Australian people”. Paterson spoke to RN Breakfast after the conclusion of yesterday’s roundtable, where Chalmers said there was a longer-term process to consider major reform on the matter.

No Australian voted for higher taxes at the election, and so it seems that Jim Chalmers isn’t on the same page as the prime minister because he was unwilling to repeat that commitment at his press conference yesterday. And he is leaving open the door to higher taxes, and particularly on people’s retirement savings, on family trusts, on a whole range of other things.

When those questions were raised during the election campaign, Jim Chalmers and the Labor party said that was a Liberal Party scare campaign. So, if they go ahead and try and increase taxes, that’ll be a major breach of faith with the Australian people. Continue reading...