Labor has committed to supporting backpacker tax legislation if the Coalition revises the policy to a more acceptable compromise – a position attacked by the Greens as destroying Australia’s competitive edge. The shadow agriculture minster, Joel Fitzgibbon, said the backpacker tax policy was announced by the Coalition with no consultation or modelling, but Labor would support it if the Coalition put up an “conceivable” proposal. “[The backpacker tax change] does require legislation and if the government wants to concede it got it wrong and backs down to a conceivable proposal, we would support it,” Fitzgibbon told Guardian Australia. “The parliament needs to oppose any backpacker tax outright, we need to keep the competitive advantage we have and not water it down. If they come out now and say that they will vote against any backpacker tax bill then the tax is dead.”George Christensen predicts Coalition will axe backpacker tax after threats to quit LNP Read moreMorrison said the backpacker tax was an issue from one of Joe Hockey’s budgets that needed to be resolved.

Source: The Guardian September 20, 2016 02:48 UTC