Labor’s mixed signals on mates don’t augur well for a reset from the Morrison years

While the exchange of political donations and post-politics gigs for policy favours for corporations was especially transparent under the rotten Morrison government, the election of Labor was never going to bring to an end either Australia’s two-speed democracy or mates being looked after by the politicians they fund.

So it’s proven in recent days as federal Labor ministers clutched their pearls about climate protesters targeting the CEO of Australia’s top climate criminal, Woodside, joining the Liberals, News Corp, the 100% fossil fuel-owned WA Labor government and the Financial Review (which is now laying the groundwork for a hysterical campaign of opposition to industrial action by Woodside workers — can the comparisons with Putin be far off in the pages of the AFR?).

As Crikey keeps noting, Woodside is one of the biggest donors to both sides of politics, having lavished millions on the major parties over the past decade, and generously provides board seats for former MPs of both persuasions. And federal Labor is happy to look after it — including making sure Woodside was agreeable to the paltry increases in the much-rorted Petroleum Resource Rent Tax in the May budget.

Over in NSW, some more consultations were taking place on tax, between the NSW Labor government and the lawbreaking Star Casino. NSW Labor has decided Star Casino needs a special deal to reduce the impact of the tax hike introduced by former Liberal treasurer Matt Kean. Labor’s rationale for handing out yet another break to yet another gambling company — including a special role for the huge United Workers Union — is that Star might have had to close to pay the tax (what a tragedy for money launderers and organised crime that would have been) and that Kean failed to “consult” with Star.

Perhaps this is the ALP’s new policy approach — that corporations must be given a veto over tax rises, with discussions conducted behind closed doors. If only the rest of we taxpayers got to sit down with tax authorities and negotiate how much tax we pay. Bizarrely, this logic seems to have been absorbed by Nine journalists, who last night reported, with a straight face, “Kean’s public announcement blindsided Star Entertainment’s leadership, who were not consulted about the proposal ahead of time”.

Star — long a substantial political donor — gave $212,000 in political contributions at the state and federal level in 2021-22, split evenly between the parties. Federal Labor was the biggest recipient, with $80,000. Presumably such contributions will dry up now that Star is sacking hundreds of workers and crying poor to politicians?

Qantas doesn’t need donations to maintain its hold over both sides of politics, and Labor is proving as assiduous a defender of the dismal airline’s interests as the Coalition ever was. Labor has cut funding for domestic airfare monitoring by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, sparing Qantas the periodic embarrassment of being shown to be gouging passengers, and refused to establish an independent complaints-handling body for the aviation sector, despite Qantas being the most complained-about company in the country.

Most of all, Labor has blocked the expansion of capacity by Qantas competitors, especially Qatar Airways. Clearly the government, and Infrastructure Minister Catherine King, hoped that any controversy over that would have vanished by now, but if anything the inexplicable decision is garnering more and more media attention — a situation not helped by King’s weird, constantly changing explanations of why she blocked Qatar, including that it was to protect jobs, when in fact it would have increased employment in Australia.

(And behold the strange story about Qatar Airways flying “ghost flights” to Canberra and Adelaide in Guardian Australia this week, something that is a well-known result of the restrictions placed on Qatar in Australia, and which was reported nearly a year ago despite the Guardian claiming it was an “exclusive”. The Guardian portrayed this as a “legal loophole” that the sinister Qataris are exploiting, with an anonymous “industry insider” found to accuse Qatar Airways of “taking the piss out of the industry and the laws”. Any bets on where the “insider” works, given Qantas and its partner Emirates have the most to lose from more competition in Australia?)

So while the sordid Morrison years are over, big corporations are still being looked after by Labor at the expense of the public interest and taxpayers.

On the upside, there is one group of mates that is very definitely not being looked after. The big 3.5 consulting firms, who collectively have been giving up to half a million dollars a year in contributions to the major political parties in recent years, were already in Labor’s sights before the last election, with the party’s commitment to significantly cutting public service spending on consultants. The PwC tax scandal and revelations from the ongoing Senate inquiry into consultants drove things much further, with the government this week announcing a significant expansion of regulation of major audit, tax advice and consulting firms.

While aspects of that crackdown will likely be watered down in the coming “consultation” process, it demonstrates that Labor can belt major donors — albeit, they have to behave absolutely outrageously first. If only it was willing to treat Woodside and Qantas with the same rigour.

Is Labor any better than the Coalition when it comes to favours for mates? Let us know your thoughts by writing to letters@crikey.com.au. Please include your full name to be considered for publication. We reserve the right to edit for length and clarity.