Latest news with #JeromeLaxale
Daily Mail
27-05-2025
- Business
- Daily Mail
EXCLUSIVE Labor MP representing one of Australia's richest postcodes makes a surprising call on super tax
A federal MP representing one of Australia's richest electorates has admitted the government's plan to tax unrealised gains on super is 'complicated'. Jerome Laxale made history this month as the first ever Labor representative to be re-elected in Bennelong, covering Sydney 's lower north shore. He now has a safe seat, even with new boundaries east of the Lane Cove River, where Labor had never previously had a federal MP. His redrawn electorate now also includes Hunters Hill and Woolwich - double waterfront suburbs in the 2110 postcode, where the average taxable income of $215,456 is almost triple the national average of $72,327. These harbourside suburbs make up Australia's ninth richest postcode, making it much more likely to have residents with large superannuation balances in the millions. Laxale admitted Labor's plan for a new 15 per cent tax on the notional value of superannuation assets above a $3million threshold was complex. 'Yes, it is complicated but it is the simplest of the other alternatives,' he told Daily Mail Australia. 'The Treasury was tasked with finding a way to do it in a way that was simple and cost effective and this was the advice that they gave the Treasurer.' Under the Labor's tax division 296 plan, those with a self-managed super fund would be forced to sell assets like real estate or land to keep their retirement savings under $3million and avoid having to pay the hated tax on unrealised gains. Labor is also planning to double earnings taxes to 30 per cent for retirement savings above this threshold. Like Treasurer Jim Chalmers, Laxale has defended the government's plan to avoid indexing it for inflation, despite AMP modelling showing it will affect an average, 22-year-old worker now in four decades' time. 'I point to the tax tables which also aren't indexed and they move as well,' he said. 'A future government will move this if it's unindexed and that's a pretty regular occurrence in tax law in Australia.' Despite the Opposition opposing Labor's plan, Laxale claimed very few people had raised the issue as he campaigned for re-election, in a seat with new boundaries that were notionally Liberal heading into the May 3 election. 'It didn't come up much when it passed through the House of Representatives a couple of years ago - it's only come up a handful of times during the election,' he said. 'I think people see this as a modest change and one that will impact only half a per cent of Australians and people with over $3million in super. 'The facts are that the overwhelming majority of people in Bennelong have super balances under $3million and will not be affected, which is why it wasn't really raised that much with me.' In the 2110 postcode, covering Hunters Hill, the average super balance is $600,829, or more than triple Australia's average super balance of $164,126, tax office data shows. But this still well below the $1.027m average at Palm Beach, on Sydney's northern beaches, where the average taxable income is $216,262 in a Teal electorate. Labor estimates its plan will only affect 0.5 per cent of Australian or 80,000 people with no plans to index it for inflation. Australians had $4.2billion in superannuation at the end of last year but a quarter of that, or $1.1billion was in a self-managed super fund rather in than the usual industry or retail fund. Labor's is going ahead with its plan to tax those with high superannuation balances, even though it now represents more ultra-wealthy voters than the Liberal Party. Hunters Hill wasn't the only top 10 postcode for wealth in a Labor electorate with the ALP also representing Hawksburn in the former Green leader Adam Bandt's old seat of Melbourne, where the average super balance is $956,724 and $266,020 is the average, taxable income. The 3142 postcode is Australia's fourth richest, and also covers neighbouring Toorak, now in Teal MP Monique Ryan's redrawn Kooyong electorate. Teal MPs represent eight of Australia's 10 richest postcodes, and they have expressed concerns about taxing unrealised gains. Allegra Spender's Wentworth electorate in Sydney's east is home to five of Australia's richest postcodes, with the Liberal Party representing just one ultra-wealthy suburb, Portsea, in the seat of Flinders on the Mornington Peninsula south-east of Melbourne. Labor won 59.27 per cent of the two-party vote in Bennelong and overwhelmingly carried a landslide majority of the 63 booths in the electorate, including in the upmarket waterfront suburbs of Gladesville and Greenwich. 'It is historic being only the first Labor MP to hold on to Bennelong and to win those new areas,' Laxale said. 'It's something I won't take for granted - some people came up to me on election day saying this is the first time in their life they voted Labor and that's a huge responsibility for me. 'An overwhelming majority of Australians want people to govern from the centre and that was reflected in the vote. 'Our government offered policies and plans that resonated well with people in Bennelong regardless of their income.' The exceptions were one booth in Hunters Hill, where Liberal Party candidate Scott Yung had 56.78 per cent of the vote after preferences. The Liberal Party also carried three hospital booths, getting 61.49 per cent of the vote in one of them, suggesting highly-paid surgeons were less likely to vote Labor and may have had misgivings about the plan to increase taxes on large superannuation balances. Laxale claimed older voters, who are more likely to have big super balances, voted Labor because of its $16billion plan to cut student debt by 20 per cent or an average of $5,520 from their Higher Education Contribution Scheme liabilities. 'You've got a lot of older people who came to me on election day and said, 'What tipped me over the line was the 20 per cent reduction in HECS because I want my kids not to be burdened with this debt and to be able to get a start in life either for a place to rent or a place to live',' he said. Bennelong's longest-serving member, former Liberal prime minister John Howard, introduced new laws in 2006 enabling those over 60 to withdraw their super tax free during the retirement phase.
Epoch Times
27-05-2025
- Business
- Epoch Times
They Swung Behind Labor, Now This Migrant Group Is Calling for Action on ‘Crushing' Inflation
As the dust settles on the historic election victory for Labor, cost of living remains the top concern for one of Australia's largest migrant communities. 'I think it's time to pay attention to our survival,' Vivian Kong, a coffee and ice cream shop owner in Sydney, told The Epoch Times. 'Rent is so high, electricity bills are high, and the cost of living has skyrocketed—it's three to four times higher than it was over a decade ago, but our income hasn't even doubled. 'Just look around: so many shops have closed down, and so many spaces are sitting empty.' Kong's shop is located in Epping, a suburb in northern Sydney that is home to a large population of residents with Chinese ancestry. In the recent federal election, electorates with large Chinese-Australian populations consistently swung toward the centre-left Labor Party. In Bennelong, which borders Kong's area, Labor candidate Jerome Laxale won the seat with a 7.9 percent two-party-preferred swing away from Liberal candidate Scott Yung, who is of Chinese descent. Labor Prime Minister Anthony Albanese speaks to the media at a doorstop during Lunar New Year celebrations at Eastwood Plaza along with MP Jerome Laxale (R) and NSW Premier Chris Minns (L) in Sydney, Australia on Feb. 4, 2023. AAP Image/Bianca De Marchi Similar trends were mirrored across the country with Labor benefitting from swings in Melbourne's Menzies, Aston, and Chisholm; Sydney's Reid and Banks; Brisbane's Moreton; Perth's Tangney; and Adelaide's Sturt. China-born individuals comprise about 2.6 percent, or 700,000 people, of the country's population, according to the Inflation, Labor Costs: Business Owners Kong says because so many shops are shutting down, suppliers are now reluctant to offer credit, or time, to pay for goods or services after delivery. 'So it's even tougher for us—every order has to be paid for upfront, which creates even bigger problems,' said Kong. Small businesses often live and die based on available cash reserves. 'If the government could provide small businesses with some loans or support—like working capital assistance—it would make a big difference.' Henry Zhao, a permanent resident and food and beverage business owner, echoes Kong's concerns about the cost of running business. 'The prices have increased drastically, and the cost of services in various areas has also risen,' he told The Epoch Times. 'For our industry, the labour costs are also rising. As the prices go up, wages have to increase as well. Therefore, for us, labour costs have become even higher.' Power costs are another issue, according to Energy Consumers Australia, with businesses that use about 20,000 kWh per year seeing electricity prices An aerial view of the Bungala Solar Farm in Port Augusta, South Australia, on Feb. 25, Housing: Older Migrant Huang Ming, now half-retired in his senior years, pays more attention to healthcare. 'Take the GP (general practitioners) fees for example—although there was a promise made, nothing has materialised. You still have to pay $20 for each consultation,' he told The Epoch Times. In February, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced an additional In 2023, the Labor government had Related Stories 5/17/2025 5/14/2025 In this photo illustration, an Australian Medicare card is displayed with prescription medicines in Sydney, Australia on March 25, 2025. LisaAnother thing Huang cares about is housing—renting and buying a home. 'We're not even expecting prices to drop, but can the government at least control the rate of price increases? Especially in places like Burwood, where prices have gone up so much,' he said. As of April, the 'These are really just the basics of people's livelihoods, right?' Huang said. Concern About Managing the Economy: Salon Owner Wendy Xu, a beauty salon owner in Sydney's Hurstville, is concerned about an economic downturn. 'Our beauty business has slowed down a lot because people are facing high costs and expenses, so they are cutting back on their spending. Customers are fewer now,' she said. 'Things like mortgage payments and electricity bills, it's really crushing people. Especially last year and the year before, when interest rates went up wave after wave, it was just too much for people to handle.' The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) began a series of interest rate increases in May 2022 in response to historically low interest rates during the pandemic and for many years before The RBA's increases culminated at a 4.35 percent peak in November 2023—the highest level since December 2011. In response to easing inflationary pressures, the RBA has recently Despite these reductions, mortgage rates remain elevated compared to pre-2022 levels, continuing to exert financial pressure on borrowers. Xu hopes the government can step up. 'After the pandemic, each of us is under a lot of pressure, physically and financially. And now, with our health, we need to pay more attention to self-care,' she said. 'If people are unwell, they still have to buy health supplements ... So it's not just the financial pressure of daily life, but also the pressure of maintaining our health.' Concern for Seniors Moving to Retirement Villages Solomon Zhang, a permanent resident and aged care worker with a Certificate IV in Ageing Support, called for the government to address issues related to retirement villages. 'All retirement villages in Australia are just opportunities for real estate investment companies to make money,' he told The Epoch Times. Zhang noted the difference between purchasing a unit in a village and regular home ownership. Purchasing a unit in a retirement village can often result in a financial loss upon exit, he explained. For instance, a $1,000,000 unit might return only $650,000 to $700,000 after 5 to 10 years, primarily due to exit fees and depreciation. 'They don't explain these exit terms clearly when they're selling it to you, especially to the elderly … Many elderly people feel they've been scammed because the services provided are very limited…They often don't disclose the full details, like refunds or other issues.' Zhang called for an overhaul of the pricing structure, particularly to deal with management fees. 'If the government could step in a little—say, by organising some volunteers to help clean up the surroundings, or providing some financial subsidies to improve the public entertainment areas—it could make a big difference,' he said. 'It wouldn't take much, even less than the cost of public services, to improve these retirement villages.' Australia-China Relations Aside from life down under, there are also concerns about the new government's relationship with Beijing. 'I hope the Labor government understands that within the Chinese community, there are many people who do not want Australia to be influenced by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP),' said Lin Bin, a Hong Kong-born political analyst with a PhD in political science from the University of NSW. 'A very simple example is that many Chinese immigrants came to Australia precisely because they did not want to live under the CCP's authoritarian rule. They came here hoping to live a life of freedom and democracy.' Protesters hold placards demanding the release of Australian writer Yang Hengjun in Canberra, Australia, on March 20, 2024. David Gray/AFP via Getty Images As a former candidate for the In November 2021, in response to Beijing's 'I hope the Australian Labor government will stand more firmly in protecting the national interest of Australia and not be too soft in dealing with the CCP,' Lin said. 'Many of us hope that Australia remains an independent, free, and democratic nation. We hope the Australian government can give Chinese Australians a sense of security and resist CCP infiltration.'
Epoch Times
15-05-2025
- Politics
- Epoch Times
Does Standing up to the CCP Cost Votes?
News Analysis The recent federal election saw substantial swings to the centre-left Labor Party in electorates with major Chinese-Australian populations. They include the Melbourne seats of Menzies, Aston, and Chisholm, Brisbane's Moreton, as well as the Sydney seats of Bennelong, Reid, and Banks. In the northern Sydney seat of Bennelong, which encompasses the suburbs of Chatswood and Eastwood—where 40 percent of residents are of Chinese heritage—Labor MP Jerome Laxale gained a 9.2 percent swing after preferences against Liberal Party candidate Scott Yung, who himself is of Chinese ancestry. About 90.9 percent of votes have been counted for that seat. However, upon deeper examination, some candidates like the Liberal's Keith Wolahan in Menzies actually saw their primary vote hold firm, which may be attributed to his strong Chinese social media presence. Yet one conclusion propagated is that Chinese-Australian voters were concerned about the state of official ties between Canberra and Beijing, with the subtext that calling out the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) for its human rights abuses or military aggression could damage ties and as a result, cost votes. It's also a view shared by a 2022 Liberal Party internal review. Liberals Stayed Quiet on Policies That Could Resonate With Chinese Voters Some argue the results should be looked at more holistically. 'Many Chinese people—especially those who have already become citizens here—actually identify strongly with the values of Australia,' said Feng Chongyi, a China studies associate professor at the University of Technology Sydney, in an interview with The Epoch Times. 'But the [former] Liberal Party leader [Peter Dutton's campaign] was too weak—he tried to please everyone, and didn't actually offer a real alternative [to Labor].' He said the Coalition's entire election campaign was 'very passive' and failed to champion a conservative agenda, such as freedom of speech and religion, smaller government, pro-business policies, pro-education, and opposing net zero. Feng also pointed out that Dutton's inability to discipline the party's moderate faction damaged his campaign, meaning the Liberal Party did not promote the policies that normally resonate with Chinese-Asians. In turn, this also allowed alternative messages to run free—on Chinese social media platforms like RedNote and WeChat—particularly when Liberal Senator Jane Hume's comment about ' National Security Argument Not Prosecuted Hard Enough: Professor The professor also said the Liberal Party did not emphasise the importance of Australia's national security. 'The Liberal Party was supposed to show that if they came to power, they would prioritise national security and not profit from unjust means [through trading with the CCP],' said Feng. 'In fact, after so many years, the Australian public is already well aware of the Chinese communist regime's malicious nature and the threat it poses to Australia.' Feng was critical of the shift in tone from the opposition leader, who softened his hardline stance to appease Chinese-Australian voters 'The relationship with China will be much stronger than it is under the Albanese government,' Dutton said in January. While both sides of politics used more restrained rhetoric when discussing China, the CCP had other ideas. In March, three Chinese warships appeared with no prior notice along the east coast of Australia, conducted a weapons exercise in international waters between Australia and New Zealand, and Others Say National Security May Not Have Been a Big Concern Graham Young, executive director of the Australian Institute for Progress, said appeasement for the sake of votes had little value, noting that national security was not a major concern for voters this time. 'In this election, most voters were not attuned to the issue,' he told The Epoch Times in an email. Rowan Callick, an expert associate at the National Security College of the Australian National University and an industry fellow at the Griffith Asia Institute, said there was not enough hard evidence to support the findings of a 2022 Liberal Party review that suggested Chinese voters did not like the former Morrison government's tough stance on the CCP. 'Too much of this concern is anecdotal, and sometimes presumes that people of Chinese ethnicity are all or mostly from the PRC [People's Republic of China],' he Callick said that despite lacking empirical evidence, the party naturally connected the voting patterns in those electorates, with Australia-China ties, and had adopted a more 'disciplined' approach to discussing the Chinese regime. 'One can understand, therefore, the current response. But this results in a distorted policy-making process on China relations.' Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese (L) and CCP Premier Li Qiang leave after their visit to Kaarta Gar-up Lookout in Kings Park in Perth, Australia on June 18, 2024. Richard Wainwright/Pool/AFP via Getty Images The Loyalty Factor Chin Jin, a PhD in social sciences and the Australia-based global chair of the Federation for a Democratic China, believes old loyalties may have been a factor. He said many older Chinese immigrants came after the 1989 Tiananmen Square Massacre and may have fled gratitude towards late Labor Prime Minister Bob Hawke, a similar dynamic plays out in Vietnamese communities. Hawke approved 42,000 permanent residency visas for Chinese students in Australia at the time. 'I believe many within this group continue to be deeply appreciative of Bob Hawke and the Labor Party, and they certainly had an impact in this election,' Chin, a beneficiary of Hawke's decision himself, told The Epoch Times. Nothing to Fear With Standing Up to the CCP Meanwhile, Feng referred to 2022 Beijing imposed trade barriers across several Australian exports, including lobster and wine, in retaliation for what the CCP called Australia's 'misguided government policies'—including calling for an independent inquiry into the origins of COVID-19, and banning Huawei from its 5G network. 'The myth that Australia's economy is dependent on the Chinese market has been debunked by facts. Australia's exports as a whole rose during period of economic coercion by the CCP regime, partly because China depended on Australia for the supply of iron ore or metallurgical coal and partly because alternative markets could be found for Australia's other goods,' Feng said. 'That's why the Liberal absolutely should speak out and say: we don't have to rely on the Chinese regime — they simply can't be trusted. If you rely on them, they'll use that dependence to blackmail you again.' Related Stories 4/4/2025 4/29/2025
Daily Mail
09-05-2025
- Business
- Daily Mail
The traditional Liberal Party heartland that has turned red
The Labor Party now has a safe seat on Sydney 's wealthy north shore for the first time ever. Areas east of the Lane Cove River had traditionally been Liberal Party heartland, producing conservative premiers and prime ministers. Until the May 3 election, Labor had never held a federal electorate in this rich part of Sydney, and it had been more than four decades since the ALP held any state seat on the north shore. But that has now all changed with Labor getting resoundingly re-elected in Bennelong, even with new boundaries covering Chatswood, Lane Cove and Greenwich. This saw Jerome Laxale defeat his Liberal opponent Scott Yung, 59 per cent to 41 per cent, after scoring a nine per cent swing in his favour after preferences. Labor now has constituents that had previously been represented by four Liberal Party leaders during the past three decades. Even more surprisingly, Labor convincingly won upmarket polling booths that had traditionally been Liberal Party strongholds, with the two-party ALP vote in these leafy areas with water views well above the national average of 54.8 per cent. A Chatswood booth, west of the Pacific Highway, delivered Labor a landslide 65.2 per cent to 34.8 per cent margin, with Mr Laxale getting 45.9 per cent of the primary vote. Greenwich on the Lane Cove River was even more enthusiastic about Labor, with this booth voting for the ALP with a 69 per cent to 31 per cent margin, with Mr Laxale getting almost half or 49.6 per cent of first-preference votes. Lane Cove was almost just as pro-Labor, with Mr Laxale having 67.4 per cent of of the vote, compared with just 32.6 per cent for the Liberal Party. This area is far from working class, with Lane Cove now having a median house price of $3.1million, which is more than double greater Sydney's $1.5million mid-point, CoreLogic data showed. Former Lane Cove mayor Andrew Zbik, who in 2017 became the area's first Labor representative since 1947 when he was elected to council, said the ALP was no longer regarded as socialist on Sydney's north shore. 'We've proven at a local level that we're not the extreme socialists that their grandparents affiliated the Labor Party as going back to the Cold War,' he told Daily Mail Australia. 'Labor was never a communist party but a lot of Liberal voters mistakenly thought that.' Mr Zbik, a financial planner, said Labor representation on the Lane Cove and Ryde council areas had helped turn traditionally Liberal Party areas red, boosting the political fortunes of Mr Laxale, a former Ryde mayor. Greenwich on the Lane Cove River was even more enthusiastic about Labor, with this booth voting for the ALP with a 69 per cent to 31 per cent margin, with Mr Laxale getting 49.6 per cent of first-preference votes 'We've definitely found at a local level, they're actually going, "You guys are quite sensible",' he said. 'I think that's where Jerome's built his profile as well - as local councillor, mayor, sensible, rational, makes good decisions; he's now the federal member for Bennelong. 'At the local level, we proved that you can trust voting Labor.' The lower north shore also has some of Australia's highest registration numbers for new Teslas. Mr Zbik said his council's embrace of charging stations for electric cars had proven popular with north shore voters, helping Labor win Bennelong as defeated Opposition Leader Peter Dutton pledged during the campaign to scrap EV tax breaks. 'Lane Cove council, about two years ago we had the most public charging infrastructure out of any council on the lower north shore,' he said. 'This is an area that government needs to help catch up on and very much an acute awareness that Australia is behind the world compared to Europe in particular on take-up of electric cars.' The abolition of the former Teal-held seat of North Sydney saw Bennelong redrawn to cover 1970s boundaries that were in place when future prime minister John Howard first ran as a federal Liberal candidate in 1974. The absence of a Teal candidate in Bennelong meant the left-wing vote went to Labor instead of the Liberal Party. 'I believe so and the minute the Liberals came out with a nuclear policy, my reading of that is they're not trying to win back these Teal seats,' Mr Zbik said. Until Labor's victory on Bennelong, on new boundaries, the Labor Party hadn't held a seat on Sydney's north shore at a state or federal level since 1981, after the ALP had won Willoughby for a term in 1978 during popular premier Neville Wran's landslide re-election. The federal seat of Bennelong overlaps with the Liberal state seat of Willoughby, previously held by former premier Gladys Berejiklian and Opposition Leader Peter Collins, and the state seat of Lane Cove, which Kerry Chikarovski held as state Liberal leader. With Mr Howard thrown in the mix, Labor now represents an area held by four Liberal Party leaders during the past three decades. While the betting markets had expected the Liberal Party to lose neighbouring Bradfield, Gisele Kapterian was leading her Teal opponent Nicolette Boele by 204 votes, having 50.1 per cent of the two-party vote on Thursday night.
ABC News
02-05-2025
- Politics
- ABC News
A guide to the NSW seats to watch this federal election
There are 46 federal seats in NSW and about a third of them are marginal — making it a state to watch this election. From a tussle over historically blue-ribbon bastions to traditionally Labor-voting seats balanced on a knife edge, they're some of the electorates with the thinnest margins in the country. These are the seats to keep an eye on as results pour in over the coming days. Bennelong The former seat of Liberal prime minister John Howard, Bennelong in Sydney's inner lower north shore, is one of the tightest races in the country. A boundary revision, where the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) redraws the map because of changes in population, has shaved the margin to a wafer-thin 0.04 per cent and turned the seat notionally Liberal. Incumbent Labor MP Jerome Laxale faces a challenge from Liberal candidate Scott Yung. Gilmore Labor's most marginal seat is Gilmore on the NSW South Coast. The 2022 election saw Fiona Phillips defeat former Liberal state minister Andrew Constance, who is again standing as the Liberal candidate, by just 373 votes. Gilmore was Labor's only true gain at the 2019 election, and both major parties have put up a tough fight for the seat. Bradfield Independent Nicolette Boele, a former finance executive, is running against new Liberal candidate Gisele Kapterian after incumbent Liberal MP Paul Fletcher decided to retire. Ms Boele, a Climate 200-backed candidate who secured a strong swing against Mr Fletcher in 2022 pushing the once-safe seat into marginal territory, will again try to turn the traditionally Liberal seat on Sydney's north shore independent. Its margin has been reduced even further by a boundary redraw triggered by the abolition of neighbouring electorate North Sydney. Robertson The Central Coast Gordon Reid won the seat for Labor at the last election but is being challenged by Liberal Lucy Wicks, who represented the electorate from 2013 until 2022. A very minor boundary adjustment with neighbouring Dobell was enough to tick the Labor margin down a decimal point from 2.3 per cent. Werriwa Western Sydney has been a focus of this campaign, with 10 out of 14 seats held by Labor. The major party holds three of the four marginal seats in the region, including Werriwa, which takes in Badgerys Creek, Austral and Casula. Support for Labor has been slipping in this heartland electorate for some time – and incumbent Labor MP Anne Stanley is facing a challenge from Liberal candidate Sam Kayal. In a sign of how keen the Liberals are to claim a win here, Opposition Leader Peter Dutton and Coalition luminaries held their campaign launch in the seat.
