Senior Liberal Arthur Sinodinos says the government lost the trust of the public in the 2014 budget and must work to regain it.
The cabinet secretary and key advisor to Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said part of the reason for the change in leadership was losing the trust of the Australian people.
“We lost that trust after the 2014 budget, we can excuse it as much as we like by saying there was an urgency to do things, but part of the reason Malcolm Turnbull is prime minister today is because we needed to find a way to regain the trust of the Australian people,” Senator Sinodinos told Sky News.
He believes the government also needs to ensure tax and other reforms are seen as fair, noting that was why reforms were currently on the table.
The cabinet secretary of the Turnbull government said any future tax reform should be a co-operative venture between the federal government and the states to get the balance right.
The senator was responding to a News Corp report that says the government is considering raising the GST to 15 per cent while making tax cuts for middle-income earners but keeping fresh food GST-free.
The senator said the government is looking at getting the balance right between direct and indirect taxes like the GST.
“This is a cooperative venture, this is not just about the feds on tax reform, this a cooperative venture with the states,” he said.
But Opposition Leader Bill Shorten can’t understand why the government believes raising the GST will solve all of Australia’s problems.
“I think it’s the wrong idea for confidence, for families trying to make ends meet,” Mr Shorten told reporters in Melbourne.