Growth, jobs and sandbagging

large part of the funding canbesourced from shelving thebudget proposal of lowering large business company tax to 25% from thecmrent 30%.

Indian Link is a monthly newspaper published in English. No material, includi�g advertisements designed by Indian Link, may be reprodu�ed in· part or in whole without the written consent of the editor. Opinions carried in Indian Link are those of the writers and not necessarily endorsed by India,{ Link.. AII correspondence should be addressed to• Indian link

BYPAWAN LUTHRA

Thiselection may well be decided by onedichotomy: delayedvs instant gratification.

TheTurnbull-ledCoalitionis chantingthe mantraof 'jobsand growth' and promotinga concept whichcanbe alignedtotrickle-down economics.Bill ShortenandhisLaborteamare building ontheir credentialsof findingsolutions to the problemsin education andhealth today ratherthan puttingtheseon hold for a better tomorrow.A prime e.xarnple is theCoalitionannouncementinthis month'sbudget to freeze theindexation of Medicare rebatesuntilatleast 2020, whichdoctors have warned willlead tolessbulk billing,whereas theLabor Partybas declaredthat if elected, itwill spend$12billiontounwindthis freeze.

\X1'hi1ethe Labor policy is populist,it will addto thecurrent$150billionannual healthbudget. Labor believesthata

Loweringthistaxratewillallowfor theso-calledtrickle-down effect, the term whicl1,accordingtosomepundits, originated withUS President Reagan, Ina nmshell,taxbreaks atthetopend (individuals andcompanies) can spur economic growth. Companiespay lesstax andtheninvest themoniesin productive activities, which canincreaseeconomic growth, creatingjobs and oppormnities. Therewillbea trickle-down effectto those inlower ta_xbrackets. Onecan wellsee thelogicinthis,buttheconcept of loweringtax hasbeen criticised by many whobelievethatitdrainsaway the revenue from theTreasury totake careof thecountry'sneedscoday.USPresident Obamahasbeenopenlycritical of this theory which wasputinpracticeby RonaldReagan tostimulatetheeconomy. But then believersinhistheory advocate thatthispractice actually gave people anopportunity toearnmore,as there wasa large increaseinproduction and emplo}ment. However, itcakes time to filter through theeconomy,and thequestion for Election2016 is,isthe electorate patientenough togivethis theory a tty, ordoes it prefer instant grati.fication of daily needs?The challenge is that wth today'slifestyle trends, wedowant instant solutions to problems. Labor will no doubt build on thisneed asthenext few weeks of campaigningprogress. According tothepolls,as to which way will the votegoon2July,currently it looksclose.The latest Newspollhas bothpartiesneck toneck,withLabor havingnarrowed the gapwiththe Coalition.Atd1isscage,it seems that theCoalitionis keenerto "sandbag"its currentseatsratherthan go to war over thosewhichitfeelsmay take away its resources from theones in hand. An example wasthe Prime1.-finister's day in\XlestemSydney recently: he raced to the Coalition-heldLindsay seat of Fiona Scott anddecided to then make his way to theReidseat of CraigLundy.That hedrovethrough withoutstoppingat thetwo Labor-heldmarginalseatsof Parramatta andGreenway, was aclear sign of hisstrategy.

Growthandjobsis themantra; sandbaggingis the game plan.

SendmoneytoourownbranchesinallmajortownsandcitiesinFijiandNewZealand Askusaboutourcommercialbusiness,wedoimportpaymentsandallinternational businessrelatedremittanceatbestrateandaflatfeeof $15.00only

649369 1723