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Bill Shorten has blundered — big time.
At almost the worst possible moment the Opposition Leader has compromised Labor’s company tax policy, angered internal party critics and jeopardised the political campaign going into the July 28 by-elections.
Shorten looked under pressure, ill-disciplined, autocratic and unusually lacking in retail political judgment when he calmly unveiled a large part of Labor’s tax policy without authorisation or preparation.
Just as Labor was maximising leverage on One Nation in the Queensland by-election and portraying the Coalition’s company tax cuts as helping “big business and multinationals”, Shorten single-handedly declared Labor would not only oppose tax cuts for companies with turnovers of between $10 million and $50m but would repeal them if elected.
What’s more, while leaving the decision open on companies with turnovers between $2m and...