Bill Shorten: PM Turnbull Lost The By-Elections Because He’s Given Billions To Big Business

Both PM Malcolm Turnbull and opposition leader Bill Shorten have offered up their thoughts a day after Labor’s clean sweep in by-elections across the country — but while Turnbull toned down the importance of Labor’s win, Shorten claimed that the results were a sign that voters didn’t want the Liberal’s company tax cuts.

Labor notched a four point swing in Longman to win, and recorded a barely noticeable 0.2 percent swing in the Tasmanian seat of Braddon.

“I want to congratulate the successful candidates and I want to thank above all our candidates,” Turnbull told media today in his first comments since his party’s defeat last night.

“I see that Bill Shorten is punching the air as though he’s won the World Cup. Well the reality is that the Australian Labor party has secured an average or a conventional swing in a by-election to them in Longman, and has not secured any swing at all in Braddon.”

If the LNP had managed to take a seat off Labor, it would have been the first time in almost 100 years that the government would have won a seat off their opposition in a by-election.

To be fair to @TurnbullMalcolm the blame for the Libs loss should be shared by @ScottMorrisonMP whose disastrous plan to give tax cuts to banks was a key driver. And by @PeterDutton_MP whose very presence pulls down their vote. #Longman

— Dee Madigan (@deemadigan) July 28, 2018

Opposition leader Shorten went on the attack with his remarks.

“At the end of the day the reason why Labor won the by-elections was that more people voted for us,” he told gathered media in Narangba, Queensland. “And I actually think that if the Liberals just want to focus on conspiracy theories and Medi-scare, this fellow Turnbull is Australia’s number one finger pointer.”

In Longman in particular, healthcare was a major sticking point. Labor voiced fears that the federal government would cut funding from the local Caboolture Hospital — something that the government pushed back against.

The swing to Labor in Longman and the swing against Malcolm Turnbull and his PHON alliance should wipe the smug smile off his face – electors are fed up with his wage stagnation and tax cuts for the wealthy #auspol

— Wayne Swan (@SwannyQLD) July 28, 2018

“Government policies are out of touch with the lives that people live,” Shorten continued. “I think sometimes in Canberra the politics happens in a bubble. It is not the real world. What really matters to voters is how their families’ going and how their health is.”

“Giving away billions of dollars of tax payer money back to the big banks and the multinationals is a shocking idea.”

For months, the government has been trying to pass their company tax cut package, which would lower the tax rate for companies that have a turnover of more than $50 million a year.