Prick up your ears: Claims of arrogance can reveal a bigger story

The adrenaline must not have worn off after Wednesday’s State of Origin classic when MPs rolled into question time.

After the Coalition got under Anthony Albanese’s skin earlier this month when asking about his use of negative gearing, the PM managed to goad the fired-up opposition leader at Thursday’s question time.

Albanese said that for many MPs it “might be the last time” they got to vote on an income tax proposal. His suggestion was that many of his opponents would be wiped out by One Nation, or Labor, at the next election.

“Arrogant prick,” Taylor said in an off-mic comment across the desk separating the pair, according to Labor frontbenchers who told this masthead what they heard. Taylor withdrew the comment.

Speaking later on ABC TV, Albanese said he didn’t want to make a big deal of it. But, he said, “people swearing across the chamber isn’t appropriate.”

Reasonable minds will differ on how offensive was Taylor’s language. In 2010, a Sydney student was cleared of using offensive language toward a police officer after a magistrate ruled the word “prick” was part of everyday speech.

Either way, language that would have been fine directed at a Maroons player on the big screen on Wednesday night wasn’t fit for the people’s house on Thursday afternoon.

Taylor wisely avoided an altercation at the watch-party at the Eastlake Football Club, a conservative haunt, when Nationals veteran Michael McCormack was harangued by boozy tradies he wanted thrown out of the club.

But on Thursday, he couldn’t help himself.

“It says something about the frustration,” Albanese said of Taylor’s remarks, adding to his jibe about Taylor’s fear of One Nation.

The Coalition could have seized on Albanese’s comment as proof he had no intention of offering further tax cuts before the next election.

Two opposition stunts also fell flat on Thursday. Photographers weren’t allowed to capture pieces of A4 paper on Liberal MPs’ desks which spelled out “LABOR LIES”. An attempt by Taylor to suspend standing orders also backfired.

The ideological tax debate created by Labor’s “intergenerational inequality” budget has reminded Canberra’s blue team of its small-government creed. The budget has injected a sharp edge into the 48th parliament.

Albanese enjoys boasting about his record election win and speculating about increasing his advantage.

But he has been reaching for baits and ridicule more frequently as he’s come under more pressure to justify his decision to subject non-housing assets to higher capital gains taxes.

On Thursday, they included making fun of Nationals MP Darren Chester for being outranked by Senator Matt Canavan; accusing Taylor of moving “even further right than John Howard”; and joking about Coalition MPs being on track to lose their seats, even though Labor’s primary vote is also struggling in some polls.

“This is what they’ve been reduced to,” Albanese said.

A weeks-long inquiry into the proposals and continued outcry from business groups will test the unity of Labor’s caucus. Albanese made sure his troops got the message on Thursday, as some of them grumble about his inability to stick to the housing message: “You know what the people on this side have to say in the Labor caucus? What they say to me is how proud they are.”

Question time can often contain no meaningful lessons. But the interjections of MPs can sometimes be revealing. Social Services Minister Tanya Plibersek at one point called out “talk to your tax accountant” in response to a question about a detail of Labor’s tax changes.

The comment displayed what a senior Labor MP explained to this masthead earlier in the week: to win the argument over its tax changes, Labor needs to get its values-based message across to voters. It does not want to debate complex tax principles in treatment of capital income that weren’t ventilated before the budget.

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