Nickolas Varvaris and the Liberals

The Liberal party has an interesting internship scheme involving training and wage subsidies. I doubt that it will make a huge difference to welfare dependency but it's a start.

I think the company tax cuts are unwise. Because of dividend imputation, they don't make that much difference to local investors. So it's mostly a tax cut for foreign investors. My view is that we should make investment attractive for local investors rather than foreign investors.

The small tax cut by the Coalition government was not the best way to bring effective marginal tax rates down. I would have preferred a reduction in the withdrawal rate for family benefits.

The Coalition Government has started doing something about tax avoidance by multinationals but I don't think it's anywhere near enough.

On climate change, the Liberal party is weak. I think the Direct Action plan is ineffective, inefficient and a cost to the budget. I believe it demonstrates the cynicism of Tony Abbott and expediency for Malcolm Turnbull.

I don't believe the Liberal party/Coalition government is serious about housing affordability or about repairing the budget.

Nickolas Varvaris is the sitting member. I met him two times. He was pleasant and I don't have anything negative to report from my interactions with and observations of him. He did not attend any of the two community question and answer forums that were held in Barton with the candidates. The address on his nomination form is in Blakehurst and outside the Barton electorate and was already outside the electorate in 2013 when he was first elected and the Barton electorate had different boundaries.