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Coalition candidates are being urged to endorse a conservative manifesto that includes selling the ABC, slashing the company tax rate and pulling out of the Paris agreement on climate change. The Institute of Public Affairs is also calling on Liberals and Nationals to repeal the ban on offensive speech in the Racial Discrimination Act and scrap the Fair Work Act including its provisions on the minimum wage. The manifesto, sent to MPs in the past four days, has infuriated union critics who say the "disastrous" ideas should be repudiated at the election because of the IPA's influence over the Coalition. The conservative think tank not only wants Parliament to withdraw from the Paris agreement to reduce carbon emissions but also abolish the Renewable Energy Target and launch a royal commission into climate change data. "The Bureau of Meteorology appears to have tampered with temperature and climate data and to have re-written history to make it appear as if the temperature is higher than it actually is, and that it has risen faster than it actually has," the IPA said. "Australians deserve to know the truth about their public institutions. The only way to find the truth about potential temperature data manipulation is to hold a royal commission into the Bureau of Meteorology's activities." The policy ideas to "fix Australia" are being put to election candidates to secure their commitments and could influence the government if it holds power, given the IPA's success in the past. Former prime minister Tony Abbott agreed with several IPA proposals when he was opposition leader, including its call to scrap section 18C of the Racial Discrimination, which makes it an offence to insult or offend someone on the basis of race. Mr Abbott retreated from this once in power. The Liberal Party's federal council voted last year in favour of privatising the ABC, in a show of force by the party's conservative wing, but the motion was rejected by cabinet ministers at the time. The other proposals from the IPA are to implement a flat income tax rate, reduce the company tax rate to 20 per cent, remove all references to race in the constitution, re-introduce a debt ceiling to stop government lending, abolish compulsory superannuation and legalise nuclear energy. While it proposes a cut in government red tape, the IPA also calls for a doubling in the number of politicians in the House of Representatives from 150 to 300. Liberal MPs and candidates declined to comment when approached for their views on the IPA policy ideas. The IPA did not respond before deadline. ACTU secretary Sally McManus said the ideas were concerning because the IPA was listened to within the Coalition party room. "These policies would cause historic cuts to government services and massively increase the tax paid by low-paid workers, making life harder for all working people, while providing a windfall for the very rich," she said. Ms McManus said Prime Minister Scott Morrison should denounce the ideas. IPA director of research Daniel Wild rejected the ACTU criticism on the grounds Australians on low incomes would benefit from more economic opportunity and job creation. Mr Wild said no Liberals or Nationals MPs had signed up to his knowledge. - SMH/The Age

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