Federal election 2022: ‘We need a new playbook’, says Albanese
Anthony Albanese will try to convince business leaders that higher wages and better child care are vital to ensure the future of Australia’s economic growth.
Federal Election
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Universal childcare for Australian families will be a key chapter in Labor’s playbook to “seize the future”, Anthony Albanese will declare in a pitch to rally support from business.
In a speech to the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry on Thursday, the Opposition Leader will pay tribute to the social legacies of Labor prime ministers including Medicare, universal superannuation, NBN and the NDIS.
But Mr Albanese will say those sources of economic growth “need to be replenished”.
“Australia needs a new playbook to seize the future,” he will say.
“Our child care plan fits within Labor’s history of pursuing reforms that are good for the economy and that give people the confidence to pursue their aspirations and fulfil their potential.
“We will increase the maximum childcare subsidy and make it cheaper for 96 per cent of families, and will ask the Productivity Commission to investigate moving to a universal 90 per cent subsidy.
“This will provide immediate and lasting cost of living relief for families.”
Mr Albanese will also point to its economic statement, saying it was a comprehensive and responsible plan for growth.
Other reform areas include: boosting wages through productivity, investing in skills and domestic manufacturing, climate change action that creates jobs, and promoting women’s economic security.
Mr Albanese will also issue a warning that the Coalition will seize on “any chance they get to take the universal out of universal health care”.
On Wednesday, Tanya Plibersek laughed off claims she had been shafted from the limelight during the federal election campaign, making her debut alongside Mr Albanese in Melbourne, in the electorate of Chisholm, held on a knife edge 0.5 per cent by Liberal MP Gladys Liu.
But the only sparks flying were those from the stove where the pair watched hospitality students at Holmesglen Tafe make apple tarts, in a bid to reinforce Labor’s commitment to supercharging productivity by investing in higher education.
Ms Plibersek denied claims she was frozen out of the Labor campaign, saying she had been “travelling around the country working very hard”.
“I don’t know how many media events I’ve done, I think last count about 30 of them and can I tell you one thing, not a single person has stopped me in the street and asked me the sort of questions that you just asked me,” she said.
It has taken 24 days for the pair to appear together at an event, with Ms Plibersek not among frontbenchers to attend the party’s campaign launch in Perth on Sunday.
Instead, she represented Mr Albanese at a workers’ rally in Sydney.
A day after the Reserve Bank of Australia raised the cash rate 0.25 per cent, prompting banks to raise interest rates in a blow to homeowners.
Mr Albanese was also forced to revisit a gaffe from the first week of the campaign, when he was unable to say what the cash rate was, confirming it was now 0.35 per cent.
He also amped up his attack on the Morrison government’s “cost of living crisis”, saying low wage growth coupled with rising inflation had crippled Australians.
“They’re oblivious to the pressure working families are under,” he said.
But Mr Albanese remained tight-lipped on what interest rate he was paying, and declared Labor’s skills policy would address hip-pocket pressure.
Asked if the government’s move to extend a freeze on the deeming rate, which Labor has agreed to, was an acceptance that cost of living concerns would continue for another two years, he said: “it was a recognition that people are doing it really tough”.
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