Budget borrowing needs to pay for jobs: Albanese

With Australia staring down a record-breaking debt, Opposition leader Anthony Albanese will today be calling for a test to be imposed on new projects to prevent waste on rorts.

Any dollar borrowed in next week’s Federal Budget needs to be spent on job creation or boosting economic productivity, Opposition leader Anthony Albanese will say as he calls for more spending on roads, rail and manufacturing.

It comes ahead of what Prime Minister Scott Morrison described as “the most important budget since World War II”.

In a pre-budget speech at the McKell Institute today, Mr Albanese will say jobs will be the forefront of his agenda.

No tax hikes to pay for budget repair, PM says

How QLD jobs will benefit from budget manufacturing announcement

Opposition leader Anthony Albanese says any dollar borrowed in the budget should be spent on job creation and boosting productivity. Picture: Richard Dobson

He will call for more investment in infrastructure, particularly in regional areas, social housing to create work for tradies, while urging more local manufacturing to take place in places like Maryborough, and Newcastle. 

“What we need is a government prepared to back in Australian-made trains and Australian-based jobs,” Mr Albanese will say.

“One of the fastest ways to get money into the economy and tradies back on the tools is to invest in social housing.”

He will say spending money on roads and railways projects in regional areas would “inject economic activity into “sluggish local economies”.

But the Opposition leader will say that a test for any new projects funded in the budget should be on whether they drive economic productivity and growth.

“In short, any dollar borrowed in the budget must create or sustain jobs, or skill up people for those jobs.”

The speech will be setting the scene for his budget reply next Thursday, where he will continue to push the theme of “no one left behind, no one held back”.

Mr Albanese will also take aim at Mr Morrison’s handling of the pandemic, accusing him of making announcement but not following through, while also arguing JobSeeker and JobKeeper are being wound back too soon.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison says the economy cannot be propped up by the taxpayer forever. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Gary Ramage

Mr Morrison said yesterday the economy could not be supported by the taxpayer forever and that the response to COVID-19 had to keep changing as circumstances did.

“We’ve got to keep leaning into the next step to see our economy strengthen and not have it held back by keeping support measures in place for too long,” he said.