Anthony Albanese says Annastacia Palaszczuk a template for federal Labor
Federal Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese says Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk’s success in Queensland would provide a template for a Labor federal government.
QLD Politics
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Anthony Albanese would use Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk’s record as a “template” for a Federal Labor government led by him.
Out on the pre-election campaign trail in Brisbane for the second day, Mr Albanese underlined Labor’s need to “do better in Queensland” after the party’s shambolic showing at the 2019 federal election.
The party’s results in Queensland federally — where it holds just six of 30 seats — stands in contrast to state Labor’s showing under resurgent third-term Premier Palaszczuk.
Mr Albanese used his time with the Premier on Monday morning to praise her leadership, while again spruiking Labor’s aged care plan and $200m of funding for a 4km section of the Bruce Highway from Dohles Rocks Rd to Anzac Ave just north of Brisbane.
“I’ve been a friend of the Premier for a long period of time, I worked with (Ms Palaszczuk) when we were both infrastructure ministers for our respective governments and we built (projects together),” he said.
“But I’ve also seen what Premier Palaszczuk has presided over as a bit of a template for the way forward for Federal Labor.”
The Opposition Leader, visiting a new Woolworths dispatch facility in Brisbane’s south, also asserted Labor’s planned tax measures were limited to “making multinationals pay their fair share”.
This came after he was asked if taxes needed to rise in order to fund Labor’s aged care plan, which the party has estimated will cost $2.5bn over the forward estimates not inclusive of the most significant part of the initiative — increase workers’ pay.
Mr Albanese, when asked if would be visiting a coal mine during the campaign, said he had already been to one but didn’t specify if he’d be going again in the next few weeks.
“I’ll be visiting lots of places during the campaign, lots of places,” he said.
“I’m here at a distribution centre, visited a coal mine, visited lots of other resources sectors, and I’ll be out and about each and every day campaigning.
“And I’ll spend substantial time in Queensland.”
His comments come after The Australian’s latest instalment of Newspoll ahead of a likely May 14 or May 21 election found Labor’s primary vote fell three points to 38 per cent.
However, Labor is maintaining an election winning two-party preferred result of 54-46 when preferences are distributed according to Newspoll.
The Coalition has increased its two-party preferred result by 1 point to 46 per cent. Labor’s lead has dropped by 1 point to 54 per cent.
The Opposition Leader is expected to remain in Queensland for the remainder of Monday, while the Prime Minister campaigns in Victoria.
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