Labor’s $163m pledge as Albo gets set to woo Queensland

Anthony Albanese will kick off his major campaign trip of the election year in battleground Queensland by announcing a local cash splash.

Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese will kick off his major campaign trip of the election year in battleground Queensland, announcing federal Labor would scuttle a controversial Great Barrier Reef grants program while promising a separate cash splash on the natural icon.

Mr Albanese, in his longest visit to Queensland since being locked out in mid-2021, will spend his eight days in the state visiting electorates in North and Central Queensland — where federal Labor holds no seats.

The trip is expected to include stops in Ingham, Townsville, Mackay, Rockhampton and Gladstone, and meetings with stakeholders in backbone Queensland industries like resources, tourism, agriculture and beef.

It comes at a time when a record-breaking surge in Covid-19 cases and the ensuing testing crunch has put significant pressure on Prime Minister Scott Morrison.

Mr Albanese has signalled he will capitalise on the Prime Minister’s reactionary policy moves, as he focuses the campaign on pitching Labor as the party for a “better future” against the federal government’s handling of the pandemic.

Labor Leader Anthony Albanese. Picture: NCA NewsWire / David Swift

“This government over Covid, if you look at each of the elements whether it’s securing vaccines, purpose-built quarantine … securing rapid antigen tests, making sure that the testing regime had the capacity to deal with any increases, then it’s characterised by not planning in advance,” he said.

“Not putting in place future proofing for what was what was coming and the impact of the pandemic being more acute as a direct result.”

To kick off the trip in Cairns on Friday, federal Labor has pledged $163m toward conservation of the reef, including committing to fund the Reef 2050 program through to the end of the decade to defend against the icon being put on the “in danger” list.

About half of the funding pot will go toward scaling up “shovel-ready” work for reef resilience and land restoration projects in reef catchments.

Mr Albanese will also reaffirm Labor’s pledge to scuttle the controversial and scandal plagued $443m grant handed to not-for-profit the Great Barrier Reef Foundation (GBRF).

The grant was awarded by the Turnbull government in 2018 without a tender process or explanation of why it was given to the GBRF when there were existing government agencies with expertise in the area.

Labor first made the promise to rip up the agreement in 2019, and will take the plan and a promise to redistribute the cash to public agencies to the upcoming election.

The Commonwealth auditor-general, in its latest report into the GBRF grant handed down in May 2021, deemed the grant program only “partially effective”.