Palaszczuk’s playbook: Labor govt to take Premier’s approach is elected
Federal Opposition leader Anthony Albanese has suggested Queensland’s popular leadership would be a template for a Labor federal government, but the Premier has failed to detail the commitments she wants.
QLD Politics
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Anthony Albanese would borrow from Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk’s playbook to help Federal Labor run the country should the party take government, the Opposition Leader has signalled.
But as he praised the state government’s push to build stuff in Queensland, Ms Palaszczuk failed to detail the commitments she wanted from federal Labor.
In a holding pattern until the election is called, Mr Albanese and the Prime Minister spent Monday honing their campaign lines – with the Opposition Leader underlining Labor’s need to “do better in Queensland” while spruiking existing policies.
Scott Morrison, in Victoria announcing a $71.2m pharmaceutical project, again took aim at Labor’s “small target strategy” while selling the Coalition’s cost-of-living budget from last week.
Mr Albanese, on his second day in Brisbane during the pre-election trail, appeared alongside Queensland’s popular premier for their first joint outing of the campaign.
He used their time together, out at a new Woolworths dispatch facility in Brisbane’s south, to praise Ms Palaszczuk’s record, saying he would take a leaf out of her playbook to plot the “way forward” for federal Labor.
“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.”
He used the example of the state government’s decision to reignite the job-creating train manufacturing industry in Maryborough.
The party’s results in Queensland federally – where it holds just six of 30 seats – stands in contrast to state Labor’s five seat surplus under resurgent third-term Premier Palaszczuk.
Ms Palaszczuk was quick to defend the Opposition Leader’s record when contrasted against the 2019 campaign debacle of federal labor failing to assure voters in coal and mining seats their jobs were secure.
“(He) absolutely shares my commitment to jobs, okay? There is nothing more important than the dignity of work,” she said.
But asked what she wanted federal Labor to commit to Queensland, Ms Palaszczuk sidestepped the question saying only “there would be some” before failing to detail her list.
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.
Meanwhile in Victoria, Prime Minister Scott Morrison took aim at Labor’s small target strategy, saying that while Mr Albanese wanted to avoid scrutiny, the Coalition had steered the nation through the worst economic downturn in 70 years and worst health crisis in 100 years.
“The Australian people know it’s not a reality show, not based on who they like or don’t like,” he said.
“They know it is about the economy they will live in as a result of the decisions taken by the government.
Mr Morrison also sold his cost-of-living budget from last week, saying cheaper petrol prices were already flowing through since the excise was cut by 22.1cpl.
“We are already seeing those lower fuel prices find their way to the bowser, which means Australians are already receiving the benefit of a budget that was handed down less than a week ago,” he said.
Mr Morrison, in a speech to the National Farmers Federation conference on Tuesday, will accuse his opponent of relying on “Rudd economics”.
“My opponent, he’s never delivered a budget, not one, but he’s relying on Rudd economics when it comes to how he wants to manage the economy in the future,” he said.
Mr Morrison, while trying to take skin off Labor, was still grappling with the ongoing fallout of allegations – which he emphatically denies – he weaponised his opponent’s Lebanese heritage during the bitter 2007 preselection battle for the seat of Cook.
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