Election 2022 live: Albanese flanked by Rudd, Keating after PM attacks his housing policy
Anthony Albanese has revealed a more generous discount for Aussies using PBS drugs, as he declared he wants to “build a better future” and “help Australians build a stake in it”.
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Labor Leader Anthony Albanese has declared he wants to “build a better future” and “help Australians build a stake in it” at his official campaign launch in Perth.
In his first major speech since having Covid-19, Mr Albanese went on a personal attack of the Liberal party in Western Australia on Sunday.
He heaped praise on his party, as he delivered a slew of health, manufacturing, housing and pay policies worth more than a billion dollars.
He said: “You see, I know I can count on Penny and Richard, Katie and Jim and so many others. But who has he got? Alan Tudge and Peter Dutton. The unspeakable and the unthinkable.
“And then of course there is Barnaby Joyce, the inexplicable.”
Mr Albanese went on to say Australians need a better solution for the future and said Mr Morrison only offered a “smirk and mirrors”.
He added: “We have the worst inflation rate in two decades. Families are struggling, worried about the future.
“Yet Scott Morrison just keeps on scrambling from one photo op to another, boasting that the Australian people “know who he is.”
The Labor Leader invoked the words of French President Emmanuel Macron, declaring: “He’s got that right. They don’t think, they know.”
Mr Albanese said that Australians deserve a “better future” than that being promised by Mr Morrison, vowing to fix aged care and childcare.
“Whenever Australia needs a solution, he offers only smirk and mirrors,” Mr Albanese said of his opponent.
Mr Albanese said that his time in Covid isolation made him briefly feel “sympathy” for the PM.
“You see, I know I can count on Penny (Wong) and Richard (Marles), Katy (Gallagher) and Jim (Chalmers) and so many others to make the arguments for Labor,” he said.
In his speech, Mr Albanese said the price of prescription drugs will be slashed by $12.50 under a Labor government — $2.50 more per script than the government’s pledge—making the maximum price of a script under the Pharmaceutical Benefit Scheme to $30.
In a major cash injection set to benefit resource states—including Queensland and Western Australia — Labor would pump $1bn to develop manufacturing facilities for turning critical minerals like lithium and nickel into valued products like batteries.
On top of Labor’s landmark proposal to cut the cost of buying property by up to 40 per cent for 10,000 Australians, Mr Albanese announced a tri-level housing body would be established to bring state and local governments into the conversation.
Dubbed the “National Housing Supply and Affordability Council”, the body would fix land supply with planning to help “improve housing affordability and boost economic growth”.
“I know full well that housing affordability and security are not problems that can be solved by the Commonwealth Government alone,” Mr Albanese said.
“We need to work in partnership with government at all levels. Local councils, state governments and the Commonwealth coming together - and working with the private sector – to put all the tools at our disposal to work.”
In a piece of new policy aimed firmly at women, Mr Albanese said Labor would make gender pay equity an “objective” of the Fair Work Act.
It would do this by setting up expert panels on pay equity and the care and community sector—including aged care, childcare and social work—to help improve pay and conditions for women.
“Women workers have had a tough two years. And I want to tell you that we see you,” he said.
Former prime minister Kevin Rudd believes there is a “very strong mood for change” and Australians “want to toss this mob out”.
He said Anthony Albanese would be a “first class” Prime Minister.
“He’s got a great work ethic (and vision),” he said.
“He’s a great guy, I know him well.”
Labor royalty was given a standing ovation by 500 of the party’s most loyal supporters.
Cheers rang out as Premier Mark McGowan walked through the crowd, followed by former Prime Ministers Paul Keating and Kevin Rudd.
The trio - the most high profile Labor figures at Mr Albanese’s event barring the man himself, joined a throng of frontbenchers who had made the trip west.
Ahead of the launch, Mr Albanese took to Twitter to say he sat down with Mr Rudd and Mr Keating - “two Prime Ministers who left lasting legacies, who changed Australia for the better, and who never said, “it’s not my job,” he said.
Labor frontbenchers attending the launch include former leader Bill Shorten, Kristina Keneally, Jim Chalmers, Mark Dreyfus, Ed Husic, Chris Bowen, Tony Burke, and Mark Butler.
Education and Women spokesman Tanya Plibersek is not at the launch, attending a May Day rally in Sydney instead.
Labor’s Foreign Affairs spokesperson has sought to frame the election as a “choice” between “a man of courage and conviction” who will “bring us together as Australians” in Anthony Albanese and “more of the same” under Prime Minister Scott Morrison.
Ms Wong’s speech to the crowd of 500 party faithful took a positive note, highlighting why people should vote for Labor.
She was followed by frontbencher and campaign spokesman Jason Clare, who took an “attack dog” against the Coalition.
“Life is getting harder, not easier,” he said.
“What did Scott Morrison say this week? “It’s not my fault! It’s not my job.” How many times have you heard that? You deserve better than that.
“(Mr Morrison) thinks his job is to dress up pretending to do other people’s jobs. This bloke is all tinsel, no tree,” Mr Clare said.
The event began with Labor’s candidate for Swan, Zaneta Mascerenhas, who is hoping to take the seat being vacated by retiring Liberal Steve Irons, who holds the seat on a margin of 3.2 per cent.
Ms Mascerenhas alluded to Mr Morrison’s comments about WA’s hard border in her introduction, a theme that is expected to be highlighted throughout the launch.
“The spirit of the Albanese Labor government will be amazing and just has been the spirit of every Labor government. No more pitting mate against mate or state against state,” she said.
Highly popular Western Australia Premier Mark McGowan has declared he and Mr Albanese are “in sync” at the launch.
“It’s not just about delivering affordable TAFE or more local manufacturing jobs,” Mr McGowan said.
“It runs much deeper than that, we both caught Covid on the same day.
“We are both proud poodle owners.
“Both of us have been on a diet and lost a fair bit of weight between us, but no matter how hard we work at it neither of us looks like (South Australian Premier) Peter Malinauskas.”
LABOR’S RADICAL HOUSING POLICY
A Labor government would help Australians enter the market by taking out a 40 per cent stake in their property, reducing mortgages by up to $380,000.
The scheme, to be called Help to Buy, is modelled on state-shared equity programs where governments effectively lend low-income earners a percentage of the purchase price of a home in return for a share in the profits when the property is sold.
The announcement is the centrepiece of Mr Albanese’s campaign launch in Perth on Sunday.
Mr Albanese said Help to Buy was part of Labor’s plan to tackle the housing crisis.
“After nine long years in Government, housing affordability has only got worse under the Liberal-National Government,” Mr Albanese said.
Under the scheme, the Commonwealth would give eligible homebuyers an equity contribution of up to 40 per cent of the purchase price of a new-build home and up to 30 per cent of the price of an existing dwelling.
It will be capped at 10,000 loans a year and be open to all individuals earning up to $90,000 and couples earning $120,000 – not just first home buyers.
Buyers will only need a deposit of 2 per cent and qualify for a standard home loan with a participating lender to finance the remainder of the purchase.
They will also be freed from the need to buy lenders mortgage insurance during the life of the loan.
The scheme will be capped at different levels in different parts of Australia reflecting different housing markets.
PM ATTACKS ALBO’S HOUSING PLAN
Prime Minister Scott Morrison accused Mr Albanese of wanting to make money off Australians with his latest policy to assist low income earners buy a home.
Speaking at Dundas Neighbourhood House in the seat of Parramatta, Mr Morrison acknowledged how tough it was for Australians to purchase their first home.
“I know it’s tough. It’s really tough. But what I’m so encouraged by is that Australians are still doing it and the programmes we put in place are helping them achieve that,” he told reporters in western Sydney.
“That’s what we deliver, to ensure Australians can realise their economic aspirations.”
He claimed under Labor’s policy Australians would not have full ownership of their home.
“Under Mr Albanese’s plan, he’s taking a cut,” he said.
But he was forced to defend his own policies after reporters quizzed him over his own contribution to rising house prices.
“In the last three years, over 300,000 Australians into their own home in particular, including the single parents, so those policies despite rising house prices, have been have been incredibly effective,” he said.
Mr Morrison said he will travel “across the country” as he sidestepped questions about whether he was a “toxic” brand in inner city seats where moderate Liberals are being challenged by “teal” independents.
Repeatedly asked if the Prime Minister would be personally campaigning in electorates like Wentworth and North Sydney, Mr Morrison would only broadly commit to travelling all over Australia during the campaign.
“I’ll be (campaigning) ... all across the country,” he said on Sunday.
Treasurer Josh Frydenberg is among inner city Liberal MPs who claim they are in the fight of the political lives against well organised and highly funded independent candidates campaigning on climate change, integrity in politics and respect for women.
Liberal insiders have described Mr Morrison’s brand as “toxic” in the teal seats, including in Mr Frydenberg’s Melbourne electorate of Kooyong.
So far Mr Morrison has only visited Kooyong once during the campaign to attend Passover at a local synagogue, but the Prime Minister is yet to appear in Wentworth, North Sydney or Mackellar in Sydney, or Goldstein in Melbourne.
By comparison on Sunday he visited the marginal Labor-held Western Sydney seat of Parramatta for a second time in three weeks.
He also visited Parramatta, where the Liberals hope their candidate Maria Kovacic can unseat Labor’s candidate Andrew Charlton, who has been parachuted into the electorate to replace retiring MP Julie Owens.
PM ENLISTS ERIN MOLAN
High profile trolling victim Erin Molan joined the Prime Minister as he spruiked his commitment to combat online abuse.
In the seat of Parramatta, Mr Morrison flanked by wife Jenny and key members of his cabinet, met with young people to discuss the impact of cyber bullying.
The Coalition hopes it can capture the seat from Labor, following the retirement of longtime MP Julie Owens.
The Prime Minister said a re-elected Morrison Government would enhance the capability of the eSafety Commissioner to provide in-school support, beefed up parental controls and a re-commitment to legislating its anti-trolling laws.
The legislation, which has been criticised by lawyers and even Ms Molan herself for focusing too much on defamation, was shelved after the government was unable to get support to push the bill through prior to the end of parliament.
Mr Morrison also announced an additional $5.5m in funding for suicide prevention initiatives for youth-led mental health organisation batyr.
CONTROVERSIAL DEVES FLEES LIBERAL RALLY
In a function room at Sydney’s Accor Stadium, senior Liberals sought to rally the troops as the election contest tightens.
But it was the appearance of controversial candidate Katherine Deves that drew the attention of the room.
As soon as the rally ended Ms Deves was immediately flanked by several people associated with the Liberal campaign who attempted to facilitate her exit through a side door away from the event.
As Ms Deves was escorted away she refused to speak to journalists.
She was hurried into a lift and did not speak at all as reporters continued to ask questions.
Foreign Minister Marise Payne, who entered the room to AC/DC’s Thunderstruck, called on local Sydney candidates to pump up the event ahead of Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s arrival.
“Can we please welcome our fabulous candidates for this election,” the Senator asked the room to thunderous applause.
While Fiona Martin, Sarah Richards and Melissa McIntosh all received the call, Ms Deves was passed over -- despite sitting just one seat down from the Linsday MP.
It is Ms Deves first public appearance with the Prime Minister since being named as the Liberal candidate for Warringah.
Speaking to the party faithful from a small riser in the middle of the room, Mr Morrison repeated his tried and tested lines that only he could deliver a stronger economy.
“A strong economy is not some certificate you put on the wall and admire from a distance,” the Prime Minister said, poking fun at Mr Albanese’s economics degree.
“A strong economy is always at the centre of everything we do,” he said.
He argued that only the Liberals would allow Australians to “raise their children in the way you want to raise your children”.
MORRISON: LABOR NEEDS ‘HARRY POTTER’ MAGIC
Mr Morrison has stepped up his attack on Mr Albanese’s lack of economic plan, accusing him of having to resort to “Harry Potter” magic in order to bring the cost of living down.
Ramping up his pitch to voters, the Prime Minister repeated his argument that only a re-elected Coalition would be able to handle the economy.
But facing a grilling from reporters in Western Sydney about the rising costs of groceries, Mr Morrison’s off the cuff Harry Potter reference raised eyebrows.
“There’s no magic wand to deal with the impact of price increases caused by the war in Europe and the disruption of supply chains that have been caused by the pandemic,” he said on Sunday
“The Labor Party thinks they’ve got some sort of Harry Potter wand they wave in government and it changes the price of the lettuce. It’s ridiculous.”
But he declined to answer how much further the price of groceries could rise.
ALBANESE ATTACKS PM ON BORDER ROW
Anthony Albanese has taken aim at Mr Morrison for likening West Australian to cave people over hard border closures.
As the Opposition Leader prepares to officially launch Labor’s campaign in Perth on Sunday, he has revived an attack on the Prime Minister.
Mr Morrison sparked outrage in WA when he was pushing for states to stick to the national reopening plan in August last year.
“Now it’s like that movie The Croods,” he told the Today Show, in reference to the children’s film about cavemen.
“Some wanted to stay in the cave and the young girl wanted to deal with the challenges of living in a different world. Covid is a different world … we can’t stay in the cave.”
While the Prime Minister has since denied the comment was specifically about WA, Mr Albanese is refusing to let it go.
“Western Australians often feel, understandably, that the east coast doesn’t give them the respect that they deserve,” he told Sky News, which is available to stream on Flash, on Sunday.
“Over the last couple of years if you look at how the Australian economy has kept going, Western Australia and Queensland in particular have done exceptionally well to keep people in jobs.
“Here in WA when the Prime Minister was referring to cave people they were scratching their heads.”
The Labor leader said people were going to work, school, dining out and drinking in pubs when Mr Morrison made the comment.
Attorney-General Michaelia Cash – the most senior WA minister in the Morrison government – hit back at Mr Albanese’s pitch to voters in her home state.
“Oh please. The mere fact that you touch down on Western Australian soil does not mean that you support Western Australia,” she told Sky.
“The fact that Anthony Albanese is prepared to campaign with Kevin Rudd – neither of them are friends of Western Australia.”
Senator Cash pointed to the previous Labor government’s super profits tax on miners and infrastructure funding as reasons West Australians should be wary of Mr Albanese.
ALBO’S PRIVATE COVID BATTLE
Mr Albanese said his body would tell him when he needs to rest as he emerged from isolation after his Covid-19 battle.
The Labor leader, who is about to defend his party’s radical housing policy at Labor’s official campaign in Perth, said he would be taking his doctor’s advice when it came to work after isolation.
Shadow treasurer Jim Chalmers told Sky News the Opposition Leader was “raring to go”.
“He’s in great nick, he’s coming back out of isolation, he had a great hit out yesterday and his speech today is a really important opportunity to put his stamp on the campaign - to set up that choice between a better future or another three years of dysfunction and drift and people falling further and further behind.”
Mr Chalmers said it wasn’t the party’s preference to have their “captain” off the field for a week but the pandemic had taught people to prepare for the unexpected and Mr Albanese was back now.
The shadow treasurer said today’s official Labor campaign launch in Perth is fitting as the WA city was the “epicentre of Scott Morrison’s cost of living crisis”.
“It’s important that you focus on the ways you can make a meaningful difference in people’s lives,” Mr Chalmers told Sky News outside Optus Stadium.
“We do have tangible policies to take the cost of living pressures off Australian families whether it’s childcare, health care, power bills, whether it’s mortgage repayments.
“And we do have a plan to get real wages moving again, we’ve been realistic about it.”
Mr Chalmers said under Labor, Australians would have a government which cares about cost of living and has plans to deal with it.
GREENS OFFER ‘MILLION’ MORE HOMES
Greens leader Adam Bandt says his party can offer a “transformative solution” to Australia’s housing affordability crisis as he blasted Labor’s proposed policy.
Speaking to David Speers on ABC’s Insiders, Mr Bandt said housing affordability was “a massive issue”.
“I want to tell you what we will put on the table with housing affordability. We will put on the table a plan to build a million new homes over 20 years that people can buy into or rent for 25 per cent of their income.”
The Greens leader said Labor’s proposed housing policy wouldn’t make housing more affordable.
“It’s a small answer to a huge problem. They call it their Help to Buy scheme, it should be called the Hard to Get scheme.
“There will only be about 5 per cent of first home buyers who will gets it and it might in fact push up prices.”
Mr Bandt reiterated that his party would preference Labor over the Liberals.
“We will not support the Liberals and we want to work with the next government which will hopefully not be a Liberal government, a Labor government, but they will need to be pushed.”
COALITION DEFENDS HOUSING POLICY
Finance Minister Simon Birmingham said the Coalition’s housing policy ensures Australians get to own their own home, while Labor’s proposed scheme “is about the government owning parts of your home with you”.
“I think our policies are working, it is helping now really lift the rates of first home ownership, it is delivering outcomes for Australians and importantly you get to own your own home,” Senator Birmingham told David Speers on ABC Insiders.
“You don’t have Mr Albanese at the kitchen table with you owning part of your home with you.”
Senator Birmingham said the Coalition’s policy was “a far more compelling argument”.
“We saw 160,000 new first home owners into the Australian market last year,” he said.
“That is up from a five-year average of around 100,000. It is showing strong growth in relation to first home ownership, and so we are expanding our first home owner as guarantee to 50,000 places per annum, versus a Labor policy that is of 10,000.”
ALBO: FAMILIES WILL WIN, BUT WON’T SAY BY HOW MUCH
Families “will be better off under a Labor government” Mr Albanese has declared, but the Labor leader can’t say how much more families would have in their hip pockets if he is elected.
Despite making the rising cost of everyday essentials a central plank of its attacks against the Liberal government, Labor has been unable to outline what they would do to make groceries cheaper.
Both campaigns traded barbs over the cost of living on Saturday: Labor accused the Prime Minister of failing to take any responsibility for rising prices, while Scott Morrison accused the Opposition of having “no plan to address” tight household budgets.
Mr Albanese said he has a “range of measures” that will make life easier for families – including cheaper childcare, and lifting wages.
“We have a plan as well to take pressure off electricity prices,” he said at a Joondalup electric bus facility.
Getting behind the tongs at a barbecue in Cowan, Mr Albanese declined to say how much an old-fashioned Aussie sausage sizzle should cost, remarking that Labor supporters at the event were getting their snags for free.
He broke his strict diet to scoff a sausage, with onions, alongside MP Anne Aly.
But Mr Albanese can’t say how much less families will pay for sausages at the supermarket under his government, largely because of the huge impact global forces have on prices.
Opposition Treasury spokesman Jim Chalmers said the squeeze on household budgets started long before international events pushed inflation up.
“Scott Morrison … wants to pretend that all of this cost of living pressure on families and on Australians more broadly has just shown up when Russia invaded Ukraine,” Mr Chalmers said.
“The pressure on Australian families didn’t start when Russia invaded Ukraine, it started when the coalition started attacking wages and job security.”
In Tasmania, Mr Morrison said Labor was ignoring the impact that Covid and the war in Ukraine have had on inflation.
“I mean, the Labor Party talks about all these things, but they have no plan to address them,” Mr Morrison said.
“Talking about the problem is not enough, Mr Albanese, having a plan to deal with it is what you need,” he said.
The PM acknowledged Australians are “frustrated” about cost of living pressures.
Labor has argued that its policy measures to reduce the cost of power, increase childcare rebates, and raise wages by boosting TAFE and university places will leave families better off overall.
“We’ve got policies about getting power bills down, we’ve got policies for cheaper, more accessible health care, which is a big part of the story,” Mr Chalmers said.
“We’ve got policies to make childcare cheaper, we’ve got policies to get real wages moving again.”
“When families sit around the kitchen table and work out how they’re going to deal with Scott Morrison’s cost of living crisis, all of those things matter.”
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Originally published as Election 2022 live: Albanese flanked by Rudd, Keating after PM attacks his housing policy
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