Future Western Sydney 2025: Albanese, Dutton in bidding war for Western Sydney
It is the community bearing the brunt of a massive migration push so, when Anthony Albanese and Peter Dutton met for the first time on the federal election trail, Western Sydney was in the middle of a war of words over who was to blame.
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It is the community bearing the brunt of a massive migration push so, when Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Opposition Leader Peter Dutton met for the first time on the federal election trail, Western Sydney was in the middle of a war of words over who was to blame.
As a conga line of Labor cabinet ministers, politicians, councillors and candidates descended on Blacktown Workers Club for The Daily Telegraph’s Future Western Sydney campaign, the leaders clashed over the handling of the country’s migration woes.
Mr Albanese argued that, under his government, migration fell 31 per cent last year.
“We have made sure that we have got those numbers down,” he said.
But Mr Dutton accused the Labor government of presiding over “uncontrolled, unplanned, and unsustainable migration”.
“Too many Australians have been locked out of the property market because there’s been too much migration and too few houses built,” he said.
The trading of blows over migration came before the Opposition Leader told the crowd that Western Sydney was copping the brunt of power price increases, which he blamed on “Labor’s renewables-only policy”.
“Gas prices are up 38 per cent for Sydney households – some 4 per cent above the national average,” he said.
“From 1 July this year, electricity prices for most of Western Sydney are expected to go up by a further $249 – based on the current draft default market offer.”
After days under pressure to release the modelling behind his domestic gas reserve policy, Mr Dutton has revealed businesses would be paying 15 per cent less if the policy had been implemented in February, according to figures produced by Frontier Economics for the Coalition.
“I can announce today that gas prices would have been 15 per cent cheaper domestically,” he said.
“The beauty of making sure that we get it right in relation to energy policy, is that all Australians win when we increase the supply of gas and we decrease the cost of gas across the economy.
“It’s food manufacturers, it’s heavy industry, huge employers across the economy.”
A week ago, Mr Dutton said the modelling showing how his gas plan would reduce electricity prices for Australian businesses and households would be released “soon”.
Asked on Friday how long before voters would have the answer, the Opposition Leader said the modelling was “almost here”.
The Daily Telegraph editor Ben English told both leaders Western Sydney was a “powerhouse economy, fuelled by extraordinary cultural depth and diversity”.
“It is little wonder that Western Sydney is such a prize – political and otherwise,” he said.
Five of Mr Albanese’s cabinet ministers watched their leaders’ address, the PM declaring ministers Jason Clare, Michelle Rowland, Chris Bowen, Ed Husic and Tony Burke were “making sure that Western Sydney is front and centre … around our cabinet table”.
Mr Albanese was also joined by Fowler candidate Tu Le and Lindsay candidate Hollie McLean.
The Opposition Leader was joined by his Western Sydney spokeswoman Melissa McIntosh and infrastructure spokeswoman Bridget McKenzie, as well as senators Maria Kovacic and Dave Sharma.
He also brought his candidate for McMahon, Carmen Lazar and Greenway candidate Rattan Virk.
During a panel discussion The Daily Telegraph’s national affairs editor James Morrow said he was not surprised to see so many cabinet members there. “It was very telling that the PM brought so many of his ministers along … all the seats around here are going to be street-by-street campaigning fights,” he said.
Columnist Joe Hildebrand said the two leaders were conducting “a bidding war for Western Sydney” with their announcements.
He said the arrival of the Teals and Greens had “cannibalised” the inner city suburbs where “people don’t have that many problems” and forced the leaders to focus on winning votes in the west.
This article is part of the Future Western Sydney series, which is proudly supported by Clubs NSW, Powerhouse, Transurban, Walker Corp, Western Sydney International Airport and Western Sydney University
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Originally published as Future Western Sydney 2025: Albanese, Dutton in bidding war for Western Sydney
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