‘Angry and hurt’ Anthony Albanese vows to fix Labor’s ‘moral fabric’
Speaking out for the first time since a report into the Labor Party’s shock election loss was made public, leader Anthony Albanese has pledged to fix his party and win back middle Australia.
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Labor leader Anthony Albanese has vowed to repair his party’s “moral fabric”, junk unpopular policies and win back middle Australia.
Speaking for the first time since a report into the party’s shock election loss was made public, an “angry and hurt” Mr Albanese also promised to stamp out those who tarnished the party including embattled union boss John Setka.
“His opinions and his behaviour will not be tolerated in the modern ALP,” Mr Albanese said.
“The moral shadows cast over the Labor Party by the Setkas and some in the NSW Party office are being removed by a strong and self-administered dose of sunlight.”
Speaking at the National Press Club in Canberra, Mr Albanese gave his strongest indication yet that he would scrap Labor’s franking credits policy, saying it was a complicated change to argue from Opposition.
Mr Albanese said he knew the Labor support base wanted to know what their plan would be moving forward, but asked for more time so they could learn from their mistakes.
Invoking the Melbourne Cup during his speech at the National Press Club, the Opposition leader said: “Always have the race won, but never be in a hurry to win it”.
Mr Albanese said the Labor review was the first stage in a four-step renewal project and he would spend the coming months outlining Labor’s vision and values, suggesting many policies won’t be unveiled until 2021.
“I am going create a new policy agenda to modernise our country for the benefit of all its people,” he said.
While not guaranteeing to scrap the policy to end cash refunds for franking credits, Mr Albanese said it was a complicated change to argue from Opposition.
He said many people who were not affected thought they would be worse off, including a pensioner he spoke to during the campaign.
“When you’ve got to explain dividend imputation and franking credits from Opposition, tough ask,” he said.
Mr Albanese said he would defend and respect the views of religious Australians more, saying there was a lack of “respect for each other’s views and where they come from”.
The Labor leader also hit out at the class war rhetoric that was used by Bill Shorten, including attacks on the “top end of town”.
He said Australians found the term “offensive”, including people who were accused of being well off but weren’t.
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“I want language that is more unifying, wherever possible,” he said.
“I want a modernising, aspirational, optimistic approach to Australian politics that everyone can get behind.”
Mr Albanese said Labor needed to do more to win over migrant communities after the review raised concern about Chinese Australians moving away from them in the marginal Melbourne seat of Chisholm and the Sydney seat of Reid.
He said he would also follow the review’s recommendation to not become a “grievance-based organisation” captured by interest groups.