Labor leader Anthony Albanese campaign launch flat, stale and in denial
Anthony Albanese’s campaign launch was like a fever dream — riddled empty promises and delivered with such hypocrisy.
Andrew Bolt
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Sorry, was that really Labor’s campaign launch? So flat, so stale, so in denial — and delivered with such hypocrisy.
Even as he spoke at Sunday’s launch, Labor leader Anthony Albanese failed to deliver the sweet new world he and his MC were promising.
“Albo” would not “try to pull us apart”, roared MP Jason Clare in introducing the man polls suggest will be our new prime minister in three weeks.
There would be no more “division”, agreed Albanese. Labor would bring “compassion”.
Yet off he went, abusing the Prime Minister – “smirk and mirrors”.
Abusing the Education Minister and Defence Minister – “the unspeakable and the unthinkable”. Abusing the Deputy Prime Minister – “the inexplicable”.
And then he promised again to divide Australians by race, by changing the constitution to give people identifying as Aboriginal, even Bruce Pascoe, extra political rights.
Yes, a kind of advisory parliament, for just one race.
That’s not pulling us apart?
So there was one promise instantly broken as we watched. No wonder the applause at the launch was feeble.
But what weird days these are. A leader of the Left can promise the moon, but still be praised for his ambition and good heart. Not damned for being unhinged from reality. Albanese repeated his promise to “put the nurses back into nursing homes, 24/7”, even though Health Workforce Australia warns we could already be short of 100,000 nurses by 2025.
Albanese promised his Labor Government would be “acting on climate change”, when nothing he’d do can change the world’s temperature.
“We will end the climate wars,” he shouted. Really? I’ll stop pointing out that our global warming policies are all pain for little gain?
The unreality was astonishing. Albanese promised even to “stop the Liberals’ unfair cuts to the NDIS”.
What cuts? The Liberals last month upped the budget of the National Disability Insurance Scheme by another $40bn – yes, billion – over the next four years. The program’s costs had already exploded beyond all predictions. And this goes to the biggest fantasy about Albanese’s speech, and even much of the Liberals’ pitch.
It’s this fantasy that Australia still has money to burn, but here was Albanese promising imaginary cash by the truckload: cheaper child care, cheaper medicines, higher wages, more nurses, more handouts for home buyers, more free education, more free TAFE places, more handouts to business. More, more, more.
And not a word on where the cash is to come from, with government debt rocketing to $1 trillion and inflation roaring back to make us pay for living on borrowed money.
“Full steam ahead!” cried the captain of the Titanic.
Indeed, the longer Albanese went on, the more perfect proved the Welcome to Country speech that started Labor’s Carnival of Let’s-Pretend.
Sandra Harbin had told the crowd “I have asked the beautiful spirits to come here”, and instructed the Labor faithful to “give a shout of praise”.
Which, weirdly, they did, praising spirits that until that moment none suspected were among them.
Albanese also suddenly saw things that weren’t there, even praising Kevin Rudd as a “great Labor Prime Minister”.
I felt like I was trapped in a fevered dream – maybe one Albanese suffered last week when he was sick with Covid. In this dream, Albanese had been transported back to his days as a Socialist Left activist, yet to learn from the collapse of communism. Once again there was no problem he thought couldn’t be solved by pushing more government into people’s lives.
Take Albanese’s three new promises on Sunday.
Promise one: to help 10,0000 lucky Australians each year to buy a house by paying up to 40 per cent of their deposit, to be repaid to the government whenever the house was sold.
What a gift to some, paid for by everyone else. And it’s a “solution” to higher house prices for a few that adds to the problem of many, as the government throws more money into a heated property market.
Promise two: to pay for new electric charging stations, as if it’s the government’s job to help richer Australians drive their Teslas further.
Promise three: to invest $1bn into new industries that add value to minerals like lithium, used in electric car batteries.
Gosh, if governments are so brilliant in deciding good investments, why ever did the Soviet Union collapse?
Look, Albanese seems a nice man. The Morrison Government has disappointed even its own.
But if this was a vision of our future, could someone please wake us up?
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