Labor leader Anthony Albanese bungles $1 an hour pay rise claim

Labor leader Anthony Albanese has had yet another awkward stumble, struggling to explain a signature policy on national television.

Labor leader Anthony Albanese has bungled his explanation of a $1 an hour pay rise for the nation’s lowest paid workers during an interview on national television.

After being stung by accusations he stumbled over economic data early during the campaign, Mr Albanese accidentally suggested today the pay rise is worth $1 a week.

“Clear this up for us: Will you put a submission to the Fair Work Commission asking for a 5.1 per cent increase?’’ host David Speers asked.

“We will put a submission to the Fair Work Commission. They will take submissions until 7 June, and that submission will say people who are on the minimum wage can’t afford to go backwards,’’ Mr Albanese said.

The Labor leader then held a $1 coin in the air and said that’s how much workers would get if the wage rise that unions are calling for goes ahead.

“We are talking about a $1 a week increase for people who earn $20.33 an hour,’’ he said.

In fact, the wage rise is $1 an hour – not $1 a week.

Host David Speers then interrupted to correct the Labor leader.

“OK. And just to clear up – I think you said a dollar a week. It’s a dollar an hour,’’ Speers said.

“A dollar an hour,’’ Mr Albanese said, correcting his earlier comments.

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Mr Albanese has previously struggled to name the cash rate for interest rates early in the campaign.

And the Prime Minister stumbled when he said people on the dole get $46 a week when in fact the figure is $46 a day.

Asked if small business could afford a 5.1 per cent increase, Mr Albanese said low paid workers couldn’t afford to go backwards.

“Do you think that people who are struggling to get by on $20.33 an hour can afford to have their real wages cut? That’s the issue here, David,’’ he said.

“Why did we support the changes to petrol excise and to the low- and middle-income tax offset? Because people are doing it really tough. But people who are on the minimum wage are doing it so tough.”

The Prime Minister is in Brisbane today announcing a policy for empty-nesters to downsize their home and put more money into super.

Asked if he would back the policy, the Labor leader said the ALP would replicate it.

“We will. This is a modest announcement to extend a downsizing program, we’ve supported that program up to now,’’ Mr Albanese said.

“But we support a comprehensive plan on housing. We need more investment in public and social housing through our Housing Australia Future Fund. We need to do more about emergency housing.”

The PM also stumbled over the dole during the campaign. Picture: Asanka Ratnayake/Getty Images

Treasurer Josh Frydenberg defended the Prime Minister’s record amid his plea to “change” if he is re-elected.

The PM will be in Brisbane today to launch his campaign where he will be greeted by a life-size effigy wearing a Hawaiian shirt.

“What do you think Scott Morrison needs to change?’’ Speers asked.

“What the Prime Minister acknowledged is we’re moving from one phase of the pandemic to the next and coming out of the most significant crisis Australia has seen since the end of the second world war, arguably,’’ the Treasurer said.

Scott Morrison is in Brisbane today, where he will be greeted by a lifesized effigy of himself in a Hawaiian shirt

“Now the Prime Minister will have more space and time to be more consultative in his approach and in his own words being more empathetic but I think the Prime Minister has done an extraordinary job in extraordinary times,’’ he said.

“I think this issue needs to be dealt with sensitively.

“That is why I said the use of language by Katherine Deves has been insensitive and she was right to apologise.

“(He) was not the one who made the historical analogies with the Holocaust or stolen generations or others. He hasn’t said that. She has. I don’t think that was appropriate.”