‘Deserve better’: Anthony Albanese makes pitch to voters as 2022 election date set

Anthony Albanese has made his first pitch to Australian voters since Scott Morrison set a date for the federal election.

Anthony Albanese has declared there is no one in Parliament with closer ties to the business community than him as he embarks on his official campaign to become Australia’s 31st prime minister.

Speaking on Sunday after the election was called for May 21, the Opposition Leader reiterated his pitch to “mainstream Australia” and the centre of politics, with the message that he would bring renewal rather than radical change if he was voted in.

Mr Albanese harked back to some of his well trodden ground including the story of his early life growing up in public housing with a single mother.

He appeared eager to stress his business credentials when a reporter described him as a “passionate member” of Labor’s left faction and asked if he would be one of Australia’s more left-wing prime ministers if elected.

“I am who I am. I am a working-class lad from my background, I’ve been shaped by it, I am someone who I believe is very much in touch with mainstream Australia,” Mr Albanese told reporters in Sydney.

“I’m comfortable in a boardroom and I’m comfortable in a pub.

“I would say there is no one in the Parliament who has closer credentials and more friends in senior members of the business community than myself on either side of politics.”

Scott Morrison has been sharpening his own campaign attack that Labor is the lesser choice for voters when it comes to the economy.

The Prime Minister visited the Governor-General on Sunday morning to set the date of the federal election, choosing the latest possible day for Australians to choose who forms the next government.

Mr Morrison held a brief press conference after his visit to Sir David Hurley, taking only a handful of questions from reporters.

Anthony Albanese visited the Sydney Royal Easter Show earlier with his partner Jodie Haydon. Picture: Monde Photography on behalf of RAS of NSW

He continued his attempted framing of his government as the safer choice at a time of great uncertainty, particularly on national security and the economy, while positioning Labor as an “unknown” that would be a risk for voters.

Mr Albanese, speaking to the media later in the afternoon, said Australians had “been magnificent” in making sacrifices to overcome the challenges of the past two years and that he was optimistic about the future.

Mr Albanese said Australians “deserve better” than the Morrison government, which he accused of being shortsighted.

“I say to my fellow Australians, this is our time, our time to seize the opportunities that are before us, our time to create a better future where no-one is held back and no-one is left behind,” he said.

Opinion polls have shown the opposition in a stronger position than the Morrison government for some time now but Labor will need to pull off winning a net seven seats to form government after May 21.

If latest Newspoll was replicated on election day, Labor would pick up as many as 17 seats.

But a drop in the opposition’s primary vote by three points to 38 — only slightly ahead of the government’s 36 — will be a cause for concern as Labor heads into the campaign proper.

Mr Morrison remains slightly in front in the Newspoll as preferred prime minister.