Federal politicians enter election mode, and Albanese has ‘both eyes on the prize’

Anthony Albanese’s first major election advance into Western Australia involved a flurry of announcements and a meeting with WA Premier Roger Cook.

Albanese and most of his cabinet have descended on Perth as the government looks to defend the four seats that helped it win the 2022 election – while fighting for the newly created seat of Bullwinkel.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese holds a cabinet meeting, with WA Premier Roger Cook as a guest, during his visit to WA. Credit: Trevor Collens

The Prime Minister arrived in Perth on Sunday, his 23rd visit to WA since becoming prime minister and will leave Wednesday.

On Monday he hosted a cabinet meeting in Perth where Cook was invited to speak.

Albanese’s first announcement was 200 new submarine maintenance roles for apprentices and trainees as the state gears up to work on US and, eventually, Australian nuclear submarines at the HMAS Stirling Naval Base in Perth’s south from 2027.

The nuclear submarine maintenance work program, known as Submarine Rotational Force - West, is a key pillar in the AUKUS agreement and will require tens of thousands of workers across WA and South Australia.

Perhaps the most significant announcement on Monday was the federal government’s finalised offshore wind area off the coast of Geographe Bay which has halved the original proposed area and pushed it further into the Indian Ocean.

The initial proposal became a hot-button issue and the subject of a campaign by opposition MPs concerned about the wind farm’s impact on marine wildlife, recreational fishing and obstruction views of the horizon off the coast.

The new zone will start 41 kilometres off the coast of Bunbury and 55 kilometres off the coast of Busselton.

“At those distances, even on a good day, you won’t see the offshore wind turbines,” Climate Change Minister Chris Bowen said while announcing the new zone in Bunbury on Monday.

The new zones did not convince the opposition with shadow state energy spokesman Steve Thomas saying Geographe Bay was the wrong place to put wind farms.

The PM’s visit coincided with a series of Labor-funded attack ads airing in the state accusing Peter Dutton of wanting to upend the 2018 GST deal that has seen billions swell WA’s coffers while the state enjoyed record iron ore royalty revenue.

Anthony Albanese in Perth on Monday. Credit: Trevor Collens

Albanese cited past public comments by former senior Coalition MPs like Julie Bishop and Malcolm Turnbull questioning Dutton’s commitment to the GST.

“Malcolm Turnbull said this, direct quote: ‘there remained enormous anxiety around the Cabinet table when discussing the GST deal, especially from Peter Dutton’. They’re direct quotes from people who served in the Cabinet,” he told Radio 6PR.

Shadow Treasurer Angus Taylor leapt to Dutton’s defence, describing the attacks as “student politics” while reaffirming his party’s commitment to not touch the GST deal if re-elected.

WA politics expert Peter Kennedy said Albanese’s visit showed he had “both eyes on the election”.

“Both parties are in election mode and the attack on Dutton is an obvious political tactic,” he said.

“They’ve probably done some market research and found West Australians were still sensitive about any suggestion that the GST deal will be reversed or modified to the state’s detriment.”

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