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Terry McCrann

Anthony Albanese’s lies get bigger and more dangerous

Terry McCrann
Labor leader Anthony Albanese. Picture: Toby Zerna
Labor leader Anthony Albanese. Picture: Toby Zerna

What renders him more unfit to be prime minister and the party he purportedly leads more broadly unfit to be the government of Australia?

Anthony Albanese’s sheer incompetence and ineptitude, shown on day one with the ‘gaffes’ which were absolutely not gaffes but revelations that he hadn’t a clue about was happening in the economy, before you even get to the ‘tough stuff’ – how to actually manage the economy?

Or the fact that he lies straight through, seamlessly, shamelessly and repeatedly, those clenched teeth?

He delivers small lies: I was an economic Adviser to the Hawke Government.

Yeah, sure; like I – and a thousand, maybe a million others – were also ‘economic advisers’ to the Hawke Government.

For as The Australian and Sky News’s Sharri Markson revealed, Albanese was just another “research officer” for a very minor minister in that government, with both the minister and his ‘Adviser’ opposing everything that Bob Hawke and Paul Keating did. He tells spineless lies: like “I didn’t hear half the question” after his answer had shown he didn’t even understand the most basic aspects of Labor’s own policy on boat people and offshore processing.

He delivers big lies: that the Morrison government would extend the ‘Debit Card’ to pensioners – over an express statement in writing from minister Anne Ruston in July last year categorically ruling out doing so and that “we will never have such a plan”. Indeed, the government actually supported an amendment in the legislation that “no recipient of the Age, Veterans or Services Pension will be placed on the Debit Cashless Card”.

Further, that was an amendment that Albanese actually led Labor to vote against! Who wants to put pensioners on the Debit Card? Look in the mirror Anthony.

Labor leader Anthony Albanese. Picture: Toby Zerna
Labor leader Anthony Albanese. Picture: Toby Zerna

But most potently and dangerously – as he goes out of his way to confirm the ‘Each-way Albo’ nailing of him by Sky New’s Paul Murray – his biggest lie of all is about supporting new coal mines. That’s supporting them, provided they got environment approvals.

That’s both a statement of the obvious: of course coal mines – like everything else – have to get environmental approval. It’s also a statement, to the left, that we will make damn sure there won’t be another coal mine as we throttle any proposed one in red, green and black tape; just like Annastacia Palaszczuk came so close to doing with the Adani mine and would have succeeded but for its private family ownership. This is the biggest lie of all; it is quite literally a threat - yes, of course also an unknowing threat because Albanese is just so utterly clueless - to destroy Australia’s future.

Without coal mines – and iron ore mines and LNG export projects – Australia would be an Argentina if we were lucky and more likely an Albania.

In the month of February we got $44bn in export income. Nearly $30bn came from those three things, including $9bn from coal.

Another $6bn came from the bush and after that you are talking petty change in economic terms. Right now we are getting record or near-record prices for anything to do with energy – that’s to say, real energy, the sort that actually works like coal and LNG.

We are also getting very high prices on a billion-tonnes-a year of iron ore thanks to China.

The really big issues for our future are what happens to these exports; try surviving – both the country and families and individuals – on what we get from the other exports.

Our future prosperity, indeed survival, will rely on two things: the world continuing to want and use real energy and China, our biggest and most dangerous enemy, continuing to ‘work’ and shower us with money.

Could we survive even just three years of a PM Albo?

Read related topics:Anthony Albanese
Terry McCrann
Terry McCrannBusiness commentator

Terry McCrann is a journalist of distinction, a multi-award winning commentator on business and the economy. For decades Terry has led coverage of finance news and the impact of economics on the nation, writing for the Herald Sun and News Corp publications and websites around Australia.

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Original URL: https://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/anthony-albaneses-lies-get-bigger-and-more-dangerous/news-story/6c56d6f942b633905a0d7718aec380d0