Labor not such a small target, but short on detail

As Paul Keating and John Howard argued decades ago, when you change the government you change the country. At his campaign launch in Perth on Sunday, which was May Day, appropriately, Anthony Albanese referred to “the power of government in action, making a real difference’’. The theme permeated much of the Opposition Leader’s speech. Some of his promises were new, especially his Help to Buy housing scheme. Others were longstanding, but they also lacked detail. In essence, they amounted to a bigger role for government in Australians’ lives. Under Mr Albanese’s vision, the helping (or interfering, depending on one’s perspective) hand of government would be evident from childcare to aged care, from studying at TAFE courtesy of taxpayers, to buying a home with a limited deposit or getting a pay rise at work on the principle of gender equity. This larger footprint of government would extend to recharging stations for electric cars, from Perth to Adelaide, Brisbane to Mount Isa. Making things, one of Mr Albanese’s favourite objectives, will be part of the change. “A Labor government will partner with Premier (Mark) McGowan to deliver a new electric vehicle manufacturing facility, more than 130 buses for Perth, and essential upgrades and charging infrastructure.’’

Mr Albanese is intensely proud of his party’s legacies of Medicare, compulsory superannuation, the National Disability Insurance Scheme, the National Broadband Network as set up by the Rudd government and the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme. He is promising nothing on the same scale, other than to run them better than the Morrison government. That includes providing greater access to high-speed broadband. These are substantial promises. We would like to see more details, and costings.

Mr Albanese’s launch underlined the fact that far from being a contest between Tweedledee and Tweedledum, a Labor government would change the country, by changing the footprint of government in the everyday lives of individuals, families and businesses. This would be most evident in the “shared equity” homebuyers scheme in which a Labor government would buy 30 or 40 per cent of the property with the buyer. That promise gave Finance Minister Simon Birmingham a handy line on Sunday when he said homebuyers would have Mr Albanese “at the kitchen table with you, owning part of your home”. Federal and state schemes to help first-home buyers are nothing new, under both sides of politics. But they have distorted markets over the years, including prices of entry-level housing.

Until more is known about how the Help to Buy scheme would operate, especially in a challenging environment of rising interest rates, inflation and higher mortgage costs, the jury is out on how the plan would affect taxpayers, homebuyers joining the scheme and the real estate market. Would taxpayers’ finances be exposed to risk if home prices fell? They have fallen, in different areas at different times, about once every four years over the past two decades. “Caveat emptor” – let the buyer beware – should remain a guiding principle for buyers, regardless of assistance schemes. It is legitimate for voters to wonder what would happen to the taxpayers’ 30 or 40 per cent stake in properties if values fell and buyers wanted to bail out. Help to Buy will not foster a spirit of independence or encourage parents to give adult children a hand on to the ladder.

Newspoll shows the election race is still tight. Much will depend on voters’ thinking across disparate areas of the nation. The contrast between the two sides has become clearer as a result of Sunday’s launch. Harnessing the power of aspiration has helped the government restore prosperity and jobs post-pandemic. Mr Albanese wants central government, not markets, playing a bigger role. He would tackle the gender pay gap, for example, by establishing “expert panels on pay equity’’ and the community sector to improve women’s pay. Such regulation will appeal to some, but workplace flexibility has been proven to produce the best results for staff, employers and productivity. The campaign is giving voters much to think about in terms of their interests and risking a change of direction.