Coronavirus: Anthony Albanese channels his inner Gough Whitlam

Anthony Albanese has been hailed as the first Labor leader since Gough Whitlam to voice his support for decentralisation.

Anthony Albanese with predecessor Bill Shorten in Canberra after delivering his vision statement to the Labor caucus. Picture: AAP

Anthony Albanese has been hailed as the first Labor leader since Gough Whitlam to voice his support for a decentralisation strategy as the party moves to win support in regional communities that will suffer because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Regional Labor MPs have ­endorsed the Opposition Leader’s push for population growth in the bush rather than the cities, with resources spokesman Joel Fitzgibbon declaring: “Melbourne and Sydney may be full but our regions are not.”

Opposition regional development spokeswoman Catherine King said different work habits adopted during the COVID-19 crisis showed people could move to the regions and maintain links with city employers.

She said an influx of people in their 30s had moved to her ­regional Victorian electorate of Ballarat in the past five years because of cheaper property prices.

“A lot of them are commuting back into Melbourne each day,” Ms King told The Australian. “But what I think COVID-19 has shown us is the possibilities of workers being located in regions and working from home. (Mr Albanese’s speech) is a wake-up call or a call to industry … to think about where you are located.

“Do you need to be in the CBD of our cities? What else is possible for you to do?”

In a speech to his Labor caucus on Monday, Mr Albanese outlined his vision for a post-pandemic Australia and rejected Scott Morrison’s push for the economy to “snap back” to the way it was ­before the crisis.

Mr Albanese proposed higher wages for workers, less casualis­ation, a larger social safety net, a stronger adherence to climate change ­science, a revitalised manufacturing sector and a massive increase in social housing.

The Labor leader also called for a decentralisation strategy that takes pressure off capital cities through better infrastructure links and shifting public sector jobs to the regions in major agencies such as Centrelink and Medicare.

Labor frontbencher Stephen Jones, the member for the NSW regional seat of Whitlam, said Mr Albanese’s speech was the strongest endorsement of decentralisation from a national leader since Whitlam was prime minister in the 1970s.

“There should be a strong push by the federal government (for private sector investment in the ­regions) and if that means leading by example by moving some of their staff and their functions to large regional centres, that makes sense,” he said.

Mr Jones said the creation of a steel manufacturing industry through clean energy sources was a major opportunity for regional areas. “I would like to see work done to ensure that as a country, we are processing more of our minerals here. We are one of the biggest iron ore exporters in the world — let’s export steel rather than just raw minerals,” he said.

“There needs to be a government-led initiative in that area.”

Opposition international development spokesman Pat Conroy — who represents the NSW Hunter Valley seat of Shortland — also backed the potential for a clean energy steel manufacturing industry.

Community and Public Sector Union national secretary Melissa Donnelly said 11 per cent of public sector jobs had been cut by the Coalition government since 2013.

“(Mr Albanese’s proposal) would expand the footprint of the Australian Public Service, concentrating on essential services, ­improving service provision in regional locations and enhance APS capacity across the nation,” Ms Donnelly said.