Anthony Albanese returns to coalface to woo blue-collar workers

Anthony Albanese wants Australia to become an energy exporting powerhouse while still ensuring the future of the coal industry.

Anthony Albanese with apprentice Tristan Anderson, 22, at mining services firm CSI at Kwinana, Perth, on Monday. Picture: Sean Middleton

Anthony Albanese will lay the foundation for a profound shift in Labor policy, saying he wants Australia to become an energy exporting “superpower” while ensuring the future of the coal industry.

The Labor leader, in a post-election “values” speech in Perth on Tuesday, will argue coalmining will continue to be a critical feature of the country’s economic success, while calling for a revival in heavy and advanced manufacturing.

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In what will be seen as a deliberate repudiation of Bill Shorten’s tax-and-spend campaign agenda, Mr Albanese says his policy platform will be based on creating “wealth” rather than a class-based redistribution of tax revenue.

Having tried to reposition Labor through a rhetorical rejection of class warfare following its federal election loss, Mr Albanese will seek to outline a new policy direction that will also include a closer engagement with big business.

In an admission that Labor had failed blue-collar workers, Mr Albanese will argue the coal industry is instrumental in serving Labor’s climate change ambitions and moving jobs to a clean energy future.

“Our traditional industries are also poised to benefit from a low-carbon future,” Mr Albanese will say, according to an advance extract of his speech to the Committee for Economic ­Development in Perth.

“For example, it takes more than 200 tonnes of metallurgical coal to produce one wind turbine.

“According to forecasts of global growth in wind power capacity to 2030, Australia could be exporting 15.5 million tonnes of coking coal to build these turbines.

“This is the equivalent of three years output from the Moranbah North coking coalmine in Queensland. Simply put, the road to a low-carbon future can be paved with hundreds of thousands of clean energy jobs, as well as supporting traditional jobs, including coalmining.”

His speech follows an ­admission by deputy Labor leader Richard Marles on Monday that the party’s message on coal during the election had cost it seats.

Senior members of Labor have said the party had failed to communicate the distinction between thermal coal used for electricity and coking coal, which makes up more than 60 per cent of the value of coal exports, and is used among other things in the construction of wind turbines.

In a pointed departure from the past, Mr Albanese will identify wealth creation as essential to underpinning the country’s economic future.

He will argue a tax-and-spend agenda is destined to fail without a policy to improve productivity.

“Like Bob Hawke and Paul Keating, I understand that building the future means we must first and foremost be in the business of creating wealth, as well as ensuring it is distributed fairly,” he will say. “Labor is proudly and resolutely pro-growth.

“We understand that successful businesses and a vibrant economy are essential prerequisites for job growth.”

Mr Albanese will say a revival in manufacturing will rely on cheap energy but does not address how this will be achieved without lowering Labor’s climate change targets that modelling has shown will increase prices.

“With the right planning and vision, Australia cannot only continue to be an energy exporting superpower, we can also enjoy a new manufacturing boom,” he will say.

“We have the highest average solar radiation per square metre of any continent. We also have some of the best wind and wave resources. And we have some of the best engineers and scientists, breaking the barriers of what is possible with renewable energy.”