Budget reply: Anthony Albanese targets women, families and workers

Anthony Albanese has positioned Labor as the champions of female workforce participation through a $6.2bn childcare plan.

Anthony Albanese says a Labor government will implement a universal 90 per cent childcare subsidy and cut costs for almost all families. Picture: Getty Images

Anthony Albanese has unveiled a $26.7bn pre-election manifesto targeting women, families and blue-collar workers, while rejecting Josh Frydenberg’s economic recovery plan for failing to deliver a “stronger, fairer and more secure future for all Australians”.

In his first budget-in-reply speech as Opposition Leader, Mr Albanese moved to position Labor as the champions of female workforce participation through a $6.2bn childcare plan aimed at getting mums back to work.

He also unveiled plans to pump more renewable energy into the electricity grid, develop a sovereign train-building capacity and set a guarantee that apprentices and trainees would receive opportunities to work on major government projects in a pitch to Labor’s working-class base.

“The budget reflects the government’s character of being guided by short-term politics, not long-term vision. This budget leaves people behind,” Mr Albanese said.

“Women have suffered most during the pandemic but are reduced to a footnote. The best the government can offer is they can drive on a road. And if you are over 35 you have certainly been left behind.”

The Opposition Leader attacked the government over the $1 trillion national debt bill racked-up during the COVID-19 pandemic but failed to outline Labor’s path back to surplus.

Mr Albanese said rehiring workers, rewiring the economy, recharging women’s workforce participation and rebuilding the nation would lead his plan to “take Australia from recession to recovery”.

Scott Morrison had earlier called out the Labor leader in question time to say what spending he would cut in his budget-in-reply speech and described him as “the biggest each-way operator that we’ve seen”.

The Prime Minister accused Mr Albanese of going for a “win and a place in a two-horse race” and said if he wanted to talk about debt, he must detail how he would pay for any new policies.

“Those opposite are saying here today that the debt is too high, the deficit is too big. That is what they’re saying. But they are also saying that the debt should be greater, and we should spend more … If he wishes to spend more, he needs to say what in the budget he wants to spend less on,” Mr Morrison said.

“He needs to say what he needs to cut, which roads, which dams, which hospitals, which schools.”

Attempting to shift away from Bill Shorten’s class-war rhetoric, Mr Albanese said a Labor government would implement a universal 90 per cent childcare subsidy and cut costs for almost all families, boosting economic growth by up to $4bn a year.

The $6.2bn childcare policy, which would be in place for an initial three years, would remove the $10,560 cap from July 2022. Mr Albanese said the current system acted as a deterrent for mothers to work more days.

All subsidy rates would be immediately increased under a Labor government for families earning less than $530,000, with 97 per cent of families saving between $600 and $2900 a year.

Mr Albanese said the childcare pledge — a centrepiece of Labor’s strategy to target women and families before a potential early election late next year — would “eliminate once and for all the disincentive to work more hours”.

“The current system of caps and subsidies and thresholds isn’t just confusing and costly; it actually penalises the families it’s meant to help. It’s working mums who cop the worst of it. For millions of working women, it’s simply not worth working more than three days a week. This derails careers, it deprives working women of opportunities they’ve earned.

“This is real reform. It will boost women’s workforce participation, boost productivity and get Australians working again.”

The Morrison government will target Labor’s child care package on Friday, suggesting the policy will force prices up.

Labor plans to instruct the Productivity Commission and Australian Competition & Consumer Commission to lead the childcare reforms and design a “price-regulation mechanism”.

Mr Albanese, who wants Australia to become a “renewable energy superpower”, said a Labor government would support a $20bn plan to rebuild and modernise the national electricity grid.

Similar to the NBN rollout, the ALP would set up a government-owned company to create thousands of jobs and boost economic growth by up to $40bn, by unlocking the country’s “renewable energy potential”.

Mr Albanese said the nation-building project would revitalise traditional industries such as steel and aluminium and allow growth in new sectors including hydrogen and battery production.

The Australian Energy Market Operator’s Integrated System Plan, released this year and backed by state and federal governments, endorsed a revamp of the energy transmission system so it can cope with a high level of solar and wind sources by 2040.

“Australia’s electricity network was designed for a different century,” Mr Albanese said. “For a time when solar panels ran pocket calculators, not the one in four households which have rooftop solar. The current network takes no account of the rise of renewables as the cheapest new energy source, and doesn’t help link these new sources up to the national grid. By using the commonwealth’s ability to borrow at lower interest rates, it will be done at the lowest possible cost.”

Mr Albanese said Labor’s energy policy, which avoided references to coal and gas, was “technology neutral”.

ETU national secretary Allen Hicks backed the plan, saying it would “create an explosion of jobs, slash energy prices and accelerate Australia’s transition to a clean energy future”.

Projects recommended by the AEMO plan include an upgrade of the Victoria-NSW interconnector, a new interconnector between NSW and South Australia, a transmission upgrade linking the Snowy Hydro scheme with other parts of southern NSW, and more transmission links to renewable energy zones.

Labor’s sovereign manufacturing plan, which recycles two policies taken to last year’s election by Mr Shorten, sets a 10 per cent cap for apprentices and trainees working on commonwealth projects valued at more than $100m and calls for the establishment of federal government-backed regional train-making hubs.