Coronavirus: Anthony Albanese labels Scott Morrison a mouthpiece for national cabinet of disunity

Anthony Albanese has warned the national cabinet is too divided to function as an effective decision-making body.

Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese. Picture: Gary Ramage

Anthony Albanese has warned the national cabinet is too divided to function as an effective decision-making body, citing major differences on border restrictions and school closures, and the emergence of new political rivalries ­between its members.

Speaking at the National Press Club in Canberra, the Opposition Leader accused the federal government of ignoring the medical advice which had led several states — including Western Australian, Queensland, South Australia and Tasmania — to impose tough border restrictions.

“I think that in terms of the ­national cabinet, what is very ­obvious now is that it isn’t a ­national cabinet,” he said. “I call it the ‘so-called national cabinet’ ­because that was always the case.

“What happens now at ‘so-called national cabinet’ is state premiers all tell each other what they’re doing. And Scott Morrison goes out and announces it and pretends it is a national decision and then spends the time in ­between the ­national cabinet meetings criticising the decision that he’s been a part of.”

The criticism from Mr Albanese, who is not a member of the national cabinet, came as fresh tensions boiled over between the Morrison government and Victorian Labor Premier Daniel ­Andrews, over proposed security laws giving the commonwealth the power to veto the state’s controversial Belt and Road agreement with Beijing.

Mr Albanese also said his team would be ready to contest the election anytime between August 2021 and May 2022, reaffirming that he would be prosecuting a “smaller agenda than Labor took to the last election”.

“What I want as Labor leader is to have a series of commitments that are clearly understood, that are able to be articulated in a clear way. And I believe we’re well-positioned,” he said.

He argued that, by the time of the next election, the government would be “shooting for more than a decade in office”.

“Longer than the Howard government is what they’ll be asking for … (and) people will be asking themselves, ‘Am I better off than I was in 2013?’”

Addressing concerns he had failed to appeal to aspirational workers and small business owners or shift Labor to the centre since the 2019 election defeat, Mr Albanese said he saw himself as the “embodiment of aspiration” as a child who grew up in a council house with a single mother and went on to become Labor leader.

“I want to translate that into support, in terms of growth in the economy, about aspiration, not just for individuals, but aspiration for the sort of country we can be,” he said. “A fairer country. A country that grows. But a country that recognises that growing the economy isn’t the end in itself. I want an economy that works for people, not the other way around.”