Coronavirus: Anthony Albanese and Labor don’t want to talk directly about COVID-19 as it unfolds

Leader of the Opposition Anthony Albanese during Question Time in the House of Representatives on Wednesday. Picture: Sam Mooy/Getty

Anthony Albanese and Labor want to go back to the future politically and don’t want to talk directly about the COVID-19 pandemic as it unfolds.

Instead, the Opposition Leader and his colleagues are concentrating on what the economy was like before January, what wages were doing last year, the impact of last summer’s bushfires and pre-Christmas budget forecasts.

Albanese is going out of his way to revive memories of the bushfire disaster, when Scott Morrison’s personal approval took a huge hit, to question his credibility and capability in crisis management and to avoid emphasising Australia’s success in global terms on limiting the spread of COVID-19.

As Albanese campaigns in the as-yet-undeclared Eden-Monaro ­by-election on bushfire recovery and business failure, he avoids talking about times when the Prime Minister’s support is at a record high in Newspoll due to his health management success in dealing with COVID-19.

In fire-ravaged Eden-Monaro on Wednesday, Albanese declared: “This is a government that we’ve seen didn’t have a plan for the economy before the bushfire crisis hit and before the coronavirus crisis hit.

“And yesterday from Josh Frydenberg we had confirmed that they have no plan to come out of this crisis at all.”

Albanese took it further in parliament, accusing Morrison of having failed on the bushfire recovery and not being trusted to handle the pandemic recovery.

Former leader of the opposition Bill Shorten and his replacement Anthony Albanese during Question Time. Picture: Mick Tsikas/AAP

Labor is pursuing a strategy of personalising and humanising the bushfire and pandemic crises, holding Morrison accountable for people still “living in caravans and tents” surrounded by bushfire debris and asking about inequities in the $130bn JobKeeper program, where people are “missing out”.

Mothers with three children who are getting less out of JobKeeper than single students are being used as examples of victims of the Coalition’s “flawed” scheme.

On the day after the 2020 budget was due to have been delivered, Labor’s Treasury spokesman, Jim Chalmers, built on the platform of “a weakening economy” and stagnant wages before Christmas and COVID-19.

“Already-stagnant wages growth slowed to a two-year low, even before the worst of the virus outbreak and before the large-scale lockdowns began,” Chalmers said, adding that wages growth slowed to 2.1 per cent.

Shadow Treasurer Jim Chalmers during Question Time Picture: Mick Tsikas/AAP

“This result adds to the overwhelming evidence that Australia entered this crisis from a position of weakness, not strength, with the Liberals and Nationals presiding over the worst wages growth on record,’’ he said.

Albanese and Chalmers continue to taunt the Prime Minister and his Treasurer over their idea of a snapback economic recovery.

In the face of the brazen confrontation over bushfires, Morrison and his colleagues responded with hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth, billions even, of federal expenditure for bushfire recovery, small-business support, wage support and funding for the states.

Morrison doesn’t want to talk about back to the future, he has to talk about “the here and now”, and hopes to be able to talk about the future in the future.

In the meantime, all he can do is reel off numbers, thank people for their support and calmly accuse Albanese of politicising the crises.