Labor to fight Scott Morrison on ‘lies, failures’

Labor will target Scott Morrison’s broken promises and ­’failure to deliver’, setting the scene for an election fight on who can be trusted to lead ­Australia.

Scott Morrison in Darwin on Friday. Picture: Glenn Campbell

Labor will target Scott Morrison’s broken promises and ­“failure to deliver”, setting the scene for an election fight on who can be trusted to lead ­Australia.

Labor strategists have told The Weekend Australian the party will tell voters the Prime Minister has failed to implement election commitments, including a religious discrimination act, a national anti-corruption ­agency and a budget surplus.

The Coalition also failed on plans to progress constitutional recognition for Indigenous Australians, implement a voice to government, reform environmental approval laws and finalise a feasibility study into a new coal-fired power station in central Queensland.

Labor will also focus on bungled programs, including the ­delayed vaccine rollout, the Covid-19 phone app, the commuter carparks program, and the barely used fund established to help victims of natural disasters.

The focus on promises and bungled delivery will be used to mitigate expected attacks from the Coalition that Labor cannot be trusted to run the economy.

“This guy makes all these announcements and then doesn’t deliver on them,” one strategist said. “On some of the big problems he ignores the warnings until bad situations get worse.

“It will be part of a broader story that we will try … if they get another three years all the problems in your life – whether it is the pressure of cost of living or stagnating wages – are only going to get worse because these guys aren’t serious.”

In a sign Labor will try to link the government’s broken promises with the Prime Minister’s ­integrity, opposition government accountability spokeswoman Kristina Keneally said voters should be in no doubt that Mr Morrison was a “liar”.

“Mr Morrison loves a big ­announcement but he doesn’t deliver,” Senator Keneally said.

“He promised Australia was going to be at the front of the queue for vaccines and when people realised the vaccines weren’t coming … he blamed the states, he blamed the EU.

“This is what this Prime Minister does. Frankly, he lies and when he gets caught out on lies he blames other people. It is never his fault. And we know he is a liar because Emmanuel Macron told us, because Barnaby Joyce told us.”