Life will be cheaper under me: Albanese vow for better future

Anthony Albanese pledges to change Australia ‘for the better’ by providing cheaper childcare, power bills, electric vehicles, medicines and mortgages.

At the ALP campaign launch in Perth on Sunday, Anthony Albanese claimed Labor was the only party that could deliver significant reform. Picture: Liam Kidston.

Anthony Albanese has promised to change Australia “for the better” and deliver reforms that play to traditional Labor strengths, providing cheaper childcare, power bills, electric vehicles, medicines and mortgages if he wins the May 21 election.

At the ALP campaign launch in Perth on Sunday, the Opposition Leader claimed Labor was the only party that could deliver significant reform and set up a three-week fight with Scott Morrison over cheaper housing, higher wages, cost-of-living pressures, integrity and health.

Mr Albanese, who was introduced by West Australian Premier Mark McGowan as the “next Prime Minister of Australia”, told 600 supporters including former prime ministers Paul Keating and Kevin Rudd that “only Labor has a plan for a better future”.

He used Labor’s new Help to Buy housing policy, in which the federal government provides up to 40 per cent of the purchase price of new homes for 10,000 low-and-middle income earners, to claim that an Albanese government would help renters “achieve the great Australian dream of home ownership”.

The housing policy, allowing low-income earners to buy a house with a 2 per cent deposit, was attacked by the Prime Minister for putting home ownership into the hands of the government and potentially ripping equity away from homeowners.

Speaking in the marginal Liberal-held seat of Swan, Mr Albanese rolled out a series of new policies focused on wooing swing voters ahead of the election, including plans to close the gender pay gap, build more electric vehicle charging stations, provide cheaper medicines and set up a $1bn fund for developing critical minerals into batteries. “Labor has real, lasting plans for cheaper ¬electricity, cheaper childcare, cheaper mortgages, cheaper medicines and Medicare (and) better pay,” Mr Albanese said.

Anthony Albanese is welcomed by Penny Wong at Optus Stadium in Perth on Sunday. Picture: Liam Kidston.

The Labor leader’s cheaper electricity claim is based on ¬medium-to-long-term renewable energy projections in Labor’s Powering Australia plan, while costings for his $5.4bn plan to make childcare more affordable for 96 per cent of families has been questioned by the Coalition.

Labor’s cheaper medicines pledge came after Mr Albanese trumped Mr Morrison’s promise to slash the price of prescription drugs by $10. Labor says it will cut drug prices by $12.50.

With Labor maintaining its small-target strategy and election-winning lead over the Coalition in Newspoll, Mr Albanese recycled Labor’s personal attacks on the Prime Minister and urged Australians to “vote for hope and optimism over fear and division”.

“Are we going to stride forward – or instead are we going to slide back? Are we going to risk three more wasted years? Scott Morrison says you don’t have to like him, but it’s better the devil you know,” he said.

“Well here’s what Australians do know … they know he failed on bushfires and they know he then failed on floods. They know he didn’t order enough vaccines and then didn’t order enough rapid antigen tests.

“They know it’s harder to see a doctor. It’s harder to buy a home and the cost of everything is going up but their wages aren’t. They know aged care is in crisis … that’s the devil you know.”

Mr Morrison will take the cost-of-living fight to Labor on Monday and pledge to make 50,000 older Australians eligible for seniors’ health cards, giving them access to more affordable health care and medicines.

Under a $70m investment over four years, the Coalition will ¬increase the singles income test threshold from $57,761 to $90,000 from July 1. The couple’s threshold will rise from $92,416 to $144,000.

Anthony Albanese with former prime ministers Kevin Rudd, left, and Paul Keating in Perth on Sunday. Picture: Twitter

“This means more senior Australians could save hundreds of dollars, including up to $428 a year for access to a monthly script for vital medicines and a refund for medical costs if you reach the Medicare safety net,” Mr Morrison said.

“This is the first major change, outside of indexation, to the ¬income threshold of the commonwealth seniors’ health card in over 20 years. Every dollar counts, especially for older Australians who are no longer working.”

The ALP campaign launch, which featured GangGajang’s Sounds of Then, Jimmy Barnes’s Working Class Man and an election video narrated by Russell Crowe, co-owner of the NRL team Mr Albanese supports, the South Sydney Rabbitohs, was attended by the Labor leader’s partner Jodie Haydon and son Nathan, WA Labor MPs and candidates, senior frontbenchers including Bill Shorten, ALP national president Wayne Swan and South Australian Premier Peter Malinauskas.

In the “Vote for a Better Australia” speech, Mr Albanese invoked Mr Keating, Mr Rudd, Julia Gillard and the late Bob Hawke to paint Labor as the party that delivered on major reforms.

“It’s only ever Labor governments who do the big reforms, drive the big changes, reshape the economy in the best interests of people,” he said. “And we always do it by bringing people together – family businesses and workers, big employers and trade unions, states and the commonwealth.”

“Bob Hawke and Paul Keating created Medicare and universal superannuation. Kevin Rudd created the National Broadband Network. Julia Gillard built the National Disability Insurance Scheme, with the critical support of Bill Shorten. These reforms stand as markers of a decent society. They speak to the best of Australia’s values.

“But as the party of economic reform, Labor understands that these programs are about more than simply doing the right thing by people.”

Mr Albanese, who is hoping to win the WA Liberal-held electorates of Swan and Pearce and retain Anne Aly’s marginal seat of Cowan, said he would protect Labor’s legacy programs and deliver structural changes to drive a “strong economy”.

“They boost participation and they boost productivity,” he said. “They take away costs that would otherwise be left to employers and businesses. Reliable, affordable, universal services are good for the economy because they arm people with the confidence to pursue their aspirations, to fulfil their potential.

“That’s why Labor will defend universal superannuation and the right of every Australian to save for a secure retirement.”

Speaking in the Labor-held Sydney seat of Parramatta on Sunday, Mr Morrison attacked Mr Albanese’s Help to Buy housing scheme in which the government will take an equity stake in homes to make it cheaper for Australians to access finance. “Our plan is for Australians to own their own home; not for the government or Anthony Albanese to own their own home,” he said.

Senior Labor sources said on Sunday that, after a horror first week of the campaign and spending seven days in Covid-19 isolation, Mr Albanese had ditched his “presidential-style” strategy and would use frontbenchers Jim Chalmers, Penny Wong, Jason Clare, Katy Gallagher and others to maximise the ALP’s reach.

Labor strategists believe Mr Morrison is lacking help from senior ministers, including Josh Frydenberg who is fighting to hold on in his inner-Melbourne seat of Kooyong.

The Australian understands Mr Morrison and Mr Albanese are no longer expected to hold three debates, with only one more debate to air on Nine next Sunday night.