PM chasing clear air as voters brace for Xmas Grinch crunch

Anthony Albanese’s Santa sack full of legislation won’t pass muster with Australians preparing to cut back on Christmas expenses to save money and pay the bills.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Opposition Leader Peter Dutton at the launch of the 37th Annual Kmart Wishing Tree Appeal in Parliament House. Picture: Martin Ollman/NewsWire

Anthony Albanese’s Santa sack full of legislation won’t pass muster with Australians preparing to cut back on Christmas expenses to save money, avoid defaulting on mortgages and pay the rent.

All voters want for Christmas is faster falling inflation and lower interest rates, power bills, rent and insurance premiums. But like the kid on Christmas morning who misses out on their holiday wish, Australian families will be left disappointed.

The political wheeling and dealing in Canberra this week, allowing the Prime Minister to clear the barnacles ahead of next year’s election, means little to hardworking punters struggling to pay their bills.

Albanese and Jim Chalmers know they need to do more because their existing policies are not cutting through. Focus groups and polling consistently identify the cost of living and housing pain as the dominant concerns of voters.

Over the coming fortnight, the Prime Minister and Treasurer will seek to sharpen the government’s messaging around their cost-of-living policies and unveil new relief measures ahead of the Mid-Year Economic and Fiscal Outlook.

As the PM heads to Western Australia to launch a pre-Christmas blitz of battleground seats, Chalmers will be closely watching next week’s release of national accounts data and the final RBA board meeting of the year on December 10.

In a perfect world for the government, they avoid damaging blackouts and natural disasters over summer, strengthen their cost-of-living pitch and improve in the polls to lay the ground for an early March election.

Chalmers’ MYEFO will include a suite of new policies obscured under the line item dubbed “decisions taken but not yet announced and not for publication”, which gives Albanese the ammunition he needs for an early poll.

While an early election scenario would ensure the government avoids handing down a deficit-laden March 25 budget, there is a long list of variables that could force Albanese to hold a full-term May election instead.

Over the next two-months, the PM will traverse the nation seeking to rally support and reverse falls in popularity for himself and the ALP. He will tell voters Labor has “got your back” on cost-of-living and housing pressures, tackling social media perils, cracking down on supermarkets and delivering a vision for the future.

Through a series of headland speeches at US-style rally forums, including a year-ending address next month, he will champion his first-term achievements and announce new 2025 election policies.

Peter Dutton, who is expected to release key energy and housing election policies ahead of Christmas and a short summer break, will embark on his own blitz of battleground states and electorates.

Dutton’s question to voters asking if they “are better off today than you were three years ago”, a line borrowed from Ronald Reagan, is resonating with Australians who feel let-down by Albanese’s broken promise that life would be cheaper under a Labor government.

With polling indicating a tight election and likely hung parliament, Labor is confident its big-ticket agenda will trump Dutton’s strategy, and the Coalition believes it can pull-off one of the biggest comebacks in Australian political history.