All aboard as Anthony Albanese puts gravy train back on track
The Prime Minister let rip, splurging $3bn on childcare and early education, in a dress rehearsal for next year’s federal election campaign.
Toot, toot. Albo’s gravy train rolled into southside Brisbane on a steamy Wednesday, in a dress rehearsal for the re-election bid he will launch once the nation is done with its summer snooze.
The Prime Minister let rip, spending at the dizzy rate of $18,000 a second, to pledge an extra $3bn for childcare and early education if Labor is returned next year. He spoke for 27 minutes while the cash from Canberra rained down.
Jim Chalmers joined in the hearty applause.
Nothing had been left to chance, of course. There were no questions from the assembled media, no unplanned encounters with unvetted voters, barely a word deviating from the script.
The campaign warm-up at the Morningside Panthers’ clubhouse in the one-time ALP electorate of Griffith was as buttoned-up as Mr Albanese’s crisp business shirt.
The party faithful were brought in from far and wide to pack the room where local girl Renee Coffey, Labor’s candidate for Griffith, met her future husband.
In keeping with the occasion, Minister for Aged Care and Sport Anika Wells, who is tipped for promotion to cabinet, brought her twin boys, Ossian and Dashiell, aged four.
Mr Albanese swooped on an unsuspecting three-month-old infant, Maisie, as the cameras clicked. Looking on, her bemused mum said: “Please don’t spit up on him.”
The PM’s minders held their breath.
After a trying 12 months for the government in which Mr Albanese looked anything but prime ministerial at times, Labor is desperate for a reset over Christmas. You can bet no expense to the taxpayer will be spared to put the Albo express back on track for the coming election.
He told the hand-picked crowd of 200: “As students and teachers here in Queensland and right around the country count down to the holidays and look forward to Christmas, we also look back on the year that’s been and the challenges we’ve faced.
“I want every Australian to know that I understand things have been hard.
“I want every Australian to know that when times are tough, we’ve got your back.
“Our government is working every day to make the next year easier for you and your family.”
Cue cheers. The kids weren’t his only prop.
ALP banners carried one of the slogans he is road-testing – Building Australia’s Future – jostling for space between the Panthers’ honour boards.
Mr Albanese said the $1bn he was announcing for 160 new early education centres nationwide was the biggest government investment made in the sector. “We’re ready to invest in owning these centres to keep the doors of opportunity open for children,” he declared. Cue standing ovation.
If the plan sounds familiar, it’s because a version of it to co-locate early education services on school campuses had a run under Kevin Rudd when he was prime minister and sank when he did in 2010 at the hands of Julia Gillard.
The former member for Griffith, now Australia’s ambassador to Washington, was represented by a member of his personal staff.
Fittingly so.
The southside electorate taking in Morningside was snatched by the Greens’ housing spokesman, Max Chandler-Mather, at the 2022 federal election and Labor wants it back. Badly.
Ms Coffey runs a charity providing mental health services to young people and took her place at the Treasurer’s side, chatting animatedly with the Logan-based Dr Chalmers.
Employment and Workplace Relations Minister Murray Watt, Minister for Youth and Early Childhood Education Anne Aly and Assistant Minister for Education Anthony Chisholm rounded out the official attendances.
ALP member Tanya Talbot, 50, said she had been prevailed on to drive in from distant Bridgeman Downs. “I don’t really know the details of what he’s announcing,” she said, waiting to hear from Mr Albanese.
Life member Faye Clark, 73, of northside Aspley, said Ms Wells had urged her to come.
“I’ve got a reputation for being a True Believer,” Ms Clark said.
Cannon Hill lawyer Jane Lewin, 44, was chuffed when Mr Albanese stopped to speak to her daughters, Lucy, 10, and Rose, 7.
“The girls are on school holidays so I thought it would be nice to be in the same room as the Prime Minister,” she said.
Laying down an early marker for the election, due by next May, Mr Albanese said government had an obligation to step in when the market failed, as was the case with childcare and early education in Australia.
“Early education isn’t about making money, it’s about changing lives,” he said.
‘And childcare isn’t a luxury, it’s an essential service for modern families.”
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