In a campaign kickoff that was low on controversial ideas but heavy on togetherness and hope, Australian opposition leader Anthony Albanese promised the country a “better future.”
Labor’s leader promised to “stop the climate conflicts” by creating tens of thousands of employment in a green-energy transition centered on electric vehicles, revitalizing large infrastructure projects, and assisting low-income people in purchasing homes.
After years of horrific bushfires, floods, and COVID-19, most polls predict Labor will win the federal election on May 21 and overthrow Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s conservative coalition.
Albanese’s centre-left party is pursuing a low-risk strategy in the hopes of returning to power after nine years. Labor has learned from previous losses, according to the former infrastructure minister, which occurred amid protracted leadership feuds and policies that some saw as unduly divisive.
“I know we’ve had a difficult period, and I know the sacrifices that so many of you have made,” Albanese told a crowd of supporters in Perth, which included two past Labor prime ministers.
He said two days after completing a week in seclusion due to a COVID-19 diagnosis, “You have earned a better future, and… I am asking you to vote for that better future.” “Vote for optimism and hope, not for fear and division.”
“Nation-building” initiatives, according to the former infrastructure minister, have been supplanted by “pork-barrelling,” or politically motivated money allocations.
Albanese promised charging sites for electric vehicles all around the country. “Consider a world where you don’t have to be concerned about the price of gasoline. We need the government to lay the groundwork for it.”
He claimed he would modify labor rules to make gender pay fairness a legal goal, and he took aim at the ruling conservatives, who have faced criticism – and dwindling female voter support – as a result of multiple government gender-based scandals.
“It’s important not to leave more than half of the country out of it if you want to represent the entire country,” he remarked.
In response to concerns over affordable housing and salary growth that is outpacing inflation, Albanese said that Labor will support up to 40% of the purchase price for 10,000 low-income people buying their first homes.
He called Canberra’s recent signing of a security agreement with the Solomon Islands a “disaster.” The pact has sparked concerns about a Chinese military station less than 2,000 kilometers (1,200 miles) distant, and has turned national security into a campaign issue.
“Morrison just keeps scurrying from one picture opportunity to the next, oblivious to the fact that the Australian people are aware of his existence,” Albanese added.
“They don’t think, they know,” he added, referring to French President Emmanuel Macron’s statement that Morrison lied about canceling a contract for France to build submarines for Australia, stating “I don’t think, I know.”
