Albanese says Coalition should use budget to invest in social housing, skills and manufacturing
Anthony Albanese says the Morrison government should use next week’s budget to launch new investments in social housing, skills and local heavy manufacturing, and should only bankroll projects on 6 October if they boost productivity and economic growth.
The opposition leader will use a speech to the McKell Institute on Wednesday to step up his political attack on the prime minister and the government’s record, and outline Labor’s broad priorities for the 6 October budget.
According to a copy of the speech circulated in advance, Albanese will also continue to declare that clean energy can power Australia’s economic recovery. He will argue that “action on climate change will create jobs, reduce power prices and lower emissions”.
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On Saturday, the shadow resources minister, Joel Fitzgibbon, threatened to quit the shadow cabinet if the opposition resolved to adopt a medium-term emissions reduction target he didn’t support – an escalation of Labor’s ongoing tensions about climate policy that have surfaced since the 2019 election defeat.
The more combative foray from Albanese will come as the Nationals leader, Michael McCormack, uses a speech to the Regional Australia Institute on Wednesday to flag budget spending of $135m to fund regional recovery partnerships, communications upgrades and a “resilient regional leaders” initiative.
McCormack will confirm $100m will go to regions struggling to rebuild after the drought, last summer’s bushfires or the pandemic. Regional grants administered by the Nationals have a history of controversy, and it is unclear how the grants will be allocated in the new program, but the Nationals leader says the funds will be allocated over two years in cooperation with state and local governments “to support recovery and growth in the regions”.
The designated regions in the program include the Snowy Mountains, Hunter and Newcastle and Parkes regions in New South Wales; Cairns and Tropical North Queensland, Gladstone and Mackay-Isaac-Whitsunday regions in Queensland; all of Tasmania; the Gippsland region in Victoria; Kangaroo Island in South Australia; and South West region in Western Australia.
In a statement ahead of Wednesday’s speech, McCormack said: “These partnerships will support existing regional plans by developing a package of targeted initiatives to deliver jobs, economic recovery and economic diversification.”
The government will top up an existing regional connectivity program by $30m to support projects outside the fixed-line footprint of the national broadband network. A further $5m will be allocated, McCormack says, “to support current and emerging leaders to further develop their leadership skills”.
Albanese will meanwhile go on the political offensive. Having muted his criticism of the government in the early stages of the pandemic, the Labor leader will sharpen his rhetoric ahead of the resumption of federal parliament for the budget session next week.
Albanese will argue Scott Morrison’s management of the coronavirus crisis has exposed a “chasm between announcement and delivery and the triumph of spin over substance”.
The Labor leader will argue the budget on 6 October needs to be about job creation and getting Australians back to work. “To do that we must generate the economic activity that will create new jobs quickly while also boosting our productivity”.
He says one of the fastest ways to get money into the economy and “tradies back on the tools” would be to invest in social housing, either through maintenance and repair programs, or by bringing forward new projects.
With the Morrison government telegraphing a major infrastructure spend in the budget, and with state governments also pursuing transport upgrades, Albanese will say the Morrison government needs to build new trains in Australia.
“We have the facilities in Maryborough, Ballarat, Bendigo, Newcastle and Perth. We also have the skills,” the Labor leader will say. “What we need is a government prepared to back in Australian-made trains and Australian-based jobs.”
While arguing the case for more economic stimulus, Albanese will note that any new spending will be borrowed money that should not be “wasted on mates, or rorts, or dodgy deals, or pork-barrelling”.
“The test for new projects in the budget should be whether a spending proposal will have the effect of boosting our economic productivity, and drives growth,” Albanese will say.
“In short, any dollar borrowed in the budget must create or sustain jobs, or skill people up for those jobs.”
Albanese will say on Wednesday that Australia needs a real plan for recovery, and Morrison needs to use the budget to set that recovery in motion. Australia needs a “plan for jobs, for productivity, for industry, for investment in Australia’s future, and a plan to help those hit hardest by the crisis, including women, young people, the aged and small business”.
The Labor leader will summarise his alternative as leading a country “where aspiration is encouraged, but where those who need help can receive help, just like the elderly people who relied on their neighbours at the height of the Covid crisis”.
“I can sum it up as follows – no one left behind, no one held back.”
