The polls might all be going Anthony Albanese’s way on the eve of Australia’s federal election — but then, they also did for Bill Shorten, last time. Despite the certainty of the punditry, there were nagging issues for Shorten that bubbled away from the gaze of pollsters. The same is true for Albanese.
And it seems that he knows it.
Anthony Albanese has made an uncosted pledge to fund pay rises for nursing home workers, as he challenged Scott Morrison to call the election immediately and “let the people decide”.
Why the hurry, Albo? Does he know something we don’t?
The Opposition Leader said on Thursday night a Labor government would “back a real pay rise for aged-care workers”. He also outlined $2.5bn in other measures, including putting more nurses in homes, having a registered nurse on site 24 hours a day, setting minimum care times and improving food quality.
The aged-care initiatives were the only announcements in a budget reply that rehashed a list of already announced policies despite Mr Albanese facing accusations he was entering the election campaign with a small-target political strategy based around negative attacks on the Prime Minister’s character.
The aged care announcements have all the hallmarks of a frantically-scribbled note made in the last few minutes before the bell rings the end of the exam. It’s not that a pay rise for aged-care workers is bad — after all Morrison has already flagged a similar policy — it’s just that shouting “Me too! Only MORE!” without costings is transparent desperation.
As is wanting to rush to an election, all of a sudden.
With Mr Morrison expected to call the federal election mid-next week, Mr Albanese said Labor was ready to go.
“I say to this Prime Minister, who himself declared months ago he was campaigning and not governing: call the election, call it now and let the people of Australia decide,” the Labor leader said.
Albanese has been having a tough couple of weeks. The Coalition’s sustained attack on Labor’s rank hypocrisy on the treatment of women in politics, and Josh Frydenberg’s “kitchen table” budget have taken at least some of the wind out of Labor’s sails. While polling suggests Labor is a shoo-in, there is still significant doubt in suburban seats and among women voters.
Former Labor PM Paul Keating once told his opponent, John Hewson, that there was no rush to an election, because he wanted to “do him slowly”. It’s starting to sound as if Albanese would rather rush to a happy ending than risk being worked over slowly.
Mr Morrison, who this week criticised Mr Albanese’s “vacant space” strategy, will campaign in western Sydney on Friday and deliver a post-budget speech. Mr Albanese’s pre-election pitch held back Labor’s plans for health, national security, schools and paid parental leave, and failed to outline how it will pay for new spending measures including cheaper childcare, free TAFE courses and increased funding for defence and foreign aid.
Albanese is directly contradicting the promise he made to Australians in the wake of the last election.
After Bill Shorten’s 2019 election defeat and Labor’s shift to a small-target strategy, Mr -Albanese said his team would be “upfront” with voters ahead of the May election and focus on “renewal not revolution”.
The Australian
In fact, Labor is keeping much of its policy under a tight lid, hoping it can get away with a small target strategy. What little it has let slip, such as its radical, queer theory agenda that among other things would, taken at face value, provide Medicare-funded transgender surgery for children, is clearly the sort of very, very revolutionary stuff that ordinary Australians are increasingly vocally rejecting.
