Prime Minister Anthony Albanese seeks to turn the Fadden byelection,triggered by the resignation of Stuart Robert,into a campaign against Peter Dutton’s Coalition that reaches a broader audience.Credit:Alex Ellinghausen
But Opposition Leader Peter Dutton assured Coalition MPs on Tuesday they could recover ground among Australian voters by highlighting government tax hikes on aspirational families as well as the impact of inflation on the cost of living.
The Liberal National Party campaign in Fadden is also expected to highlight Labor’sincrease in tax revenue from superannuation funds as a key issue given the importance of retirement savings to older voters on the Gold Coast.
Albanese told Labor caucus members he believed the government could win seats in NSW,Victoria,Queensland,Western Australia,South Australia and Tasmania at the next election and in some cases named the seats he had in mind.
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While theresignation of Western Australian Labor premier Mark McGowan sparked questions about whether this would weaken support for Labor in that state,Albanese said the party could win the Perth seats of Canning and Moore – the former held by Coalition defence spokesman Andrew Hastie and the latter by backbencher Ian Goodenough.
Albanese listed the seat of Menzies in Melbourne,held by Liberal backbencher Keith Wolahan,and the seat of Banks in Sydney,held by Liberal frontbencher David Coleman. Labor also regards the South Australian seat of Sturt,held by Liberal MP James Stevens with 50.45 per cent of the two-party vote,as a priority target.
While he did not name specific seats in Tasmania,he mentioned the north of the state – a strong sign of his hope to defeat outspoken Liberal MPBridget Archer in Bass and her Liberal neighbour Gavin Pearce in Braddon.