“I won’t run and hide from responsibility.”
In a pitch to sceptical voters who rejected his predecessor,Bill Shorten’s policy-packed agenda in 2019,Mr Albanese characterised his plan as “ambitious but just as importantly,it is affordable and it is achievable”. He said Labor was “seeking renewal,not revolution” and promised “a better future” - the slogan that will form the basis of Labor’s election campaign.
The policy centrepiece of his speech was a plan to spend$1.1 billionto make 465,000 TAFE places free and fund an extra 20,000 university spots. He also vowed to make Australia a “renewable energy superpower,a manufacturing powerhouse,the skills and education capital of Asia,[and] a society that guarantees secure work,cheaper child care,and stronger Medicare.”
The Coalition has seized on the opposition’s climate policy as a basis to claim that Labor will be beholden to the Greens in government. Deputy Labor leader Richard Marles rejected this on Sunday,saying Labor would not enter into a coalition with the Greens.
“We are seeking government in our own right. We are not going to enter into a coalition with the Greens. We have been making that clear from day one,” he told Sky News.
Mr Morrison,who launched his own unofficial campaign last month with fleeting visits to key seats in Sydney and Melbourne,on Sunday flew into the nation’s motorsports capital for a lap around Mt Panorama. During the televised lap,in a car driven by former Bathurst champion Mark Skaife,the Prime Minister said he and the country were looking through the front windscreen rather than the rear vision mirror.
Later,after touring flood-affected areas around Forbes in NSW’s Central West he said Labor should be judged on their last record in government.
“Labor are going to say a lot of things between now and the next election. They said they weren’t going to have a carbon tax last time,and they ended up putting one in,” Mr Morrison said.
“There’ll be a lot of noise but the only way you really understand what a Labor government will do is what they did last time they were in government.”
Treasurer Josh Frydenberg on Sunday sought to pin Labor’s hopes on passing legislation in government as tied to support from the Greens when asked about the opposition’s 2030 climate target.
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“Labor says they’re going to legislate it. They’re going to mandate it. They’ll do that in partnership with the Greens,and the Greens have a 75 per cent emissions reduction target,” Mr Frydenberg said on ABC TV’sInsidersprogram.
“This is not the policy if Australians voted for[it],Australians will get.”
In similar remarks on Friday,Mr Morrison said there was “nothing safe about a Labor-Greens government”,describing Labor’s 43 per cent target as a “starting bid”.
“It’s not the final outcome. If they have to get into that option with the Greens to form government,it won’t be 43,that will be the opening bid and it’s going to end a lot higher than that,” Mr Morrison said.
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