“Labor has a comprehensive plan to create jobs, boost vital skills by investing in education and training,” Anthony Albanese, Leader of the Australian Labor Party

By Staff Reporter

Hon Anthony Albanese, Leader of the Australian Labor Party and Member for Grayndler, talks to Indus Age.

We have seen over the ten years cycle, the Liberal Party has been in power with lots of changes in leadership; they are able to project themselves as new and projecting themselves as the future. What do you have to say on that?

You’re completely right. The Liberals have been in power for a decade, and have nothing to show for it. They’re now asking for a second decade in office. But they don’t have a plan for the future, they don’t have a plan to lift wages and take pressure off cost of living. They don’t have a plan to deal with climate change and energy policy. They don’t have a plan to make more things here in Australia. I think people will say to themselves, well, they had a decade in office, they promised at the last election that there’d be measures including a national integrity commission, and they just haven’t delivered.

What do you think are three key elections issues and what will be the Labor policy towards this? 

What I’m hearing from people around the country is that cost of living is a real concern. The cost of everything is going up – but your pay isn’t. Petrol, groceries, rent, child care, health care – the costs keep piling up, and they’ve been piling up for a long while now.

If you work hard, you should be able to get ahead. But after a decade of Scott Morrison and the Liberals, it’s getting too hard.

I have a plan to address this. We need cheaper childcare so that it’s easier for your family to get ahead. We’re going to lift the childcare subsidy rate to 90 per cent. But there are plenty of other things we’re going to do to create a better future for you and your family– like creating more jobs while supporting small businesses, plans to make power bills and child care cheaper, investing in aged care and creating more university places.

During the peak of Covid the Prime Minister and Government decided to lock Indians out from returning from India and they were threatened with $50,000 fine and a jail sentence. Labor’s Michelle Rowland led a charge against this discrimination. How do you think this will affect the votes of the Indian population whom, the Prime Minister has been courting with visits to temples and the food? 

Scott Morrison and the Liberal Government left almost 10,000 Australian citizens and permanent residents stranded in India. At the time, Labor called on the Liberal Government to work urgently to support Australians in India, by looking at options to vaccinate Australians left behind in the high-risk situation and provide extra financial support to those most vulnerable. Scott Morrison’s failure to deliver on quarantine facility left too many Australians stranded for far too long.

There were also more than 200 Australian Children stuck in India without their parents, with no way to get home. At the time, I hosted a community zoom call to hear directly from Australians who had been stranded in India – the stories we heard were heartbreaking.

I’d say this to all the Indian Australians reading Indus Age.

I won’t go missing in action. I’ll work hard and solve problems, and I’m not afraid to roll up my sleeves to get things done.

The current Government saw the closure of the car manufacturing, states like New South Wales transferred the manufacturing of trains, ships and buses overseas. What will Anthony Albanese led government do to keep this manufacturing here. Will the government also commit to local purchase?  

Australia must be a country that makes things. After almost a decade of sending manufacturing offshore and neglecting workers, we’ve seen the consequences: fewer jobs, missed opportunities, and a nation left exposed when coronavirus hit.

Labor has a comprehensive plan to create jobs, boost vital skills by investing in education and training, bring industry expertise back onshore and supercharge national productivity.

A government I lead will rebuild our proud manufacturing industry, and build a future made right here in Australia. Australia is blessed with natural resources, but under this Government we’re missing out on an opportunity to value add and employ Australians in manufacturing.

We will provide up to $15 billion of capital to invest in job-creating projects through loans, equity and guarantees in resources, agriculture, transport, medical science, defence capability, enabling capabilities and renewables and low emissions technologies.

And you’re right, government should be looking at local purchasing.
Right now, too many businesses here in Australia, small businesses, are missing out on billions of dollars of Government contracts that are going to international competitors.

Government spending on contracts is a significant economic driver in Australia, totalling nearly $190 billion over the last three financial years.

We’ll maximise the use of Australian-made goods, products and materials in Commonwealth contracts as we roll out our plans to invest in a Future Made in Australia.

What is your take on the Australia’s Pacific partnerships? 
A government I lead will restore Australia’s place as the partner of choice for the countries in the Pacific.

Labor will strengthen Australia’s Pacific partnerships by delivering a comprehensive package of new programs to secure our region and build a stronger Pacific family. We will combine enhanced diplomatic capability, defence and security cooperation with effective climate leadership, vital development assistance and boosted Australian media outreach and increased people to people links to strengthen our Pacific partnerships.

Scott Morrison has dropped the ball in the Pacific, and as a result Australia is less secure.

If elected what will be your personal impetus to see that the Free Trade Agreement with India is completed and what else will the government bring to strengthen ties with India? 

Trade agreements such as the agreement with India open up really important opportunities, but the set-and-forget approach adopted by the Morrison Government has failed.

Mr Morrison was handed a blueprint for closer economic engagement with India in 2018 (the India Economic Strategy by Peter Varghese) that would have led to more exports and created jobs for Australians – but the Government completely ignored it for at least 3 years. The result is that trade actually decreased.

A Government I lead with make the trade and investment relationship between Australia and India an important priority. 

Labor will establish a regular economic track to ministerial dialogues. This high-level economic ministerial dialogue will send a strong signal to the private sector and demonstrate that we are committed to delivering on the promise of our partnership and reducing the barriers for businesses and investors. 

Our commitment to boosting Australian industry and manufacturing, to making Australia a renewable energy superpower, to diversifying our economy and securing our global supply chains will open new opportunities.

Labor’s strength is on education and health. What are some of the things that the Labor Party will introduce that will make the difference? 

Labor believes that a great education, from early learning and schools right through to universities and TAFEs, is the ticket to a lifetime of opportunity.

As a starting point we have to make sure our kids can bounce back after COVID. Labor will deliver $440 million to schools for better ventilation, building upgrades, and mental health support.

We’ll make sure our schools are safe for learning with a Schools Upgrade Fund to improve air quality, build more outdoor classrooms, buy air purifiers and replace boarded-up windows and doors.

We’re also going to invest $481.7 million to deliver up to 20,000 extra university places over 2022 and 2023, making it easier for Australians to find a spot at university and get a job.

We also know, that since the Liberals have been in Government, it is harder and costs more to see a doctor.

Demand for healthcare is skyrocketing – we need more GPs, and better access to other health care professionals. Without this, it is going to get even harder to see a GP, and the fees you pay once you do get in will be even higher.

Labor built Medicare. Australians know they can trust us to keep Medicare safe and strong, and to put the health of our people first.

If you get elected on the 21^st May what will be your time frame to visit India and will you extend the Indian Prime Minister to reciprocate the same? 

 If elected, I hope I will have the chance to meet Prime Minister Modi later this month at the forthcoming Quad leaders meeting. I will also be happy to invite Mr Modi to visit Australia.

Your readers may not know – I led a parliamentary delegation to India in 2018, and have enjoyed affection for India since I spent 6 weeks backpacking around India as a young man in 1991!