Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has roused party faithful, using a key state to springboard his re-election bid in a campaign set to go down to the wire.
Officially launching Labor’s campaign in Perth on Sunday in the run-up to a May 3 election, Mr Albanese announced a $1,000 (US$625) instant tax write-off for work expenses, meaning people won’t need receipts.
He further pledged 100,000 homes built solely for first homebuyers and the expansion of a program that would let the cohort get a mortgage with only a 5 percent deposit as the government goes guarantor.
Running through a laundry list of what his government had done since taking office three years ago, Albanese urged voters to trust a steady hand to weather economic headwinds.
“That is why we seek a second term, not because we think the job is done but because we know there is still so much work to do,” he said.
The prime minister used his speech to paint Opposition Leader Peter Dutton as Trump-lite, saying the coalition had borrowed the U.S. president’s populist policies.
“Why on earth would we try to mimic anywhere else?” he said.
“Australia didn’t copy the idea of a decent minimum wage from anywhere else in the world, we created it here, we didn’t steal the idea of universal superannuation from somewhere else, we made it here.
“That is the Australian way, that is the Labor way and that is the choice I’m asking the Australian people to make on the 3rd of May.”
Albanese was unphased by protesters angry at Labor’s live sheep export ban ahead of the launch which was attended by hundreds of believers and party luminaries like former Prime Minister Julia Gillard.
He instead drew parallels between former Prime Minister Scott Morrison and the opposition leader.
“Back to the phony conflicts and borrowed culture wars that we did not want under Scott Morrison and we cannot risk under Peter Dutton,” he said.
West Australian Premier Roger Cook proclaimed Albanese to be the best friend his state could ask for as he chastised the former Liberal government.
He pointed to when the Chinese Communist Party slapped retaliatory trade barriers onto Australian exports after the former government demanded an independent investigation into the origins of COVID-19 and banned Huawei from being involved in the nation’s 5G network.
“Liberals shattered friends faster than Elon Musk,” he said.
“As an export state, it was an appalling experience.
“Relationships that took years to build trashed at the expense of local industries and local WA jobs.”
Western Australia is a crucial battleground state that helped sweep Albanese to power in 2022 after the Liberals lost half a dozen seats and Labor picked up a handful off the back of massive swings.
It’s hoping to use the popularity of the state Labor government to maintain momentum in the west and keep the seats it won at the last election, as well as pick up the newly created seat of Bullwinkel.
