ANTHONY ALBANESE MP
LEADER OF THE AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY
JIM CHALMERS MP
SHADOW TREASURER
MEMBER FOR RANKIN
SENATOR KATY GALLAGHER
SHADOW MINISTER FOR FINANCE
SHADOW MINISTER FOR THE PUBLIC SERVICE
LABOR SENATOR FOR THE AUSTRALIAN CAPITAL TERRITORY
BILL SHORTEN MP
SHADOW MINISTER FOR THE NATIONAL DISABILITY INSURANCE SCHEME
SHADOW MINISTER FOR GOVERNMENT SERVICES
MEMBER FOR MARIBYRNONG
E&OE TRANSCRIPT
DOORSTOP INTERVIEW
PERTH
SATURDAY, 30 APRIL 2022
SUBJECTS: A Future Made in Australia; Powering Australia; Electric buses; Cost of living; Labor’s Plan for Cheaper Childcare; Secure Australian Jobs; Royal Commission into Robodebt.
JIM CHALMERS, SHADOW TREASURER: Real pleasure to be here with my colleagues, Tracey Roberts, running for us in Pearce. Tom French, running for us in Moore. The wonderful Rita Saffioti, of course, WA state minister. Anthony Albanese, Bill Shorten, and Katy Gallagher. Thanks for having us here in Perth. We are really excited to be in Western Australia ahead of the launch tomorrow. It's a big deal for us and hopefully for WA that we are launching the national campaign for A Better Future under Labor here in the West. Now for too long now, Scott Morrison, the Liberals and Nationals have taken Western Australia for granted. They take Western Australia for granted whether it's in electoral terms or in economic terms, and that has to end. The Liberals and Nationals see WA as a source of votes, not as a source of secure, well paid jobs and opportunities, and that's the difference. Now the workers, and employers, and communities of Western Australia have kept the wheels of the national economy turning throughout the worst of this pandemic, and the thanks that they get for that can't be another three years of Scott Morrison's incompetence. Now here in Perth is the epicentre of Scott Morrison's cost of living crisis. Inflation here at 7.6 per cent in Perth is the highest of any capital city in Australia. And if the Reserve Bank increases interest rates next Tuesday or next month, the cost for that on an average Western Australian mortgage will be $94 a month if the increase is a quarter of a per cent. This cannot be the thanks that Australians get for what they've been through throughout the pandemic. And also for the last, almost a decade now, of this Liberal Government. Now the opportunity here in Western Australia is absolutely boundless. This is the land of opportunity, making an enormous contribution to the national economy. We can't have another three years of Scott Morrison playing one state off against another. We can't have another three years of Scott Morrison playing politics, trying to divide east and west, north and south, people and Premiers of different political persuasions. The choice at this election is between Anthony Albanese working with Mark McGowan, or Scott Morrison working with Clive Palmer. I'll throw to Anthony Albanese.
ANTHONY ALBANESE, LEADER OF THE AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY: Well, thanks very much, Jim. And it's great to be here, particularly with our candidates, Tracey and Tom, here in Western Australia. And it's good to be anywhere, frankly, at the moment because, of course, I have just come out of iso, along with the Premier of WA Mark McGowan, who both of us tested positive on the same day. I'm excited to be here for the campaign launch tomorrow. I think putting Western Australia at the centre of our campaign launch sends a message that I want to be the Prime Minister for the whole of Australia. Now we know that during the past couple of years, Scott Morrison when he had the opportunity to side with Mark McGowan or Clive Palmer, he chose Clive Palmer. And now the Liberal Party, of course, have done a preference deal with Clive Palmer. The fact is, I want to work with Premiers across the country, whether it be Mark McGowan here in Western Australia, or Dominic Perrottet. In New South Wales, or other Premiers around the country. I want to work in the national interest. I think that Australians have conflict fatigue. This is a government that's always looking for an argument, never looking for a solution. And behind us here we have a solution, electric vehicles through electric buses. And that's why I'm very pleased that we've agreed to partner with the WA McGowan government to deliver 130 electric buses made here. A core part of my pitch to the Australian people is making more things here. One of the lessons of the pandemic is we have to stand on our own two feet. We're vulnerable if we're at the end of supply chains, and every time a state Liberal government has gone and invested in rail carriages and other transport infrastructure overseas, it's never fit for purpose. They say it's going to save money, it comes back, and then it has to be retrofitted. Whether it be light rail in New South Wales, the train carriages that Campbell Newman bought in Queensland that are still being fixed at Maryborough at the Downer EDI site. Here in WA, the McGowan Government is building trains right here in a world class facility. And what this announcement will enable today is for us to build electric buses here as well. Taking advantage of the shift to clean energy, taking advantage of reducing pollution on the streets, taking advantage of the efficiencies that come from using new technology. So I think this is very much front and centre of my plan for a better future. I'll be saying more about that tomorrow at the campaign launch. And I've asked Rita Saffioti, my friend who I worked very closely with the last time we're in government on projects like Perth City Link, and Gateway WA, and other infrastructure projects here to create jobs and to build infrastructure and to boost the WA economy.
RITA SAFFIOTI, WA MINISTER FOR TRANSPORT: Thanks Anthony. And can I say what a great pleasure it is to have the national Labor campaign launch here in WA, we are all so very excited. And I think it's a recognition of the importance of WA to the national economy. And we're very very excited to welcome your vote of confidence in WA to have that national campaign launch here tomorrow. We also welcome this partnership, a new partnership that would see the delivery of electric buses throughout the city and the suburbs. It will see a new facility being built here in one of our industrial estates. And it will see the upgrading of depots like this, and new infrastructure, like the recharging stations, to support the rollout of electric buses throughout our suburbs. We've seen already, and we've demonstrated, that with a long term plan you can develop new jobs for Western Australians. Our rail car manufacturing facility in Bellevue is a demonstration of a government that actually invested in infrastructure and facilitated the creation of a rail car manufacturing industry in WA. After 30 years, we went from zero to a facility being open and operated within four years. So we're very, very excited. This would be a true partnership, it's a $250 million commitment. It's a proposal that we've put to both sides of politics. It's been costed by the State Government, and it includes money, $80 million for the buses, it includes $50 million for the facility, and it includes $120 million for the depot upgrades, and all the necessary infrastructure. So we very much thank Anthony Albanese and his team for again, the recognition of what we want, which is new jobs in Western Australia, long term manufacturing capacity, and also the ability to roll out these buses, and make sure that we all do our bit to tackle climate change. Thank you very much.
ALBANESE: Thanks very much right Rita. Before we take questions, Bill Shorten’s going to make some comments about the announcements that we have out there, that you've read about today, about our Royal Commission into Robodebt, something that's cost $1.8 billion of waste as a result of this government's debacle, but most importantly, has had a dreadful human cost as well. And also our plan to make the myGov site user friendly so that people can access government services in a more friendly way. We know that a number of state sites have been able to achieve this, the Federal Government should do it too.
BILL SHORTEN, SHADOW MINISTER FOR GOVERNMENT SERVICES: Hello, everybody. I'm pleased along with Anthony Albanese to be announcing today, the principles for the Terms of Reference for Labor's Royal Commission into the Robodebt scandal. Just to briefly remind you of the Robodebt scandal, $1.8 billion was illegally raised by the government in debts against nearly half a million Australian citizens. But these citizens were the vulnerable. There were pensioners. There were people who were unemployed. There were people with disabilities. There were university students from the country and the city. The government from April 2015, initiated what it called the online compliance scheme, became not so affectionately known as Robodebt, where the government raised debt notices of $1.8 billion against nearly half a million Australians. Terrible harm was done. I have spoken to families who absolutely believe that the pressure of the unfair debt notices raised against loved family members, contributed to them taking their own life. I've spoken to people in the court action, the class action which Labor helped organise, where people weren't able to get jobs, where they had the stigma of debts. Some people just paid up as soon as the government issued them a debt, never questioning, in fact, whether the government had the legal authority or the evidence to raise the debt, others fought it. The Robodebt campaign over four years was the government going to war with its own people, and it didn't have the legal authority. Labor's put forward our proposal for Terms of Reference. We will consult so we have them in place before Christmas of this year, if we are to be elected. We're going to find out who was responsible, because the federal government's never owned up actually. We want to find out what were the processes? What advice did they get? Did they get bad advice? Did they get no advice? Or did they get good advice they ignored. We want to do the accounting, the harm. In essence, the Robodebt Royal Commission is about justice for the victims. It's about justice for the taxpayers. And it's to make sure that it never ever happens again. On a more positive note, we want to make sure that Australians using government services, and the myGov site, actually have a good user experience. We're going to do a user audit review straightaway, if we get elected. 10 million Australians have myGov accounts. When it works well, it's a great thing. But none of us should forget the March 2020 crash when there was a surge in demand, and we had silly, Stuart Robert, the disgraced Minister for Government Services, blame invisible hackers, he called it denial of service. And then he was found out - it wasn't the hackers, it's just the government didn't prepare. Let's get the user experience for government services right. I think taxpayers expect us to do that.
JOURNALIST: I actually have a question on Robodebt. Scott Morrison has accused Labor of being hypocritical for criticising the government for a scheme introduced by Labor in assessing people's welfare entitlements. Are you being hypocritical and did Labor introduce what was essentially the precursor to Robodebt?
SHORTEN: When it comes to Robodebt, Scott Morrison couldn't lie straight in bed. I mean, the scheme was announced by, guess who, Scott Morrison and the government, for April 2015. The class action, which saw the $1.8 billion settlement at the door of the court was against the government for actions they took from April 2015. Mr. Morrison's put out talking points and they're just a pack of lies, a farrago of fiction.
JOURNALIST: But did you introduce what was essentially the precursor to Robodebt?
SHORTEN: No.
JOURNALIST: And will that be covered by the Royal Commission?
SHORTEN: I'll tell you what Mr. Morrison, I don't want to give you legal advice. But if you get called before the Royal Commission, you can run your rubbish talking points in the Royal Commission and see how far that gets you.
JOURNALIST: How much will the Royal Commission cost, and have you consulted with people, victims, whether they actually want a Royal Commission?
SHORTEN: Well first of all, we've budgeted the cost to be up to $30 million. That's looking at what the bushfire Royal Commission was, and what the pink batts Royal Commission was for costing. In terms of what the victims of Robodebt want. I haven't met many victims of Robodebt who don't want a Royal Commission. Let's just unpick Mr. Morrison's lie so he can't again waste your precious time with this fiction and fairytale he's telling. The Federal Court class action which saw hundreds of thousands of people reimbursed for money which was illegally taken from them - it was a settlement at the door at court, on the morning, in fact the lunchtime of the day the trial was going to start. People, the reason why they settled at twelve o'clock on the day the trial was going to start is because Mr. Morrison, and let's just go through the roll call of ministers who've got their grubby fingerprints on this scandal: there's Mr. Morrison; there's Stuart Robert, I mean, what scandal has hasn't he been a part of; then you've got Paul Fletcher; the unlamented Mr. Christian Porter. There isn't anyone in this government who hasn't been near Robodebt. The reason why they settled, is they didn't want to get into the box and admit who knew what when. So we haven't yet got that missing piece of the puzzle. The people have got their money back. But the Australian taxpayers never had a satisfactory explanation. Why did Robodebt happen? Why was this debt illegally raised against hundreds of thousands of Aussies? Until we get that answer the matter cannot rest, because how do we prevent this happening again?
ALBANESE: Can I first make this point. Is there any issue in which Scott Morrison doesn't blame someone else, in which he doesn't take responsibility. This is a guy who was the Social Security Minister who presided over this scheme. And yet again, he won't take responsibility. I'll tell you what Labor will do, Labor will put the humans back into Human Services.
JOURNALIST: Mr Albanese, Western Australians are paying 60 per cent more for their grocery staples than they were at the last election, you've said things will be better under your government if you are elected on May 21. By how much? How much will people pay less for their groceries in Western Australia and the rest of the country if you're elected?
ALBANESE: I'll ask Jim to comment on this as well, but can I make this point, Perth has the highest inflation rate in the country at 7.6 per cent. People are doing it really, really tough. There is a cost of living crisis in this country. And the epicentre is right here. And we have a government that is so complacent, that is ignoring the rising costs of childcare, the rising costs of food and groceries, the rising costs of living. This is a government that are so out of touch, they're running a campaign which implies that life is easy under this government. That says it all about how out of touch they are.
JOURNALIST: Mr Albanese, can I ask you, you're standing here with to Bill Shorten today. What mistakes do you think he made in 2019 that you won’t make this time around? And Mr Shorten what do you make of Mr Albanese’s mistake-prone first week?
ALBANESE: I think that the Labor Party takes responsibility collectively, as I've said. As Leader of the Labor Party, we take responsibility for the fact that we didn't win the 2013 election, the 2016 election, or the 2019 election. What we did was we had a review. I went to the National Press Club, and out and outlined [interruption]. We are, we are a team, we take collective responsibility for what's good, and what's not so good. The truth is that we've been unsuccessful in three campaigns in a row. And what we did was we had a review, in which, we outlined and released it in full. No other political party has done ever what we did, no other political leader [interruption] Just let me finish Doug. You’ve got your question, just let me finish. I went to the National Press Club, I outlined the four-part strategy, four phase strategy, we're in the last quarter, now, we're well into time on, in the last quarter now. And what you'll see tomorrow, what you'll see tomorrow is a campaign launch, with A Better Future for all, with no one left behind, no one held back. With specific plans to strengthen Medicare; to build more things here, like we're announcing now; to address cost of living pressures, including electricity, including childcare; to lift wages. We have plans, you'll see more of them tomorrow at the campaign launch. And I've got to say this about my team, every one of them here. Bill Shorten is an important part of my team. As a former leader, I have respected his opinions, and he has been a great source of advice, and I thank him for it.
JOURNALIST: Can I just ask about the plan to abolish the construction thing. There's been a report it's going to cost five billion to the economy, I think its 50 billion [interruption].
ALBANESE: Five or 50?
JOURNALIST: 50, sorry Anthony.
ALBANESE: There’s a difference between the two.
JOURNALIST: What's your response to that, why would you abolish it (inaudible)?
ALBANESE: The truth is that what we want is laws that apply to all workers equally. And laws also that apply to all employers equally, like making wage theft a crime [interruption]. Those figures are nonsense, complete nonsense.
JOURNALIST: Is Tanya Plibersek a valued member of your team? If so, why isn't she here with the other members of your team, who are here for the Labor launch tomorrow? Essentially following up on Lanai’s question what exactly will you do to make the price of essential goods and services, groceries, cheaper to Western Australians, to New South Wales, to Victorians, what exactly will you do to reduce that price?
ALBANESE: Tanya Plibersek is an outstanding member of my team, and no one is working harder to elect a Labor government than Tanya Plibersek. She is such an extraordinary asset. She has launched, I think, more campaigns than any member of the team. She's in such demand around the country and has been travelling the country all year. And tomorrow, she'll be representing me at the May Day March in Sydney, as well as launching her own campaign. Now, originally, we had the campaign launch scheduled for last Sunday. Lucky that didn't occur. Because we thought the election was going to be on May 14, because we were aware of the Quad leaders meeting that will take place in Tokyo on May 24. And that was announced formally this week. But we were conscious of that as well. So I, we set together a plan for May 14. But Tanya Plibersek is doing a fantastic job, as the Shadow Minister for Education and also the Shadow Minister for Women - we will have a lot more to say, on education during the next three weeks of the campaign. Labor will always do more about education. Because what we think is very different from the government's approach. The government sees education as just benefiting an individual, what we see whether it's early childhood education, which is why child care is so important for us, or school education, or fee-free TAFE that we're committing to, or the additional university places, we see an investment in a smart country, as being investing in all of us, and that the whole country benefiting, we will have a lot more to say about that. Hang on, one at a time. One at a time.
JOURNALIST: How much cheaper will meat and vegetables be under an Albanese government?
ALBANESE: Well, I'll tell you what cost-of-living pressures, we will be able to deliver on. We have said, we have said, we will make child care cheaper. We've said we have a plan to actually lift wages, we have said we have a plan as well, to take pressure off electricity prices. We have a plan.
JOURNALIST: Are you willing to say how much cheaper it will be under Labor?
ALBANESE: We have a plan.
JOURNALIST: I’m sorry Mr Albanese, we had an event with Kristina Keneally and your candidate, in Reid, with a poster saying, these are all the groceries that have gone up by this much in the past months.
JOURNALIST: And they also avoided the question.
JOURNALIST: You can’t say how much relief –
ALBANESE: We have a range of measures which will take –
JOURNALIST: And also, Mr Chalmers said earlier…
JOURNALIST: And you mentioned rate rises, you can’t do anything to stop rate rises, are you trying to politicise the RBA’s decision (inaudible)?
CHALMERS: No, on the contrary, the point that I'm making, the point that Anthony was making, the point that I made yesterday, the point that Kristina made yesterday, is the first thing is you need to acknowledge the serious cost-of-living pressure on Australians right now. Secondly, you need to take responsibility for making a meaningful difference where you can. We've got policies about getting power bills down, we've got policies for cheaper, more accessible health care, which is a big part of the story. We've got policies to make child care cheaper, we've got policies to get real wages moving again. And when families sit around the kitchen table and work out how they're going to deal with Scott Morrison's cost-of-living crisis, all of those things matter. All of those things matter. Right. And if you speak to as many families as we all do, in the course of our work, you would know and we know that families don't consider their budget, you know, just in little parts, they consider it in its totality. And our Labor Party is going to this election with a substantial policy to ease the cost-of-living on people who are doing it tough. And I'll tell you the difference. And this is what matters. I'll tell you why this, I'll tell you why this matters. The difference between us. The difference between Anthony and Scott Morrison. Scott Morrison takes credit when things are going well in the economy. He takes none of the responsibility when times are tough. He wants to pretend now that he has absolutely nothing to do with this cost-of-living crisis, we have a different view. We think that there is a role for government in easing the cost-of-living pressures on Australian families. And we've run through in some detail how we'd go about it.
JOURNALIST: If you were in government, Mr Albanese, how would you ease the cost-of-living pressures, how would you reduce the price of groceries for ordinary Australians who are really struggling right now?
CHALMERS: This is how. This is how we ease the cost-of-living pressures on Australian families. We make their child care cheaper, we make their power bills cheaper, we make their health care cheaper and more accessible. And we get their real wages moving again.
ALBANESE: Sorry. How are you going? I’m a bit concerned about the hat, it looks similar to what someone else wears.
JOURNALIST: Oh, yeah?
ALBANESE: Anyway.
JOURNALIST: You said you're looking forward to working with Premiers around the country. There’s a report in The Australian today. It said that Dan Andrew is seen as quote unquote, “toxic” as it quotes, from members of the Labor Party in Victoria, saying that he is divisive, and seen as divisive in parts of Melbourne and Victoria. Do you see him as toxic, and do you plan to campaign alongside him?
ALBANESE: Dan Andrews has been a friend of mine for a very long period of time, I think he does an outstanding job as the Premier of Victoria, and I will work with every single Premier. I don't know, the new guy in Tassie. But I did know of course Premier Gutwein, I think we would have worked well together. I look forward to working with every state Premier around the country to advance our national interest. That should be what the national leader does, not look to try and divide states, divide people, but to try to unite the country with our common interest. That is something that I hope to be good at.
JOURNALIST: Mr Albanese, can I get your response to the government’s PBS announcement today? Will you be matching it?
KATY GALLAGHER, SHADOW MINISTER FOR FINANCE: Thanks, thanks very much for the question. Look, let's, let's not forget where this shambles of an announcement from the government came from. Let's not forget that just after, I think the day after budget, Minister Sukkar went into the House of Representatives and announced this policy. And then a few hours later, they scrubbed it from the Hansard. Hours after that, Senator Hume went into the Senate, also announced it, they then went scrubbed it from the Hansard, then as well. So, it's been announced and wiped, announced and wiped. And then, and we'll have more to say about this. And I suspect it's the fact that we'll have more to say about this that has focused Mr. Morrison's mind on making the announcement he has today. But it shows that this is a desperate government in a scramble. And you can't trust a word this guy says, right? Because he's announced it three times now. Twice, it's been abolished after it's been announced. He's got wind of something, and he's made another announcement. This guy - we will have more to say we will have more to say. And my point is, because we will have more to say about this is why, well, is why Mr. Morrison has come out today. So you can't trust him. He doesn't care about cost-of-living or the cost of medicines, unless he sees it through a political lens. You know, this is something we have been looking at because it will make a genuine cost-of-living difference to people who rely on essential medicines. We are not responding. No, no, I'm not going to let him off the hook for this. I'm going to call it out for what it is. We've seen the way he behaves. He's got wind of something, he's made an announcement that his own government has abolished twice. Now it's not about cost-of-living. It's about his political convenience. Now, there is a real issue about price of medicines. Stay tuned on that front. Stay tuned on that front. But we need - sorry, we need a leader who actually cares about cost-of-living beyond a political campaign. That's why we have all the policies we've outlined today. That's why we'll have more to say about medicines. And that's why you can trust Anthony Albanese and not the Prime Minister.
ALBANESE: Yeah, I’ll just add a couple of - three points. Briefly. One, this is the same government that in its 2014 budget had a $5 increase in the PBS and prescriptions. Two, this announcement today is not about prescriptions for Australians. It's about a prescription for Mr. Morrison for his re-election. That is what it is about. And thirdly, watch this space. Because I don't want to make announcements here because then you might not turn up tomorrow. Madura.
JOURNALIST: Mr Albanese, is your argument that the ABCC has pursued union officials for minor infractions while failing to tackle worker safety?
ALBANESE: I didn't say that. I didn't say that. So don't verbal me.
JOURNALIST: Okay, apologies if that’s not what you said, it’s what I read in a news report. So if the argument is that the ABCC is not, it is failing to tackle worker safety, and is going for the union for minor things, as is their discretion. Why not just tweak, the Commission instead of abolishing it wholesale, and a question for Mr Shorten, will the Royal Commission -
ALBANESE: Hang on. Can I answer that first, and then you can, you'll get the call again, promise. Straight away. Can I make this point about that? One, I've never said, I've never discounted the fact that there can be serious issues, and they should, breaches of the law should face the full force of the law. People should be prosecuted when they do the wrong thing, whether they're employees, union officials, or employers, we should have strong action. I've been prepared to take strong action against the leader of, that union in Victoria, when I believe he acted contrary to the interests of someone who should be a member of the Labor Party. I took that issue on. The government at the time, at the time, stood up and ridiculed it and said, oh, you're being taken to court. Of course we were because I was taking on a powerful interest. And I'm prepared to take on powerful interests, whether they be union officials doing the wrong thing, or whether they be employers doing the wrong thing. But I'll say this, prosecuting people for having a Eureka flag on their equipment is just absurd, is just absurd. And that's why we need strong laws. We need strong laws. That's why this body is a politicized body, that costs an enormous amount of money. I will, I will be harsh and come down on any bad behaviour by union officials, but also any bad behaviour by employers, and what shouldn't occur, is that one group of workers gets singled out. And that's what we have here. And now your question. Yeah, sorry. I promised.
JOURNALIST: Just in terms of the Royal Commission, would it open up the possibility of more compensation, and does Labor commit to firing, if the Royal Commission so finds that a few people in the public service were responsible, firing those people at the end of the Royal Commission?
SHORTEN: The aim of the Royal Commission is not about additional compensation. But Australians are owed an answer, aren't they? How can a government for four years illegally issue debts worth $1.8 billion against half a million of its fellow citizens? And then take them to court, debt collectors, the whole ugly process, people put their lives on hold, how can this happen, and Mr. Morrison doesn't know who did it? All of the inquiries, and the court processes so far, have not got to answer that crucial question. Who knew what when? In terms of the Royal Commission if it makes findings, which then lead to action against individuals? Listen, I just think taxpayers want justice, the victims want justice, we need to make sure it never happens again. And if Coalition Ministers in the event they lose this election, are brought back off the golf range, off the, of you know, playing golf and retirement and have to explain for illegal activities. So be it. Let's just see where the cards fall.
ALBANESE: We’ll take two more questions. Yeah, I’ll come to you.
JOURNALIST: On the cost-of-living, Dr Chalmers as well, I’ll put the question to you, I’m agreeing with you about…
CHALMERS: You can go on for as long as you like then mate.
ALBANESE: Yeah, you’ve won him mate.
JOURNALIST: For household budgets, so when a family gets the benefits from child care reductions, gets the benefits from cheaper power bills, and gets the benefits of your plan to grow wages, will that be enough to offset the cost of rising interest rates, and rising inflation? Will families be better off, when you look at their overall pocketbook?
ALBANESE: I'll say this very clearly, they will be better off under a Labor government than they will be under a Morrison government, that says that life is easy now. That's the problem for this government. They've been in office now, for almost a decade, they want another three years of just more of the same. And with regard to their announcements that they had in the budget, it says it all. They had a series of announcements that they keep talking about. I've seen Mr. Morrison, over the last couple of days say, oh, well, we had to have these measures. They all end as soon as people cast their votes. They're all short term, the $250 payment ends, ends. The other measures end. Whether it's the changes to the Lower Middle Income Tax Offset, whether it be petrol, they all end. This government does not have a plan to grow the economy in a way that's consistent with not having an inflationary impact. Labor does. Just here. Last one.
JOURNALIST: Labor continues to talk up the notion of a real wage increase, can you name two or three other countries in the western world where real wages have increased in recent years?
CHALMERS: I think this is the key question, right? Because the government wants to use international comparisons to wash their hands of Scott Morrison's cost-of-living crisis, right? Let me finish. And so if you compare the real wage outcomes of Australians versus the Americans, for example, to take one example, Australian workers are faring worse than their American counterparts. Inflation, we're seeing, we are seeing inflation around the world, we're seeing inflation here. The difference is, we've had almost a decade now of wage stagnation, which is a deliberate design feature of this government. Now, Scott Morrison, in his usual way, he takes credit but not responsibility. He wants to pretend that all of this cost-of-living pressure on families, and on Australians more broadly, has just shown up when Russia invaded Ukraine. The pressure on Australian families didn't start when Russia invaded Ukraine, it started when the Coalition started attacking wages and job security, for the best part of a decade now. And so he cannot, he cannot explain or excuse his-
JOURNALIST: Are there other countries, in the western world, that have seen a real wage increase?
JOURNALIST: Real wage outcomes in the US are stronger than real wage outcomes in Australia.
ALBANESE: Katy, and then I'll wrap up. Last one.
JOURNALIST: Katy, you spoke a lot about trust, and that you've outlined your policies, but we've had two of, we’ve had the Leader and we've had the Shadow Treasurer not able to outline how much better Australians will be under your plans. Why can't you outline how much better Australians would be? And why should we trust you, if we don't have the numbers?
GALLAGHER: Respectfully, I disagree with the question. I mean, I think both Jim and Anthony today have outlined extensively, the difference between us and the government, and households will be better off after us, because -
JOURNALIST: How much? How much better off?
GALLAGHER: We have, the policies that we have outlined will put downward pressure on household budgets, it will support household incomes. That is, they are the levers available to us in government to address through these policies through child care, through cheaper and renewable energy, through making things here, through responsible modest investments where government can, to support the cost-of-living pressures across households. That is a long-term focus of ours. We're not here making announcement that we have killed twice and then rehash because we're under a bit of pressure. We are not making commitments that are about getting through to May 22nd, or 23rd, or 24th. We are actually looking around the long-term economic challenges and having a response to them to help households deal with them. And we've outlined that clearly this morning.
ALBANESE: Thanks. Thanks very much. Thanks. Thanks very much. Can I, could I, just when you finish, when you finish. Can I just conclude by thanking everyone for coming along and saying it's great to be out again, I look forward to the campaign launch here in Perth tomorrow, where we'll be outlining our plan for a better future. I look forward to seeing Mark McGowan there, and other Western Australians and I look forward to the campaign over the next three weeks. Thanks very much.
ENDS
