Anthony Albanese has sidestepped a question on if wages would rise under a government he leads.
A key part of Labor’s strategy has been to underscore that for many Australians, the cost of living has risen but wages have not.
The line has been repeated ad nauseam over the past three years, included in everything from radio interviews, speeches and memes.
But on the eve of the federal budget, and with an election just around the corner, Mr Albanese was asked if voters could expect life to be any different under a Labor government.
While he promised to address the gig economy and make changes to the Fair Work Act, he could not categorically promise a wage increase.
“What we promise is that we will be doing our bit to assist real wage increases,” he said.
In a wide-ranging press conference, Mr Albanese and opposition Treasury spokesman Jim Chalmers said the budget was aimed at buying the government’s political survival.
“It won’t be a plan for the future, it will be a plan for Scott Morrison’s re-election,” Dr Chalmers said.
Mr Albanese criticised the government for taking too long to tackle cost of living pressures but indicated Labor would support measures such as a cut to the fuel excise.
“We will examine any proposal that assists with cost of living on its merits,” he told reporters.
But Scott Morrison insisted his budget was a “long-term plan” and not a re-election pitch.
“This budget is about cost of living, it‘s about the long-term plan that Australians need to grow the economy,“ The Prime Minister told reporters in western Sydney.
Earlier, Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce said there was no doubt Russia’s decision to wage war on Ukraine was hurting Australians’ hip xjmtzywpockets.
“The cost of living of course is central. People are concerned about it. You can’t cure everything. You assist, you can mitigate, but you can’t fix,” he told Seven’s Sunrise.
“The issues such as food prices are affected by Ukraine, energy prices are affected by Ukraine.
“A lot of these do go back to Mr Putin and the outrageous murdering process that he’s going through.”
Meanwhile, Infrastructure Minister Paul Fletcher denied an $18bn infrastructure mega spend was politically motivated.
“Well, I make the point, for example, that if you look at the intermodal terminals in Beveridge and Truganina, as it happens both of them fall into Labor electorates,” Mr Fletcher said.
“We have not considered electoral considerations – what we have looked at is the long-term freight needs of Melbourne and Australia in making that investment.”
