SUBJECTS: 2022 Federal Budget; Federal election; Labor’s policy agenda.
 
SYLVIA JEFFREYS, HOST: Labor has begun its post-Budget attack, criticising the Government for having no plan for the future, with more sledging set to come during Anthony Albanese's Budget Reply tomorrow night.
 
DAVID CAMPBELL, HOST: So, let's get a preview now. We are joined by the Leader of the Opposition. Anthony, good to see you again. You've criticised this Budget for providing short-term solutions for the rise of cost of living.
 
ANTHONY ALBANESE, LEADER OF THE AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY: Good morning
 
CAMPBELL: Come tomorrow night, are you going to block these measures?
 
ALBANESE: No, we'll be voting for them today. They'll go through the Parliament today. We know that people are really hurting in terms of cost of living. But they've been hurting for some time. The Budget shows that real wages will actually go backwards by $1,355 this year after a record backward trend last year. People are really doing it tough. Everything's going up. The price of food and groceries, the price of petrol was almost $2 a litre before Ukraine was invaded by Russia. The cost of housing is going up. Everything's going up except for people's wages. What we have here is a cynical ploy to get the Government through an election that has all the sincerity of a fake tan. It will just disappear without a trace within weeks. Then everything will go back up again. They may as well be stapling cash to how-to- votes in May. What a cynical, political Government this is, without a plan for Australia's future.
 
JEFFREYS: So, Anthony, the cut to the fuel excise, that expires in six months' time. If you're Prime Minister then, will you extend it?
 
ALBANESE: Well, this is the Government's measures. They're all, in Josh Frydenberg's terms last night in his Budget speech, temporary and targeted was the term he used. They're real temporary and targeted at the election.
 
JEFFREYS: Sorry to interrupt, but on the fuel excise, will you extend it beyond six months? You saying there is nothing worse than a fake tan that expires quickly. Well, people probably want an extension to the cut to the fuel excise too.
 
ALBANESE: Well, this is the Government's own strategy and its own legislation that they will put through the Parliament, and we'll vote for it, today. But the Government is leaving a trillion dollars of debt with nothing to show for it. These one-off payments will add to the debt with nothing to show for it. Short-term political opportunism without a plan for Australia's future. What we'll do is address the issue of the need to have secure work, to lift people's wages, to have cheaper, more affordable child care, to deal with housing affordability through our Housing Australia Future Fund, to deal long-term, putting downward pressure on electricity prices. Our plan, to power the nation, will reduce power prices by $275 a year for households. And we've got these permanent measures that will come in. That is what a Government should be looking at. How do you actually grow the economy in the future? How do you have an economy that works for people, not people working for the economy? How do you create more security? And we have a plan for that.
 
CAMPBELL: You're giving us a lot of what would be previewed tomorrow night in what you're saying here. But you were just talking about cost of living before. You were talking about the stagnant wages, wages even going backwards in this country. Before, we pushed the Finance Minister about that. And he didn't really give us an answer. So, what would a Labor Government do to help combat this cost of living and to raise the minimum wage and wages in this country?
 
ALBANESE: Well, we, of course, think there should be an increase in the minimum wage. There's a case going on at the moment. The Government hasn't even made a submission supporting that. The other point about the minimum wage is that we've asked questions in the Parliament about people in the gig economy, for example, who aren't being paid the minimum wage. And the Government has said it's complicated. Well, we don't think it's complicated. We think that every Australian should be paid the minimum wage. And we also think that on issues like wage theft, it should be a crime. It's stealing money off workers. And it should be a crime. There was support across the Parliament to do something about it. And the Government withdrew those provisions of its legislation. This is a Government that have cynically been prepared to attack people's wages. Remember the cuts that they made to penalty rates? The pressure that they put on wages where the former Finance Minister said that low wage growth was a key feature of the Government's economic architecture. This isn't by accident. This is by design. It's having a real handbrake effect on the economy, but a real impact on people who are really doing it tough out there. And the Government's only solutions are these one-off payments that end as soon as people cast their vote in the election. Well, they will get those one-off payments. We will make sure it goes through the Parliament. Because we know the pressure that people are on. But they'll be quite right to be cynical about a Government that's been in office for almost a decade, they're shooting for a second decade in office. People will say to themselves, ‘Is this really as good as it gets? Do we really want a Government to serve a second decade in office that don't even have a plan for this term, let alone for the next term?’ They had an opportunity last night to outline a plan for a better future. They failed to do so. All they had was a plan for themselves to get another term in office.
 
JEFFREYS: Unfortunately, we are out of time, Opposition Leader, Anthony Albanese. We appreciate you joining us this morning. We will look forward to your Budget Reply speech tomorrow evening.
 
CAMPBELL: Thanks for your time.
 
ALBANESE: Thanks very much. Have a great day.
 
ENDS