Anthony Albanese has launched a scathing attack on opposition leader Peter Dutton – warning in a speech to the Labor faithful what he thinks Australia would look like under a coalition government.
The Prime Minister was the guest speaker at the Lionel Bowen Dinner on Tuesday evening celebrating his ten years in service by Matt Thisthlethwaite, MP for Kingsford-Smith in Sydney and Assistant Minister for the Republic.
Mr Albanese brushed aside a series of disappointing polls to deliver an impassioned and at times fiery speech aimed at reminding Australians why they voted Labor after nine years of coalition government – and drawing attention to their misgivings about Mr Dutton and the Greens.
‘What have we left behind?’ he posed for the crowd.
‘I’ll start with a joke I heard: a Minister of Health, Minister of Trade, Minister of Industry, Minister of Home Affairs, Treasurer and Prime Minister walk into a bar. And the bartender says, “Just the usual, Scott?”
The Prime Minister was the guest speaker at the Lionel Bowen Dinner celebrating a decade of service by Matt Thisthlethwaite, the Kingsford-Smith MP and Assistant Minister for the Republic
The joke makes light of perhaps Morrison’s biggest scandal to emerge after the election: that he had secretly sworn himself into several major portfolios during the Covid pandemic, without informing the ministers involved or the Australian public. to be informed.
Albanese then turned to Morrison’s successor, Opposition Leader Peter Dutton.
“And now we have Peter Dutton,” he said.
‘A man who claims to be conservative, but is trying to destroy our institutions.
‘A man who talks about the importance of social cohesion – but does everything he can to divide us as a society.
‘A man who talks about the importance of lowering the temperature – and then adds fuel to the fire.’
Mr Albanese claimed Mr Dutton would start working within a year to improve his reputation ahead of the next general election, due to take place in early 2025.
“We’re going to hear about Pete’s kind heart and his cuddly nature. We may even catch a glimpse of a smile; it’s amazing what they can do with AI these days.
Anthony Albanese takes a selfie during the Lionel Bowen Dinner
“But there will never be anything like Dutton 2.0.”
Mr Dutton was not the only one in the prime minister’s crosshairs. Albanese also mocked the Greens’ stubborn opposition to Labour’s housing policies.
“He (Dutton) is such a development-free zone, I’m afraid the Greens political party is going to draw attention to him,” he said.
“They are so anti-house building that they are trying to prevent a vacant chicken farm in Brisbane from being turned into housing by the world’s most ruthless mega-developer, the Uniting Church.”
Mr Albanese admitted these are the two other major parties vying for the votes of ordinary Aussies.
But he said they should not be considered an “alternative” government.
Mr Albanese claimed Mr Dutton would start working within a year to improve his reputation ahead of the next general election, due to take place in early 2025.
“All the Coalition and the Greens have to offer is a dead end – or, at best, a roundabout with no exit. Movement without results.
“If you want the way forward, you need Labour.”
A Roy Morgan poll this week showed Dutton’s Coalition ahead of Labor for the first time since the election.
Labour’s decline in the polls also coincides with the controversial Supreme Court ruling freeing 93 asylum seekers, including murderers, rapists and pedophiles.
The poll is the third in a row to show a significant drop in Labour’s primary vote.
Going into the general election, the Coalition is now on 37.5 percent, up 1 percent from a week ago, and significantly higher than the ALP on 29.5 percent, down 0.5 percent.
Support for the Greens stands at 13.5 percent, up 0.5 percent, while support for One Nation is also up 0.5 percent to 6.5 percent.
Mr Albanese brushed aside a series of disappointing polls to deliver an impassioned and at times fiery speech aimed at reminding Australians why they voted Labor after nine years of coalition government – and drawing attention to their misgivings about Mr Dutton and the Greens
The federal voting intention survey was based on 1,401 Australians from November 13 to 19.
Mr Albanese made several references to his commitment to the cost of living crisis.
He referred to his election pledge to raise the minimum wage by $1 an hour.
He said: “$1 an hour for Australia’s lowest paid workers, some of the heroes of the pandemic. I said absolutely. And the liberals went crazy.
“They said it was loose, they said it was irresponsible, they said the sky would fall.
‘They kept it up so much that I carried a dollar coin with me for the rest of the campaign. And guess what: when we supported a decent wage increase for working people, the sky fell.”
Mr Albanese said he keeps that coin in his office at Parliament House to this day.