Anthony Albanese will go down in history as Australia’s worst Labor prime minister when it comes to the economy.
This is not an exaggeration, nor is it about belittling whoever is in power to get a headline.
While inflation has moderated under his leadership – like the rest of the world – he is the only post-war Labor leader who lacks a sense of purpose and leaves no lasting legacy to benefit future generations of Australians.
His plan to double taxes, to 30 percent, on retirement balances over $3 million is nothing more than a revenue grab.
The future of the Made in Australia Labor Party is little more than a very expensive subsidy scheme disguised as concern about climate change.
The clumsy attempts to regulate social media companies simply demonstrate the stupidity of your government in interfering with free speech without making the country safer, just to appear busy.
And record levels of immigration, more than 500,000 a year, during a rental and housing affordability crisis, demonstrate that he is leading a government addicted to income tax revenue to attract more skilled immigrants.
He has shown no desire to reform the tax system to fix this structural economic problem that has prevented middle and middle income earners from being able to buy a home and have enough savings.
Anthony Albanese will go down in history as Australia’s worst Labor prime minister on the economy
While inflation has moderated under his leadership – like the rest of the world – he is the only post-war Labor leader who lacks a sense of purpose and leaves no lasting legacy to benefit future generations of Australians (in the photo, a student from the Gold Coast). )
Apart from making the government buy a 40 per cent stake in a new home from first-home buyers under Labour’s new Help to Buy scheme, which would only drive up prices further and waste even more of the taxpayers without addressing the root causes of unaffordable housing. .
Unlike other Labor prime ministers, Albanese’s first (and perhaps only) three years in power would not have brought about any structural changes to the economy that improved living standards.
Which is a shame because Australians traditionally elect Labor governments to make things better, to benefit working class voters, even if the Coalition wins more elections.
The contrast is stark with Labor leaders since the end of the Second World War.
Ben Chifley, a former Bathurst country locomotive driver, was the last Labor prime minister to win the case in a referendum.
His 1946 campaign to give the Commonwealth the power to legislate social services meant that in the future the federal government, rather than the states, would provide unemployment benefits.
The idea of amending the Constitution attracted 54 percent support nationwide and passed in every state, meaning those out of work would get the same level of aid wherever they lived and government resources would be more distributed. efficient.
Under Albanese, the Voice referendum to create a race-based and constitutionally enshrined body of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander representatives gained less than 40 per cent support in 2023.
Ben Chifley, a former country train driver from Bathurst, was the last Labor prime minister to win the case in a referendum and successfully campaigned for the Commonwealth to provide unemployment benefits.
It was defeated in every state and territory except the Australian Capital Territory, and since then there has been no Labor solution to address domestic violence, premature deaths and Indigenous welfare dependency.
Gough Whitlam may have presided over 17.7 per cent inflation and led a government entangled in a scheme to borrow billions of dollars through a dubious Pakistani commodities trader, Tirath Khemlani.
But his government’s 25 per cent reduction in import tariffs in 1973 was an idea adopted by both sides of politics decades later, leading to cheaper consumer goods for all Australians in the years that followed.
His creation of Medibank in 1975, although abolished by his Liberal successor Malcolm Fraser, was revived as Medicare, and now both major parties back universal healthcare so everyone can afford to visit the doctor.
Not to mention the fact that Gough officially scrapped white politics in Australia and introduced no-fault divorce before being controversially sacked in November 1975.
Bob Hawke established Medicare and sex discrimination laws in 1984 during his first term, and also floated the Australian dollar in 1983, so the government no longer needed to intervene daily in currency markets.
During his successor Paul Keating’s first three years in power, the Reserve Bank of Australia was given independence to set interest rates without political interference.
Since that 1993 decision, Australia has never again had double-digit inflation to match double-digit unemployment, leading to an ugly situation known as stagflation.
Gough Whitlam’s government slashed import tariffs and established universal healthcare (pictured left with singer Patricia Amphlett, also known as ‘Little Pattie’)
Bob Hawke (right with wife Hazel) established Medicare and sex discrimination laws and also floated the Australian dollar, while his successor Paul Keating (left) gave independence to the Reserve Bank and introduced corporate trading.
While unemployment was high during Keating’s time as prime minister, the introduction of enterprise bargaining to replace centralized wage-setting meant that Australia would never again have a wage-price spiral fueling inflation.
The Albanian government hates Keating’s legacy so much that it has revived multi-employer bargaining, ignoring the lessons of economic history when the militant Amalgamated Metal Workers Union went on strike in 1981.
This trickled down to the rest of the economy: average full-time wages soared 14 percent while inflation rose 11 percent.
In 1992, Keating also gave Australia a mandatory pension so people could retire with dignity, something Albanese should think about as he attacks retirement savings in a bid to raise $2 billion a year.
Even Albanese’s former Labor bosses, however mediocre, will leave a modest legacy.
Kevin Rudd, who governed during the global financial crisis, at least introduced unit pricing in supermarkets in 2009 so consumers could have a better idea if they were being ripped off.
While the Coalition scrapped Julia Gillard’s hated carbon tax, her government at least legislated the National Disability Insurance Scheme in 2013, which, while expensive, provides dignity to many people facing physical and mental challenges.
Unlike previous Labor prime ministers, Albanese is addicted to temporary solutions designed to address political responsibilities rather than solve long-term problems.
Even Albanese’s former Labor bosses will leave a legacy with Julia Gillard (left) legislating the National Disability Insurance Scheme while Kevin Rudd (right) introduced unit pricing in supermarkets.
Its temporary $300 electricity rebates to reduce headline inflation were a policy designed to counter Labour’s 2022 election promise to reduce energy bills by $275 by 2025.
The Reserve Bank is not convinced and forecasts that inflation will rise from 2.8 per cent now to 3.7 per cent by the end of next year, meaning a delay in rate cuts as the price index the consumer again deviates from its target of 2 to 3 percent.
Albanese’s Labor predecessors looked for ways to permanently fix structural economic problems, but this prime minister cares more about short-term policies or empty symbolism.
It is difficult to imagine any policy ideas of his improving the lives of Australians decades from now, whether he wins or loses the next election scheduled for May next year.