Anthony Albanese allocates $364 million for a Voice referendum amid a cost of living crisis, contradicting his pledge to reduce power bills by $275

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has been accused of wasting $364 million on a “divisive” Voice referendum during a cost of living crisis.

Before the 2022 election, Mr Albanese, as opposition leader, promised to cut electricity bills by $275 by 2025 – only for electricity prices to continue to rise.

Hamas’ terrorist attacks on Israel are already fueling fears of rising crude oil prices, with unleaded gasoline once again selling for more than $2 a liter.

From rents in the capital to the prices of bread, grain and gasoline, everything has soared by double digits over the past year as record immigration has exacerbated the housing shortage.

This comes on top of the Reserve Bank’s 12th interest rate rise since May 2022 to combat some of the worst inflation in more than three decades.

In a televised debate, independent Indigenous senator Lidia Thorpe, a far-left opponent of having a constitutionally enshrined voice in Parliament, opened the no-case argument by lambasting the government’s priorities. Labour Party.

“We are in the middle of a cost of living crisis and a housing crisis,” she told Seven’s Spotlight program on Sunday evening.

“The government has chosen this time to spend $364 million of taxpayers’ money on a referendum that no one wants.

“It divided the country.”

Three days later, Mr Albanese visited Uluru, the site of a 2016 convention of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander delegates which led to this Saturday’s referendum.

“Here at Uluru, in the heart of Australia, we are reminded of the spiritual and cultural significance of this wonderful place in the heart of this great country, which we, non-Indigenous Australians, have the great privilege of sharing with the oldest “continuous culture on earth,” he said.

Two years ago, the Labor leader was more focused on the cost of living crisis.

Mr Albanese, in December 2021 as Opposition Leader, promised to cut electricity bills by $275 by 2025.

“Cheap renewable energy will mean lower household bills by an average of $275 by 2025,” he told Labor Party faithful in Sydney.

In that same speech, he reminded the audience of how he grew up in a housing commission flat in Camperdown, in Sydney’s west, with his single mother Maryanne Ellery – implying he knew strained family budgets.

“I was raised in a council house not far from here, by a single mother on a disability pension,” he said.

“Our dreams were quite modest.

“I learned the value of a dollar.”

Mr Albanese also promised to take responsibility for his mistakes.

“If something is wrong, I will admit it,” he said.

But in October last year it was left to Treasurer Jim Chalmers to defend the promised $275 electricity bill cut, after Treasury budget documents predicted electricity bills could climb by 56 percent over the next two years.

“First of all, I think it’s important to remember that the modeling we published was done in 2021, before a war in Europe, which is wreaking havoc on global energy prices,” he said. he told Patricia Karvelas of ABC Radio National.

“The modeling was done in 2021. It referred to an outcome in 2025, and in 2022 we had a war in Ukraine. It is a fact.’

Last year the Treasurer admitted during the ABC Q&A that he could not guarantee electricity bills would drop by $275 by 2025.

“Well, we don’t know what the situation will be in 2025,” he said.

Mr Albanese also promised in 2021 he would be different from then-Liberal Prime Minister Scott Morrison.

“For Scott Morrison, leadership is about avoiding responsibility – and putting the blame on someone else,” he said.

“I may not always be the smoothest talker, but I can promise you that I will always say it clearly.

“I will not run or hide from my responsibilities.

“I won’t disappear when the going gets tough.”

Indigenous senator Lidia Thorpe, an opponent of a Voice in the Constitution, opened the no-cause debate on Seven’s Spotlight by lambasting Labor’s priorities in a televised debate.

Everything from capital city rents to bread, grain and petrol prices have soared by double digits over the past year (pictured, a Sydney shopper)

After some applause, he continued with a message about leadership.

“I think leadership is about facing problems and then looking for solutions,” he said.

So far, the government has replaced Philip Lowe as governor of the Reserve Bank after he suggested that in 2021 interest rates would remain unchanged at a record low of 0.1 percent until 2024 “at the earliest”.

This was after rates rose 12 times in 13 months, taking the cash rate to an 11-year high of 4.1 per cent and causing a 63 per cent increase in monthly repayments on a variable mortgage.

The futures market does not expect any rate cuts until 2025, while the National Australia Bank is warning of a rate hike in November.

Gas and electricity prices rose 13% annually in August, even though the federal government intervened in December 2022 in the gas market and capped wholesale prices at $12 per gigajoule for a year.

This measure was then extended until July 2025.

Tenants have also suffered as capital city renters are paying 16 per cent more for house and unit rents than a year ago, according to data from SQM Research.

This was after a record 454,400 migrants settled in Australia in the year to March.

Petrol prices in the year to August jumped 14 per cent, with motorists in the capital now paying more than $2 a liter for E10 unleaded petrol.

Economist Saul Eslake, director of Corinna Economic Advisory, said inflation could remain high if the conflict in Israel and the Gaza Strip led to a rise in crude oil and gasoline prices that would pass through to consumers.

“The market itself could be pushing up oil prices, anticipating something,” he told Daily Mail Australia.

“If wholesalers and distributors think prices will remain high, they will likely seek to recoup increased transportation costs by charging higher prices.”

Before the 2022 election, Mr Albanese, as opposition leader, promised to cut electricity bills by $275 by 2025 – only for electricity prices to continue to rise.

On the grocery side, the prices of bread and cereals increased by 10.4 percent.

Inflation rose to 5.2 percent, up from 4.9 percent in July, marking the first monthly deterioration since April.

Even though the consumer price index has moderated since reaching a 32-year high of 8.4 per cent in December, Australians are still feeling the pain as wage increases fail to keep up the rate of inflation.

This would surely become a priority regardless of the outcome of the October 14 Voice referendum, with polls showing the No side winning comfortably.