Updated
Anthony Albanese, the first Labor MP to declare his interest in the leadership, has told 7.30's Leigh Sales his party needed to "recalibrate" its message on economic growth and refresh its policy offering.
Key points:
- Anthony Albanese says Labor needs to reset its policy offerings and the way they are communicated
- He says the Morrison Government should look at curbing franking credit refunds
- He says if he is chosen as opposition leader he will travel to Queensland as a priority
The member for Grayndler and long-time frontbencher is emerging as a likely favourite for the next Labor leader, after colleague Tanya Plibersek ruled herself out of the contest on Monday.
It remains unclear if Mr Albanese will face competition, with reports Queensland MP Jim Chalmers is considering putting up his hand.
Mr Albanese said Labor needed to reset both its policy offerings and the way they were communicated to the public.
"We have not sold the message well enough, I don't think, that we are interested in jobs and economic growth as the priority, as well as the distribution of wealth in our society," he told 7.30.
But he did not say the party should completely abandon its reforms to franking credits — a policy heavily targeted by Coalition attack ads that described the measure as a "retiree tax".
Instead, he appeared to imply the credits should be limited or capped in some way, or perhaps grandfathered so those currently receiving the payments would continue to get them in the future.
"I think the issue with the franking credits policy was it impacted some people who had made arrangements on the basis of the existing laws that were there, and they felt as though we were changing the rules midstream," he said.
Labor's reforms to negative gearing, on the other hand, were "grandfathered, of course, so that didn't have the same issue".
Mr Albanese said the Morrison Government, too, should consider curbing the cashback the Australian Tax Office paid to shareholders to compensate them for the tax already paid by the companies in which they owned stakes.
Labor had promised to limit the cashback to those who were currently paying income tax. The cost of the credits is expected to reach $20 billion over the next four years, according to Parliamentary Budget Office costings.
"The fact is that $6 billion [per year] is a lot of money. It's more money, very soon, than we give to public schools at the national level," Mr Albanese said.
"So I think the existing Government, the Morrison Government, will have to have a look at whether it's capped or have a look at that growth that is occurring, because it's a massive chunk out of the budget."
'People will judge me by who I am'
Mr Albanese was asked how his leadership style would compare with that of Bill Shorten, who announced he would step down as Labor leader on election night.
Mr Albanese said he would be judged by "who I am, rather than by comparison to Bill Shorten or anyone else".
"I can walk into a pub in Hughenden or walk into a boardroom in George Street, Sydney, and have a discussion with people, which is based upon respect and based upon dealing pretty frankly with people," he said.
"I think what you see is what you get with me.
"I think I'm someone who comes from a different background. Quite clearly I've had a range of jobs, I'm an economist by training, I've been in parliament for more than 20 years."
Asked if Labor needed to reset its close relationship with the union movement, given less than 20 per cent of Australian workers were unionised, Mr Albanese said Labor's connection with unions was a "positive" because it connected the party to the daily concerns of working-class Australians.
He said all Australian workers "without exception" had benefited from the gains of the union movement over time.
If successfully chosen as the next opposition leader, Mr Albanese said he would travel to Queensland — the state where Labor suffered its worst performance — as a priority.
But he said the party needed to focus on lifting its primary vote right around the country.
A primary vote of just "one in three Australians" was "simply not good enough", he said.
AEC election data shows Labor received 34 per cent of national first-preference votes, compared with 28 per cent for the Liberals, 5 per cent for the Nationals, and 8 per cent for the combined Liberal National Party in Queensland.
Topics: government-and-politics, anthony-albanese, political-parties, alp, business-economics-and-finance, australia
First posted