Anthony Albanese’s Budget Reply provided a stark contrast to the Morrison Government’s Budget marketing exercise delivered earlier in the week.

The LNP Budget was an attempt to re-brand the mismanagement and missed opportunities that defined their time in office. It’s not the headline-seeking announcements in their ‘Bandaid Budget’ that matter, it’s the people delivering them.

The Morrison Government has overseen record low wages growth and chronically high underemployment yet still doesn’t have a credible plan to create secure jobs.

They have presided over an aged-care crisis, an energy crisis, a housing crisis and a skills crisis.

The Morrison Government has overpromised and underdelivered on critical projects and their Budget actually cuts infrastructure funding by $3.3 billion.

Moreover, their eighth Budget pretends they care about some issues that matter to Australians even though they’ve ignored or created the problems. In the face of a damning Royal Commission, the aged care package falls short of the Commissioners’ recommendations.

The Morrison Government has consistently underdelivered, relying on factors beyond their control to bolster the economy and prop-up the budget.

The nation’s credit card would have racked up less debt without Morrison’s slush funds, rorts, dodgy land deals, advertising and JobKeeper payments to already profitable businesses that don’t need it.

After eight long years of job insecurity, weak wages growth, neglect, and waste, this Morrison Budget is another missed opportunity to invest in Australians, their jobs and their future.

Labor’s Budget Reply is all about people. I support creating a better life for Australians and creating secure jobs that pay the bills and have good conditions. While Scott Morrison has a plan for the next election, Labor has a plan for Australia’s future.

The policies of good governments can make all the difference. There are three guiding principles that drive Labor:
• An economy that delivers for working families.
• Investing in Australia’s future.
• No one held back and no one left behind.

A good government, building a strong economy and a fair society, opens the door to education, to employment, to decent housing, to proper healthcare, to a better life.

Australia needs– and deserves – a good government again. Anthony Albanese will deliver a government that believes in your potential. He will be a Prime Minister who shares your values.

A Labor Government will:

1. Establish a Housing Australia Future Fund and build homes for our most vulnerable Australians – creating more than 20,000 jobs each year over five years.
2. Establish New Energy Apprenticeships in renewable industries, giving Australians a foot in the door in the industries that will power tomorrow’s economy.
3. Criminalise wage theft in Australia.
4. Legislate an obligation on employers to keep their employees safe from discrimination and harassment in the workplace.
5. Create a mentoring program for 2,000 young innovators to start a business straight out of uni – connected to experts in their field, backed by universities, and supported by our Labor Government.

Find out more about Labor’s plan for Australia’s future here.