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.

Members support rethink on public sector resourcing

Annerley Labor has thrown its support behind the current Together Union push for the Queensland state government to change direction in terms of its public sector employment practices.

Branch members adopted the Union’s motion which expresses concern over existing policies such as the contracting out of certain corporate functions, the overuse of labour hire and the engagement and reliance of expensive private sector consultancy firms.

The motion asserts that these practices are ‘expensive, wasteful and damaging’ to the public service and that they ultimately hurt services. Of particular concern are the instances where workers are doing similar work but for different amounts of pay.

The union motion also highlights other issues for the state government to urgently address, such as:
• arbitrary rules such as staffing caps – including the unnecessarily legislated ‘Principle 6’ of the government’s fiscal strategy,
• the false and misleading distinction between “frontline” and “non-frontline” staff, and
• the poor governance of employment practices as currently overseen by the Public Service Commission.

The Branch has communicated its support for Together’s campaign by writing recently to the Premier, Annastacia Palaszczuk, advising her of its adoption of the union’s motion. It is expected that the motion will be conveyed to ALP state conference in July.

Policy agenda backed by regional assembly

The April session of the Party’s Brisbane South Regional Members Assembly has supported all of Annerley Labor’s submitted resolutions. The meeting, which was held online, saw a number of motions considered from branch members across the federal electorates of Griffith and Moreton. The Assemblies are part of the Party’s democratic structure that allows rank and file members to discuss important policy matters that can then be conveyed to the annual state conference.

The Annerley Branch submitted several motions which included a call for local government electoral reform, a review of the public sector use of private consultancy firms, initiating a community dialogue on ways to strengthen and enhance our democratic system, introducing a code of conduct for state and local government election campaigning and ensuring family pets are considered in addressing the issue of domestic violence.

The Party’s state conference will be held this year in Brisbane on Saturday 5 and Sunday 6 June and will adopt a new policy platform as part of its business.