Anthony Albanese has labelled the Liberal Party a “doomsday cult”, ridiculing their opposition to the federal government’s attempts to deal with the cost of living crisis.
In an address to the Victorian Labor Conference on Saturday, the Prime Minister calls out the Opposition for their claim his government’s reforms are “somehow signs of the apocalypse”.
“If the Victorian Liberals have become a conspiracy in search of a theory, the federal Opposition are basically a doomsday cult,” he said.
“For them, every day is the end of days. These are the people who said energy bill relief for families and businesses was ‘Venezuelan communism’.”
Mr Albanese reflected on federal Labor’s achievements from their first year in power in 12 years, saying the government was “supporting people through adversity”.
He noted the $3.5bn investment to triple the bulk billing incentive to allow children under 16 and concession card holders to benefit from free GP visits.
The Labor leader also patted the party on the back over the $500 in bill relief given to some households and boosted childcare subsidies found in the budget.
Also on the agenda was the announcement of the $2bn Social Housing Accelerator Fund, which will be delivered to state and territory governments within two weeks.
“This is new money – right now – for new social housing,” Mr Albanese said.
Australia’s public housing stock has gone backwards in recent decades, with 299,500 dwellings recorded in 2021 compared to 341,400 in 2006, according to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare.
“Demand for social housing has increased almost three times as fast the growth in population. We are determined to work with state and territory governments to reverse this decline, as part of our commitment to expand housing supply,” Mr Albanese said.
“When I met with Premiers and Chief Ministers about this yesterday, they all committed to ensuring that investment in housing will work alongside better planning laws, reforming zoning and freeing-up more land for new builds.”
It’s Mr Albanese’s first address to the Victorian Labor Conference as Prime Minister.
Labor has been basking in success in Victoria recently. At the May 21 election – with the help of some high-profile teal candidates – the Liberals lost some major scalps, not least former treasurer and would-be leader Josh Frydenberg.
It then lost the Aston by-election in April, when Labor became the first government in a century to win a seat from the opposition in a by-election.
And at the state-level, Labor demoralised the Liberal opposition with another victory for Dan Andrews and Labor in November.