If Anthony Albanese wins on Saturday, (it is a sizable ‘if’), he will be the first non-Anglo-Celt to lead the nation as prime minister.
“It’s an incredible honour to be the first person to put themselves forward as Prime Minister with a non-Anglo Celtic background,” said the proud Italian Australian leader of the Labor Party in written responses to Neos Kosmos.
“Modern Australia is made up of people called Albanese, Wong and Vamvakinou. It’s also made up of people like Watt and McGowan,” Mr Albanese added.
He said that Australia is a diverse country, and his non-Anglo-Celtic background “sends a message that if you work hard, you can achieve anything in this country.”
“No matter what your postcode is, where your parents were born, how much is in your bank account or who you pray to, you’re represented in the Labor Party, and we should have a Parliament that reflects that.”
“No matter what your postcode is, where your parents were born, how much is in your bank account, or who you pray to, you’re represented in the Labor Party, and we should have a Parliament that reflects that,” the Labor leader said.
He pointed to his support for second language learning and helping “the next generation of children learn another language.” Mr Albanese said children learning another language “will help keep their culture strong, but also set them up for the future.”
Mr Albanese spruiked Labor’s commitment to community language schools saying that under a Labor Government “every eligible community language school will receive grant funding of up to $30,000 over three years.”
“Community language schools mean our children born or growing up in Australia can learn the language and culture of their parents and grandparents who migrated here from overseas.
“Language leaning helps the next generation, regardless of their language or cultural background, prepare for the economy and jobs of the future,” Mr Albanese stated to Neos Kosmos.
Labor’s proposed shared equity scheme for home ownership, where the government may own 40 percent of a home’s equity, has been criticised by the Prime Minister as Labor wanting to own your home. The Labor leader rejected the criticism.
“This weekend if the Australian people give me the privilege of leading our great nation, we will create a new Help to Buy program.
“This national shared equity scheme will provide an equity contribution from the Commonwealth Government for up to 10,000 aspiring homeowners on low and middle incomes, every year,” Mr Albanese said.
He said that the proposed program will “assist Australians to buy a home with a smaller deposit, a smaller mortgage, and smaller mortgage repayments.”
Mr Albanese said that the Labor plan will assist those on “low and modest incomes who currently face a lifetime of renting, have a genuine option of owning their own home.”
The question of suppressed wages is a key issue. The complexity of increasing wages without putting more pressure on inflation is something both major parties will need to deal with.
“As any economist knows and the Reserve Bank knows — if you have wage increases no more than inflation plus productivity, then that isn’t inflationary” Mr Albanese stated to Neos Kosmos.
He went on to underscore that the best way to get the economy working is “to create good, secure jobs.”
“Australia needs a plan to create an economy where we have high wage jobs, and we have economic growth without increasing inflation,” Mr Albanese added.
Like the Coalition government, Labor recognised the importance of multicultural media. It was independent multicultural media that sought to help multicultural Australians stay safe by providing accurate information and linking them to their communities.
Labor and the Coalition have almost identical policies on multicultural media. “We saw the important role a lot of outlets played, stepping up during the pandemic, to make sure Australians got important health information in an accurate and timely manner,” Mr Albanese stated to Neos Kosmos.
He said that Labor’s $15 million fund will assist “newspaper publishers absorb newsprint price increases, which includes $5 million for eligible local newspaper publishers, including independent suburban, First Nations and multicultural newspaper publishers.”
“A Labor government will consult with industry, including the Independent Multicultural Media Australia (IMMA) to develop a News Media Assistance Program to secure the evidence base needed to inform news media policy interventions and formulate measures to support public interest journalism and media diversity.”
The leader of the Opposition took a swipe at the Coalition government for “consistent failures in translations of vital health information” for multicultural communities during the pandemic’s two hardest years 2020 and 2021.
Mr Albanese also had a dig at the government’s business support as “inaccessible to many new and emerging migrant groups.”
“The government’s fragmented and inconsistent approach to engaging with multicultural communities has had devastating consequences for individuals, communities, and small businesses.
And that really came to light during the COVID-19 pandemic,” Mr Albanese stated to Neos Kosmos.
Labor, he said, has announced a plan for a “government that works for multicultural Australia.”
“Our plan includes a multicultural framework review, standards for measuring Australia’s diversity, improving accessibility for multicultural small business and entrepreneurship, and a strategy for digital inclusion.”