Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has urged Australians to unite to help build their futures in his opening pitch to voters.
Australians have been asked to choose between their futures or more cuts as the prime minister fired the starting gun on an election campaign.
Voters will go to the polls on May 3, setting candidates up for a five-week campaign after Anthony Albanese asked the governor-general to dissolve parliament on Friday morning.
In his opening pitch to Australians, the prime minister drew contrasts between his government’s policies and those of Opposition Leader Peter Dutton.
He urged voters to reflect on how his government had helped lay foundations for the future, ahead of a campaign destined to be dominated by cost-of-living issues.
“The world has thrown a lot at Australia in uncertain times – we cannot decide the challenges that we will face, but we can determine how we respond,” Mr Albanese told reporters in Canberra.
“Your vote has never been more important and your choice has never been more clear: this election is a choice between Labor’s plan to keep building or Peter Dutton’s promise to cut.
“The very best reason to be optimistic for our nation remains the courage, kindness and aspiration of all Australians.”
Mr Albanese will vie to be the first prime minister since John Howard to win back-to-back elections.
Cheaper medicines, a boost to Medicare and fair funding for all schools were all first-term achievements that showed Labor was working in the interests of all Australians, the prime minister said.
Mr Albanese also appeared to highlight similarities between Mr Dutton and US President Donald Trump, in reference to the opposition leader’s vow to slash public servant jobs.
“We live in the greatest country on earth, and we do not need to copy from any other nation to make Australia even better and stronger, we only need to trust in our values and back our people,” Mr Albanese said.
“Now is not the time for cutting and wrecking, for aiming low, punching down or looking back.
“The biggest risk to Australia’s future is going back to the failures of the past – the tax increases and cuts to services that Peter Dutton and the Liberal Party want to lock in.”
No party has been booted from government after one term for nearly a century, but Mr Dutton is hoping for a shift.
Mr Dutton has led the coalition through three years of opposition to be within striking distance of the government.
While the election was expected to be held earlier in April, the arrival of Tropical Cyclone Alfred in Queensland and northern NSW meant the prime minister held off making an election call due to the natural disaster.
The delayed election call also led to the government handing down a budget, which unveiled tax cuts for all workers from July 2026.
Mr Dutton used his budget reply on Thursday to roll out a halving of the fuel excise for one year as a cost-of-living measure.
Announcing the election on Friday has allowed the government to steal the spotlight from the opposition’s budget reply.
Polls have shown a tight contest is on the cards, with a hung parliament looming as a likely outcome.
Source: AAP
