Scott Morrison has unleashed on Anthony Albanese, warning interest rates will skyrocket under Labor and slamming Mr Albanese as too ‘woke’ to lead the country after the next election.
During an appearance on the Today Show on Wednesday, the Prime Minister launched a fresh series of attack lines on the Labor leader, focused on the Coalition’s traditional strength on the economy.
Mr Morrison told hosts Karl Stefanovic and Leila McKinnon that the country saw ’18 per cent’ interest rates during the Hawke-Keating Labor government in the 1990s, and hammering Mr Albanese as being ‘woke’.
Interest rates peaked at 17.5 per cent in 1990 back when Australia had a very high inflation rate of 8.7 per cent – more than double today’s 3.5 per cent pace.
Treasurer Paul Keating was planning to overthrow prime minister Bob Hawke shortly after he had won a fourth election and Australia was cruising towards a recession.
‘We remember last time we had a Labor government that let the interest rates skyrocket,’ Mr Morrison said.
‘Many would remember those 18 per cent interest rates under Paul Keating.’
He also hammered Mr Albanese as a ‘leopard changing his spots’ after the Opposition Leader rebutted claims he belongs to the ‘woke left’ in a Daily Telegraph interview.
Scott Morrison has suggested interest rates will rise to 18 per cent if the Labor party gains power at the upcoming federal election
Shooting down allegations he was ‘woke’ – or hypervigilant to social injustices – Mr Albanese, from Labor’s left faction, said he does not believe men can have babies, and added that he owns three properties, and supports keeping negative gearing.
‘Labor is the party of mainstream Australia and the values of mainstream Australia are that we look after each other and that we aspire to a better life for future generations,’ he told the newspaper.
Mr Morrison – who was announced $5.4 billion for the Hells Gate Dam project in North Queensland – suggested in his interview that Mr Albanese was pretending to be someone else.
‘The Australian people know what my economic policies is [sic[,’ the PM said.
‘No one asks me a question [over] whether I am woke or not, and you know, if they are asking about whether you’re woke, you probably are.
‘And if you have to go on TV giving interviews telling everybody you were not the person you were for the past 30 years in public life, well I know a leopard doesn’t change its spots.’
Mr Morrison suggested the Labor party would be reckless with managing Australia’s funds, which Karl Stefanovic admitted was ‘hard to accept’ after the government backed a $5.4 billion dam. Pictured: Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese poses for a photo with Aussies in the flood-affected suburb of Deagon in Brisbane
Mr Morrison launched an attack on Mr Albanese’s ‘wokeness’ after the opposition leader rejected claims he aligned with the far left
In the newspaper interview, Mr Albanese said Labor would assist businesses to make them more profitable and productive, arguing the move was key to boosting employment and better pay and working conditions.
‘Labor’s historic task is to move more people into the middle-class, to appeal to small business and if we don’t do that Labor won’t be successful.’
He said ALP valued the importance of respecting all people’s religious views, irrespective of whether they were at odds with so-called progressive values.
‘I was an avid supporter of marriage equality but I also supported a conscience vote at the same time. You have to respect diversity in all its senses, not just when it’s convenient.’
Under his leadership, Mr Albanese also vowed Australia would continue to defend our nation’s values against any push by China and would reinforce the country’s bond with the US.
He also pledged to end ‘climate wars’ but promised to never enter a coalition agreement with the Greens, claiming the far-left party was economically naive and would not assist in achieving ‘realistic achievable’ policies.
It is not the first time Mr Morrison has taken aim at Mr Albanese’s new polished image, with the prime minister earlier this month claiming the opposition leader’s Mr 18kg weightloss and lifestyle transformation meant he had an identity crisis.
Mr Morrison vowed to address cost of living issues during the budget announcement next week, as the government comes under increasing pressure to relieve inflation, rising house prices and soaring fuel costs
Speaking at a Sky News ‘town hall’ meeting with voters on the NSW Central Coast, on March 15, Mr Morrison told host Paul Murray: ‘I’m not pretending to be anyone else. I’m still wearing the same glasses.
‘Sadly, the same suits (too). I weigh about the same size and I don’t mind a bit of Italian cake either. I’m happy in my own skin, I’m not pretending to be anyone else.
‘And when you’re Prime Minister, you can’t pretend to be anyone else. You’ve got to know who you are, because if you don’t know who you are, then how are other people going to know?’
The comments drew widespread criticism, with Nine political reporter Chris O’Keefe slamming the thinly-veiled attack on Mr Albanese as ‘schoolyard bullying’.
Mr Morrison’s latest verbal attack comes as he faces increasing pressure over the rising cost of living and soaring fuel prices due to oil-supply crunches amid the Ukrainian-Russian war.
The Prime Minister vowed the issues would be addressed in measures to be announced next Tuesday in the pre-election budget.
‘Addressing those cost of living pressures will be a key priority of that budget,’ he told the Nine Network.
‘We’ve been carefully designing our response because what we don’t do is have knee-jerk reactions on things like the economy.’
The government will be hoping to use the budget as a springboard ahead of the federal election due in May.
The Labor leader Anthony Albanese has shed 18kg and embraced a lifestyle transformation in recent months
Meanwhile, Mr Albanese has thrown his support behind budget measures that tackle the rising cost of living.
However, he remained tight-lipped on whether Labor supported calls to temporarily cut the 44.2 cents per litre fuel excise, in the wake of rising petrol prices.
‘We’ll assess all of it, we’ll wait and see,’ he told ABC TV.
‘There’s a range of measures that are putting pressure on family budgets, the biggest of which is that we just simply aren’t keeping up with the cost of living.’
The Labor leader hit out at the prime minister, saying the government did not have plans to actively address rising living costs.
‘Housing costs are going up, the cost of food and groceries are going up, these are all having an impact on people’s capacity to pay their bills and to get by,’ he said.
‘The only thing that isn’t going up is wages, and wages are projected to fall in real terms again further over the next four years.’
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