Albanese says Labor made choice to get inflation down ‘without treating people as expendable’
Anthony Albanese has been outlining the government’s economic progress since taking office, saying that “cleaning up the mess the Liberals and [Nationals] left behind will be more than three years’ work in ordinary times, let alone during the global storm that we have faced”.
He said that in Australia, inflation peaked lower and later than most countries, and it is back to the RBA’s target band for the first time since 2021.
Inflation is down. Wages are up. And 1.1m new jobs have been created. Under our government, Australia has maintained a faster rate of employment growth than any G7 nation, bar none …
This is because, from the outset, we made a conscious choice to get inflation down, without treating people as expendable. And it was a choice. Our opponents made it clear they would have made a different one.
Albanese said the Coalition said “loudly and often” that “we should have cut everything”.
Frozen investment. Turned our backs on people, and turned the whole place off at the wall. But that’s not the Australian way, and it’s certainly not the Australian Labor way.
Key events
School funding arrangements reached with SA and Victoria, PM says
The prime minister said he has secured new schools’ funding agreements with both South Australia and Victoria.
Anthony Albanese said they join the ACT, NT, Tasmania and WA, 14 years since the Gonski report outlining the National Schooling Resource Standard, which as a nation, Australia had “never reached … for public schools.”
Six of the states and territories are now signed up to better and fairer schools to meet the standards in education that Australian children deserve. And I do want to take this opportunity to thank premier [Peter] Malinauskas and premier [Jacinta] Allan for their cooperation. I also want to thank premier [David] Crisafulli and premier [Chris] Minns for their constructive engagement. And it will be ongoing …
This will mean more money than ever for public schools – but it’s not a blank cheque. Our new funding is for real reform, and it will deliver real results.
Albanese says difference between Labor and opposition ‘night and day’
Continuing, Anthony Albanese said the contrast between “us and our opponents is night and day.”
We’re strengthening Medicare. The Liberals want to cut it. We’re growing wages. They want to cut them back and keep them low. We’re looking after people’s jobs. The Liberals say we should sacrifice them. We’re building new energy to bring bills down now. Their nuclear fantasy means pressing the pause button for 20 years, then funding the most expensive form of new energy on the planet. We’re backing a future made in Australia. The Liberals are happy to send jobs offshore, like they did with the car industry.
They dismissed our plan to put nurses back into aged care and lift the pay of those who deliver dignity to our older Australians. And while we are investing in education, they oppose it at every turn. The Liberals say reducing student debt by 20% is unfair. Their deputy leader says that 600,000 Australians who’ve been given a chance to learn new skills through free TAFE don’t value that opportunity because they didn’t pay for it. They mocked the 15% pay rise we’re delivering for early educators, and they stand against our plans to build new childcare centres and make childcare more affordable for families.
Albanese says Labor made choice to get inflation down ‘without treating people as expendable’
Anthony Albanese has been outlining the government’s economic progress since taking office, saying that “cleaning up the mess the Liberals and [Nationals] left behind will be more than three years’ work in ordinary times, let alone during the global storm that we have faced”.
He said that in Australia, inflation peaked lower and later than most countries, and it is back to the RBA’s target band for the first time since 2021.
Inflation is down. Wages are up. And 1.1m new jobs have been created. Under our government, Australia has maintained a faster rate of employment growth than any G7 nation, bar none …
This is because, from the outset, we made a conscious choice to get inflation down, without treating people as expendable. And it was a choice. Our opponents made it clear they would have made a different one.
Albanese said the Coalition said “loudly and often” that “we should have cut everything”.
Frozen investment. Turned our backs on people, and turned the whole place off at the wall. But that’s not the Australian way, and it’s certainly not the Australian Labor way.
Albanese outlines cash boost for tradie apprentices
Announcing the cash boost for apprentice tradies, Anthony Albanese said the next generation of tradies – “the people we’re counting on to build the new homes we need” – are under “significant financial pressure”.
Right now, a first-year carpentry apprentice earns about two-thirds of the minimum wage. Some apprentices earn even less. That’s before you buy things like tools, safety gear, clothing and boots. Many apprentices have said they could earn more stacking shelves at the supermarket and too many leave training because they simply can’t afford to stay.
The PM said Labor would raise the allowance paid to apprentices living away from home. And for occupations essential for residential construction – like bricklayers, electricians, plumbers, carpenters – Labor would provide eligible apprentices up to $10,000 through the new program.
Five payments of $2,000 each on top of their wages.
Prime minister addressing National Press Club
The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, has begun addressing the National Press Club in Canberra.
In his speech, the PM will outline the $626m plan for apprentice tradies to get an extra $10,000 from a re-elected Labor government, as he tries to encourage more young people into construction to help build the 1.2m homes he promised by 2030.
As Josh Butler reports, this is Albanese’s first major speech for the year and will set out Labor’s re-election bid. You can read more details on this below:
Albanese began by talking about the importance of infrastructure:
Infrastructure matters to me because I’ve seen the difference that it can make to people – to communities, to our regions, to our economy, to our national way of life. However, I know that building Australia’s future is about more than homes and roads and ports and broadband. More than bricks and mortar. Building Australia’s future is about all of us – every one of us, in every part of our country.
Albanese to speak at National Press Club shortly
The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, is due to speak at the National Press Club in Canberra at 12.30pm AEDT today – in about 15 minutes.
We’ll bring you all the highlights from his speech, and the subsequent questions from reporters, here on the blog.
Severe thunderstorms possible across parts of Queensland
The Bureau of Meteorology has forecast severe thunderstorms for Wide Bay Burnett and southern inland Capricornia today.
It said severe storms were also possible at the Gold Coast, and broadly between Kingaroy and Moranbah.
TODAY’s storm FORECAST
🔴 Severe storms likely: inland Wide Bay Burnett & sthn inland Capricornia.
🟡 Severe storms possible: Gold Coast & broadly between Kingaroy & Moranbah.Main hazards: DAMAGING WIND, LARGE HAIL & HEAVY RAIN.
🟢 Storms possible.https://t.co/xhhEZNgX0v pic.twitter.com/84sg0cqcHA
— Bureau of Meteorology, Queensland (@BOM_Qld) January 24, 2025
Meanwhile thunderstorms, possibly severe, could occur in north-east NSW as well.
Police say it is unclear why statues of Rudd and Keating were targeted in Ballarat
Nino Bucci
Victoria police suspect a group of four offenders worked together to vandalise 20 statues of former prime ministers in Ballarat’s botanical gardens earlier this week.
Snr Sgt Brad Hall spoke to media in the city this morning.
He said the offenders could face charges of theft and criminal damage, after the statues were graffitied and the heads were removed from statues of prime ministers Kevin Rudd and Paul Keating. Hall said:
This isn’t just an act of vandalism or graffiti, this is an attack against the Ballarat community.
The Ballarat Botanical Gardens are a much-loved community location for everybody
Hall said it appeared the damage was similar to another attack on the statues several years ago.
He said police had no sense why the statues of Rudd and Keating had the heads removed, or the motivation for the entire attack.
Police were working through CCTV footage and other evidence, he said, and wished to speak to the occupants of a white ute that was seen in the area early on Thursday morning, about the same time as the attack.
Seventeen-year-old fighting for life after shooting in Collingwood
Adeshola Ore
Victoria police are holding a press conference about the shooting of two teenagers in inner Melbourne early this morning.
The pair have been hospitalised, with a 17-year-old fighting for his life and another seriously injured.
Det Supt Jason Kelly, in the anti-gangs division, said police responded to shots being fired at about 12.30am:
They located a large crowd of people, potentially up to 50 people, who were in attendance, mostly young people who appeared to have been involved in an earlier incident about one hour earlier in the public housing estate on Hoddle Street in Collingwood.
Kelly said police believed a brawl had taken place. He said police were treating it as a targeted attack.
Cases of cryptosporidiosis in Victoria above the five-year average, health department says
The Victorian Department of Health says there have been 87 cases of parasitic infection cryptosporidiosis – or “crypto” – so far this year.
While cases typically increase in the warmer months, it said current figures are above the five-year average.
The department is urging Victorians not to swim in public swimming pools for at least two weeks if they have had diarrhoea, as cases increase.
This follows a record 2,349 crypto cases in 2024, which was a 233% increase on the previous year.
Crypto can cause watery diarrhoea and stomach cramps for several weeks, the department said, and those with a weakened immune system are at risk of prolonged illness.
Measles alert for Sydney airport
NSW Health says a person who was infectious with measles was on an international flight into Sydney, and a domestic flight to the Gold Coast.
It is urging people who attended the following locations to watch for the development of symptoms:
-
Jetstar flight JQ4 from Honolulu arriving at Sydney international airport at 4.29pm Friday 17 January
-
Qantas flight QF596 from Sydney to Gold Coast which departed Sydney T3 at 9.03pm Friday 17 January
-
Sydney international airport from 4.30pm to 6.30pm Friday 17 January
-
Bus from Sydney international to Sydney domestic airport T3 between 5.30pm to 6.30pm Friday 17 January
-
Sydney domestic airport T3 from 6.30pm to 9.00pm Friday 17 January
While these locations pose no ongoing risks, people who were on the flights or transiting between the terminals at those times should be on the lookout for symptoms, NSW Health said.
It comes after NSW Health yesterday issued a measles alert for western Sydney.
Dutton ‘confident’ Coalition can form majority government
Peter Dutton also continued his argument that a vote for Labor was a vote for the Greens, telling reporters in Adelaide:
[For Anthony Albanese to say] he is not going to rule with the Greens in power, it’s complete garbage. And the prime minister should be exposed for that.
Dutton also took aim at the teal independents and said they would “only ever support a Labor government”.
Monique Ryan would never support a Liberal government, so [if] you vote for Monique Ryan, [you’ll] get Anthony Albanese and Adam Bandt. That is the reality.
Dutton said he was “confident” the Coalition could form a majority government at the next election.
Coalition FTB policy won’t extend to golf, Dutton says
Peter Dutton says the Coalition’s FTB policy wouldn’t extend to golf.
Taking questions around the taxpayer-funded lunches for bosses, the opposition leader took aim at the treasurer, Jim Chalmers, as “the Darrell Eastlake of Australian politics, everything is so over-the-top and so exaggerated”.
And why? Because he doesn’t have a good story to tell, and when he says that this is going to extend to playing golf and the rest of it, it’s not. It’s designed to provide support for a small business with a turnover of less than $10m to come down to a local pub, a local cafe, a local restaurant, and spend money on that cafe, for it to be tax deductible and not fringe benefits. Fringe benefits won’t be applied.
It was widely reported across media at the time that the policy would include golf.
Dutton questioned on Paris climate agreement and 2035 targets
Asked about the Paris climate agreement after the Nationals leader, David Littleproud, said Australia should follow Trump and withdraw, Peter Dutton responded:
I have made comments in relation to these matters yesterday, and we have been specific in relation to our targets around net zero by 2050. There is legislative requirements in the parliament at the moment.
He also said Anthony Albanese should release modelling in relation to 2035 targets:
In opposition, we don’t have any of that … We don’t have the resources of treasury and the central agencies otherwise to be informed in relation to some of the economic settings that the PM has before him.
Dutton yesterday criticised Labor for not setting a 2035 target, despite having ruled out announcing a 2030 or 2035 target of his own before the election. You can read more from Dan Jervis-Bardy below:
