Albanese pitches himself as democracy's defender before Trump meeting
Trust in democracy can be restored by proving government services work, Anthony Albanese will say in his first major speech since his May re-election, drawing an implicit contrast with US President Donald Trump ahead of the pair's expected first meeting later this month.
The prime minister will argue delivering urgent necessities for Australians will restore faith in government, in a clear sign the re-elected Labor government is taking a cautious approach despite its thumping election win.
In his speech, the prime minister is expected to warn that Australia faces an uncertain world where some people believe the 'corrosive proposition that politics and government and democratic institutions, including a free media, are incapable of meeting the demands of this moment'.
'Some simply dismiss such sentiment. Others cynically seek to harvest it. Our responsibility is to disprove it,' Albanese will tell the National Press Club on Tuesday, according to an excerpt of his speech.
'To recognise that some of this frustration is drawn from people's real experience with government – be it failures of service delivery, or falling through the cracks of a particular system,' he will say.
Without naming Trump's extensive cuts to the US government, Albanese will offer a prescription to restore faith in government through competence and programs that benefit everyone, rather than offering hard trade-offs for reform.
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'To counter this [lack of faith in government], we have to offer the practical and positive alternative,' Albanese will say. 'To prove that a good, focused, reforming Labor government can make a real difference to people's lives.'
The speech excerpts suggest a careful second-term agenda squarely focused on rebuilding trust in Labor, coming just days before the prime minister departs for the United States and then on to Canada for a meeting of the G7 major economies.
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Sydney Morning Herald
2 hours ago
- Sydney Morning Herald
Albanese's cautious approach risks a repeat of Turnbull's wasted majority. He must find a middle path
Anthony Albanese had a chance on Tuesday to expand the scope of his second-term agenda, following his thumping election win on May 3, and lay out a more ambitious reform plan. It was a chance he very deliberately chose not to take. Mindful of the uncertain international environment; a looming meeting with US President Donald Trump (the source of much of this uncertainty); the risks of exceeding his mandate so soon after the election; and conscious of the need to begin to rebuild faith in government, institutions and even the media, Albanese stuck to his narrowly defined path. In his first major speech to the National Press Club since the election, Albanese hewed closely to the policy script he took to the election campaign – cheaper childcare, making Australia a renewable energy superpower, developing advanced manufacturing, and expanding Medicare bulk-billing. There was a concession of a sort, in the form of a roundtable meeting in August that will bring together business, unions and government to discuss the government's growth and productivity agenda – an acknowledgement, at the very least, that major business groups are not exactly thrilled with the government's industrial relations changes, to see wages rising faster than inflation, and that (of course) they desire a cut to the company tax rate. Loading There was also an acknowledgement that Australia may well have to spend more on defence in the years to come, but Albanese made clear – as he has been saying privately for weeks – that he would not simply set an arbitrary target for defence spending as a proportion of GDP, but rather that 'we will always provide for capability that's needed'. But these are uncertain times. The Reserve Bank of Australia used the word 'uncertain' 21 times in the minutes of their most recent board meeting, compared to just twice seven months ago, on the day Trump was elected. Labor true believers hoping Albanese would unleash his inner Paul Keating in this second term, emboldened by a 94-seat stranglehold on the House and a progressive majority in the Senate, will have been left disappointed.
The Age
2 hours ago
- The Age
Albanese's cautious approach risks a repeat of Turnbull's wasted majority. He must find a middle path
Anthony Albanese had a chance on Tuesday to expand the scope of his second-term agenda, following his thumping election win on May 3, and lay out a more ambitious reform plan. It was a chance he very deliberately chose not to take. Mindful of the uncertain international environment; a looming meeting with US President Donald Trump (the source of much of this uncertainty); the risks of exceeding his mandate so soon after the election; and conscious of the need to begin to rebuild faith in government, institutions and even the media, Albanese stuck to his narrowly defined path. In his first major speech to the National Press Club since the election, Albanese hewed closely to the policy script he took to the election campaign – cheaper childcare, making Australia a renewable energy superpower, developing advanced manufacturing, and expanding Medicare bulk-billing. There was a concession of a sort, in the form of a roundtable meeting in August that will bring together business, unions and government to discuss the government's growth and productivity agenda – an acknowledgement, at the very least, that major business groups are not exactly thrilled with the government's industrial relations changes, to see wages rising faster than inflation, and that (of course) they desire a cut to the company tax rate. Loading There was also an acknowledgement that Australia may well have to spend more on defence in the years to come, but Albanese made clear – as he has been saying privately for weeks – that he would not simply set an arbitrary target for defence spending as a proportion of GDP, but rather that 'we will always provide for capability that's needed'. But these are uncertain times. The Reserve Bank of Australia used the word 'uncertain' 21 times in the minutes of their most recent board meeting, compared to just twice seven months ago, on the day Trump was elected. Labor true believers hoping Albanese would unleash his inner Paul Keating in this second term, emboldened by a 94-seat stranglehold on the House and a progressive majority in the Senate, will have been left disappointed.
AU Financial Review
2 hours ago
- AU Financial Review
PM urged to deal with Trump on coal investor compensation
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