Worrying signs for Labor with an election looming

Labor is in a bit of trouble, according to the latest opinion polling, and now the Greens are boldly and publicly outlining demands in exchange for their support for a minority government.

Next year’s election is destined to be centred on the cost of living and, thanks to Peter Dutton, that’s where the Federal Government is facing the biggest challenge,

The Opposition Leader is relentless in blaming the government for the hardship many Australians are currently facing.

He even used Tuesday’s (3 December) three-year anniversary of Labor’s promise to bring household power bills down to remind voters it hasn’t happened.

During the 2022 federal election campaign, Anthony Albanese promised every household would get a $275 power bill cut by 2025.

Mr Dutton delighted in issuing a statement to mark the anniversary and point out that it remains an unfulfilled promise.

“And he didn’t just promise it once,” the Opposition Leader said.

“Labor promised you a $275 cut to your electricity bills 97 times before the last election.”

Cost of living has been the Coalition’s mantra for the past three years, and opinion polls are showing it might be onto something.

An Essential Poll published this week (commissioned by The Guardian) shows a majority of Australians are not happy with Labor’s efforts over housing costs, and they’re not too thrilled about the government’s handling of the economy in general. However, there is strong support for the government’s social media ban for under 16s.

Of the 1123 (demographically weighted) voters polled across the nation, 53 per cent rated the government’s performance as being ‘poor’ on ‘increasing the amount of affordable housing’.

Within that group, 30 per cent rated it ‘very poor’, with 21 per cent of overall respondents rating it as ‘good’ and 26 per cent rating it as ‘neither good nor poor’.

Meanwhile, Greens leader Adam Bandt has put it out in the open that he’s prepared to formalise his party’s support for Labor at the next election, offering certainty if the PM falls short of a majority.

But the Greens would need some – also formalised – assurances on their progressive agenda.

“We certainly want to make it clear as we go into the next election that we have pushed as hard as we can in this parliament and got some really good outcomes for people,” Mr Bandt told the ABC’s Afternoon Briefing program on Tuesday.

“As we go to the next election, the Greens position will be to keep Peter Dutton out and push the next government to act on things like health and housing and climate and environment.”

Finance Minister Katy Gallagher told the ABC that Mr Bandt was “getting ahead of himself” and that a majority government offered far more stability than a minority one.

She said the government was determined to win a second term in its own right on the merits of its track record in office and the amount of legislation it has passed through the parliament.

For his part, the Prime Minister is standing by Labor’s economic record during his first term in office.

“Inflation peaked higher and earlier overseas than it did here. Interest rates were higher overseas, inflation was higher and it was earlier,” Mr Albanese told the ABC.

“The impact because of where we are in the supply chain occurred later here and hence why inflation that we inherited with a six in front of it when we came to office and rising, now has a two in front of it and is falling.

“Real wages are increasing, particularly in areas like childcare and aged care, where we’ve provided for special increases we have a rise in business investment as well.

“We have more small businesses than we’ve ever had before in Australia.

“And as well, we have produced tax cuts for every single Australian taxpayer. Now, all of those measures have been opposed by Peter Dutton.

“People would have been worse off under Peter Dutton if he had his way because we would have had none of that cost of living relief.

“And what we’re doing now is outlining what a second term agenda will be and that Australians will be better off if Labor is able to continue to build on the foundations that we have laid during this first term.”