It’s been 20 months since Anthony Albanese took the stage at the Hurlstone Park RSL in Sydney to deliver his election night victory speech.
It was a speech full of ambition — probably more ambition than Labor had shown in the campaign leading up to it — where Albanese again and again emphasised the importance of working together to achieve common goals. With the government set to introduce its changes to the stage three tax cuts to Parliament, and with debate swirling around broken promises, Crikey decided to have a look at how Albanese has fared with his election night commitments.
‘I commit to the Uluru Statement from the Heart in full’
Committing to the full Uluru Statement from the Heart means agreeing to facilitate three things: a Voice to Parliament, a Treaty process, and a truth-telling process. Labor followed through on the first part in October last year, when the Voice referendum was held. But after that, the appetite for a Makaratta Commission — the term used in the Uluru Statement for an agreement-making and truth-telling process — seems to have waned.
When asked in the first parliamentary sitting after the referendum defeat whether he was committed to pursuing Treaty and truth-telling, Albanese avoided answering directly.
When asked since then about his continued support for the Uluru Statement, Albanese has focused on “practical” measures to close the disadvantage gap between Indigenous and other Australians, including in the government’s housing, education and health policies. (Some states had begun their own work towards Indigenous reconciliation, which will continue independently of the referendum result: Victoria’s First Peoples’ Assembly is engaged in Treaty negotiations and the Yoorrook Justice Commission is involved in a truth-telling process; South Australia has passed legislation to establish a state-based Voice to Parliament, while Queensland and NSW have appointed ministers for Treaty).
‘Together we can end the climate wars’
Climate wars is the term sometimes used for the political divisions in Australia around tackling the climate crisis, a conflict damaging enough to hasten the demise of several prime ministers and opposition leaders over the past 15 years. The fight has also contributed to decades of inaction on climate change, but Albanese pledged to put an end to that.
Since then, his government has legislated a target to cut emissions by 43% by 2030. To help achieve that, Labor also reformed the so-called safeguard mechanism, which is intended to force Australia’s biggest carbon-emitting industrial facilities to limit their pollution. Under the new rules, the nation’s 215 biggest polluters will have to reduce emissions intensity by up to 4.9% per year, or buy carbon offsets, which are credits that represent reduced emissions elsewhere.
The scheme has been criticised as ineffective, including in analysis reported by Guardian Australia last October that found several coalmines would be able to increase their emissions without being financially penalised under the scheme.
Climate Change Minister Chris Bowen listed a number of other achievements during a statement in December to the COP28 climate conference, including investing in renewable energy and coming within “striking distance” of being on track to reach the 43% by 2030 emissions reduction target. “This is more progress for Australia in 12 months than in 10 years,” he claimed.
Professor Mark Howden, a vice-chair of the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, told the BBC the Labor government’s actions had improved Australia’s international standing on climate. “We’re not laggards anymore, but neither are we leaders,” he said.
‘A renewable energy superpower’
According to the Albanese government, Australia has everything a country needs to become a green “superpower”. A recent “benchmark report” by the Australian Trade and Investment Commission pitches the country to foreign investors like this: “Australia [has] vast solar and wind resources, and an abundance of rare earth and other minerals … that the world needs to transition to net zero”.
We might not be there yet, but according to the World Wildlife Fund’s (WWF) “renewable superpower scorecard”, the Albanese government has taken some promising steps forward. Among the actions that earned the government points in the latest scorecard, covering 2022, were the Climate Change Act — which enshrined the 2030 43% emissions reduction target into law — and the launch of a “Powering Australia Plan” to increase the share of renewables in the national electricity market to 82% by 2030. In 2022, the proportion of Australia’s total electricity generation that came from renewable sources was 32%.
But it’s not looking likely Australia will meet the 2030 target. Analysts from renewable energy advisory firms Nexa and Rystad Energy said in August last year Australia would be more likely to hit about 60%, rather than 82%, by the end of this decade.
Grattan Institute energy program director Tony Wood told ABC News the reason was delays in building high-voltage power lines. He said the initiative to build the wires, Rewiring the Nation, was a well-funded and “interesting idea”, but added: “The problem is approvals.”
Treasurer Jim Chalmers admitted in a November 2023 speech the transition wasn’t happening fast enough to meet the goal: “It’s important for me to acknowledge that without more decisive action, across all levels of government, working with investors, industry and communities, the energy transition could fall short of what the country needs … we need to get more projects off the ground, faster.”
“In order to become a global renewable energy superpower, Australia needs to go hard and go early. Globally countries are set to invest over US$1.8 trillion in clean energy,” the WWF’s senior manager for energy transitions, Rob Law, told Crikey. “If Australia is going to have a place in that new economy it needs significantly more investment to grow our capability and capacity. We are calling on the government to commit to at least $10 billion every year for at least the next 10 years to maximise our position in the renewables race.”
‘Drive productivity, lift wages and profits’
Australians are working longer hours than in the past, but it’s not translating into extra economic growth — in other words, productivity hasn’t improved. As of October last year, labour productivity had declined by 6.5% since March 2022. This is how the Productivity Commission put it: “As cost-of-living pressures bite further, workers may respond to this negative real wealth shock by seeking to work more hours to try to maintain a reasonable standard of living over time.”
There was already talk of a productivity problem under the Coalition government, and it’s safe to say Labor hasn’t been able to arrest the decline that was already underway.
The government hasn’t been able to do much to boost profits either, bearing in mind it has relatively few levers to pull there. Corporate profits have gone through some wild fluctuations during Albanese’s time in office, reflecting the spike in energy prices from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and big bank profits from higher interest rates. But the RBA’s onslaught on demand via constant rate rises has helped crimp overall growth to the detriment of company bottom lines.
But Labor has managed to lift wages. In the six quarters since June 2022, the wage price index has increased faster than before, from a rate of 0.7% to 1.3%. On average, the increase has been 0.95% during that time period, compared with 0.58% in the previous six quarters. That’s partly thanks to Labor’s policies, including support for a big rise in the Fair Work Commission’s annual minimum wage case. The rise in wages is also partly due to a tight labour market.
‘Welcoming Fair Work Commission not cutting wages’
This one is a bit hard to parse. Here are the exact words Albanese said: “Together we can as a country say that all of us, if the Fair Work Commission doesn’t cut the wage of minimum aged workers, we can say that we welcome that absolutely.” (In an analysis piece the day after, the AFR called the line “so confusing, tortured and distant it might have been ridiculed at any previous campaign appearance”.)
Let’s assume he meant that the FWC shouldn’t cut the wages of minimum-wage workers. The government made a submission to the FWC’s 2023 wage review to recommend the commission “ensures the real wages of Australia’s low-paid workers do not go backwards”. As mentioned earlier, that has contributed to the wage price index rising during Labor’s time in office.
If, on the other hand, we assume Albanese was talking about aged care workers, there has been some action there as well. A serious pay rise for staff had been one of the recommendations of the aged care royal commission. In February 2023, the FWC ruled that aged care workers should get a 15% pay rise in one go, effective from July that year. That decision came after Albanese’s government made a submission to the commission saying the pay rise should happen in two stages over 18 months, which Aged Care Minister Anika Wells said was necessary because of some “fairly significant fiscal challenges”. That pay rise would have also contributed to the overall increase in the wage price index.
‘Establish a national anti-corruption commission’
While there were a lot of mixed feelings about the final shape of Labor’s “federal ICAC”, this one is a box well and truly ticked. As of the end of January this year, the National Anti-Corruption Commission, established in July last year, had received 2,444 referrals and opened 11 corruption investigations. Four of those probes are being conducted jointly with other law enforcement agencies.
‘Strengthen universal healthcare through Medicare’
Medicare is a timely topic, with the program having turned 40 last week. Australian Healthcare and Hospitals Association chief executive Kylie Woolcock said on Thursday the original principles on which Medicare was founded — “equity, efficiency, simplicity and universality” — were being undermined. “It’s unfortunate that we still see our most vulnerable Australians experiencing poorer health outcomes, often as a consequence of not being able to access healthcare services in a timely manner,” she said in a statement.
Also on Thursday, Albanese touted his government’s healthcare reforms: “Since we came to office … we have decreased the price of medicines from January 1 last year. That has benefited Australians to the tune of $250 million.”
He also pointed to his government’s tripling of the bulk billing incentive — a measure that has increased GP bulk billing rates by 2.1%, or 360,000 extra appointments, since it took effect in November, according to ABC News.
‘We can protect universal superannuation’
Labor has several changes to superannuation in the works, despite promising during the election it would leave super alone if elected. In May 2022, Albanese said the government had “no intention of making any super changes”. Since then he has sought to justify the changes by claiming both that the changes aren’t “major”, so they don’t count, and that the word “intention” was key in his original statement. “I said we had no intention,” he said when confronted with the inconsistency in a February 2023 interview with The Sunday Project. “That’s not the objective here. But people are coming forward with ideas. We’re not shutting down debate. It is appropriate there be debate about the policy future across a range of issues.”
So what are the changes to super Labor is proposing? Last year, Chalmers said he wanted to block Australians from withdrawing funds before retiring, and to create a legally binding definition of super to clarify what the money is meant for.
Labor has also proposed a change to tax concessions on super, meaning balances over $3 million would be taxed at a rate of 30%, double the previous rate. Labor has said the change would affect about 80,000 accounts, and rake in $2.3 billion in taxes in its first full year.
Both the tax change and the definition legislation are before Parliament, being looked at by committees.
‘Writing universal childcare into Australia’s proud tradition’
Australia does not have universal access to early childhood education, and getting there will “take time” and a lot of effort from the government, the Productivity Commission said in a recent draft report. The commission was tasked by the treasurer to look into the prospects of being able to offer early childhood education and care services to all Australian children. The draft report, released in November, said “up to 30 hours or three days a week of quality [education and care] should be available to all children aged 0–5 years”.
Achieving that would require “governments to prioritise the workforce challenges facing the sector”, increase pay for staff, and raise the maximum rate of the child care subsidy payment for families on income up to $80,000, the draft said. The final report will be delivered by June 30.
‘Fix the crisis in aged care’
Labor promised to fix the aged care system, and it’s made some progress, although advocates are saying the pace is too slow. “What’s crucial is that we don’t see any further delay in reform to the system … it’s crucial if we’re going to support Australians to age with the dignity we all deserve,” Council of the Aging Australia chief executive Patricia Sparrow said in a recent statement.
The Albanese government has moved several bits of legislation through Parliament, including an act that mandated a registered nurse always be on site at aged care homes, and demanded increased transparency around how money is being used in the sector. Another new act brought in by Labor implemented a new residential funding model, a star ratings system for aged care homes, and a new code of conduct for providers, among other changes.
An aged care taskforce, chaired by the responsible minister Anika Wells, was set to deliver its final report in December. So far the report has not been released, but a communique from the group’s final meeting on December 15 gave a hint as to its contents: “Members noted the proposed recommendations would create an aged care system that is simpler, more flexible and transparent for older people. It would also enable the aged care sector to meet current and future funding challenges and support service quality and innovation.”
The government has also asked stakeholders to voice their opinions about a new aged care act, an exposure draft of which was released in December. The Australian reported last month advocates were concerned the new bill wouldn’t be able to become law in time for the government’s July 1 deadline, and that some stakeholders felt the draft fell short on a number of key matters, such as ensuring residents have the right to receive visitors at all times.
‘Equal opportunity for women’
Labor has committed to make Australia “one of the most gender-equal countries in the world”. It’s put its money where its mouth is to some extent: Women’s Minister Katy Gallagher said last May’s budget was “the most significant single-year investment in women’s equality in at least the last 40 years”. As many feminist activists have pointed out, the budget was a start, but not enough.
Columnist Kristine Ziwica wrote a scorecard for the budget in an article for Crikey: “The single parenting payment has been restored, but only until a child turns 14, not the suggested age of 16, and mutual obligations remain … The childcare activity test stays. It’s a no to superannuation for paid parental leave. Commonwealth rent assistance has been increased by 15%, a figure welfare advocates worry isn’t enough. And aged care workers will get a pay bump but early years educators will have to wait.”
Last year’s edition of the World Economic Forum’s global gender gap report found that Australia, New Zealand and the Philippines had the highest gender parity score in the East Asia and Pacific region, with Australia and New Zealand having improved the most since the year before. Australia advanced 17 notches on the global ranking to claim the 26th place (New Zealand remained at fourth place). Australia’s gender pay gap is 13%, meaning women on average earn $252.30 less than men each week, or $13,119.60 less per year.
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