Federal Labor is set to reveal how its election promises will be funded, as the campaign breaks into the final sprint.
Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese says the promises will be partly funded by winding back $750 million in government grants Labor has linked to “waste and rorts” under Scott Morrison.
Cracking down on multinational companies not paying their fair share of tax, public sector efficiencies and fees for foreign investment screening are also expected to feature in the costings published on Thursday.
Labor’s promises have been costed by the Parliamentary Budget Office, ahead of election day on May 21.
But the coalition has spent the past week attacking Labor for delaying their costings and not using the Treasury and Finance departments.
Shadow treasurer Jim Chalmers said Labor’s plan would differ from the coalition in that all spending would be aimed at getting a “genuine economic dividend” from taxpayers’ money.
“The government has been sprung again and again and again, whether it’s $20 billion in JobKeeper for businesses that were already profitable and didn’t need it, whether it’s $5.5 billion for submarines that will never be built, or a billion dollars on political advertising funded by the taxpayer,” he said.
An incoming Labor government would inherit $1 trillion in commonwealth debt.
The prime minister claims Labor has made $25 billion of commitments with $5 billion of savings.
“We’ve paid for our promises. The Labor party – who knows?” he said on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, 67 per cent of voters back a rise in the $20.33 an hour minimum wage as living costs rise, according to a Resolve Strategic poll published in Nine newspapers on Thursday.
Some 40 per cent think it should rise to $21.36 an hour, in line with the 5.1 per cent rate of inflation, while 27 per cent plumped for a smaller increase.
Mr Albanese has said he “absolutely” backs a wage rise in line with inflation, Mr Morrison has warned this would increase inflationary pressures and hurt businesses.
Coalition campaign spokesman Simon Birmingham reiterated the prime minister’s argument, telling Nine Network on Thursday there’s no “magic wand that government can wave” to make wages go up.
Mr Albanese and five of his senior shadow ministers will hit 20 marginal Liberal-held seats in the final two days of the campaign, kicking off in Sydney and Brisbane on Thursday.
“We are in the final sprint now. Australians have just a few more days to make a choice between more of the same with Mr Morrison, or a better future with Labor,” campaign spokesman Jason Clare said.
An average of polls gives Labor a 54.3-45.7 per cent two-party preferred lead over the coalition, according to the Poll Bludger website, but some polls have the gap within the polling margin of error.
Asked about the tightening in the polls, Mr Morrison said: “The same thing happened this time three years ago. It’s almost identical … (but) I’m never presumptuous about these things.”
If his government is re-elected, Mr Morrison said he intended to switch from a “push through” way of working to spending more time talking to people.
Mr Albanese said Mr Morrison was seeking to “pretend to be someone else” to win over voters.
“Labor is offering Australians a chance to change the country for the better. He’s promising to change his personality.”
Six million people have already voted or applied for a postal vote ahead of Saturday’s election.
