Anthony Albanese on One Nation’s rise, Australia’s ‘bonkers’ housing market and tax criticism

Anthony Albanese has appealed directly to frustrated voters drifting to One Nation by warning against “populism and opportunism without answers”, while pushing back on suggestions he should apologise for broken election promises in last month’s budget.

At an economic forum in Sydney, the Prime Minister also declared his predecessors didn’t have the “ticker” to make the controversial tax changes and insisted anyone who thinks Australia’s housing market is currently working is “bonkers”.

“Hard decisions cannot be put on hold for easier times” Mr Albanese told Australia’s Economic Outlook summit, in an address where he pushed back on criticism of Labor’s changes to negative gearing and capital gains tax.

“The challenges confronting Australia are too urgent to hang back, and the opportunities ahead of us are all too important to miss”.

Against the backdrop of One Nation’s continuing rise in popularity, the Prime Minister argued that growing economic frustration among voters called for “practical solutions, not slogans”.

“You might be able to build a brand of politics out of amplifying frustration and seeking to harvest it – but that doesn’t take our country forward. What counts, what matters, what makes a difference, is whether you have a plan to do something about it.”

“If you look around the world, you can see what happens to countries and economies when people make up their minds that the system is broken beyond repair,” Mr Albanese told an audience at Sydney’s Crown Barangaroo.

“The decision for Australia is clear. We can choose whether the social and economic dislocation we see overseas is a warning that we act on or a preview of what is to come.

“Our government has no intention of standing around and wringing our hands about the consequences of a system that isn’t working for people. Instead, we are acting to fix it.”

During a live Q&A following his address, the PM issued a warning to Australian voters over “populism and opportunism without answers”.

“I tell you, what’s not ideal, it’s to see the rise of populism, whether of the right or the left, populism and opportunism without answers,” Mr Albanese said.

“Whether it be One Nation and the increasing blurring of the lines between the Liberal Party and One Nation.”

The comments were made just hours after One Nation’s housing policy positions begun to unravel during “train-wreck” interviews given by Senator Sean Bell and Barnaby Joyce.

On Thursday night Joyce told Sky News that his party wanted to force permanent residents to sell their homes – before clarifying with colleagues and quickly returning to say that wasn’t One Nation’s formal policy.

Pressed on the continuing criticism of Labor’s controversial tax changes in the budget, the Prime Minister said neither he, nor voters, were “interested in word games” when asked if he should say sorry.

“They will make a judgment. Part of the judgment will be, of course, about when governments change positions, but on the merits of what we are doing, and it strikes me that if anyone out there thinks that the housing market is working, then they’re bonkers.”

“It’s not the easy choice. It’s not the easy option, but you can’t have people in the media say for year after year after year governments need to move to … more equally taxing income from work with income from assets,” Mr Albanese said.

While defending Labor’s controversial budget measures, the PM also argued the government could no longer afford to “kick the can down the road”.

“I reckon I could dig up 50 editorials over my time as Prime Minister and leader of the Labor Party that calls for tax reform, that calls for government to get serious about (economic reform) … and we’ve made a difficult decision,” Mr Albanese said.

“What we couldn’t afford to do is to sit back and say: ‘Well, you know, we’re in a position to do something about this. We know that it’s an issue, but we’re going to just stand still’.

“Reform is hard, (that’s) why The Australian (newspaper) have had to write so many editorials, because people haven’t had the ticker to take it on.”

Asked whether he supported other contentious measures such as increasing the GST or introducing a cash flow tax model proposed by the Productivity Commission, Mr Albanese indicated he wasn’t in favour of either of the ideas.

Despite his opposition to the changes, Mr Albanese still flagged his government had an appetite to pursue major reform.

“I said this during one of the campaigns … the job of reform is never done … governments have to look at what’s before them and do it,” he said.

Mr Albanese was also coy on whether his government planned to offer voters more personal income tax cuts before the next election, which is scheduled to be held by May 2028 at the latest.

“Well, you can interview me in 2028, and you’ll get to see our policies,” he told Sky News host Andrew Clennell during questioning after his speech.

Asked if would be running at the next election, Mr Albanese responded: “of course I’m running, running hard”.