Opinion Piece – Labor not delivering in the early stages
Senator Jonno Duniam
Published in the Advocate 20 Aug 2022
Within its first 100 days the Albanese government has broken a crucial election promise.
Their commitment to reduce power bills by $275 per year for Australian households was never realistic – and its sudden abandonment has confirmed that Labor provided false hope to Tasmanians about easing the impacts on their hip pockets.
As Tasmanians shiver through winter, we don’t want to simply hear that the cost of living will eventually get better.
What we were promised by Labor at the election was action, not just talk. Labor urgently needs to focus on practical measures to alleviate the many cost of living pressures that Tasmanians face.
Nationally, the average power bill has actually risen by $208 to June 2022 from the same time last year – before Labor came to office – and there is no respite in sight.
Though we heard promises of integrity and honesty from Federal Labor in the campaign, we are also yet to hear an admission that they knew they could not deliver on their commitment and that projections were completely wrong.
If integrity and honesty are core pillars of the Albanese government, then why won’t Labor be up front with the Australian public and admit this?
The Prime Minister’s silence on the increasing cost of living pressures under his government has been deafening.
This also leaves us with more questions than answers about this Labor government mainly, what other pre-election promises of theirs are also too good to be true?
The continuation of the Coalition’s Hobart Airport upgrades? Perhaps their promise of a new Hospice in Launceston?
The Coalition’s track record on power prices speaks for itself: average falls over the last term were eight per cent for households, 10 per cent for businesses and 12 per cent for large business customers.
The Liberal government took the right and the honest approach of not overpromising at the 21 May election.
We recognised the headwinds that we were going to face, and did not make misleading or fanciful promises. The Coalition will call out the Albanese government when we know that the public has been sold a lemon.
For the sake of all Tasmanians, I genuinely hope that there aren’t many more broken promises that they will unleash on us.
However, only time will tell.