I won’t stop talking about the cost of living crisis until it’s no longer a crisis. Moreover, neither will our Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese, whether he wants to or not. A whack of interviewers have asked him about this dumpster fire, with 2GB’s Ben Fordham being the latest journalist to quiz him on the subject.
Nevertheless, Albanese provided Fordham with some tactile deets about how his government’s battling this disaster. Moreover, some of these policies pertain to the upcoming October budget. So, here’s everything Albanese spilled in this interview:
Labor’s 2022 October Budget
When Fordham first asked Albanese about what he’ll do about the cost of living crisis, Albanese stated there’s only so much he can change. “Some things are beyond our control, for example, the Russian invasion of Ukraine had an enormous impact on energy prices and on supply chains around the world,” stated Albanese. “And we’ve seen inflation rise to double digits in the UK, for example, in North America it is much higher than it is here.”
Fortunately though, Albanese didn’t stop there and explained what his government actually can do. He said, “We will be introducing a budget in October that, for example, will reduce the cost of medicine. We have a plan to reduce the cost of childcare for just about every family who has their kids in care, and we know that’s a big cost.”
Albanese also mentioned some of his government’s past achievements. “We put in a submission to the Fair Work Commission for the lowest paid workers to get an increase, to not fall further back,” said Albanese. “And that was done of course, that was our first act really as the Government, the Fair Work Commission granted a 5.2% increase for people on the minimum wage that we know are doing it really tough.”
Related: Smash the Cost of Living Crisis Using Coles and Woolworths
Related: These Are the Everyday Items Australians Are Cutting Back on As the Cost of Living Rises
The Worker Shortage
In Australia, we’re experiencing crippling work shortages that are contributing to our cost of living crisis. In this 2GB interview, Albanese said it’s been extremely difficult wading through the bureaucracy that’ll allow more workers to come into this country. He even called it a “hopeless situation.”
Nevertheless, Albanese also said that progress was being made in this area. “We have reallocated staff from other areas into visa processing,” he explained. “Because one of the things that happens is when you get into the public service, you don’t have enough people to do essential tasks, like in Centrelink, in visa processing, then you have these real-world problems created. We’re working as fast as we can to deal with this.”
Let’s just hope that Albanese puts our money where his mouth is in regard to the cost of living crisis. And if he doesn’t, let’s continue to keep the pressure on him until this issue has actually improved.
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