Get all your news in one place.
100’s of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
Pedestrian.tv
Pedestrian.tv
Sport
Aleksandra Bliszczyk

Albanese Declared Winner Of Final Leaders’ Debate After Morrison Praised Him For Being … Poor?

Opposition leader Anthony Albanese has been declared the winner of the third and final leaders’ debate of the election campaign but we can’t get our hopes up, we’ve been burned before.

The leaders’ debate was aired on Channel Seven on Wednesday night and the winner was picked but about 150 undecided voters who overwhelmingly found Albanese beat Prime Minister Scott Morrison. More than 50 per cent voted for Albanese in the “pub test” compared to 34 per cent for Morrison and 16 per cent who remained undecided.

Much of the debate focused on wages and wage growth in relation to the increasing cost of living at the moment.

Earlier on Wednesday Albanese confirmed his support for a significant wage increase. Unions have been calling for a 5 to 5.5 per cent increase for a couple of months and when asked if he would support a pay rise of 5.1 per cent — the current rate of inflation — Albanese said “absolutely.”

He was asked again at the debate and said while the Fair Work Commission was independent of government he would welcome a decision that saw wage increases match inflation.

“If the increase is less than the inflation rate then what that means is they will be getting a real wage cut and they deserve better than that.”

To be clear, this is not a commitment to raise wages, but some people seemed to like what they heard.

Some industry groups however have said small businesses couldn’t afford to pay their staff more. Several unions rejected this claim, as well as Albanese at the debate.

“We need to look after people who are vulnerable. We need to do more than say, ‘Thanks very much for everything you did in the pandemic but now we are going to cut your wages’,” he said.

Again, he’s saying all the right things but he’s not actually saying he’ll change anything.

Morrison also said he’d “welcome a 5.1 per cent wage increase” for all workers but went on to argue a wage increase would push inflation up further and small businesses and poor starving employers couldn’t afford it.

“People won’t be worrying about what their wages are, they will be worrying about whether they have a job,” Morrison said.

But most experts have been saying um no, that’s not really how it works and we need wages to go up actually.

The Australian Industry Group and the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry both made submissions to Fair Work Commission asking for increases of between 2 and 3 per cent.

It needs to be pointed out that politicians’ wages have increased 30 per cent in the last decade. Morrison is one of the highest paid world leaders on $550k a year.

The other big revelation from the debate was that Morrison promised to reinstate Alan Tudge as education minister if reelected. Tudge stepped down from Morrison’s cabinet following accusations of physical and emotional abuse made against him by an ex-staffer.

The final leaders’ debate ended with each leader being asked to name something positive they respected and admired about the other.

“The thing about Anthony I’ve always admired [is] he has never forgotten where he has come from,” Morrison said. “He grew up in housing commission … and he has shown the ability to rise to be the leader of one of the oldest parties in this country.”

Is this a compliment? It sure doesn’t feel like one.

Albanese acknowledged the PM’s job was “obviously a difficult one to do” and also praised Morrison’s increased funding for mental health.

So Albanese has won all three leaders’ debates and has a healthy lead in the polls but truthfully all that means nothing. The only win that matters will come next Saturday, so make sure you actually get out and vote, OK?

The post Albanese Declared Winner Of Final Leaders’ Debate After Morrison Praised Him For Being … Poor? appeared first on PEDESTRIAN.TV .

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100’s of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.