Australian opposition targets inflation in campaign launch

Australia's opposition party officially launched its election campaign on Sunday with an emphasis on cutting costs of living for voters as inflation surges to its highest rate in 21 years.

The center-left Labour Party launched its campaign in the west coast city of Perth for the first time since World War II, in a demonstration of how important Western Australia state is to the party's ambition to win control of the government in May 21 elections.

Opposition leader Anthony Albanese promised lower-cost childcare and medicines if he becomes prime minister.

With many aspiring homeowners priced out of the housing market, a Labour government would buy a stake of up to 40 percent in dwellings bought by thousands of eligible low-and middle-income earners.

Labour also promised to raise standards in aged care and increase pay for staff.

“We can do better than this, so much better than this,” Albanese told supporters, referring to the conservative government's nine years in power.

“We will look after the young, we will look after the sick, we will look after our older Australians. No one held back and no one left behind,” Albanese added.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison attacked Labour's plan to take a stake in homes, arguing a Labour government would expect to make money out of such deals.

“They will have equity in your home. And as ... your equity goes up, they're going to keep it,” Morrison said.

“I don't have a plan to make money off people buying homes. Quite the opposite. I want them to own their own home,” Morrison added.

Official data released last week showed that Australia's inflation rose to 5.1 percent in the year through March.

It is the highest annual rate since 2001 when a newly-introduced 10 percent federal consumption tax created a temporary hike.

Inflation in the latest March quarter was sharply higher than the 3.7 percent three months earlier. The March result was driven by a surge in fuel and housing costs as well as food shortages created by recent Australian floods.

While inflationary forces are largely outside Morrison's control, some observers suspect rising prices undermine his coalition's claim to be the superior economic managers.

Most economists expect Australia's central bank will on Tuesday raise a benchmark interest rate for the first time since November 2010. The overnight cash rate has been at a record low of 0.1 percent since November 2020.

The Reserve Bank of Australia last raised interest rates during an election campaign in 2007. Two weeks later, Prime Minister John Howard's conservative government was voted out of office after more than 11 years in power.

Morrison set the election date for April 10. But parties officially launch their campaigns closer to the poll day when voters are starting to focus more on their choice.

Morrison isn't expected to launch his Liberal Party's campaign until the weekend before the election.

His coalition won 77 seats in the 2019 election in the 151-seat House of Representatives where a government needs to control a majority. The government's majority shrank to a bare minimum of 76 seats when a lawmaker quit the Liberal Party last year.

Labour won only five of the 16 electoral divisions in Western Australia at the last election. Morrison's coalition won the rest.

Albanese is hoping Labour's extraordinary popularity at the state parliament level will brush off on his federal candidates.

The Labour state government used strict border restrictions to keep Western Australia largely free of COVID-19 throughout the pandemic until the more infectious delta and omicron variants became entrenched in recent months.

Labour was rewarded with a record 53 seats in the 59-seat state legislature in an election in March last year, 13 more than in the previous election. 

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)