“You couldn’t pull it off”: Kochie grills Anthony Albanese over election promises
<p dir="ltr">Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has come under fire from <em>Sunrise</em> host David ‘Kochie’ Koch over two election promises the host says were broken in Tuesday’s federal budget.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Kochie brought up two promises Mr Albanese made to Australians before taking on the top job, including real wage increases and a drop in power bills by $275.</p>
<p dir="ltr">“Now, those two in this budget are a fail,” the Sunrise host said.</p>
<p dir="ltr">“What do you say to voters … you have broken two promises?”</p>
<p dir="ltr">Refuting that promises regarding wages were broken, the Prime Minister said the minimum wage had increased by 5.2 percent, with inflation at the time sitting at 5.1 percent.</p>
<p dir="ltr">“That is a real wage increase for minimum wage workers out there,” he said.</p>
<p dir="ltr">As for slashing power bills, Kochie pointed out that they were instead going up by more than half over the next year and a half.</p>
<p dir="ltr">“You said you’d save $275 a year on power bills, and now they are going up 56 percent over the next 18 months,” Kochie said.</p>
<p dir="ltr">“The Ukraine war has been going a fair while. We knew this was happening.”</p>
<p dir="ltr">Mr Albanese conceded that the war in Ukraine was one contributor to increasing prices while also attributing it to “failed energy policies” under the previous Coalition government.</p>
<p dir="ltr">“One [reason] is the Ukraine war, which has been going on for some time, that has flowed through into global prices,” the Prime Minister explained.</p>
<p dir="ltr">“We know global energy prices have fed into global inflation.</p>
<p dir="ltr">“In our competitors, many of them are looking at double-digit inflation. You are aware of that pressure.</p>
<p dir="ltr">“As well as that, we had 10 years of failed energy policies, we saw four gigawatts leave the system, and only one go back in. If you have less supply, that has an impact on price. That is why we are dealing with that through our Powering Australia Plan.”</p>
<p dir="ltr">Kochie didn’t let up though and questioned why Mr Albanese made the promise in the first place if he knew he “couldn’t pull it off”.</p>
<p dir="ltr">“But you shouldn’t have made the promise because you knew you couldn’t pull it off,” he said.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Co-host Natalie Barr also weighed in, pointing out that election promises influence who Australians vote for.</p>
<p dir="ltr">“When it comes to power prices, there are real pressures out there,” Mr Albanese continued.</p>
<p dir="ltr">“We understand people are doing it tough. We understand the power price issue is a difficult one. That’s why we’ve flagged the preparedness for further regulatory reform.”</p>
<p dir="ltr">Treasurer Jim Chalmers received similar treatment from the morning show host, with the war in Ukraine being a sore point.</p>
<p dir="ltr">“I think Australians understand, Kochie, that when you’ve got a war in Europe which is causing havoc on global energy markets, then that has consequences for electricity prices here in Australia,” Mr Chalmers said.</p>
<p dir="ltr">“I think people do understand that, and I think they also understand that renewable energy, it’s not just cleaner energy, it’s cheaper energy as well, that remains the case.</p>
<p dir="ltr">“What we’re doing in this budget is investing in new sources of energy, which is important over time, but we have also got necessary regulatory steps.</p>
<p dir="ltr">“There is more work to be done when it comes to the electricity market and we do understand these electricity price rises make it harder for Australians who are already under the pump, and that is why we are taking some of the steps that we are taking.”</p>
<p dir="ltr">In the new budget, the Powering Australia Plan will see $20 billion spent on upgrading the electrical grid, including connecting Tasmania’s Battery of the Nation, a network of hydropower and power stations, to the East Coast transmission network.</p>
<p dir="ltr">The government also plans to spend $224.3 million on a program delivering 400 community batteries to store excess solar energy, as well as $102.2 million on a program to help up to 25,000 households access solar-powered energy.</p>
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<p dir="ltr"><em>Images: Sunrise</em></p>
