CLANCY OVERELL | Editor | CONTACT
If the 2019 election result wasn’t enough proof that the Australian Labor Party is no longer just Summer cricket and high-paying factory jobs, today’s erratic rebrand has all but confirmed the identity crisis of one the oldest institutions in Australian politics.
Today on ABC’s Radio National Breakfast opposition leader Anthony Albanese told presenter Fran Kelly that “875,000 people were paid more than they were earning before this crisis”
This is apparently a problem for the only major political party that exists entirely to fight for workers to be paid more, according to Albanese.
He appeared on the program to discuss new changes to JobKeeper, which were announced today, which now stipulate that this people will be taking home less pay in the middle of an unprecedented global pandemic.
Today the government also announced changes to JobKeeper — from the end of September the payment will be reduced to $1200 a fortnight, and $750 a fortnight for people working less than 20 hours a week.
Albanese stopped short at congratulating the government for making these changes that rectify the issue he was highlighting, in response to this issue being solved,
More than 5 million Australians receive payments from the JobKeeper and JobSeeker programs, which is a program that was invented with the aim of keeping businesses afloat through lockdown measures by giving the funds to 960,000 employers, who then pass the full payment onto 3.5 million workers.
In an unexpected rebrand for the party that just lost and unloseable election, Albanese has now cemented himself as one of those rare Labor leaders who don’t like seeing the working man and woman receiving a few small wins in the face of an unmitigated public health emergency.
It is not yet known if this identity crisis will continue down the path of diluting the trade union movement, however, the Victorian CFMEU might argue that this is already happening.
At time of press, Albo was spotted at Marrickville metro, swapping his Rabbitohs jersey for a Waratahs scarf.
MORE TO COME.
