Extract from The Guardian
Opposition leader to tell Queensland Labor conference traditional industries ‘have a future’ alongside emerging ones.
Last modified on Sat 5 Jun 2021 12.24 AEST
Anthony Albanese says Queenslanders are backing Labor at the state level in “ever greater numbers” since the defeat of the Newman government, and he wants to translate that support to the ALP at the federal level.
The federal ALP leader will use an address to the party faithful at the Labor conference in Queensland on Saturday to intensify his courtship of voters in a state that will make or break the opposition’s election chances.
Albanese will note when it comes to elections, Queenslanders possess “an unparalleled talent for combining wisdom with brutal efficiency” – qualities in evidence when the Newman government was dispatched from office in 2015.
He says voters have rallied behind Labor and the premier Annastacia Palaszczuk, and “three terms in, Queenslanders are seeing their collective wisdom paying dividends”.
“I want to translate the support for Queensland Labor to the federal level,” Albanese will say on Saturday. “I want it to be clear that the best choice for your great state is a Labor government in Canberra.”
Albanese says he wants to lead a federal government “that looks to Queensland’s rich catalogue of achievements and is inspired by it – a federal government that draws strength from the mighty union movement and understands, as your members do, that we will always be at our best when unions and business work together.”
He says Labor has led from opposition during the pandemic, dragging the Liberal and National parties “out of their slumber and towards action” on policies like wage subsidies for workers during lockdowns.
“Labor values have indisputably been the right ones for the crisis, they will be the right ones for the recovery,” Albanese will say.
Voters in regional Queensland savaged Labor during the federal election contest in 2019, with the future of the Adani coal mine a key political flashpoint. Albanese on Saturday will attempt to walk a line between support for traditional industries and backing the new energy economy.
“We believe in ensuring Queensland’s traditional industries have a future,” the Labor leader will tell the conference. “Mining, for example, makes up almost 12% of Queensland’s economy.”
“Queensland’s coal and bauxite huge reserves are of such high quality, they are – and will remain – highly sought overseas.”
“But we also know it’s crucial to back emerging industries, and in many cases, the new industries are being supported by our traditional ones – for example, it takes more than 200 tonnes of metallurgical coal to produce one wind turbine.”
He will argue Queensland wins both in the era of fossil fuels and the transition to lower emissions that will accelerate in the coming decades.
“According to forecasts of global growth in wind power capacity to 2030, Australia could be exporting 15.5m tonnes of coking coal to build [wind] turbines,” Albanese will say.
“This is the equivalent of three years output from the Moranbah North coking coal mine in Queensland.”
“Meanwhile, Queensland’s abundance of sunshine and wind resources and your massive opportunities in hydrogen will be key to Australia realising its potential as a renewable energy superpower.”
Albanese will also make a pitch to workers in the services sector, in manufacturing, and tourism, and argue that jobs and services need to be created in both the regions and the cities. He will characterise the Morrison government as “out of time, out of ideas – and at the next election, it should be out of office”.
Given its poor performance in 2019, Labor is hopeful if can pick up seats in the next contest, with the popularity of the state Labor government a plus.
But Labor will be trying to pick up seats that the Coalition now holds with substantial margins, and the party will also be defending held seats as well as looking to make gains.
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