Wednesday 18 May 2022 08:13 AM Election 2022: Anthony Albanese supports tax cuts and says Scott Morrison is ... trends now
Anthony Albanese has declared he's ditched his left-wing, class-warrior views and is ready to run the country in a pitch to voters three days before the election.
The Labor leader, who was raised in housing commission by a single mother, is from the left faction of the party and spent his younger years speaking out against the privatisation of companies and advocating higher taxes including an inheritance tax.
But now the 59-year-old presents himself as a mainstream centrist who will be friendly to businesses and aspirational Aussies if he wins power on May 21.
Mr Albanese is pictured as a young man in Sydney. He became a federal MP in 1996 aged 33
'Some of my views, of course, have changed,' he told the National Press Club on Wednesday.
Mr Albanese, who owns three properties in Sydney and Canberra and earns $390,820 a year, said Australia is now different due to the reforms of previous Labor governments.
'When facts change, change your views,' he said, insisting there has been a 'change in the political dynamic out there' since he was a young man.
Explaining why he supports the stage three income tax cuts which in 2024 will lift the 45 per cent threshold from $180,000 to $200,000, he said: 'I want people to have the certainty of knowing what their income will be.'
Mr Albanese also claimed he has 'as good a relationship with the business community as anyone in the Parliament.'
It came after Prime Minister Scott Morrison last week told Daily Mail Australia that, in his view, Mr Albanese has not changed.
Australian Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese and partner Jodie Haydon ahead of his speech to the National Press Club
Mr Albanese is pictured campaigning for Medicare services in 1996 when he first joined parliament
'I don't believe Anthony Albanese has changed at all,' Mr Morrison said.
'I think he's the same Tory-fighting leftie that he's always been. My observation is that what's always motivated him is political struggle.'
In his speech, the Labor leader laid out his plans to boost wages, improve aged care, make childcare cheaper, and produce more in Australia.
Repeating one of his campaign slogans, he pledged that under his leadership there will be 'no one held back, no one left behind'.
I don't believe Anthony Albanese has changed at all
Scott Morrison
Mr Albanese also blasted Mr Morrison as 'weak' for leaking private text messages with French President Emmanuel Macron.
Mr Morrison had leaked the texts last year in attempt to prove Mr Macron knew Australia's $90billion submarine contract with a French company was on the ropes - after the President claimed the Prime Minister lied to him.
Rejecting Coalition claims he would be weak on foreign policy, Mr Albanese said: 'You know what weak is? Weak is leaking a private text message with an ally. That's weak.
'Because you're under pressure. You've got a bad headline – oh, well, just chuck this out and then say – ''oh, I don't know where that came from'',' he added.
Mr Albanese (pictured with partner Jodie Hayden) insisted that he will be a friend of business in government
Albanese often talks of being raised in public housing at inner-city Camperdown by a single mother who suffered chronic
