Anthony Albanese’s New Year’s Resolution: Prime Minister announces major decision during his first public appearance of the year

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has revealed the government is considering new measures to help ease the cost of living for struggling Australians.

The Treasury and Treasury has been tasked with coming forward with ‘further proposals’ for the government to consider in the run-up to the May 2024 Budget.

But he is also cautious about handing out cash, warning that it could “potentially worsen inflation… [not] help solve the problem’.

It comes amid shaky election results for the first-term prime minister, who enjoyed strong support among the general public prior to losing the referendum for the Indigenous Voice to Parliament.

Polls have been steadily sliding since the run-up to the October 14 vote, and the rising cost of living has not made life any easier for Labor, which is trying to push back voters.

Following the Reserve Bank’s decision to raise interest rates in November for the 13th time in 18 months, and with inflation still high, Labor is particularly struggling to connect with voters aged 35 to 49 who are struggling against rising mortgage repayments, the last Newspoll of 2023 found.

In a speech on January 3, Albanese announced his government’s determination to tackle the crisis.

“Our priority will be to ease the cost of living while removing pressure on inflation,” he said.

“I have asked the Treasury and Treasury to come forward with further proposals that we will consider in the run-up to the May Budget this year.”

Mr Albanese later confirmed this was a request he also made to the department last year, when Labor introduced a range of measures to help Australians who need it most.

The mid-year budget outlook, published in December, did not include cost-of-living measures, although the treasurer did hint at more aid in May if needed.

Australian households and businesses are under pressure from rising consumer prices and the series of interest rate hikes aimed at tackling inflation.

Yet households are still collectively throwing away money, with deposits totaling more than $1.4 trillion in November.

That represents a gain of 0.7 percent or $10.5 billion since October and a jump of 7.5 percent from a year ago.

Michele Bullock, governor of the Reserve Bank of Australia, has said households are generally in a “pretty good position” despite the “noise” around interest rate rises and the cost of living.

“Their balance sheets are quite good,” she told a conference in Hong Kong in late November.

But not everyone is in the same position, as the Australian Council of Social Services has noted.

“There are more than three million people living in poverty in Australia,” CEO Cassandra Goldie said recently.

‘More than 5.3 million people said they could not afford a Christmas meal.’

The Prime Minister accused the coalition of never supporting them as an opposition, arguing: ‘Whatever you talk about, they have only one answer: negativity.

‘A lack of practical solutions. They only say what they are against, never what they are for.’

His latest pledge comes after he acknowledged the hardships facing Australians in a New Year’s Eve speech touting the “$23 billion in cost-of-living relief that has been handed out since Labor came to power in May 2022.”

Mr Albanese said his government would roll out more free TAFE places and continue its work for universal childcare.

He flagged changes to the aged care pension that will allow retirees and veterans to work more without seeing their benefits reduced.

The Prime Minister also referred to the Energy Price Relief Plan, which was developed with state and territory governments to introduce price caps on gas and coal.

The NSW and Queensland governments have set a price threshold of $125 per tonne for coal used to generate electricity. An emergency 12-month cap on gas prices has also been set at $12 per gigajoule for East Coast producers.

“Instead of giving checks to people, their bills are substantially reduced. We worked through that with the Treasury and the financial sector and it made a substantial difference in reducing wholesale prices,” Mr Albanese said.

“A key priority will be implementing all elements of our Housing Australia plan, including passing our Help to Buy legislation to get first homeowners into their own homes,” the Prime Minister said.

“We will continue to build a made-in-Australia future, ensuring the energy transition delivers not only our climate goals, but Australian jobs.

“That’s what Australians can expect from a government that delivers. In contrast, the Coalition has opposed all the cost-of-living measures we have taken.”

But there are concerns about Albanese’s future after the next election after the latest Newspoll of 2023 showed that women, the group that turned against former Prime Minister Scott Morrison in 2022, are now also turning away from the ALP.

About 36 percent supported the coalition, while 30 percent initially favored Labour.

The research, conducted for The Australian, was based on a survey of 3,655 voters from October 31 to December 15 on the aftermath of the failed Voice referendum.

Labour’s two-party lead over the Coalition fell for the 35 to 49 age group, according to the latest Newspoll.

This election-deciding demographic group saw its support drop from 56 percent to 44 percent in October, to 53 percent to 47 percent in December.

These are the voters with mortgages and young children who have suffered the most financially, with 12 of the RBA’s rate increases occurring since Labor came to power in May 2022.

However, young voters still overwhelmingly support Labor despite the rental crisis, with the government holding a 66 to 34 percent lead over the opposition.

Across all age groups and states, the Coalition has a higher primary vote of 36 percent, compared to Labour’s 34 percent.

But after Greens preferences, the Newspoll showed Labor with a lead of 52 percent to 48 percent – ​​a result similar to that of the 2022 election.

And there is also hope that the pain of the cost of living could be a distant memory when voters go to the polls in early 2025.

The Commonwealth Bank expects six rate cuts in 2024 and 2025.

This would cut the Reserve Bank’s interest rate from a 12-year high of 4.35 percent to 2.85 percent at the end of 2025.

ANZ expects inflation to fall to 4.1 percent in November – down from the level of 4.9 percent in October.

That means there will be no interest rate hike in February, with the Treasury Department expecting wages to finally surpass inflation in 2024 for the first time since 2021.

Economist Stephen Koukoulas, the economic adviser to former Labor Prime Minister Julia Gillard, said Labor was likely to be re-elected with a majority or a minority, with support from the Teals.

“Labour will win that election based on likely economic conditions: solid wage growth, low inflation, falling interest rates and budget surpluses,” he said on X.