Grievance politics
The Coalition is trying to create a sense of grievance among the nation’s tradies, telling them that Labor is no longer on their side.
Anthony Albanese wasn’t always planning to announce a cash splash on clearing higher education loan debts over the weekend.
At one point, the prime minister and Treasurer Jim Chalmers were considering a big housing announcement involving an overhaul to negative gearing.
But with Treasury’s advice coming back that it wouldn’t do much to boost housing supply, Albanese and Chalmers decided to do nothing on that front.
The prime minister then endured a horror few days over the Qantas upgrade scandal last week, off the back of criticism of his $4.3 million house purchase, and the government decided it needed to change the conversation heading into the return of parliament this week.
