Albanese’s Domestic Focus Targets Climate Change And Job Creation

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has outlined his domestic agenda ahead of the first sitting of the new parliament.

In an exclusive interview with The Sun-Herald and The Sunday Age, Albanese has outlaid several commitments from the newly elected federal government, including ambitious climate change targets, ten days domestic and family violence leave, and the creation of Jobs and Skills Australia.

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While other governments “would still be moving offices”, the PM confirmed he wanted to continue pursuing the countries domestic policy changes and challenges, including holding a national employment summit and another National Cabinet meeting.

The PM’s local focus comes only four weeks into Labor's governance, which saw Albanese hit the ground running with two overseas visits, firstly to Tokyo for the Quadrilateral meeting between Japan, the United States and India, followed by a trip to Jakarta, spruiking economic and strategic opportunities for closer co-operation.

Back on home soil, Albanese and his ministerial team have been slammed with spiralling influenza cases, rising inflation, and an energy crisis on the east coast.

"It’s four weeks since we were elected today; it has been a pretty busy four weeks. Normally governments would still be moving offices now"

"We’ve asked people to bring forward the legislation to create Jobs and Skills Australia; to create the Nationally Determined Contribution [to emissions reductions] and the target – 43 per cent by 2030 and then [zero by] 2050," he said. "That legislation will come forward and there may be some appropriation legislation required".

"There will be the 10 days’ pay domestic and family violence leave legislation; there will be legislation required for the cancelling of the cashless welfare card. There will be a fair bit basically, it’s a matter of when it’s prepared for the first fortnight of sitting".

Meanwhile, the employment summit, likely to be held by September, will be a chance to “identify barriers to full employment, tackle job insecurity and create a new agenda for national productivity," Albanese said back in 2021 when he proposed the event.

Bringing together the federal government, big business groups and unions, the summit hopes to reset relations between employers and employees.

Keeping one foot firmly on the ground and another in the air, Albanese will jet off next month for his first NATO security summit in Madrid, likely to be followed by an invitation to Paris to meet with French President Emmanuel Macron in a bid to repair fractured relations, after the previous Morrison government scraped the French submarine deal.

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