Sussan Ley blasts Anthony Albanese for not focussing on energy bills, inflation and mortgage hikes

Anthony Albanese is facing criticism for not focussing on energy bills, mortgages and the cost of living as thousands of Australians are forced to tighten their spending.

Since returning from holiday on Monday, Mr Albanese welcomed a new vaccine facility in Melbourne, blasted Scott Morrison in a Canberra presser, visited the Cross River Rail project in Brisbane and discussed his Voice to Parliament proposal in the Torres Strait islands.

Liberal deputy leader Sussan Ley believes his priorities are all wrong after he failed to publicly say the word ‘bills’ once this week.

Speaking to Ben Fordham on 2GBshe said the prime minister has offered ‘not one comment or reassurance about bringing the price of your mortgage down, your grocery bill down, the cost of fuel and power down. 

‘And these are the things that he should be prioritising,’ she said.

‘I am not hearing what Australians want to from the prime minister about the priorities that they face every single day. 

‘I mean, every time you go to the supermarket the prices (are) ratcheting up.

‘I speak to manufacturing businesses every day, and they’re saying ”this is my power bill”. They show it to me. You see the increase.’ 

Largely due to soaring food and energy costs, inflation is running at 6.1 per cent, meaning Aussies are able to buy less with their money.

Data on Wednesday showed wages had grown 2.6 per cent since last year, not nearly enough to offset the increase cost of living. 

Interest rate rises to combat soaring inflation are pushing mortgage payments up by hundreds of dollars a month and petrol prices are set to rise another 22 cents a litre in six weeks when the fuel duty cut ends on September 28. 

Mr Albanese was grilled about his priorities by Today Show host Allison Langdon on Friday morning after he spent much of the week talking about how Mr Morrison secretly swore himself into five ministerial portfolios during the pandemic.

The revelations attracted significant media attention and were the biggest story of the week by far.

But Langdon asked Mr Albanese if former Liberal PM John Howard was right to accuse him of getting ‘carried away with the scandal’.

‘Is the bloke that you beat really the top priority right now when we are facing an inflation and energy crisis?’ Langdon said.

‘You’ve got family sleeping in tents and cars because they can’t find somewhere to live.’

Mr Albanese fired back saying he was only speaking about Mr Morrison during the interview because Langdon had asked him about it. 

‘You just asked me the question Ally about Scott Morrison and I gave you the answer,’ he said.

‘If you ask me a question about inflation or about the economy, I’ll give you an answer about that as well. This isn’t an issue that I chose to raise.’

In other interviews this week, the prime minister has talked up his jobs and skills summit of businesses, unions and the government in early September.

He rejected accusations it will just be a ‘talk fest’ and insists his aim is to deliver real wage growth for everyday Aussies. 

Mr Albanese has been fiercely critical of Mr Morrison over revelations he gave himself the powers to act as minister for health, finance, resources and home affairs as well as treasurer in 2020 and 2021.

‘How about an apology to the Australian people? The Australian people went to an election not knowing that any of this had occurred, not knowing that there was a shadow government operating in darkness, without transparency,’ he said on Wednesday.

Mr Morrison has insisted Australians wouldn’t understand his power grab because they had never been prime minister and argued he was not acting like a tin-pot dictator because he was democratically elected. 

‘Had I been in the situation where those powers had to be used, then I believe that was the time to have that conversation [with the ministers] because that’s when the powers would be enacted,’ he said on Wednesday.

‘The powers were established as an emergency power.’