Labor Woos Australian Voters With Cheaper Housing, EV Network

(Bloomberg) -- Australia's opposition Labor Party officially launched its election campaign on Sunday, wooing voters ahead of the May 21 ballot with a suite of new policies on electric vehicles, housing and health care.

Speaking in front of a banner announcing “A Better Future,” Labor leader Anthony Albanese said Australians should elect him to lead the country because they “deserve better.”

“In the toughest of times people have stepped up – but their government has let them down,” he said, after being introduced by a short video voiced by actor Russell Crowe.

Australia's center-right Liberal-National Coalition government under Prime Minister Scott Morrison is seeking a fourth term in power, campaigning on strong economic growth and record-low unemployment. Albanese and his party have accused the government of failing to grow wages and address cost-of-living pressures, with inflation reaching as high as 5.1%.

The coalition was governing with a single-seat majority in the 151-member lower house of parliament. Labor, which currently has 68 seats and is leading in opinion polls, needs 76 to form a majority government.

Sunday's launch was Albanese's first major event after spending a week in isolation after catching Covid-19 in the second week of the campaign. Labor held its launch in the state of Western Australia, where it is hoping to pick up three seats from the government.

The party announced a new policy to build a network of electric vehicle charging stations, with one every 150 kilometers (93 miles) on major roads at a cost of A$39.3 million ($28 million). Albanese said his government would also make electric vehicles cheaper by exempting them from import tariffs and certain taxes.

He also announced a plan to help lower-income earners get a foot on the property ladder, amid rapidly rising housing prices. A future Labor government would contribute 40% equity for newly-built homes and 30% for existing buildings, to help people “achieve the great Australian dream of home ownership.”

Labor also announced it would reduce the price of drugs on Australia's pharmaceutical benefits scheme by A$12.50 and make gender pay equality part of the country's Fair Work Act.

Speaking in Sydney earlier on Sunday, Morrison criticized Labor's housing proposal, saying under the coalition's policy people could own their homes outright without the government taking a stake.

Morrison claimed his government had already helped more than 300,000 Australians buy a home in the past three years.