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Albanese’s claim about opposition policy rewrites history

The Prime Minister made his claims during Question Time earlier this month.

The Prime Minister made his claims during Question Time earlier this month. Photo: Mike Bowers

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is falsely claiming the Coalition has opposed all of the government’s policies before and after the 2025 federal election.

Albanese made the claim in Parliament on November 3 while responding to a question from the opposition benches about the cost of living and food security.

But according to a fact check of the statement, the Coalition has actually supported some Albanese government measures, including on key issues such as the cost of living and health.

In Question Time earlier this month, the Prime Minister listed many of the government’s policies intended to address cost-of-living woes, including energy bill relief, cuts to student debt, increases in Medicare funding and freezing draft beer tax.

He then turned his attention to the Coalition, accusing it of opposing government policies.

“Every single measure by the government, before the last election and since, has been opposed by those opposite,” Albanese said.

AAP FactCheck emailed Albanese’s office for evidence, but received no response.

Comments from shadow ministers before the 2025 election, along with voting records, show the Coalition has not opposed all of Labor’s agenda.

In fact, signature government policies, including a boost to Medicare funding and a pledge to reduce the prices of medicines on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme, had the backing of the Coalition.

After Albanese promised to boost Medicare funding by $8.5 billion during the election campaign, the Coalition swiftly moved to match the policy.

Similarly, the Coalition supported legislation to reduce the price of PBS medicines in September, with opposition health spokeswoman Anne Ruston speaking in favour of the legislation in the Senate.

The Coalition had earlier committed to lowering the PBS co-payment during the election campaign.

The Coalition also supported Labor’s $573 million women’s health policy in February 2025.

Albanese’s promise to freeze draft beer tax indexation before the election was also supported by the Coalition, which announced a matching policy soon after Labor in March 2025.

The bill to freeze beer tax for two years is still before Parliament, but members of the Coalition have spoken in support of it in recent weeks.

Elsewhere, Labor’s campaign commitment to ban foreign buyers from purchasing existing homes for two years was first mooted by then opposition leader Peter Dutton in 2024.

Albanese also repeated a previously debunked claim during question time, saying the Coalition had opposed every round of the government’s energy bill relief scheme.

AAP FactCheck previously found that to be false. While the Coalition voted against the legislation that set up the energy bill relief fund, it did not oppose subsequent extensions.

The Coalition has opposed many Albanese government policies, including a pledge to cut student debt, government funding for free TAFE and almost all of Labor’s housing agenda.

albanese

The Coalition has opposed many Albanese government policies. Photo: Mike Bowers

Coalition members said before the election that they would scrap the cut to student debt, and when legislation was voted on in the Senate to enact it, no members of the Coalition were present.

Similarly, the Coalition opposed Labor’s free TAFE policy and voted against legislation to enact it in the House of Representatives.

The opposition was also against the Housing Australia Future Fund (HAFF), which is Labor’s signature housing policy. It went to the 2025 election promising to repeal it.

The Coalition also opposed Labor’s build to rent and shared equity schemes.

It went to the 2025 election with a different policy on adding super to paid parental leave. This retained the ability for parents to receive superannuation on the entitlement, but also provided other options.

During Albanese’s Question Time response, he also referenced Labor’s 2024 extension of paid parental leave base payments to 26 weeks. The Coalition supported this bill but proposed amendments.

In regard to minimum wage increases that Albanese referenced, those decisions are independent from the government.

Since coming to government in 2022, Labor has made submissions backing wage rises, while the opposition did not explicitly oppose an increase. In April, Dutton said he supported a rise but would not specify whether he backed Labor’s call for an increase above inflation.

On superannuation, while Albanese took credit for the rise in the super guarantee to 12 per cent, it was first legislated by Labor in 2011 under then-prime minister Julia Gillard.

The Coalition government subsequently delayed the increase in 2014. It rose from 9.5 to 12 per cent between 2021 and 2025.

-AAP

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