Lessons learned, Medicare and attack lines: nine key takeaways from Albanese’s first major speech in 2025​on January 24, 2025 at 7:13 am

1. New policies on apprentices and education

Albanese outlined a $626m pledge for $10,000 incentive payments for construction apprentices, which would be paid in $2,000 instalments at various stages of their training. It was billed as a way to get more young people into residential building trades to help reach Labor’s target of 1.2m new homes.

The prime minister also confirmed a new schools funding deal with Victoria and South Australia, which changes how the federal and state governments give out education dollars. Albanese foreshadowed similar negotiations with New South Wales and Queensland.

“This agreement is not about dividing up the same amount of dollars in a different way. Instead, both levels of government are stepping up our commitment to schools over the decade,” he said.

2. His biggest lesson

Albanese was asked “what’s the biggest lesson about governing” he had learned in his first term as prime minister.

He replied: “The biggest thing is that things will come at you that you don’t expect and you have to deal with them.”

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It brought to mind the famous quote, sometimes attributed to the former British prime minister Harold Macmillan, in response to questions about the greatest challenge faced by politicians: “Events, dear boy, events.”

Albanese continued: “If someone had stood up [in 2022] and said there’d be a land war still going in Europe in 2025, people would have shaken their head and said that was absurd as a proposition … So you have to deal with things as they are rather than as you want them to be.”

3. His biggest achievement

Question: “What is the headline achievement that the true believers will be looking back on with pride in 20 years?”

Albanese’s first response: “Keeping us out of recession.”

He then went on to also list 1.1 million jobs created, reducing inflation, completing the NBN, and investments in Medicare and childcare.

4. New lines you’ll hear more often

Albanese’s speech mentioned Medicare 10 times, ahead of a campaign expected to heavily scrutinise Dutton’s record as health minister.

He also said – as politicians often do at election time – the vote would be about “a choice between two fundamentally different approaches and vastly different agendas”.

“It’s a choice between Labor’s plan to help Australians under pressure and reward their hard work, against the Liberals’ promise to cut what is helping and abandon people who are hurting. It’s a choice between our determination and optimism or their fear and negativity,” he said.

“It’s Labor’s belief in the opportunities this decade holds and our plan for Australians to seize them, against the Liberals’ view that Australia can’t compete and shouldn’t try.”

5. Challenged Dutton to front up

Albanese branded Dutton “weak” for rarely appearing in front of the Canberra press gallery to take detailed policy questions, and for never speaking to the NPC since becoming opposition leader.

The prime minister said he would be happy to debate the Liberal leader at the NPC during the election campaign: “I’ll even offer to give Peter Dutton a lift down from Parliament House in case he can’t find it.”

6. No new referendums

Guardian Australia asked whether Labor would look at a new process to discuss Indigenous constitutional recognition after the defeat of the voice referendum. Not only did Albanese not commit to a new process to formulate ideas, he ruled out any further referendums in his second term.

That means no national vote on an Australian republic, no vote on four-year election terms, and no vote on Indigenous constitutional recognition.

“We will not be holding a referendum in our second term on any issues … referendums are hard to win in this country. And we’ve seen, I think, that all it takes is opposition,” he said.

7. No coalition with the Greens

Many analysts are predicting a hung parliament at the next election, with projections that neither Labor nor the Coalition will win enough seats to govern outright – meaning they could need crossbench support to take the government benches.

Asked how he would navigate such a situation, Albanese said: “Well, we won’t be entering into any coalitions.”

“My government intends to be a majority government. That’s what we’re working towards.

“I said it before the last election and indeed in 2013 when I became deputy prime minister, we refused to do arrangements.”

8. Told Dutton to ‘chill out’ on Australia Day

Dutton has criticised local councils and businesses which have declined to celebrate Australia Day this weekend. He yesterday encouraged people to “call the company and express their view”.

Albanese shrugged off questions about the same issue.

“I sometimes think Peter Dutton every year has a fight with an imaginary friend over something that most Australians are just getting on with, Australia Day. And one of the things that Australia Day celebrates is the fact that we’re not a Soviet-style command system,” he said.

“You know, like, just chill out, get on with life.”

9. Won’t pull out of Paris agreement

Despite Donald Trump’s moves to withdraw the US from the Paris climate agreement, Albanese said he had no plans to follow suit.

“I don’t think it came as a surprise, and he [Trump] leads a sovereign nation and Australia is a sovereign nation as well, and we obviously will not be doing that,” he said.

“We see that there is a challenge of dealing with climate change, but we also see it as a massive opportunity and we intend to seize that opportunity.”

Albanese added: “We’ll wait and see what the implications are for where capital flows.

“But if you’re talking about jobs, there’s a lot of jobs involved in the transition to net zero.”