Campaign Proposal: Stakeholders and Issues Analysis

Proposal
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Introduction
Anthony Albanese is an Australian Politician who is currently serving as the Member of Parliament for Grayndler, a position he has held since 1996. He is also the leader of the opposition and the leader of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) since 2019. During the Rudd-Gillard Government, Albanese served as the Deputy Prime Minister, Minister for Transport, Infrastructure, Regional Development, and Local Government, as well as Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy and the Leader of the House (alp.org.au). In 2012, a London-based publication named Albanese Minister of the Year. Two years later, he was named Aviation Minister of the year for producing Australia’s first-ever Aviation (alp.org.au) White Paper. Albanese has a strong belief in the government’s need to invest in transport and infrastructure in the country’s cities and regions to ensure that the growing communities and sustainable and productive. His political views are progressive, and he is associated with the left-wing leaning faction of the ALP. Albanese will vie for the position of Prime Minister in the next federal election.
Stakeholders and Issues Analysis
Local Issues and Key Strategic Stakeholders
Electorates face economic issues led by unemployment, poverty, cost of living, housing affordability, and environmental issues like climate change. Of all the economic indicators, unemployment has been the most devastating problem faced by the electorates. Its effects go beyond material deprivation to issues related to crime, poverty, and family breakdown (Chang et al., 2020). According to the National Bureau of Statistics, unemployment is rising as the country’s economy convulses in response to COVID-19. Albanese vows to prioritize push towards full employment if he wins the next election. He will commit to launching a white paper for full employment as a priority under the Labor government. According to Albanese, full employment is about a secure job, which will help those currently in work by driving up wages. In addition, it will reduce the gender gap as it will narrow the chasms that divide indigenous and non-indigenous Australians.
Regarding the cost of living, recent increases in domestic electricity and gas have reignited concerns around the rising living cost in the country. The average cost of living in the country may be higher than expected (Phillips, 2015). Although Australian cities are relatively cheaper than places like London, New York, or Paris, the nation’s vast expanse and remoteness make it expensive to live. Callander et al. (2019) noted that living expenses in Australia are moderately high, and citizens do not expect to save more because most of their expenses go towards housing. One person’s average cost of living in Sidney, Australia’s most expensive city, is approximately 1440 AUD per month, excluding rent (Callander et al., 2019). In response to this issue, Albanese has promised $10 billion in funds to cut housing costs for workers if elected the next Prime Minister of Australia (Sidney Morning Herald, 2021).
Climate change has been a controversial political issue that is central to several election campaigns. Research shows that Australia is experiencing rapid climate change not seen for centuries and is likely to warm by 4oC, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) (Colvin & Jotzo, 2021). The country is also on the brink of climate extremes like floods, bushfires, and drought. Australia remains a laggard on climate policy despite the climate issue, although it is one of the largest per capita greenhouse gas emitters. Colvin and Jotzo (2021) noted that Australia was the first nation to repeal a carbon price in 2014 after implementing a turbulent political context in the previous years. However, there has been a dramatic shift in public opinion in recent years, suggesting a step-change in the country’s public opinion polling data (Colvin & Jotzo, 2021). A prominent Australian think tank reported that many citizens consider climate change a serious and pressing problem that needs immediate action.
Albanese has proposed a new policy to guide investment as long as the emissions reduction targets are scalable. He is also open to carbon capture and storage technologies, which remain controversial with many environments, as the national renewable bodies do not fund the projects. Albanese has committed to achieving net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 (The Guardian, 2020). He announced that the new climate policy aligns with the Paris agreement that aims to see nations undertake ambitious efforts to combat climate change and reduce global warming to below two degrees Celsius by 2030 (The Guardian, 2020).
National and International Issues and Policies
Australians faced many challenges to their health and well-being last year. The year started with extensive bushfires, resulting in loss of lives, the destruction of businesses and homes, and less direct health outcomes for many electorates. As COVID-19 spread globally, Australia recorded the first case on January 25, 2020 (O’Sullivan et al., 2020). As the pandemic spread throughout the country, A National Cabinet responded with measures to limit the spread of the virus and treat those affected. In addition, the government established restrictions to contain the impact of COVID-19 in the community. By the end of March 2020, business activities were shut down following the stay-at-home order issued by the federal government.
As part of the restrictions, the government suspended health services or required them to operate differently, limiting healthcare access. Restrictions also affected other areas of electorates’ lives, including income, employment, living arrangement, and social life. For some people, these changes meant extra support to manage their mental health and well-being. Today, Australia has recorded over 56,212 cases and 1,002 deaths caused by the pandemic (O’Sullivan et al., 2020). Although these numbers are lower than those reported in other developed countries globally, the pandemic has reduced the movement of people to and from the country. For example, some electorates travel to other countries for business purposes, but they cannot move to those countries due to COVID-19 restrictions.
Other than COVID-19, political representation in Australia has become increasingly complex due to the success of social movements in growing demands for fairer representation of previously discounted groups such as those based on race, gender, sexuality, and disability (Chang et al., 2020). Moreover, the rise in social movements has been aligned with various complementary trends that posed greater challenges to traditional perspectives of political representation. Examples are the voter identification decline, the increased minority parties and independents, and the decline in the significance of geography to political representation.
Another issue is income and wealth inequality. Australia is one of the wealthiest countries in the world and prided itself as the ‘‘land of the fair go’’. However, many people would be shocked to find that there is a growing gap between the rich and the ...