Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has backed the case for federal intervention in open markets after a bruising debate with energy exporters on his new regime to cap coal and gas prices, intensifying a debate about state power and his willingness to impose tough laws on business.
“When markets are failing, there is need for government intervention,” Albanese said in an exclusive interview. But he emphasised plans in 2023 to cement policies including bigger subsidies for childcare and medicines, two election promises put in place in recent months. “What you’re seeing from the prime minister at the moment is more like Gough Whitlam than it is like Bob Hawke,” Dutton said last Monday.