Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has narrowly avoided a potentially nasty fall ahead of today’s ALP conference in Adelaide when an escalator appeared to malfunction.
Sky News video from the Adelaide Convention Centre on Thursday morning shows Mr Albanese struggling to regain his balance when the elevator he was walking down suddenly stopped moving.
It is not known what caused the machine to cease moving.
The video appears to show a brief moment of panic from the PM as he’s caught unaware mid-step before he quickly regains his balance.
Labor heavyweights and party delegates descended on Adelaide on Wednesday ahead of the ALP’s national conference today.
Mr Albanese officially opened the event on Thursday.
Albo’s warning to Labor faithful
Warnings of damaging energy price hikes flowing from Labor’s Adelaide national conference are being issued, as Prime Minister Anthony Albanese concedes “people have been given every reason” to feel “the economy is simply not working for them”.
Opening the conference on Thursday morning, Mr Albanese will issue a thinly couched attack on Pauline Hanson, decrying politicians “raging against a system that you are a part of, without a plan to fix it”.
Mr Albanese will tell the Adelaide Convention Centre conference that Labor’s focus “remains squarely on helping with the cost of living” and unveil a plan to extend payments for student placements to 10 frontline health professions.
But the resources industry is challenging Labor delegates to resist proposals for a gas tax, capping or cutting fuel tax credits and watering down support for baseload energy.
Minerals Council of Australia chief executive officer Tania Constable cautioned against “closing the door” on coal, nuclear and carbon capture, use and storage (CCUS), saying business and households needed access to “all sources of energy … to reduce emissions, keep cost of living down and improve reliability”.
Australian Energy Producers chief executive Samantha McCulloch said higher taxes would “make it harder to deliver the reliable and affordable energy Australian households, manufacturers and our regional partners depend on”.
Premier Peter Malinauskas will introduce Mr Albanese’s keynote speech, in which he is expected to emphasise other key South Australian Labor figures – Senate leaders Penny Wong and Don Farrell, plus incoming ALP president Kate Ellis.
In an address titled “Delivering Real Change”, Mr Albanese is expected to say he understands “that for many Australians right now, looking to the future runs second to the immediate pressures they are under”.
“The last decade has inflicted one global shock after another. And people have been given every reason to feel like the economy is simply not working for them,” Mr Albanese says.
“That goes deeper than sentiment, it’s a reality people are up against. It is a challenge confronting governments and democracies right around the world.”
In a veiled attack on Senator Hanson and One Nation’s popularity surge, Mr Albanese says “people’s genuine frustrations deserve a practical response, not just an emotional one, because a list of problems only counts for something if it comes with solutions”.
“And while you can go a long way in politics, for a long time, by raging against a system that you are a part of, without a plan to fix it, or blaming people who cannot defend themselves for a problem they did not cause, that doesn’t build anything,” he says.
“ It doesn’t change anything. It doesn’t take our country forward. It doesn’t help anyone find a job, pay their bills, or put a roof over their head.
“This has always been the fundamental contrast between Labor and all our political opponents. And never more so than now.”
Mr Albanese will unveil a plan to extend payments for student practical placements from teaching, nursing, midwifery and social work to frontline health professions, of up to $338.60 a week from mid-2027.
Ms Constable, whose Minerals Council members include Olympic Dam operator BHP, challenged Labor delegates to back regional jobs and communities by keeping the fuel tax credit in its current form, rather than cave to a conference push to impose an annual cap of $50m on credits.
‘This week in Adelaide is an opportunity for Labor conference delegates to stand up for regional industries like mining and agriculture, by opposing damaging proposals to cap or cut the fuel tax credit and water down support for reliable baseload energy and new energy sources.
‘When Australian businesses and households need access to all sources of energy – renewables, gas, coal and nuclear – and technologies like CCUS to reduce emissions, keep cost of living down and improve reliability, closing the door on coal, nuclear, and CCUS doesn’t make sense.
‘This is the industry that helps put food on the table for everyday Australians, and we want that to continue for our children and grandchildren.”
Ms McCulloch, whose Energy Producers members include SA’s biggest firm, Santos, said Mr Albanese had “rightly recognised” regional gas exports were essential to fuel security and “calls to increases taxes would jeopardise these partnerships”.
“In an increasingly uncertain global environment, the priority should be strengthening Australia’s energy security and maintaining our reputation as a reliable energy supplier to the region,” she said.
“Higher taxes would make Australia less competitive, undermine investment in new gas supply and make it harder to deliver the reliable and affordable energy Australian households, manufacturers and our regional partners depend on.“