PM's claim about opposition policy rewrites history

Matthew Elmas November 21, 2025
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The prime minister was responding to a question about the cost of living and food security Image by Mick Tsikas/AAP PHOTOS

WHAT WAS CLAIMED

The coalition has opposed all of the Albanese government's policies.

OUR VERDICT

False. The coalition has supported key Labor policies, including a multi-billion dollar Medicare boost.

AAP FACTCHECK - Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is falsely claiming the coalition has opposed all of the government's policies before and after the 2025 federal election.

The coalition has supported a series of the Albanese government's measures, including on key issues like the cost of living and health.

Mr Albanese made the false claim in parliament on November 3 while responding to a question from the opposition benches about the cost of living and food security (page 76-77).

A photo of Anthony Albanese.
Anthony Albanese made the claim during question time. (Mick Tsikas/AAP PHOTOS)

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 them of opposing government policies.

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

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

Comments from opposition 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 Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) medicine prices, were backed by the coalition.

A generic photo of pills.
The coalition has supported measures to make medicines more affordable. (Lukas Coch/AAP PHOTOS)

After Mr 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.

Mr 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.

A photo of draft beer.
Both Labor and the coalition committed to freezing the tax on draft beer during the election. (Tracey Nearmy/AAP PHOTOS)

Elsewhere, Labor's campaign commitment to ban foreign buyers from purchasing existing homes for two years was first mooted by Mr Dutton in 2024.

Mr 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 (p76).

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.

Coalition ministers said before the election that they would scrap the student debt cut, 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.

A photo of a house under construction.
The coalition has opposed many Labor policies, including housing policy. (James Ross/AAP PHOTOS)

The coalition also opposed the Housing Australia Future Fund (HAFF), which is Labor's signature housing policy, and went to the 2025 election promising to repeal it.

The coalition also opposed Labor's build to rent and shared equity schemes.

The coalition went to the 2025 election with a different policy on adding super to paid parental leave.

As AAP FactCheck has previously explored, this retained the ability for parents to receive superannuation on the entitlement, but provided other options too.

During Mr 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 Mr Albanese referenced, decisions about rates are undertaken independently from the government.

Labor has made submissions backing wage rises since coming to government and the opposition did not explicitly oppose an increase.

In April, then-coalition leader Peter Dutton said he supported a rise but would not specify whether he backed Labor's call for an increase above inflation.

A phone with an AustralianSuper logo.
The super guarantee increased in 2025, but this wasn't introduced by the Albanese government. (Lukas Coch/AAP PHOTOS)

On superannuation, while Mr 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 this increase in 2014, with the rate increasing from 9.5 to 12 per cent between 2021 and 2025.

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Sources

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