<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1"?> <docID>336510</docID> <postdate>2025-01-15 08:57:54</postdate> <headline>Albanese looks to infrastructure on Tasmanian road trip</headline> <body><p><img class="size-full wp-image-336511" src="https://citynews.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/20250110113454470450-original-resized.jpg" alt="" width="900" height="600" /></p> <caption>Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and senior ministers are set to make infrastructure announcements. (Aaron Bunch/AAP PHOTOS)</caption> <p><span class="kicker-line">By <strong>Tess Ikonomou</strong> in Canberra</span></p> <p><strong>The prime minister is blitzing Tasmania as he doubles down on the election contest being a choice on Australia's future.</strong></p> <p>Anthony Albanese will target different parts of the state alongside three ministers on Wednesday to make infrastructure announcements under a plan Labor hopes will give it another term.</p> <p>He will start the day in Devonport with Finance Minister Katy Gallagher before an expected visit to Hobart.</p> <p>Infrastructure Minister Catherine King will be on Flinders Island, while Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke is in Launceston.</p> <p>Labor's candidates for Bass, Braddon and Lyons will join the prime minister and the senior ministers on the road.</p> <p>Mr Albanese said his government was determined to build Australia's future, which included "critical" investments in Tasmania.</p> <p>"Peter Dutton and the opposition won't stand up for the interest of Tasmanians," he said of the opposition leader.</p> <p>"My government cares about Tasmanians. That's why we are delivering on cost of living relief, investing in housing and infrastructure, child care and healthcare for Tasmania."</p> <p>Last week, the prime minister completed a three-state blitz of key battlegrounds across Queensland, the Northern Territory and Western Australia.</p> <p>University of Tasmania public policy associate professor Kate Crowley said the forming of a coalition on the left of politics might take place as early as this year, as voters turn away from the major parties.</p> <p>"The cost of living and the cost of housing have really been the match that's lit the fire," she told AAP.</p> <p>"People are peeling off now saying 'it's just too much, I'm going to vote for someone else. I'm not getting what I want from my party'.</p> <p>"That's where we are in Australia."</p> <p>Previous polling has shown a Labor minority government as a likely outcome after this year's federal election, due by May 17.</p> <p>Mr Albanese had a proven track record of negotiating policy through minority government as he had done so during the former Gillard government, Associate Professor Crowley said.</p> <p>"They were enormously productive. They know how to get legislation through," she said.</p> <p>On the Greens, Assoc Prof Crowley noted the minor party had taken a hit at state elections, and had been a "handbrake" on housing measures put forward by Labor.</p> <p>"They need to have a little bit of a think about their tactics, how they want to re-position if they're going to do well out of the next federal election," she said.</p> </body>