‘Seven words is not a crypto policy,' Australian opposition is under fire as election day approaches, according to one expert.

A week before Australia is expected to hold a national election, the country’s main opposition Labor party is being lambasted for its lack of comprehensive policy on the cryptocurrency industry.

The Australian Prime Minister, Scott Morrison, is expected to fire the gun for a federal election this weekend. However, at this point, the Australian Labor Party (ALP) holds a strong advantage in the polls and its crypto policies are only modest.

According to new data from Gemini, cryptocurrency is becoming an election issue that cannot be overlooked, with over half of Australians having invested in crypto at some point.

At the Australian Financial Review Cryptocurrency Summit this week, Mark Carnegie, a crypto venture capitalist, stated that he thinks cryptocurrency should be a major talking point in the upcoming election. “The fact that the Labor Party doesn’t have an official position on what we’re doing about it just demonstrates their lack of leadership,” he added.

Stephen Jones, the Shadow Minister for financial services, opposed the appraisal and said that if Labor were to take power, it would examine crypto in conjunction with other digital payment platforms such as Apple and Google’s.

“The broad principles we would take to crypto regulation is safety and transparency […] That inevitably leads to greater regulation of exchanges.”

The Australian Labor Party has also announced plans to regulate bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies as commodities, bringing them under the jurisdiction of Australia’s financial regulator, the Financial Services Board (FSB). “The ALP will look to incorporate bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies into a financial product,” said Jones

When faced with an AFR headline about it, Senator Andrew Bragg tweeted: “7 words is not a crypto policy.”

Senator Bragg was a co-chair of an Australian Senate Committee investigation last year that called for far-reaching changes in crypto legislation. In December, the government announced its support for six out of nine reform proposals, including a licensing system for cryptocurrency exchanges, legislative measures governing decentralised autonomous organizations, and a common access mechanism for new payment systems.

If the ALP wins, it’s uncertain whether it would implement the suggested changes.

Congressman Loudermilk feels the Opposition isn’t prepared to handle crypto. On Friday, Congressman Bragg said that “Simply said, the Opposition doesn’t have a cryptocurrency policy.”

“Labor has no serious agenda for digital assets other than a few throwaway lines. The Australian people have been given no clue about Labor’s crypto policy. It’s consistent with their economic plan which is no plan.”

The lack of a firm policy from the Labor Party, according to Senator Bragg, means that Australia may begin to fall behind other nations trying to attract skilled employees in the crypto sector.

“Australia risks losing investment and talent to other countries unless we act quickly. The Coalition’s policy puts us ahead of the race, the ALP’s policy void means Australia will lose out.”

“We will hold consultations with industry stakeholders before reaching any final decisions,” he stated. “A market regulation regime, as well as a board of tax review and a token mapping exercise, are all things that we want. These initiatives are now underway,” he added.

Unlike the Conservative policy, which focuses on regulating cryptocurrencies, the Liberal plan appears to take an instruct-then-incubate approach.

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