Labor needs Albanese to lift his game, or call an election soon
There is frustration in Labor’s ranks that if Prime Minister Anthony Albanese responded to issues more quickly, writes Paul Bongiorno, the government’s standing would be higher.
Somehow the Albanese government has allowed itself to be defined as a timid, pale imitation of what a true Labor government should be like.
And for that perception to have become so pervasive within the party itself at the parliamentary and broader membership level, the Prime Minister has to shoulder much of the blame.
No one in the country has more access to national and local media than the country’s leader, and Albanese has certainly not been shy in availing himself of the numerous opportunities his status creates.
And yet all the published opinion polls show him losing ground the longer the term runs.
It is a worrying trend that is not explained by a government falling apart or failing to deliver on key economic performance indicators.
Impressive results
Albanese’s front bench and his economic team are among the most impressive I have seen in covering Canberra since the Hawke government in the 1980s.
Treasurer Jim Chalmers and Finance Minister Katy Gallagher are well on top of their games and, more to the point, delivering outcomes their Liberal opponents were incapable of like two budget surpluses, falling debt and inflation.
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On Monday the PM was able to accurately boast that he led a government “that has seen moderating of inflation to half at the same time as you’ve seen record employment growth”.
On the weekend the Treasurer was able to point out that even after the US Federal Reserve cutting interest rates by an unexpectedly large 50 basis points “they are still higher than in Australia”.
The fact is, even if the RBA leaves the official cash rate at 4.35 per cent for another couple of months as many in the market expect, Labor’s rejigging of the stage-three tax cuts and the pay rises many sectors have received have meant some real relief has already arrived.
All the more so when you include other relief measures, such as energy bill relief and cheaper prescription medicines.
Leader of pack
Billions of dollars have been directed to the housing crisis, with federal Labor getting back into the business of social housing funding callously vacated by its predecessors.
So, it is not as if the government is doing nothing.
There is no escaping the reality that the standing of any government, or major political party if it comes to that, is completely contingent on the leader and their performance.
There is a frustration in Labor’s ranks that if Albanese was more quickly responsive to issues as they arise, more willing to take a decision, and then fight for it the government would be riding higher.
Bad habit
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Albanese has a bad habit of letting issues fester, cloaking this indecision with the claimed virtues of caution and consultation – gambling reforms are just the latest example.
Albanese’s attempts at a “bipartisan style of politics” crashed at the hurdle of the Voice referendum, and has only succeeded in making him look more beholden to Opposition Leader Peter Dutton.
Dutton brands Albanese “weak” for his troubles and, as the collapse in the negotiations over reforms to the Reserve Bank demonstrate, never hesitates to put politics first.
Unlike in earlier terms for recent Liberal and Labor governments, there is no challenger to Albanese promising a circuit-breaking change.
“What we need is for Albo to be more disciplined in his messaging and to begin working on raising Labor’s primary vote support” is the view of one senior Labor figure.
Others in government circles believe Albanese needs his senior staff and ministerial colleagues to be more frank and fearless in their advice, and cite the precedents set in Bob Hawke’s day.
PM on notice
Albanese prides himself on running a “Hawke-style cabinet government” but comparisons tend to end there. Few if any prime ministers possessed the charisma of Hawke, who was also smart enough to be able to take advice.
We are now at the so-called business end of the cycle with the No.1 priority of the political players is to be noticed.
When you are not in government the best way is to leverage your numbers in the Senate for all they are worth in the hope that favourable headlines follow.
As Katy Gallagher noted on Monday, the Senate is a “minority chamber” which won’t change after the next election, but an election once out of the way tends to see more rational responses from the upper house if there is a majority government returned in the lower one.
Albanese could stop all the grandstanding by calling an election after the Queensland state poll in October.
There is every chance that a Labor rout at the Queensland poll could clear the air for federal Labor in the state.
An election would certainly put the heat on the Dutton opposition to actually demonstrate what they have on offer is more than the naysaying that has been a hallmark of their responses so far.
Paul Bongiorno AM is a veteran of the Canberra Press Gallery, with more than 40 years’ experience covering Australian politics
