Albanese popularity surges post election
Ahead of being sworn in for his second term, a post-election poll has revealed a spike in the Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s approval rating.
The Essential poll for The Guardian found Albanese’s rating has surged to 50 per cent since the election, up from 44 per cent at the last poll in late April.
The poll shows voters are calling on the Labor government to act quickly with its majority to tackle key election promises such as housing.
It found 75 per cent of Australians want the government to move faster on improving health services, 7o per cent want more housing built soon, 51 per cent want quicker reforms on regulating tech and 49 per cent on developing renewables and making childcare cheaper.
Cost of living was still the main issue worrying Australians (47 per vent of voters) followed by affordable housing (14 per cent) and Medicare (8 per cent).
The prime minister and ministry will be sworn in at a ceremony conducted by Governor-General Sam Mostyn at Government House on Tuesday morning.
Albanese’s shake-up
Albanese unveiled his new front bench on Monday following Labor’s landslide win at the May 3 election.
Albanese dumped Tanya Plibersek from her environment portfolio as part of a shake-up of his ministry.
The prime minister played down internal divisions as he promoted close ally Tim Ayres to cabinet and elevated Anne Aly from the outer ministry.
Plibersek, who has a frosty relationship with Albanese despite being one of Labor’s most senior women, was shifted to social services.
Michelle Rowland becomes the attorney-general after Mark Dreyfus was knifed by his right faction in a power play by Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles.
You might like
Murray Watt takes over as environment minister, with Amanda Rishworth assuming the employment and workplace relations portfolio.
“Murray is an outstanding performer as a minister. I regard the environment as a really central portfolio,” Albanese said.
He retained his frontline team of Defence Minister Marles, Treasurer Jim Chalmers, Finance Minister Katy Gallagher, Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong and Trade Minister Don Farrell.
Other ministers keeping their portfolios include Malarndirri McCarthy (Indigenous Australians), Tony Burke (home affairs), Mark Butler (health), Chris Bowen (energy), Jason Clare (education) and Clare O’Neil (housing).
Madeleine King kept resources, Catherine King infrastructure, Pat Conroy defence industry and Pacific affairs and Julie Collins agriculture.
Anika Wells takes on the communications portfolio alongside sport, meaning she will take carriage of the contentious gambling advertising restriction policy Labor shelved before the election.
Aly’s promotion reflects a greater focus on WA after the state helped deliver Labor government for the second consecutive federal election.
She is the sole Muslim MP in the senior leadership team after Ed Husic also fell victim to internal warfare, branding Marles a “factional assassin” on the way out.
Senator Ayres took Husic’s science and industry portfolios, while Jess Walsh (early childhood education), Daniel Mulino (assistant treasurer) and Sam Rae (aged care and seniors) also entered the 30-person ministry.
The refreshed leadership team will sink its teeth into Labor’s second-term policy agenda with parliament set to resume in July.
Legislation cutting student debt by 20 per cent shapes as the first cab off the rank.
Husic’s demotion has been criticised by Muslim community groups and Labor luminary and former prime minister Paul Keating.
Albanese defended not intervening, saying Labor’s caucus processes were not new.
Ministry appointments are based on faction and state proportions.
“That is the system that is there,” Albanese said.
“It’s one that Ed and others have supported for a long period of time.”
Stay informed, daily
Liberals to crown leader
Meanwhile, the Liberals will on Tuesday decide their new leader in a showdown between the remaining two contenders: Deputy leader Sussan Ley and shadow treasurer Angus Taylor.
Ley is reportedly confident of securing the leadership “by a couple of votes”, according to a report in The Australian, which could make her the party’s first female leader.
But the winner of the tight contest could be handed a poisoned chalice as they are tasked with resurrecting the party from its post-election ashes.
Ley will face off against Taylor, while Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price has teamed up with Taylor in a bid to become his second-in-command.
The vote will be the first time Price has stepped into the Liberal party room after she defected from the Nationals to join Taylor’s ticket.
The Nationals re-elected David Littleproud as their leader on Monday following a challenge from conservative senator Matt Canavan.
There is no reason to assume whoever takes the Liberals’ top job won’t last until the next election, and the absence of a deep bench could bode well for them, Australian National University politics lecturer Jill Sheppard said.
But leading the Coalition when it holds less than half as many seats as Labor is a tough ask, and there is a reason other contenders such as Dan Tehan and Andrew Hastie were quick to rule themselves out.
“It does feel like a bit of a poisoned chalice,” Sheppard said.
“Usually, they at least pretend to want to run for a few days.
“The most important day-one job is to keep the party united, and that’s not going to be easy when there’s a lot of recriminations to be had.”
About 50 Liberal politicians are expected to vote on the party’s future, including recently returned MP Tim Wilson, who also considered throwing his hat in the ring.
Moderates have urged the Liberals to abandon culture wars and return to the centre but Sheppard warned that might not solve the party’s problems.
Coming up with policies that stuck closer to the centre could make it harder for the Liberals to differentiate themselves from Labor, she said.
Some of the Coalition’s lost votes likely bled to hard-right parties such as One Nation, which could spark internal debates about the importance of “culture wars” to some constituents.
However, it is unclear whether the next leader will be able to change the Liberal Party’s ideological direction.
“You’re still dealing with the same party room,” Sheppard said.
“What we’ve seen with both Dutton and (Prime Minister Anthony) Albanese is that you can come from quite extreme parts of your party, but in order to maintain the leadership, you have to sit somewhere around the centre.
“To an extent, it doesn’t matter who is leader — the parties are pretty strong and they will constrain their leader.”
