But the Prime Minister – still dogged by adverse reactions to the May capital gains tax and negative gearing changes, setbacks on housing prices, high inflation, rising unemployment and falling real wages, as well as some stupid political misjudgments – has suffered a setback rather than a reset.
He left parliament this week with his tail between his legs, in more need than ever of a midterm refresh of policy and personnel, clearly under pressure from One Nation – which no longer is threatening only Coalition MPs – and with Labor MPs expecting more policy retreats and ministerial changes because of the setbacks.
Curiously, Angus Taylor and the Coalition were aiming for a reset of tactics and strategy bouncing out of the same legislative agenda to begin the long task of restoring lost faith, put pressure on Labor, rebuild credibility as an alternative government and underline One Nation’s status as a fringe party in parliament.
No escaping melons
Self-evidently Albanese’s grand plan to follow his internal success at the ALP national conference last month, extend his historical standing as a Labor leader and get untrammelled recognition for the passage of substantial legislation was derailed politically and economically.
The previous week of parliamentary sittings was a political loss for Labor as Albanese’s puerile behaviour on a podcast last month – talking about shagging Kylie Minogue and disrespecting the gift of melons by Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi – came back to bite him.
Albanese trapped all his senior female cabinet colleagues into hypocritical silence over the demeaning sexist behaviour, yet the women’s warriors didn’t hesitate to enter the debate about the Sydney Swans sex scandal.
Perhaps it was the football, perhaps the silent pain of his female colleagues, but after months Albanese on Thursday night actually conceded an error of judgment in going on to the podcast that he clearly knew involved such tawdry exchanges. It was the least he could do in recognition of the Japanese Prime Minister’s grace and the embarrassment caused to his colleagues.
Keogh veterans fiasco
This week Veterans’ Affairs Minister Matt Keogh took the focus off Albanese’s melon disaster by creating a whole new damaging distraction after snubbing a delegation of veterans campaigning in Canberra against Labor’s $5000 cap on allied health services for veterans on the eve of Vietnam Veterans Day.
Keogh’s initial declaration that he was too busy to see the delegation and subsequent complaint that he was missing drinks at Government House when he was forced to meet them turned what might have been an awkward or difficult constituent meeting into a political disaster. The Coalition’s attack, driven emotionally by former soldier Phil Thompson, who is unafraid to talk of his own mental trauma, and forensically by former deputy prime minister Michael McCormack, exposed Keogh’s lack of political maturity and angered Labor colleagues forced to support him.
Albanese actually met the veterans himself and said he was always proud to meet veterans as he expressed “full confidence” in the minister but didn’t rule out some changes to a policy that had become poison in the public mind even if it wasn’t fully understood.
$1 trillion debt bomb
But the killer distraction that emerged on Thursday morning was the revelation that for the first time Australia’s national debt had surpassed $1 trillion.
It was a national psychological shock and an unprecedented economic threshold.
The debt was just another reminder that the Albanese government was still bogged down in budget backlash and an economy kept alive on government spending and immigration.
In a week when the Parliamentary Budget Office forecast more budget deficits, real wages fell, analysis pointed to higher rents and unemployment rose, the trillion-dollar trigger was a killer.
After years of claiming the Coalition government had created a $1 trillion debt, Jim Chalmers had become the trillion-dollar man and the Treasurer desperately sought to pluck out different measures to demonstrate that Australia was better off than many countries.
The backlash even denied Albanese a restorative final question in parliament where he traditionally revs up the backbench ahead of an upcoming parliamentary break.
At the heart of the anticipated buoyant legislative agenda was the passage of crucial reforms to the National Disability Insurance Scheme that were the foundation of Chalmers’ May budget and had to be passed for billions in projected savings.
On Wednesday, those changes, which are expected to result in more than 240,000 participants exiting the scheme by 2031, passed parliament with Coalition support.
Gambling win
Also on Wednesday Labor’s contentious gambling advertising crackdown and cuts to inducements to gamblers, which had been criticised for not going far enough, passed the Senate after Labor struck a deal with the Coalition.
The media laws also passed with Coalition support on Thursday after Albanese told parliament that multibillion-dollar tech companies would have to compensate news companies for the journalism they used in a global environment where “lies are routinely spread by bad actors”.
Finally, as part of the Coalition deal over the NDIS, the Treasurer’s bungled so-called widow’s tax – where new widows and those newly divorced were disadvantaged under new negative gearing laws – were fast-tracked and passed on Wednesday.
The common factor here was that all four key policies were passed into law with Coalition support in the Senate. The Prime Minister and the Opposition Leader were able to ensure a swift passage of the new laws and budget correction because the Coalition had dropped Sussan Ley’s policy as Liberal leader of virtually opposition for opposition’s sake.
Taylor tells Inquirer: “We are not going to oppose for opposition’s sake, we will back good ideas, fix bad ones and fight hard for better outcomes for Australians.
“That is what an effective opposition should do, use the parliament to get results that put Australia and Australians first.”
This meant Labor got its troublesome policies passed, the Coalition built credibility as a “party of government” from opposition, and both sides were able to isolate One Nation, the Greens, teal independents and others and remove them from real calculations. If the Coalition decides to deal with Labor where it can, then it negates the whole idea of balance-of-power players.
This is smart politics from the governing parties, which can make clear the irrelevance of Pauline Hanson and the Greens.
On Tuesday Albanese told parliament that when there was an offer connecting the NDIS and the retraction of the widow’s tax, “It took me a millisecond to say, ‘Yes, we’re up for that’.”
Earlier, Albanese told the House of Representatives on the gambling reforms: “That is the way that the parliament should work.”
In anticipation of recognition for the legislative milestones and essential reforms, Albanese declared: “We are dealing with the challenges that we face here and now, and doing it in a way that sets Australia up for the future. This is how Labor governs: easing cost-of-living pressures, progressing real reform, delivering real change.
“That’s what has driven our reforms to secure the National Disability Insurance Scheme for future generations.
“That’s why as well we’re delivering the strongest ever reforms to tackle gambling harm.”
But in the end Albanese’s big substantial wins were overshadowed and an anti-climax for Labor. The government lost two weeks of momentum and clear recognition of achievement.
What’s more, there is no guarantee the NDIS changes can be used to achieve the necessary budget savings and they have angered parent groups, while the gambling reforms are deemed by many MPs and welfare groups as not having gone far enough.
Coalition boost
But perhaps more important in a political sense is that in getting its changes through the Senate Labor has helped give tactical and strategic advantages to the Coalition.
In the past two weeks the Coalition has had its best two-week parliamentary sessions since Taylor became Liberal leader and Matt Canavan took over the Nationals.
Under the Liberal leadership of Ley and David Littleproud as Nationals leader the Coalition’s political and parliamentary judgments were appalling at times, MPs defected and the Coalition split twice.
One Nation outpolled the Coalition and won the Farrer by-election from the Liberals after Ley’s resignation.
In the past two weeks, Taylor and Canavan were united and co-operative.
For the first time the opposition actually scored political hits against Labor as Dan Tehan, as manager of opposition business in the house, showed a growing confidence and competence.
Unperturbed by Liberals crossing the floor to vote against the gambling laws (a position Ley could not afford or survive), Taylor said: “On gambling reform, we made a flawed bill better, strengthened protections for children and vulnerable Australians, and preserved the basic principle that adults should still be responsible for their own choices.
“On the widow tax, Labor had refused to act for 98 days, so we used the leverage available to us on the NDIS to force the government to fix a cruel and unnecessary tax.”
The Liberals are coming to terms with how to campaign against One Nation without becoming One Nation, and Canavan, after successfully negotiating a Nationals conference in Canberra last weekend, has embarked on a bush-friendly conservative agenda that doesn’t attack Hanson.
Canavan has determinedly drawn a new line against Labor, declaring that the government is failing to address food and water security with lamentable national outcomes and price rises for everyone – country and city.
At a National Farmers Federation event in Canberra this week Agriculture Minister Julie Collins and Albanese both spoke about the great agricultural export result of going above $100bn but didn’t mention the vital issues of falling production and water shortages.
“It is great that Australian agriculture has reached $100bn in value but there is no recognition from the government that this has come largely thanks to higher prices, not increased volume,” Canavan tells Inquirer.
“Our nation’s food security is in decline because our farm output has been growing slower than our population. The government’s response has been to issue a discussion paper and after 12 months there have been no developments.
“Talk is cheap and what the government has done has weakened our food security by restarting water buybacks, slashing funding for dams and increasing energy prices through its obsession with net zero. The government’s approach on food security smacks of a Frenchman in the 1930s marvelling at the Maginot Line and concluding that they can never be invaded again.”
Albanese, deprived of clear air to spruik his legislative wins this week, will regroup and attempt to regain momentum before Christmas, but he has lost two weeks and the Coalition has gained two.
Read related topics:Anthony Albanese
Dennis ShanahanNational Editor