ERROL PARKER | Editor-at-large | Contact
Labor has slipped to a new low in the primary vote poll this week as it slowly emerges that Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is shaping up to be just another Malcolm.
Former Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull is a man of deep conviction and personal ambition, who put it all aside to become a leader. In Opposition and in Cabinet, Turnbull was an outspoken Member who created the illusion that things would be different should he be given the chance to govern the country. Once becoming leader, Turnbull had to discard his deep convictions and put them in the nearest bin. His Prime Ministership was punctuated by the overriding need to be popular and remain in power. Bill Shorten brought a raft of changes to taxation and property to the 2016 election. Despite losing 14 seats, Malcolm returned to government but only after a week of wrangling with the crossbench of Bob Katter, Andrew Wilkie, and Cathy McGowan. Malcolm won, but it was the beginning of the end. Though he tried to stick to his own convictions, the party – and the country – just wouldn’t allow it. After all that, we got ScoMo.
Albanese is in danger of that happening to himself. Elected on a platform of being ‘different’ from everyone else in politics. A dyed-in-the-wool South Sydneysider who championed the disadvantaged. A student of Tom Uren. Housing Commission. Son of a disability pensioner. Albo was going to be different and right some wrongs after a decade of Coalition Government. Instead, things have only gotten worse. The rich have gotten richer, millions are poorer. No meaningful change to immigration, taxation, education, health, housing, aged care, wealth, and the environment. Just nuclear submarines and a failed referendum that’s set Aboriginal Australia back another generation. Voters are wondering where the Albo is that they voted for. Just like they did with Malcolm.
But with Peter Dutton in the opposite corner, Albanese knows that a second term is all but locked in. Half of Australia is prepared to vote for the Liberals and Nationals at the election. Many of them aren’t prepared to vote for Peter Dutton. The Coalition will be back when they find a leader who breathes through their nose and can open their mouth without almost immediately making a fool of themselves. Luckily for Albanese, that person doesn’t exist at the moment.
Voters are aware of that. They’re also aware they’ve elected yet another person who has had to give up what they believe in just to hold on to power. In a hundred years time, will Albanese be a chapter in history or a footnote?
More to come.
