EDITORIAL: ALP internal tensions a sign of trouble
EDITORIAL: Political discipline can disappear quickly when the heat goes on, and when MPs in marginal seats get nervous.
Once again the timeless advice of Labor icon Bob Hawke comes to mind.
“If you can’t govern yourselves, you can’t govern the country,” he once opined.
Hawke was taking a shot at instability dragging down his Liberal opponents at the time.
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By continuing you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy.We referred to the quote as recently as January to urge the Liberal Party to get its house in order to hold the Albanese Government to account.
That now seems an age away.
It feels like the Albanese Government has been in decline ever since, rocked by fallout from its disastrous Budget, concern about its excessive spending, stubborn inflation pushing the Reserve Bank of Australia to pull the interest rate trigger five times, dire productivity rates and slumping house prices.
That has shown up in the opinion polls.
The latest example came in The Australian Financial Review’s Redbridge Group/Accent Research poll published on Monday.
It had One Nation at 28 per cent, Labor at 26 per cent and the Coalition on 25 per cent — a gain of four points.
Significantly, the poll also found the Coalition had a six-point lead over Labor on the top issue of concern, the cost of living, a nine-point lead on economic management, a six-point lead on tax reform and a six-point lead on national security — issues on which the Coalition has historically scored well.
One of the features of the Albanese Government has been its discipline.
Ministers have regularly and dutifully voiced the party lines — perhaps most egregiously to back Anthony Albanese after his “shag, marry, date” and “melongate” debacle.
But amid speculation about tension between Mr Albanese and Treasurer Jim Chalmers and questions about the latter’s future, there has been a rare acknowledgement of internal trouble.
On Monday senior minister Murray Watt called on colleagues to stop undermining Dr Chalmers.
Asked by The Nightly whether he’d “like to see an end to the undermining and leaking against your Treasurer?”, he responded: “Yes, I would”.
Senator Watt was pressed on if he was confirming that the Treasurer was being undermined by his own side.
“It’s pretty obvious that there are all sorts of people making all sorts of comments,” he said. “Whether you’re a member of the Government as a backbencher or as a minister, your responsibility is to work together.”
The admission is not likely to please Mr Albanese, who has just returned from the Caribbean where he attended a Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting — during which time interest rates went up again.
The Prime Minister is to fly out this week to Turkey for the United Nations climate conference ahead of a packed summit season.
The optics will not be good at a time when household budgets are under severe strain.
The Government’s mid-term malaise is real. That does not mean it cannot be stopped and reversed.
But political discipline can disappear quickly when the heat goes on, and when MPs in marginal seats get nervous.
A revival is going to require a significant mind-shift by Mr Albanese away from his default position of deny and spin.
And a change of direction and some very heavy policy lifting.
