ANDREW CARSWELL: Cost of living the only thing that matters to voters right now and Anthony Albanese

Sure, the scenarios are difficult to comprehend, given the Albanese Government’s track record of stumbling over basic tasks.

But Anthony Albanese could broker world peace and Australians would still gripe that he hasn’t done enough to address the rising cost of living.

He could rid Australia of outlaw motorcycle gangs, lead a medical breakthrough, halve our national debt or literally trot off to Lake Burley Griffin and walk across its turgid brown waters, and voters would still be annoyed that he isn’t tackling inflation.

This is the awful conundrum facing the Albanese Government; that in the lead-up to the Federal election, every announcement, every interview, every decision carries with it the possibility of inadvertently poking voters in the eye.

Not by errant policy, nor embarrassing gaffe. But by the mere sin of omission. Of misplaced priorities.

The simple failure of not talking about cost of living every single day until voters enter those flimsy cardboard booths. Of not showing enough empathy and respect to Australians who are trying so valiantly, so unsuccessfully, to reconcile payslips with credit card statements.

When you’re about to put Christmas on the Visa card, you quickly lose patience with misguided and distracted governments.

It may all sound self-centred.

But when you’re getting calls from your bank about your missed mortgage payments, it angers up the blood when you turn on the radio and hear your Prime Minister discussing celebrity gossip or the latest weight loss drug trend like Ozempic. It rankles when you see him at a sports event or flash dinners. It frustrates when he speaks on intangible topics such as the privatisation of the NBN, school funding agreements, National Cabinet deliberations or even announcing new candidates.

All things that are not offensive. All things within the usual bounds of a PM with a wide remit and broad constituency.

But right now? You’re completely off topic, old mate.

Buying a new home is also not offensive. We usually admire aspiration and success.

But what do struggling Australians think when their Prime Minister drops $4.5 million on a waterfront mansion in the midst of a housing and cost of living crisis?

When young people have given up any hope of ever owning a property. When millennials are struggling to find a rental property, let alone afford the rent. They are Albanese’s people!

Why spend your entire political life meticulously crafting your working class credentials, only to destroy them in one swing of the auctioneer’s hammer, just eight months out from an election?

Spoiler alert for those faithfully clinging to the Albanese lifeboat, still convinced he’s the working-class hero: you won’t find much public housing at Copacabana Beach.

At present, even the most serious of topics can aggravate — dialogue with world leaders, aged care reviews, investment in renewable energy, combating social media giants. Things that we usually like our political leaders to engage in, but now seem so disconnected from the daily struggles Australians are facing.

We usually give credit when we see prime ministers on the global stage, shaking hands with world leaders. Now you’re marked down for being a literal ocean away from people’s problems. Living large while Australians live small.

Even talking up the achievement of delivering two consecutive Budget surpluses hasn’t proved smart. Treasurer Jim Chalmers assumed it would earn the Government kudos. It just reminded Australians how dire their own budgets looked. We see your black ink, but do you see our red ink?

We are living in a different paradigm, unconnected from the usual norms that govern political communications. But while it may be a touch unfair — given governments have few policy levers to pull that would alleviate cost-of-living pressures — it has clearly failed to read the room and adapt its focus and tone.

And crucially, it has underestimated the public awareness of the link between government spending and inflation. Such a link is widely articulated in focus groups. It has cut-through. Australians used to associate increased government spending with the likelihood of higher taxes. Now, they view it as a contributing factor to rising inflation.

Try as they might to put a counter view, the Government has well and truly lost that argument.

So welcome to a most unholy cost-of-living trinity: They aren’t talking about it, they aren’t fixing it, and they are in fact making it worse.

The easiest one to fix is the first. But it requires discipline in the lead-up to a cut-throat election. It requires an ironclad resolve to stick to the script and shun any distractions.

There is only one message. One priority.

And there is only one version of Anthony Albanese that voters want.

The one that stands up and talks about cost-of-living. And then gets up the next day and does that same thing.

If his mouth moves, and he’s talking about something else, he may as well be insulting them.

Andrew Carswell is a former adviser to the Morrison government