THE FRONT DORE: Albanese’s re-branding of Australia is worse than Jaguar’s, it’s a national identity crisis

The Voice no one wanted.

The misinformation Bill no one asked for.

The environment laws with not a friend in the world.

The social media ban that no one can explain and won’t work.

The record-breaking immigration numbers no one was told about.

The unilateral switch on foreign policy no one agreed to.

The allies we now treat as enemies.

The industrial relations laws no one was warned about.

The tax policy flipped on a whim out of spite and expediency.

The national savings raided for partisan political purposes.

The student debts of others we’re being forced to pay.

The private wages of others coming out of our pockets

The social harmony, lost.

The ancient anti-Semitism, inflamed.

The hatred, tolerated.

The farmers punished in the rush to pander to activists.

The promise to lower the price of energy that turned into larger power bills.

The foreign criminals let out of detention to roam our streets, and beat up grandmothers.

The homegrown criminals, the drug traffickers, living abroad, suddenly invited back home.

The sanctimony no one appreciates.

The arrogance no one understands.

The incompetence no one quite expected.

Living with the Albanese Government is like living in a sci-fi movie.

We all went to sleep one night with a clear understanding of the world, and woke up in an entirely different country.

A creeping shift, not immediately apparent. It has evolved slowly, insidiously.

Over time the ground has moved.

When you change governments, you change the country, Paul Keating once said.

In May 2022 Australians didn’t cast their vote expecting to change the country.

They were promised a mildly improved version of the ultimately dysfunctional outfit that preceded them.

Better. But more or less the same.

That’s how politics works in this country. Don’t scare the shit out of us and we will happily vote for you over the other mob.

Tell us you want to change our world, and, well, good luck with that. Hawke and Keating bucked the trend. Howard did it too.

The rest have managed the country rather than led it, with the odd exceptions, and the glimpse of fleeting promise.

Australia has changed under Anthony Albanese.

It is more hateful. It is less safe. Its families are poorer. Its place in the world less clear. Its collective values corroded. Its common sense corrupted.

We are less united, less happy, and fundamentally more divided.

A change of government has changed our country.

Slow, subtle, surreal.

It’s worth going back to the start to work out how we got here.

Saturday 21 May 2022. Anthony Albanese’s election night victory speech.

“During this campaign, I have put forward a positive, clear plan for a better future for our country.”

This he did not actually do.

“And I have shared the two principles . . . no one left behind because we should always look after the disadvantaged and the vulnerable.”

A universal Australian political statement.

“But also no one held back, because we should always support aspiration and opportunity. That is what my Government will do.”

Again, universal. And also meaningless.

“I want to bring Australians together.”

Hasn’t happened. We are only united in our embarrassment.

“I want to seek our common purpose and promote unity and not fear and — optimism, not fear and division.”

This has not happened. Ask Jewish Australians and any other Australian with a sober understanding of what is right, and what is wrong and who cherishes the value of principle and leadership.

“It is what I have sought to do throughout my political life. And what I will bring to the leadership of our country, it is a show of strength to collaborate and work with people, not weakness.”

Again, noble, and clearly Albanese believes this. But his perception and our reality are not symbiotic.

“We are the greatest country on earth. But we can have an even better future if we seize the opportunities that are right there in front of us. The opportunity to shape change, rather than be shaped by it. And we can shape change more effectively if we seek to you knowing people on that journey of change.”

Having heard this, how did we not see what was about to happen. This is worse than a Jaguar re-brand. Shapes and changes and opportunities and journeys.

“Together we can end the climate wars.”

Hasn’t happened.

“Together we can take advantage of the opportunity for Australia to be a renewable energy superpower.”

Hasn’t happened. Doesn’t even make sense. Superpower? We won’t be exporting our sun and wind. We won’t even be owning the stuff that turns sun and wind into electricity. And we certainly won’t be super-powering it to anyone else.

“Together we can work in common interests with business and unions to drive productivity, lift wages and profits.”

“Together” meaning, Labor and the unions will unite to reduce productivity.

“I want an economy that works for people, not the other way around.”

We are the economy mate.

“Together we can fix the crisis in aged care.”

Hmmm.

“Together we can and will establish a national anti-corruption commission.”

Hasn’t that been useful in exposing all those corruptions and locking up all those corrupt. Someone. Anyone.

“Together we can be a self-reliant, resilient nation, confident in our values and in our place in the world.”

Well we kinda were, until our values were traded for some votes in western Sydney.

“And together we can embrace the Uluru Statement from the Heart.”

Oh Anthony.

The Albanese era, as it stands today, will be marked by the debacle of the voice and how a national leader, a year into his first term, can so hopelessly misread the mood of his people, and in the process do more harm to the cause of Indigenous Australians than any prime minister of the modern era. It will also be judged by the tragedy of Australia’s shift away from Israel and its abandonment of the unrelenting, unashamed, war against radical Islamist regimes, and their terrorist offshoots, at home and abroad.

It will, and should, be remembered for promises to implement policies to reduce the cost of living, the price of energy, and instead did the opposite, enacting policies that fuelled inflation and made life harder for the vulnerable families it vowed to protect.

It’s a remarkable achievement.

The cost of living, the price of groceries and everyday items, may not be coming down, we may be more confused and confounded about who we are as a nation and what we believe in.

We may never quite be the same again either, having cut ties with our closest security friends and allies, divergent on nuclear-powered clean energy and the hitherto unshakeable support for the war against jihadists and of Israel in its endless battle for survival.

But but but. All hail Albo.

Life is good. The cost of his living has never been better. Chairman’s Club for life. Multimillion dollar views of the Pacific for life.

The crazy Jews with their right-wing politics — they are just as bad as Hamas you know — their pesky settlements, that persistent lobby, put back on their arse by brave Penny Wong.

And most importantly . . .

Julian Assange is free and the Bali Nine are on their way home.

Responsibility for the editorial comment is taken by Editor-in-Chief Christopher Dore.