LATIKA M BOURKE: Anthony Albanese’s view of his shortcomings reveals a Prime Minister’s blinkered vision

If the Prime Minister is trying to study the runes in the political polls about how it could be that the policy-lite ‘No-alition,’ as he likes to call the Federal Opposition, is now the side that voters think will form the next government, he could start with a little more introspection and a bit more honesty.

Asked on the weekend if he’d made any mistakes in office, the Prime Minister’s response was gob-smacking.

“Well, of course there are always things that you, analysts and commentators, can go through and have those assessments,” he began.

“But what I know is that my Government has been focused on delivering each and every day.

“In hindsight, there are things that could always, of course, if you had that benefit, go back and make things better. But my government has been focused.”

Well, what exactly, PM?

“Well, we underestimated the extent to which the Russian invasion of Ukraine would continue,” Mr Albanese said during his interview on Sky News.

“There was no one in 2022 saying that a land war in Europe would continue in 2025 and that would have such an impact on global inflation because of the impact it had on global energy prices.”

The interviewer asked what could have been done differently if that had been factored in, to which the PM responded: “We didn’t expect that that was the case, but we acted.”

Let’s unpack this because, let’s be honest, there’s a lot going on here.

Firstly, the PM is essentially telling voters that he thinks he’s had a flawless time in office and that if there are criticisms to be made, it’s the pesky media who don’t understand that he’s been focused on “delivering” every day.

Secondly, when he finally grudgingly accepts that a first-term government (like all governments) might have made a mistake, he can’t bring himself to name one.

When pressed, he gives the most astonishing answer of all – not knowing the war in Ukraine might endure beyond 2022 and have a global inflationary impact. Huh?

By the end of 2022 opinions around the world were mixed about how the war in Ukraine might end. There were great hopes for a counter-offensive in 2023, (which we now know failed to achieve the huge expectations set for it) but there were also a growing number of voices warning the war would grind into a stalemate and that negotiations would be fruitless at the outset.

Take Barbara Zanchetta at King’s College Department of War Studies in London, who told the BBC in December 2022 that Vladimir Putin’s grave miscalculation had “led to a protracted conflict, with seemingly no end in sight.”

“The war will drag on. And on,” she said.

“The prospects for negotiation are bleak. For a potential peace deal the core demands of at least one side need to change.

“There is no evidence that this has happened, or that it will happen soon.”

Even in 2022, a quick scan of various analysts could have hinted that, yes, a protracted war was a possibility and one that allies should prepare for, and ideally counter.

While it’s certainly not the job of the Australian prime minister to be across the nuances of various military predictions, he should have been alive to the threat the Russian president’s illegal invasion of Ukraine had on global inflation and that it justified a far more intense interest than he showed for this reason.

It’s perhaps why he should have raced to install Australia’s ambassador back in the embassy in Kyiv when all our other allies did so mid-way through 2022, when it became obvious that Putin’s invasion would not lead to Ukraine’s swift capitulation and that the Ukrainians would fight on and need Western support.

If Mr Albanese and Foreign Minister Penny Wong had not waited until one month ago to reinstate the embassy, they might have had a better read on the situation on the ground and how the protracted war was indeed affecting European and global energy prices and costs.

They might also have wanted to increase Australia’s support sooner than they did.

Unfortunately, complaining that no one could have foreseen the long-term nature of an imperial actor invading a neighbour to try and restore his empire just underlines Mr Albanese and Ms Wong’s disinterest in European affairs, and by the Prime Minister’s own admission, at real cost to everyday Australians.

Then there is the obvious that Mr Albanese cannot bring himself to concede. His first term has been full of mistakes.

There was the Qantas scandal that exposed Mr Albanese’s cosy relationship with former CEO Alan Joyce and the many perks and upgrades he, and even his son, enjoyed, despite being directly responsible for aviation regulation during his political career.

This was only compounded by the government’s inexplicable decision to block extra flights for Qatar Airways which would have lowered prices for Australian consumers.

The other obvious own-goal was the prime minister’s decision to purchase a $4.3 million beach house in the middle of a cost-of-living and housing crisis.

Finally, and most seriously, if the Prime Minister cannot see that foisting the Voice referendum on an ill-prepared public shortchanged Indigenous Australians and set back any discussion of the topic for another generation was a monumental error, he only needs to examine the polls for proof.

Newspoll shows Labor’s primary vote falling to 31 per cent in November 2023 – this was just after every state and the nation voted against the referendum.

Labor’s polling has never really recovered from that moment when the voters saw a government mishandle a precious issue and take its eye off the giant ball that is the cost of living.

This was around the same time that Mr Albanese’s approvals fell to minus-ten – one year on, his achievement has been to double this figure to minus-20.

You would think that this would cause the prime minister to ponder what he might be doing wrong and perhaps even contemplate a Peter Beattie-style act of public contrition.

The Australian public is extremely forgiving if they sense someone is genuinely having a go and trying to do better. We all make mistakes, after all – everyone except the Prime Minister it appears.

He genuinely seems to think the only thing that’s gone wrong is the war in Ukraine lasting his term in office, exposing yet again his tin-ear and just weeks or months from election day.

The Prime Minister also said in that interview that he’d been underestimated all his life.

Unfortunately for Mr Albanese, this election could deliver him a verdict that shows the reverse to be true, that he’s actually been one of the most overrated and underwhelming politicians to lead, fluked his way to the top office and when found out, lacked the basic judgement and emotional intelligence to concede even a single mistake.