CAMERON MILNER: Albanese’s prime ministership is one unforced error after another
Even when he is under no pressure, the Prime Minister finds a way to stuff everything up.
“Lie, deny and lie again” is the Anthony Albanese way.
It’s the Prime Minister’s political trademark, his default option for getting through the day. You do have to admire the shameless chutzpah with which he does it.
The PM’s parallel universe view of the world has been on full display in the past week and if you didn’t laugh out loud, you’d be reduced to tears.
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The Albanistas must just be so proud of their guy, a real political over achiever in their eyes.
The PM is under no political pressure, yet trips over his own lies as easily as he falls off a stage. His entire time in office has been one unforced error after another.
It’s like having Mr Magoo leading our nation, a daily comedy routine that passes for national leadership.
This is peak Albanese, a man at the top of his political game, delivering his very best.
True, it’s pretty mediocre, but this is all the Federal ALP is capable of these days.
That Angus Taylor and his Liberals are struggling to only reach a primary in the high teens shows how bad politics has become in our country.
It reflects even more poorly on the leadership pretenders Tony Burke and Jim Chalmers that they can’t roll a bloke this bad.
The previous drivers of leadership change seem to have been disengaged by Federal Labor, despite how obviously hopeless their bloke is after five long years.
The public sector union bosses — the latter day faction heads — have lost their voices and seem content to just be fat, dumb and happy.
Labor has strong premiers like Peter Malinauskas in South Australian, Chris Minns in NSW and now Ben Carroll in Victoria to show what Labor leadership can actually look like.
The party’s Federal caucus needs a John Kennedy half time spray. “At least do something. Do. Don’t think. Don’t hope. Do. At least you can come off saying ‘I did this’,” the Hawthorn coach told his side during the 1975 grand final.
Still, the voters see through it. As the saying goes, you can lie to the some of the people some of the time, you can’t lie to all of them all of the time.
Voters are rightfully fed up with the choices they are presented with to the point Pauline Hanson is seen as an option.
The nation is faced with real challenges, and needs strong leadership.
Yet even after the Bondi massacre, the PM can only get NSW to participate in his national gun buyback proving how impotent Albanese is politically.
John Howard’s nation-leading moves after Port Arthur puts Albanese to shame.
Albanese has now been prime minister longer than Paul Keating was. But he hasn’t delivered a Redfern address, or legislative reforms like the Native Title Act. Instead, he lost the referendum on the Voice and has abandoned Truth and Treaty.
Perhaps committing his whole tenure of government to reconciliation on election night in 2022 was just line.
His Budget lies have cratered the national housing market and he can’t close the floodgates on migration — Labor’s only plan to avoid a statistical recession.
We have a Labor Government frittering away our national debt on millionaires because we are too policy lazy to means test the endless handouts.
Our nation is the poorer for Albanese’s time in office. Record debt, a per capita recession, rents up, new house construction faltering and a PM with no solutions.
The past week as seen Albanese at his worst. He has looked feeble and fallible, just another average, garden variety swindler.
Chris Minns, a true Labor leader, had to rescue the PM as he bumbled his words repeating his lines on Melongate.
He made Labor women, ministers and MPs look like fools as his PMO media unit sent them out to defend the indefensible.
This political crisis and its clean-up operation are all down to the PM’s decision to participate in an idiotic podcast.
It wasn’t a gotcha moment. The Prime Minister chose to be there.
Perhaps the biggest lie Albanese tells is the one to himself — that he’s actually doing the job of being a prime minister.
The self denial it takes not to reflect on just how poorly he’s doing is the same denial he gives journalists and voters.
After all it’s the Albanese way. If nothing else, at least he’s consistent.
