It began not five minutes after he was elected leader of the Australian Labor Party or as soon as those of a robust mindset realised that Anthony Albanese wouldn’t be laying into the Prime Minister with a flurry of rights and lefts to the head.
But before I go on let’s take a brief look at his parliamentary career and private life. Please note that I’m using Wikipedia for this information:
“He was born Anthony Norman Albanese on 2 March 1963 in Sydney. He attended St Mary’s Cathedral College, before going on to the University of Sydney to study economics.
He joined the Labor Party as a student, and before entering parliament worked as a party official and research officer.
Albanese was elected to the House of Representatives at the 1996 election, winning the Division of Grayndler in New South Wales. He was first appointed to the Shadow Cabinet in 2001 and went on to serve in a number of roles, eventually becoming Manager of Opposition Business in 2006.
After Labor’s victory in the 2007 election, Albanese was appointed Leader of the House; he was also made Minister for Regional Development and Local Government and Minister for Infrastructure and Transport.
In the subsequent leadership tensions between Kevin Rudd and Julia Gillard from 2010 to 2013, Albanese was publicly critical of the conduct of both, calling for unity.
After the final leadership ballot between the two in June 2013, Albanese was elected Deputy Leader of the Labor Party and was sworn in as Deputy Prime Minister of Australia the following day.
Following Labor’s defeat in the 2013 election, Albanese stood against Bill Shorten in the ensuing leadership election, the first to include party members as well as MPs.
Although Albanese won a large majority of the membership, Shorten won more heavily among Labor MPs; Shorten subsequently appointed Albanese to his Shadow Cabinet.
After Labor’s third consecutive defeat in the 2019 election, Shorten resigned. Albanese became the only person to nominate in the leadership election; he was subsequently declared elected unopposed as the Leader of the Labor Party, becoming Leader of the Opposition.
Albanese is married to Carmel Tebbutt, former Deputy Premier of New South Wales. They have one son. Albanese and Tebbutt amicably separated in 2019.”
* * * * *
If you carefully peruse the aforementioned words the one thing that stands out is that there isn’t an aroma of a scandal. Not even a whiff.
Unlike many of his predecessors he has not a bit of baggage for which the attack dogs of the right can get their teeth into.
In other words, he is trustful, has integrity and is honest. However, as they did with Shorten, five minutes into his tenure there are those who have decided he is not their man.
The Prime Minister is “loose with the truth,” he has declared on a number of occasions. Is that not calling a spade a spade and worthy of a headline?
Does it not illustrate just how difficult just how hard it for a leader of an opposition to gain any traction? Do people realise just how hard it is to win from opposition?
That is, unless you are a Whitlam, Hawke or Rudd who had the advantage of the government’s time being up.
Other than those three being Opposition Leader is the loneliest of places. The hardest slog in the entire political domain.
That is not to say the job is impossible. Next time around 9 years of pathetic government might be just enough for the voters of Australia.
On Tuesday in Perth Albanese delivered what I believe to be the most remarkable speech I have heard for some time.
It was about jobs and the future of work. It is well-worth listening to.
In it he reviewed the current state of a world on the cusp of the greatest transformation since the Industrial Revolution.
Albo’s speech charted a new course for a socially progressive government.
What it had over and above more recent economic and social thinking was that it was devoid of spin and bullshit, bringing together the problems of the environment, economics, power, jobs, coal and business, both large and small and looked not just at the negatives but all the positives. What’s in it for us, he asked? Everything became an opportunity rather than a problem.
He encapsulated all that had been argued for the past decades and laid a succinct plan to transform our economy and our thinking so that ahead we might see our future with eyes of opportunity.
In other words, he spoke without bias; a speech born of sound thinking and a rational appreciation of all the problems and how the solutions can benefit us all for the better. To some degree it replicates the work of Dan “gets it done” Andrews in Victoria.
Of course, finding recognition of Albo’s thoughts were another matter. The Murdoch press hardly gave it a mention.
The New Daily did though:
Along the way, as The New Daily’s Samantha Maiden reported this morning, Albanese’s speech gives some hope to those who as a minimum do not want to see backsliding on Labor’s commitment to climate action, by noting that “experts tell us achieving 50 per cent renewable energy at home while building a hydrogen export industry would create 87,000 good, well-paid jobs”.
And The Guardian gave it some decent coverage:
“The unprecedented pace of change and spread of new technologies are leaving many workers unsettled, and others left out of the labour market altogether.”
Albanese said that to restore confidence in the labour market, workers needed to be helped to engage with technology and innovation in “an assured manner”, which would require “the single-minded pursuit of skills”.
This would help address a mismatch between what workers have to offer and what employers need, with Albanese highlighting a recent Australian Industry Group survey that three quarters of businesses cannot find the skilled workers they need.
“The world is decarbonising. With the right planning and vision, Australia cannot only continue to be an energy exporting superpower; we can also enjoy a new manufacturing boom. This means jobs,” Albanese said.
As did The New Monthly:
“Albanese is no fake. The opportunities in the clean economy are enormous. The jobs on offer are better than the jobs in coal – blue collar and white collar, north and south. The number of people who don’t get it and are resistant, as Alinta Energy’s Mark Johnson confessed to ABC’s The Business last night, is actually tiny.”
As good as Albo’s first Headland speech was, he also needs to campaign for a robust, decent political system that is honest, decent, and transparent. Where respect is the order of the day. A political system where ideas and foresight surpass ideological politics.
Where respect, civility and trust are part of vigorous debate and not just uninvited words in the process.
These are the opening words of his speech. (You can read the whole speech here):
“Australia is at a crucial intersection.
We have a weakening economy and growing job insecurity
We face environmental, demographic and geopolitical challenges.
But we have a Government that has no agenda, let alone a plan for the future.
They are in denial about insecure work.
About wage stagnation.
About declining living standards.
They are in denial about our choked cities and our starved regions.
They are in denial about energy and science.
And they are more interested in division than inclusion.
But above all, they are characterised by being scared of the present and terrified of the future.
I’m optimistic about the future. Provided we get the policy settings right.
Today the Labor Party begins laying down the framework on which we will build the policies that we will take to the election.
Today, the Australian Labor Party turns our focus forward.
We must face the future in the interests of our country.
And we will be guided every step of the way by our values.
Labor values.”
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My thought for the day
In the information age, those who control the dissemination of news have more power than government.
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