Who knew? Governments do better when they actually govern

This week, the government in the UK will change. It is unclear what will happen in the US election, but three days ago, Joe Biden’s chances took a hit after he displayed genuinely shocking feebleness in the first presidential debate. As the Coalition, early in Question Time last week, referred to the AUKUS agreement, it was hard not to wonder (again) whether long-term defence policy based on alliances with those two nations was worth much.

That said, the far more pressing issue for the Coalition was political: how strangely defensive it sounded. The early questions it asked of Labor in the parliament revolved around nuclear, which made sense: this had been a big moment. But rather than promoting the benefits of the nuclear approach, they seemed mostly to be roundabout attempts to answer criticisms. The AUKUS references were there to counter safety and waste concerns (the logic being that if Labor doesn’t mind nuclear subs then it shouldn’t mind nuclear plants). To be fair, the first questions went to the costs of Labor’s energy plans, but the context for these was obviously criticism of Peter Dutton’s failure to detail his nuclear costs.

Illustration: Jim PavlidisCredit:

It should also be said that the reason the Coalition had something to defend was because it had announced something. Still, using a forum typically devoted to attack for mounting oblique defences felt a little topsy-turvy: as though the opposition, trying to be the government, had somehow overbalanced.

Of course, it wasn’t wrong of the Coalition to bring up AUKUS: both sides are committed to it. But it was a reminder of how abstract policy debates can seem when they are premised on events that may (or may not) happen decades in the future. The spectacle of an opposition perhaps years away from government attempting to justify one far-off policy (nuclear) by referring to another (AUKUS) felt anything but grounded in reality.

Which left Labor – which has often seemed stuck in its own slightly unreal world of reviews, institutional changes and vague references to hard conversations and a second-term agenda – looking unusually concrete. And, more to the point, immediate. Rather than talking about 2040, Labor was able to say that in just a few days – today, in fact – its tax cuts would take effect, as would the wage rises it had argued for and the power bill rebates it announced in the budget. There is extra paid parental leave as well.

Sometimes, in discussions with Labor people, Steve Bracks’ campaign in 2002 will come up. Bracks was something of an accidental Premier of Victoria, having won in 1999 courtesy of a growing community distaste for Jeff Kennett – not unlike Albanese’s victory at the expense of Scott Morrison. One term into Bracks’ reign, there was a sense that he was a slow mover. People didn’t seem to know much about what he’d done. This might sound familiar.

Heading into that election, two themes were pursued. The main slogan was “Bracks. Listens. Acts” – a way of reframing his cautious consensus-based style as a plus, and as a precursor to action. The second was to remind people of the concrete things he had done. (A catchy drumbeat apparently played a significant role.)

Two weeks before polling day, a piece ran in this masthead quoting a Labor MP, Bob Smith, speaking more honestly than most politicians these days: Bracks “replaced a regime that didn’t consult at all. It was like Ramses II… We all accept consulting slowed the process down, but you need to re-establish democracy. And we weren’t quite as prepared as we needed to be... There’ll be a lot more action in the second term.” The piece mentioned a grab from Bracks, delivered for the cameras: “We’ll only promise what we can deliver, and we’ll deliver what we promise”. Smith’s quote sounds like what partisans say about the Albanese government: just wait for the second term. Bracks’ grab sounds a lot like Albanese himself.

Last week was full of political achievements, all with caveats. Julian Assange, with all the complexities around his political views and journalism, came home. The government passed new laws on vaping – watered down but still praised by the Cancer Council. NSW Liberal Treasurer Matt Kean will chair the Climate Change Authority – arguably adding another dose of politics to a hyper-political debate.

None of these are likely to shift votes or feature in election ads. But the overall sense was of a return to the early, nuts-and-bolts days of this term. One should be wary of buying a government’s spin about itself – and so it should be noted that this is pretty much what Albanese said about his Assange triumph (“we get things done”). Still, after all that time spent on nuclear, last week did feel like a return from something of a fever dream. And it was a reminder of a simple and fundamental political law: that governments look better when they govern.

The week may have served as dress rehearsal for an intriguing political contest ahead: between an earthbound government, drawn to small but concrete actions, and an opposition floating free of constraints, drawn to the grand gesture with little in the way of detail to pin it down. (Interestingly, this is the reverse of the situation during the Voice debate.)

Labor’s good week did not cross into being very good: it was mitigated by a worrying inflation number – though the deputy governor of the Reserve Bank downplayed it as “one number”. We will know more when the quarterly figures come in. An interest rate rise could be poison.

The final two caveats lie with Senator Fatima Payman’s decision to cross the floor on the recognition of Palestine as a state. Disunity always carries with it the threat of spreading further. It was not long ago that cabinet minister Ed Husic made his dissenting views on company tax cuts clear.

When things are going well even threats can play the other way. Labor’s caucus has been depressingly quiescent. Husic and Payman at least provide signs of life. That too is supposed to be a part of governing. But the indefinite suspension of Payman on Sunday is the final, crucial caveat: we don’t know where this will end. The character of a week is not always uniform.

Sean Kelly is author of The Game: A Portrait of Scott Morrison, a regular columnist and a former adviser to Julia Gillard and Kevin Rudd.