Andrew Bolt: Albo’s second-rate team makes him no match for Hawke

Anthony Albanese says he will take his lead from Bob Hawke but even if he has Hawke’s toughness, smarts and pragmatism, his team looks like a rabble of underperformers.

Anthony Albanese promises he’ll be a prime minister like Bob Hawke. But Hawke led a team of talent that makes Albanese’s look like a rabble of “mean girls” and underperformers.

Albanese last week said that like Hawke, the charismatic prime minister of the 1980s, he’d rule in the “spirit of consensus”.

“I will take my lead from Bob Hawke.”

Let’s be generous. Let’s assume Albanese really means it, even though his history puts him to the far Left of Hawke. Let’s assume he has Hawke’s toughness, smarts and pragmatism.

Here, though, is the critical difference. Hawke led a team stacked not just with talent and drive, but common sense. Albanese’s team is astonishingly second rate.

Anthony Albanese’s team is astonishingly second rate. Picture: Emma Brasier

If you compare Hawke’s first cabinet directly with Albanese’s shadow cabinet, you’ll find no more than three or four Albanese picks who could even match Hawke’s, let alone excel.

There’s Tanya Plibersek, perhaps, in education. Maybe Ed Husic would blossom. Perhaps shadow Treasurer Jim Chalmers could yet surprise. Has Tony Burke learned from his disastrous time as immigration minister, when he failed to stop the boats?

You can see I’m still trying to be generous. But the fact is Albanese shadow cabinet includes a frightening number who seem utter dwarfs in comparison.

For example, Hawke’s Senate leader was John Button. Button, also industry minister, had great wit and charm, and would reach out to almost anyone to make a good deal for this country.

But Albanese’s Senate leader is Penny Wong, a cold Labor tribalist who the late Kimberley Kitching, of Labor’s Right, dubbed one of the “mean girls” who froze her out for speaking her mind.

Penny Wong is comfortable talking only to her own. Picture: David Mariuz

Wong is comfortable talking only to her own. She won’t even negotiate with One Nation leader Pauline Hanson, who commands two crucial Senate votes. In all her time in parliament, Wong has exchanged words with Hanson no more than twice.

Another comparison: Hawke had the brilliant if mercurial Gareth Evans as Attorney General. Albanese would have the bombastic pedant Mark Dreyfus, regarded as a fool even by many of his own.

Hawke’s treasurer was Paul Keating, a ferociously quick study and visionary reformer. Albanese’s pick, Jim Chalmers, will battle to live up to his friends’ hype and be Keating’s equal.

Tanya Plibersek is one of three or four Albanese picks who could even match Hawke’s, let alone excel. Picture: Getty Images

One of Hawke’s rocks was Peter Walsh, first as resources and energy minister and then arguably our greatest finance minister. Walsh wouldn’t put up with bull from anyone and knew the value of a dollar and a job.

Albanese’s energy minister will be Chris Bowen, a garrulous promoter of global warming porn who also doubles as Labor’s climate spokesman. God spare us.

Hawke gave foreign affairs to his rival Bill Hayden, a man of great decency and diligence. Albanese would give it to Wong, who strikes me as weak on China.

Hawke’s one clear dud in Cabinet was immigration minister Stewart West. But Albanese’s shadow Immigration Minister is an even bigger zero – the abrasive party hack Kristina Keneally, who led her NSW government to catastrophic defeat and is another of Kitching’s “mean girls”.

Don Farrell is so low-profile as to be invisible. Picture: Sean Davey

Hawke’s social security minister was the steady Don Grimes, a former doctor who led the fight against AIDS. Albanese’s will be Linda Burney, who, nice as she is, plays too much race politics. In shooting an ABC documentary with her, I was also surprised by astonishing gaps in her knowledge. She asked one senator how long a senator’s term was. She thought five years. Every MP should know it’s six.

Hawke’s Cabinet had people who wouldn’t let him get drunk on his own bull – not until years later. Mick Young, his special minister of state, was a former shearer and a great down-to-earther.

Bob Hawke led a team stacked not just with talent and drive, but common sense. Picture: AAP

Yes, Albanese will have Don Farrell, the former union official known as the Godfather, to talk sense. But Farrell is so low-profile as to be invisible.,

One last comparison. Hawke’s finance minister was the sharp John Dawkins, who later became treasurer and then a successful businessman.

But Albanese’s will be Katy Gallagher, a former social worker and union organiser - a remorseless Socialist Left hardliner and the third of Kitching’s alleged “mean girls”.

And check who Hawke had waiting in his outer ministry: Kim Beazley, Barry Cohen, Neil Blewett, Michael Duffy and Brian Howe, among others.

To match them, Albanese can boast only of, say, Jason Clare, the strident Michelle Rowland and former leader Bill Shorten, except, of course, he wants Shorten gone.

Albanese may want to rule like Hawke, but see who he’s got to help him. That’s a promise he can’t keep.

Originally published as Andrew Bolt: Albo’s second-rate team makes him no match for Hawke