Can anyone even name five things the Albanese Government has achieved? | Caleb Bond
The first term is meant to be when a PM convinces us he should get a second dance around the maypole, writes Caleb Bond.
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It’s been a big year for Albo, what with all those achievements.
The Voice to Parliament was set up.
Sorry, my bad.
But one election promise broken isn’t too bad.
He made up with it for the federal Environmental Protection Agency after Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek negotiated with the Greens for their support.
Oh, whoops – my notes seem to be a little dodgy.
Stage three tax cuts were, at least, delivered in full.
Nevermind, there was the misinformation and disinformation bill that Communications Minister Michelle Roland said was vital because “if left unchecked, (misinformation and disinformation) will undermine our way of life as we know it”.
Heck, that one was dropped, too.
The religious discrimination laws?
Oh, God.
At least, as promised, your power bill will have reduced by $275 by 2025.
Okay – I’ll stop.
What on Earth has the bloke been doing?
I defy you to walk down Rundle Mall and find someone who can name five achievements of the Albanese government.
The first term is meant to be when a Prime Minister stamps his mark on the country and convinces us why he should be given a second dance around the maypole.
Albanese has convinced us that he likes flight upgrades.
The problem is twofold.
He shed all his confidence after the loss of the Voice and hasn’t managed to recover.
And much like his 2022 election campaign he has this year opted to run a small-target government in the hopes it will avoid criticism.
People may well be willing to elect small-target oppositions to government because they’ve had enough of the mob in charge – which is what happened two-and-a-half years ago – but they expect governments to actually do things.
If you don’t improve voters’ lives they will punish you.
And Albanese hasn’t just not improved your life – he’s made it worse.
We are in the longest household recession in half a century.
The money in your pocket has shrunk for six straight quarters.
For all of Albanese’s and Chalmers’ carry on about the cost of living, they’ve done more to exacerbate the crisis than anyone.
Desperate not to slip into an official recession, they have pumped loads of extra money into the public service and kept migration high which has pushed up rent and house prices.
At least Paul Keating was honest about the “recession we had to have”.
It will be a brief exercise when Albanese puts his feet up this Christmas to reflect on his achievements – because there are none.
How he expects to sell his government at an election next year is beyond me.
What will he point to as proof that he must remain in charge?
About the only thing he has achieved is banning children from social media, which he rushed through the Senate without adequate detail because he was desperate to have something – anything – done by the end of the year.
It is hard to think of any other first-term government in modern history that has achieved so little.
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