Deja vu for Queenslanders as red carpet Premier gives way to a red carpet PM
New data has shown living standards are collapsing at an astonishing rate. So what’s the PM doing? He’s taking a leaf out of Annastacia Palaszczuk’s playbook – and it’s not one of the good ones.
Opinion
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Goodbye red carpet Premier, hello red carpet PM.
About the most damaging jibe that was ever hurled Annastacia Palaszczuk’s way was the ‘red carpet Premier’ tag. It stung because it had more than a grain of truth.
During her time in office Ms Palaszczuk allowed herself to be filmed or photographed in VIP seats or strolling red carpets far too many times, while the oiks got on with their miserable little lives.
There’s no question that it’s an image that came back to bite, and bite hard, when Covid gave way to the cost of living crisis we’re still enduring.
No wonder, by the time she stepped down, she had become so unpopular.
So what in the name of all that is holy does Prime Minister Anthony Albanese think he’s doing by not only following the same ridiculous playbook, but taking it to a level Ms Palaszczuk could only dream of?
Mr Albanese, who spent most of his first year in office jetsetting from one fabulously catered summit to the next, managed to not only spend Friday night dad-dancing at a Taylor Swift concert in Sydney, he followed up by the next day by attending a private Katy Perry concert at the Melbourne home of a billionaire.
Doesn’t this man have a country to run? To make matters worse, very considerably worse, when asked about the Perry gig, he insulted the intelligence of Weekend Sunrise viewers by suggesting it was primarily an opportunity to talk about biscuit manufacturing.
“So, Mr Albanese, I wonder if Australians know how … our Prime Minister is a big fan of live music, dancing at Katy Perry last night. You had Tay Tay on Friday, a big week,” host Matt Doran asked.
Mr Albanese’s response: “Well, I gave a speech last night at the food and beverage annual dinner. Last year that was held in Sydney. This year was held here in Melbourne. It’s an annual event and it’s an opportunity to talk to manufacturers. One of the things I want is a future made here in Australia. And last night I was talking with Wesfarmers, Bundaberg, Asahi, Arnott’s biscuits, all those fantastic Australian companies who make products here for domestic purposes but also export to the world. The good news that I got last night from many of the businesses was that they’re expanding their operations. That means more jobs here and it means our economy is more resilient here as well.”
So let’s get this straight. The Prime Minister of Australia attended a private concert by an American pop singer at the Melbourne home of a billionaire in the company of a small group of top-level politicians and the ultra-rich … and this somehow creates jobs in the food processing industry?
It would be laughable if it wasn’t so serious.
While the Prime Minister is busy ‘shaking it off’ with billionaires and superstars, ordinary Australians are watching their living standards collapse.
An extraordinary report in the Australian Financial Review last week laid bare in figures and charts the grim reality most people feel every day in their pockets.
Real household incomes in Australia in the 12 months to September slumped 6.1 per cent – far ahead of any other OECD nation.
In fact – and this is well worth noting the next time a politician tries to blame global issues for our woes – disposable income actually grew in the United States (2.6 per cent) and United Kingdom (3.2 per cent).
The data was adjusted for inflation and population growth, two other variables with big numbers attached in Australia.
It’s proof, if proof were needed, that the middle class is getting absolutely smashed.
The idea of spending a weekend going from one concert to the next is fanciful for many people in this city. And not just because the tickets are hideously expensive. But because they are too busy working second jobs so they can pay the mortgage and keep a roof over their heads.
There are also people who were too busy last weekend selling off half of what they own for a pittance on Facebook Marketplace so they’ll have enough to get through another week.
And people who would never have seen themselves in so desperate a position rummaging through bins for cans and bottles they could recycle for the princely sum of ten cents apiece, like a well dressed woman I saw swallowing her pride to do just that early last Friday morning.
In fairness, Mr Albanese is unlikely to have witnessed the same thing. The lives of the serfs are not easily observed from the compounds of billionaires.
And he has – whippedy-do – promised to allow workers have some of their own hard-earned money back via Stage 3 tax cuts, something the government has been vigorously congratulating itself for ever since.
But seriously, how can he not understand how bad it looks to spend a weekend enjoying the high life when so many people are struggling to pay essential bills?
Even the Labor-loving Guardian was forced to admit yesterday that the Prime Minister’s popularity is tanking, with their own polling showing three in five Australians now see him as “out of touch”.
That should be no surprise. Australia is facing an economic crisis. Some economists believe it will be years before living standards return to pre-pandemic levels.
People want and deserve a Prime Minister who understands that fixing the problem is the only gig in town.
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