Peta Credlin: Why Albo no longer deserves the benefit of the doubt
First term governments always get the benefit of the doubt but, with Anthony Albanese simply not up to the job, we need strength and clarity more than anything else in these troubled times, writes Peta Credlin.
Peta Credlin
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Hans Christian Andersen’s celebrated tale, The Emperor’s New Clothes, in which it took a child to finally blurt out the truth about the naked ruler, has long served as a metaphor for finally seeing someone as he really is.
For me, and for quite a few of us, I suspect, Anthony Albanese’s unwillingness to join other world leaders in condemning the treatment of democratic Israel in the same way as terrorist group Hamas was an “emperor has no clothes” moment.
How can anyone call themselves a leader and sit on the fence over an issue like this?
Ever since he was elected, out of respect for the office of prime minister, I have tried to give Albanese the benefit of the doubt. I might not have agreed with him, but on issues like the Voice, I told myself that his intentions were sound even if his policies were not; notwithstanding increasing doubts about whether he had the attention-to-detail, the intellectual heft and the judgment to be an adequate national leader.
Last week, though, he finally lost me. How could our PM not grasp the world of moral difference between the leaders of Israel trying wage a just war against an Islamist death cult that broke a ceasefire on October 7 to invade Israel and slaughter innocents, and the barbarians of Hamas that revel in murder, mutilation, hostage-taking and rape.
Either he couldn’t grasp the distinction; or he couldn’t say it lest he upset the Islamist vote in key Labor seats. Either way, it shows that he’s simply not up to the job.
It finally confirms the suspicions about Albanese’s essential inadequacy that were ignored in our eagerness to get rid of Scott Morrison and that all of us had hoped would dissipate on the grounds that we don’t want our national leader, regardless of politics, to be a compete dud.
Sadly, we now see Albo for what he is – weak, not across the detail, greedy for the trappings of the job and, despite the suit, still the raging hard left activist from his youth.
Albanese’s excuse, that he didn’t comment on legal proceedings at home or abroad, was a complete embarrassment; especially as he proceeded to do just that a few moments later on Julian Assange’s legal predicament.
That the PM was dumbstruck on the moral difference between Israel and Hamas, yet voluble about the supposed injustices suffered by a leaker who put lives at risk, just confirms that our nation’s leader is close to being a moral nitwit.
Despite campaigning as “safe change”, Anthony Albanese has presided over our most green-left government ever.
The Voice was an attempt to entrench forever identity politics in our constitution. Labor’s workplace changes will jeopardise the livelihoods of casual workers and self-employed contractors to appease union bosses. The broken promise not to touch superannuation was pure politics of envy as was the broken promise to keep the Stage 3 tax cuts. And the drive to replace the coal and gas that’s driven our prosperity with green hydrogen looks like ideologically-driven economic self-harm.
A Labor leader promising a $275 per household per year cut in power prices now looks simply deluded.
The constant backdrop of the Aboriginal flag and incessant official acknowledgments of Indigenous elders, that might once have looked like courtesy, are now making the PM look ashamed of the country he leads.
Even inside his own party, Anthony Albanese has never inspired great enthusiasm. He only became leader because Bill Shorten had failed twice.
Even within his left faction, there’s always been more warmth for Tanya Plibersek. He was elected with a record low Labor primary vote only because voters were totally turned off his predecessor, including Liberals like me.
I’ve always thought that voters ask two questions on polling day: First, does the government deserve to be re-elected; and second, if the first answer is “no”, would the opposition be change for the better?
The conventional wisdom is that first term governments always get the benefit of the doubt.
That can no longer be taken for granted, especially as the Coalition is starting to create a clear contrast on touchstone issues like housing and energy affordability.
People know where they stand with Peter Dutton; he isn’t trying to be flashy, he’s about strength and clarity.
And, right now, that’s what we need more than anything else in these troubled times.
IT SEEMS THE SWITCH HAS BEEN FLICKED IN LABOR MINDS ON POWER
Are some senior people inside the Labor movement finally starting to wake up to the insanity of thinking that a modern economy can run on intermittent renewable power?
First, the South Australian premier said that he would be open to a nuclear industry in his state; second, the NSW Premier has agreed to pay up to $225 million a year to keep open the Eraring coal-fired power station that generates a quarter of the state’s electricity; and third, the West Australian premier has just said that his state’s emissions should rise so that world’s might fall.
(Spare a thought for poor old Victoria where they’re now worried they will run out of gas in two years after finally admitting they need it to power the state).
The basic flaw in the renewables push has always been that we need power 24/7, not just when the wind blows and the sun shines. Hence wind and solar always need back-up, and the batteries favoured by emissions zealots can’t keep the economy going for longer than a few minutes.
At last, after increasingly strident warnings of looming blackouts from the energy market operator, there is commonsense from some premiers that says to me the tide is turning.
Of course, nuclear has to be a big part of the electricity-generation mix if we’re ever going to get to net zero AND keep the lights on. And it was always absurd to insist that nuclear power is safe and affordable at sea in our submarines, but not on land. And it’s hard to argue that nuclear power is unaffordable when nuclear power stations operate in over 30 countries and with plans in dozens more.
NSW’ decision to subsidise coal-fired power, while sensible under the circumstances, actually helps to illustrate the absurd situation that the emissions obsession has created. First, we subsidised wind and solar to help reduce emissions. Then, we subsidised consumers whose power bills were going through the roof because of it. And finally, we’re now subsidising coal to keep the lights on because renewables have up-ended the economics of coal and gas.
What about just ending all the subsidies and restrictions and letting the market sort things out – as it did when we ran the system to give affordable and reliable power rather than to reduce emissions?
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Originally published as Peta Credlin: Why Albo no longer deserves the benefit of the doubt
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