Tom Minear: Leaders remove the gloves as election looms

The PM’s relationship with the truth has been challenged, while he’s begun branding Anthony Albanese “sneaky”. The rules are out the window as the election nears.

In the weeks after he became Labor’s leader, Anthony Albanese issued a surprising edict to his MPs. He told them to stop accusing Scott Morrison and his ministers of lying.

Not everyone in caucus loved the idea, but Albanese’s logic was sound. He wanted to lift the standard of debate after a fierce election, knowing that if the opposition continued to make such sharp criticisms, they would leave themselves little room to escalate their rhetoric.

Two years on, with the next election now looming, Albanese has thrown caution to the wind and his rule out the window. French President Emmanuel Macron’s extraordinary spray at the PM opened the door for Labor to make Morrison’s integrity their primary line of attack, to the point that some MPs forgot they were ever barred from calling him a liar.

Almost every Labor question in parliament this week challenged Morrison’s relationship with the truth, most damningly over his secret trip to Hawaii during the Black Summer fires.

Labor is convinced their ‘Liar from the Shire’ attack on Scott Morrison is working. Picture: Gary Ramage

In attempting to defend his integrity, Morrison slipped and stumbled, incorrectly implying he told Albanese in advance about his Hawaii holiday, and shamelessly suggesting he forgot he called Sam Dastyari “Shanghai Sam” despite the proof remaining on his Facebook page.

Labor is convinced their “Liar from the Shire” attack is working. Even before this week, Newspoll found just 42 per cent of voters thought Morrison was trustworthy, down from 59 per cent in August last year, and the lowest level for any PM in a decade.

“The Zeitgeist is changing,” a Labor frontbencher enthused.

But some government ministers maintain this negative impression of Morrison is confined to voters unlikely to support him anyway. They think Labor’s tactic implicitly acknowledges that Morrison’s character is strong, and will do little to shift votes among Australians who have little faith in the trustworthiness of any politician to begin with.

While there is some truth in their cynical viewpoint, it would be a mistake for Morrison to ignore the problem. He and his allies may deny it, but the truth is the PM has a habit of telling fibs, especially when under pressure. The words of Mark Twain offer some helpful advice: “If you tell the truth, you don’t have to remember anything”.

Anthony Albanese’s friends believe his authenticity will eventually shine through. Picture: Gary Ramage

The character of a leader matters to Australians – after all, that’s how Morrison took down Bill Shorten in 2019.

Perhaps the government does appreciate this challenge. Tellingly, the long-awaited legislation for a federal corruption body has not been prioritised as expected in the year’s final parliamentary fortnight, averting a debate about integrity.

But Labor should not assume the way it is shaping the political landscape will automatically work in its favour.

Because of the pandemic, as well as Albanese’s small-target strategy, the Labor leader has been unable to define his character in the minds of voters. His 25 years in parliament may make him a familiar face, but even some Labor MPs report that he is not on the radar of their constituents as a potential prime minister.

One of his colleagues said every opposition leader had to “colour in” their silhouette.

“Otherwise, others will do it for you,” the MP said – and Morrison is desperate to do just that.

This week, he and his frontbenchers started branding Albanese as “sneaky”.

“There’s only one thing worse than Australians knowing what Labor would do; it is them not knowing what Labor would do,” the PM thundered.

A minister later explained the tactic, arguing Labor would struggle to “play the man” if they could not explain why Australians should vote for them.

Few politicians can refine and repeat a message like Scott Morrison. Picture: Getty Images

The opposition is alive to this. Albanese has recently released policies to bolster the NBN and tackle family violence, and is preparing to unveil Labor’s climate plan and another campaign centrepiece commitment before Christmas.

This will be welcomed by Labor MPs also unsure about relying on character assassination.

“You don’t win a vote by flogging a dead horse,” one cautioned.

Albanese’s friends believe his authenticity will eventually shine through, in contrast to Morrison’s marketing-made image. But the Labor leader could also learn a lesson from the PM’s discipline. Few politicians can refine and repeat a message like Morrison, and as he proved in 2019, that can make all the difference.

(As an aside, that’s why senior government figures are so furious at the backbenchers causing chaos over vaccine mandates. “Discipline and unity wins elections,” the PM warned. “If we surrender that, we surrender government.”)

Albanese’s political patience as opposition leader is admirable, but some colleagues think he still struggles to nail his lines and is too easily provoked by tough questions, traits they fear could be exposed on the campaign trail.

He must also compel greater discipline from his MPs. The backbench scare campaign on the cashless debit card being forced on pensioners is baseless, and unhelpful when Labor is campaigning on integrity, while Don Farrell’s promise this week to tear down voter ID laws as the first act of an Albanese government is laughable.

Asked this week how the next election was shaping up, a government minister summed it up like this: “When push comes to shove, it’ll be the devil you know or the devil you don’t”.

It makes for a hellish campaign.

Tom Minear is Herald Sun national politics editor