Albanese is starting to be blamed for things, and that’s normal

After running a mostly solid and scandal-free government for more than a year, Anthony Albanese is starting to feel the pressure over interest rates and the Voice to parliament.

A lot of the questions and criticism Albanese now faces may seem foreign to him. But being blamed for everything – fairly and unfairly – is the reality of being prime minister.

Albanese is starting to face questions over rising interest rates.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

Albanese hasn’t had to deal with this affliction until now for two main reasons: he has run a competent government which hasn’t faced a major crisis; and the Morrison government’s stuff-ups and scandals continue to make news.

The fallout of the robo-debt royal commission – which handed down its final report on Friday and exposed “venality, incompetence and cowardice” throughout the former government and public service – is likely to be the last opportunity to talk about Morrison for any extended period of time.

The tide is now turning – not against Albanese, but against an unusually long honeymoon with voters.

Take interest rates: after more than a year of public and media backlash squarely focused on the Reserve Bank, the prime minister was grilled last week by breakfast television hosts on why his government wasn’t doing more to ease the pressure of soaring mortgages.

And take the Voice referendum: in an appearance on Network Ten’s The Project two weeks ago, Albanese encountered tough questioning on how the proposed Indigenous Voice to parliament would function.

And take thorny diplomatic issues: some national security experts are calling on Albanese to withdraw from his planned trip to Beijing unless China removes bounties on Hong Kong activists living in Australia. Some criticise his government for not providing more support to Ukraine.

It is on the Voice and cost of living where Albanese is most vulnerable.

If he invests too much personal capital in the Voice, he risks being marked down by voters for not focusing on cost-of-living issues. If he doesn’t invest enough, he may be blamed if the referendum is voted down.

Last month’s Resolve Strategic poll, conducted for this masthead, showed voters cutting their support for Labor from 42 to 40 per cent while slightly cooling on the party and Albanese on key benchmarks including leadership, vision and competence.

Resolve director Jim Reed says his agency started noting declines in Albanese and Labor’s honeymoon ratings early this year. But he says the difference now is that some polls are showing that those declines are flowing to the opposition for the first time.

“A portion of the electorate are now dissatisfied enough to jump ship,” Reed says.

“It could simply be that the lower yes vote for the Voice is dragging Labor down, or it might be that this is simply viewed as a distraction from the tougher and enduring problems the government is now having to deal with, like prices, rates, housing and scandal.”

For this reason, it is now difficult to see how Albanese can get to the end of the year without announcing another cost-of-living package, in addition to measures in the federal budget.

Mortgage holders and renters have only been hit further by interest rate hikes since the May budget.

The inflation rate isn’t expected to return to the 2-3 per cent target range used by the Reserve Bank until the middle of next year.

And there is at least one more hike – and potentially three more – to come.

If Albanese does nothing, the questioning he is facing now will turn to fury by Christmas.

It’s not panic stations, it’s just a return to normal.

Cut through the noise of federal politics with news, views and expert analysis from Jacqueline Maley. Subscribers can sign up to our weekly Inside Politics newsletter here.