The two problem portfolios that Labor must turn into strengths

Tony Burke has been here before.

Kevin Rudd gave immigration to Burke back in 2013. He was minister for about three months before Labor lost power to Tony Abbott who had campaigned hard on Labor’s record on immigration and border protection.

A decade on and Burke finds himself, once again, in a difficult portfolio facing an unrelenting opponent, this time in the form of Peter Dutton who, of course, etched himself in the public’s consciousness as the hardline home affairs minister under Malcolm Turnbull and Scott Morrison.

Tony Burke and Clare O’Neil take on two areas critical to the government’s electoral fortunes.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

Burke has spent the past two years of government as minister for employment, workplace relations and the arts where he has been an energetic minister with a high media profile and an affable demeanour. His union-friendly industrial relations agenda has kept the party’s traditional industrial base happy. Too happy for the likes of business, maybe, but if there’s one group voters tend not to be overly sympathetic towards, it’s big companies.

Burke’s other and no-less-important job is on the floor of the House of Representatives where, as Leader of the House, he is responsible for the government’s day-to-day tactics such as which legislation is introduced and making sure the government is on top of things in question time.

On this, he must work closely with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, who also once held that job. Albanese performed the role under Julia Gillard when numbers on the floor were significantly tighter than they are today. He used to say he was never happier than when he was “fighting Tories”.

The same quote could equally come from the mouth of Burke, a man who relishes the machinations and verbal sparring of the highly adversarial chamber. And it is this skill that the government needs to bring to immigration and home affairs, the portfolios brought together by Albanese in Sunday’s reshuffle. Burke will be able to thrust and parry with another seasoned chamber performer, Peter Dutton, hopefully bringing a better public showing for his party and giving the backbench something to cheer for.

The government has struggled to demonstrate it was on top of the difficult area after the High Court last year ruled indefinite detention was unlawful resulting in the immediate release of about 150 detainees, some of whom were later found to have serious criminal histories.

It was a shot in the arm for the Coalition in an area where it traditionally performs strongly.

The Burke/Dutton head-to-head will now be crucial for the government with Dutton steadily making headway against the government with his combative approach.

The most recent Resolve Political Monitor, published a fortnight ago, shows voters have lifted the Coalition to another high in core support after months of steady gains for Dutton and his team.

The Coalition increased its primary vote from 36 to 38 per cent between June and July, while core support for Labor has been steady at just 28 per cent – its lowest level since Prime Minister Anthony Albanese took power at the last election.

People are worried about the sluggish economy and cost of living pressure. Speculation about another possible interest rate rise is not helping the government.

So Burke’s job is not to simply neutralise the difficult issue of immigration and home affairs for the government - it is turn it into an area on which the government can demonstrate its strength.

Albanese’s decision to place Clare O’Neil in housing is an acknowledgement the government must do better in this critical area - as well as a second chance for O’Neil.

O’Neil, who took on home affairs and cyber security at a time when cyber security was a persistent bugbear in the form of the Medibank, Optus and other outages that affected and enraged millions of Australians, must now demonstrate she can answer the electorate’s anxiety about housing affordability.

The issue is white-hot. At no time in Australian history have more people been more worried about a whole range of housing issues, including rising house prices and mortgage rates, increasing rents, lack of public housing and lack of housing stock in general.

The Greens have been merrily exploiting the issue with their energetic spokesman Max Chandler-Mather working to lodge himself in the public’s mind - and particularly younger voters’ minds - as the man who can fix this thorny problem.

Now it will be up to O’Neil to demonstrate she has the government’s answers to people’s questions. The government does have a plan - the $10 billion Housing Australia Affordability Fund which is designed to boost investment in social and affordable housing. Does anyone know about it? Not really. And it doesn’t go far enough to address the twofold concerns of middle Australia - that they are struggling to meet mortgage repayments and their anxiety that their children might not ever be able to afford to break into the housing market.

Albanese has given Burke and O’Neil big jobs. Whether they can turn them into strengths for the government will in no small part contribute to whether Labor is still in power in a year’s time.

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