Albanese in a bind as he faces policy consequences

Anthony Albanese and Scott Morrison during one of the votes on the asylum seeker bill in the House of Representatives in 2012.

Anthony Albanese faces two critical tests when the new parliament convenes in the first week of July.

Both will challenge the new Labor leader’s claims to be a centrist leader determined to steer the party back from the fringes and into the living rooms of mainstream Australians.

The first is on tax. The second is now on boats.

A Federal Court ruling yesterday on the medivac laws has set up a fight on border protection probably earlier than Albanese would have liked.

But it is a blue he has to have and just like the argument over whether to support the government’s entire personal income tax package, the decisions he makes now may well define his leadership over the course of this term.

Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese in Perth. Picture: Colin Murty

Already Albanese has signalled that he is not for turning on the medivac laws that Labor rammed through the lower house earlier this year with the crossbench in its rush to deliver a defeat to the government on the floor of parliament.

The consequences of such a decision for Labor in opposition was never a consideration because no one believed it would be in opposition.

Albanese has ruled out any prospect of Labor supporting the Coalition in repealing laws it so vigorously fought for. There is no appetite within the Labor caucus or shadow cabinet for such a move.

Nor is there a conceivable justification for the new leader to overturn what every one of the Labor frontbenchers claimed at the time was the right decision.

The Federal Court ruling changes nothing for Labor’s position. There are no grounds for a volte-face. But then there are political realities.

Having been forced to defend the legislation, he becomes a rich target for the government on an issue that very few Labor MPs want to talk about.

The fact is that there are consequences for many of the decisions taken by Labor over the past six years and this is just one of the many that Albanese now has to contend with.