Australia needs effective Labor Party

Prime Minister Scott Morrison and his frontbench during Question Time in the House of Representatives in Parliament House. Picture: Gary Ramage

If anyone imagined that the election of Scott Morrison would see the rebirth of a newly enthused government, five months in you would be disappointed.

Instead, this third-term government and its Prime Minister appear to be using the benches on their side of the house as more of a cigar lounge than a Treasury bench.

Despite loud economic warning bells, anaemic growth, stagnant wages and record levels of household debt, we have an impotent government that has barely stirred.

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There is no plan to stimulate the economy, no appetite to bring forward infrastructure spending despite repeated calls from the Business Council of Australia, the Reserve Bank and every sensible commentator.

Families doing it tough, in the electorates that voted for us and the ones that didn’t, are now counting on Labor to hold the Morrison government to account.

The election defeat was difficult for Labor and our supporters. But we have dusted ourselves off and returned to parliament with a renewed sense of energy and purpose. Because we have to. Because we can’t sit idle while the other side remains smug.

The Morrison government is indifferent to people going week to week wondering how they will keep the electricity on.

And nothing compares to the rank self-indulgence of the Nationals, absorbed in open warfare with each other while Tenterfield stares down the barrel of running out of water by Christmas.

Of course in these early days there have been challenges on our side. But in his first tests Anthony Albanese has shown he isn’t afraid of the tough days and the tough calls.

After being elected unop­posed, Albanese went straight to the communities where sitting Labor members lost their seats, as well as fronting up to see a few candidates who were in seats tipped to swing our way: a tough inauguration lap.

He initiated a comprehensive review of our election campaign, which will be finalised in coming weeks, and intervened by appointing Michael Lavarch to review the operations of NSW Labor.

Albanese has led us in making difficult but critically important decisions such as making improvements to the Indonesian free trade agreement because Australia must be a part of the fastest growing region in the world, while ensuring that appropriate protections of Australian jobs are in place.

In June, Albanese unveiled a new ministry and leadership team that is united. And together we have been listening to the voters who thought of supporting Labor on May 18 but ultimately chose not to.

The message from those voters is that they are tired of the politics of division and want to hear from Labor about how we will apply our values to putting the national interest first.

We are forging new relationships with the business community while continuing to engage with unions about dealing with stagnant wages, protecting jobs and building workers’ rights on the shop floor.

Leader of the Opposition Anthony Albanese, Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack and Prime Minister Scott Morrison during Question Time on Tuesday.

We need to change. Part of that is resetting the reflex muscle that led us to believe that our fortunes were pegged to winning the daily cycle, which ultimately proved to be a false economy.

There is a stark difference between holding the government to account and simply seeking victory in the pursuit of a good headline.

An approach that aims for a longer-term vision that spans beyond 140 characters may seem boring for some commentators. But our focus will be developing a compelling argument that speaks to the aspirations of working men and women across Australia so they put a “1” in the Labor square at the next election.

For many of our supporters, the prospect of victory may feel a long way off. But after the 2004 election, dislodging John Howard seemed impossible. Within three years, we won government with 83 seats and a primary vote of more than 43 per cent.

Kevin Rudd and Labor seized the moment in 2007 because we had an agenda and a message that landed in middle Australia.

We will go to the next election embracing aspiration, which has been at the heart of social mobility and is the key to building an egalitarian Australia. This is, after all, a Labor idea.

As part of that, next week in Perth, Albanese will deliver his first vision statement on jobs and the future of work.

This will set out a clear message that we put jobs first and embrace advanced manufacturing and new industry. It will be a vision for an economy that is stronger and fairer; in fact, an economy that is stronger because it is fairer.

Labor is the party of jobs, productivity and growth. The successes of Australia’s modern economy and the building of Australia’s middle class are the creations of Labor governments.

We are a serious group of people devastated by the opportunity lost for our nation at this year’s election, shocked by the smug indolence of the Morrison government, and utterly determined to deliver to the millions of Australians who want for a better nation an Albanese Labor government.

And over the next three years we will hold the Liberals to account. We will put their failures under the spotlight.

And we will absolutely make sure by the time it comes to the next election the choice will be stark and it will be one that the Labor faithful, as well as new supporters, will make with hope.

Richard Marles is deputy leader of the Australian Labor Party.