A labour movement divided

Joel Fitzgibbon’s resignation from the opposition frontbench has delivered more than a shot across Anthony Albanese’s bow. It is a damaging blow to Mr Albanese’s leadership and Labor’s credibility. Actions speak louder than words and Mr Fitzgibbon’s mouthing of the usual pieties as to his leader’s electability may be discounted. They were the polite formulations of a man who has no confidence in the Opposition Leader to drag his party back to middle ground. Mr Fitzgibbon nearly lost his seat of Hunter in NSW last year. He narrowly fended off a challenge from a One Nation candidate in an electorate populated by miners and others whose livelihoods depend on coal. He learned key lessons.

Despite Mr Albanese’s claims that he has absorbed the lessons of Bill Shorten’s defeat, he does not appear to have heeded them. His ill-judged attempt to exploit the election of Joe Biden in the US on a platform of carbon emissions reduction was a case in point. His question time assault on Monday and the bizarre demand that Scott Morrison directly intervene to persuade Donald Trump to concede to his rival apparently were the last straws. Mr Fitzgibbon has made a calculated decision that his best chance of holding his seat is to distance himself from his leader and the frontbench. Perhaps ominously for Mr Albanese, Mr Fitzgibbon was half-hearted in ruling out his own tilt at the leadership. In the formulaic language that precedes every spill, he pledged: “I have no intention of running for the leadership. I would have to be drafted.” His confidence that Mr Albanese could win the next election came with the heavy qualification: “I think Albo can win if he listens to Joel Fitzgibbon.”

Few would consider Mr Fitzgibbon foreman material. But Mr Albanese will ignore the substance of his warning at his peril. Before her re-election, Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk jettisoned her left-wing deputy, Jackie Trad, and her government's opposition to the Adani coalmine in the aftermath of the state’s resounding endorsement of the Prime Minister in May last year. Australia has never withdrawn from the Paris Agreement, so Mr Albanese’s ham-fisted attempt to ensnare Mr Morrison in the fallout from the US result was poor judgment. The US election was decided on the coronavirus pandemic and polarised attitudes to Mr Trump on a range of issues. As Mr Fitzgibbon said, for his leader and Labor left colleagues Mark Butler, Pat Conroy and Andrew Giles to draw solace from the American result was “delusional”.

Unlike most of the opposition leadership team, Mr Fitzgibbon was a tradesman before he succeeded his father, Eric, as the member for Hunter. Both men understood their constituents’ concerns. Neither was born into privilege. Like maverick Nationals MP George Christensen, Mr Fitzgibbon represents more miners than Mr Albanese and opposition education spokeswoman Tanya Plibersek combined.

Wednesday is the 45th anniversary of the Dismissal of the Whitlam government. While some true believers maintain the rage, the real significance of the Whitlam era was its transformation of Labor into a party of the intelligentsia and what US social critic Christopher Lasch described as “the symbolic professions”. Can anyone in modern Labor imagine a small-town cop such as Bill Hayden, who appears in this newspaper on Wednesday, ascending to the leadership of the party now? Even the impeccably dressed Paul Keating sold suits before he became famous for his sartorial elegance. He did not attend university. As it marks the Dismissal, Labor would do well to revisit its past empathy for the aspirations and concerns of miners, farmers and others for whom the green left reserves lofty condescension. Such Australians, like tradespeople and small-business entrepreneurs, will be the beating heart of economic recovery after the pandemic. Australia has met its emissions reduction targets to date. There is more risk for Mr Albanese than for Mr Morrison in resuming the energy and climate wars. Mr Fitzgibbon’s move to the backbench is a sign of a party riven by doubts about what it believes and who it represents. Mr Albanese should hope the member for Hunter does not maintain his rage.