Albanese must learn the art of owning his mistakes

Anthony Albanese has missed a golden opportunity to accept responsibility for Labor’s electoral woes following the defeat of the voice to parliament referendum and to reset the political atmospherics for the year ahead. Instead, the Prime Minister has refused to accept responsibility and distanced himself from the referendum outcome, while making the spurious boast that tackling the cost-of-living crisis had been his government’s greatest achievement for 2023. Mr Albanese’s Christmas Day remarks, made on Sydney radio station 2GB, managed to elicit disbelief across the spectrum. Indigenous leaders said Labor’s handling of the campaign leading up to the October referendum had undermined years of work on reconciliation. Mr Albanese’s protestations – “Oh, no, no, no, no, very important to call that out. I am not Indigenous so it wasn’t a loss to me … I do think that it was disappointing for First Nations people but they’re used to, you know, getting the, they’re used to hardship” – almost beggar belief. Indigenous leaders, nonetheless, must accept their own part in insisting Mr Albanese take the toughest possible stand on the referendum question.

Equally jarring was the boast that Labor had worked hard to ease the cost burden on ordinary families. Mr Albanese said he was most proud of his government’s $23bn cost-of-living relief package and Labor’s efforts to restore trade relations with China. Households are still smarting at the ALP’s failure to deliver electricity price relief, as was promised. Rather, Climate Change and Energy Minister Chris Bowen has introduced a new system that increases the exposure of taxpayers to a greatly expanded renewable energy rollout at a time of intense global competition and resultant high price inflation for the infrastructure that is needed.

Failure to accept responsibility or hard facts is something Mr Albanese must address. Halfway through his government’s first term its outlook is by no means terminal but it is showing clear signs of fatigue that suggest a sense of buyer’s remorse is building in the electorate. Other leaders have faced a similar case of midterm blues and managed to recover. The key is to take a firm lead on issues that voters value. As things stand there is a growing list of socially oriented projects and concerns that highlight the disconnect that exists between Labor’s real focus and that of mainstream voters. These include winding back of protections for fathers and a presumption of shared custody in divorce proceedings, and making it easier for workers to sue bosses for discrimination without fear of being exposed to legal bills. As we report on Wednesday, proposed new rules will shield employees who sue companies over sexual harassment and discrimination claims from having to pay costs, even if they lose. Together with union-friendly changes to the workplace and tougher restrictions on employers across the board, Labor’s agenda is being called out as anti-business, anti-productivity and far removed from the sort of reforms that are needed to tackle the nation’s obvious economic challenges.

Employment and Workplace Relations Minister Tony Burke has taken an aggressive stance on reforming workplace laws that has pleased the union movement but has left business leaders unimpressed. The Closing Loopholes Bill that is before parliament will only hurt productivity, employment, investment and training. Changes already made to allow industry-wide bargaining are being seized on by unions to negotiate high wage increases in the government’s favoured care economy. A strengthened Fair Work Commission will make the workplace less flexible, acting as a further drag on productivity.

Voters are aware of what is going on. The result has been a loss of support for Labor across three key demographics since the failed referendum. It is a drift in support from middle Australia. Unlike in 2022, the defining political contest for the next election will be less about climate change and issues that consume the privileged elite and more about the real-world struggles of the majority of people who live in the suburbs. Support for federal Labor has slumped in NSW and Queensland across the past two months, while the party’s key advantage over the Coalition among female voters also has evaporated nationally. Mr Albanese’s approval ratings have fallen almost universally. As we report on Wednesday, the decline in Labor’s support base has occurred amid the fall in living standards, higher interest rates and inflationary pressures on household budgets. Overall, Labor ends the polling period retaining a two-party-preferred lead over the Coalition of 52-48 per cent, which is in line with its election-winning result of May last year. But this marks a fall from its lead of 54-46 per cent just before the October 14 Indigenous voice ­referendum.

Mr Albanese’s approval ratings have fallen into negative territory in every state, with the largest fall in satisfaction with his performance in NSW. Peter Dutton leads Mr Albanese on this measure in NSW, Queensland and South Australia. Voters are telling Mr Albanese they want straight answers and honest action. Growing the economy through productivity measures must be the benchmark against which the government is judged. Owning up to mistakes is a necessary beginning.