Editorial
Albanese shuffles deckchairs in bid for ALP unity
Anthony Albanese tried to spin his frontbench reshuffle on Thursday, claiming it would ensure Australians “get the most out of Labor”. That is only a fraction of the story. It is mainly about silencing growing rumblings about his leadership, papering over divisions about climate change policy and boosting his authority.
The Opposition Leader pointedly has swapped the positions of former climate change and energy spokesman Mark Butler, from the party’s Left, with that of former health spokesman Chris Bowen, from the NSW Right.
Mr Albanese says Mr Bowen, who served briefly as treasurer in the second Rudd government, will bring an “economic perspective” to the role. This is a pitch to those on Labor’s Right who agree with backbencher Joel Fitzgibbon that the party has spent too much time talking about climate change and not enough about issues important to its traditional base.
Mr Fitzgibbon resigned from the opposition frontbench after a blazing row with his leader on the subject in November last year. Mr Fitzgibbon has welcomed the reshuffle, insisting Mr Butler was overenthusiastic in his approach to climate change action.
Mr Albanese will be hoping the move placates voters in regional areas. On the left flank, however, where the Greens pose a threat to Labor in inner-city seats, Greens leader Adam Bandt was quick to claim that “Labor is giving up on climate action and is letting Scott Morrison completely off the hook”.
Mr Butler, who had held the shadow portfolio since 2013, was the architect of the uncosted 45 per cent emissions reduction target that damaged Labor at the 2019 election. Mr Bowen, as Treasury spokesman, was responsible for the failed policy on franking credits. It is debatable which one of them lost the party more votes: probably Mr Bowen, who told radio listeners during the campaign that if they disliked the franking credits policy they were “perfectly entitled to vote against us”. Many took him at his word.
Perhaps he learnt a big lesson; if not, he will find it hard to take voters with him on climate policy, which is looming as a major challenge for both sides of politics at the next election, be it this year or next.
Labor is arguing the party is in lock-step with the Biden administration and that the Coalition’s policies will leave Australia isolated on the international stage. On Thursday, US President Joe Biden signed orders that oil, gas and coal emissions be cut and energy production from offshore wind turbines doubled, citing the “existential” climate crisis. Addressing it would create jobs, he said. The Coalition, which won the debate over Labor hands down in 2019, will rubbish claims from Labor or conference participants in Glasgow that Australia is not doing enough on climate. It will point out that Australia deployed renewables 10 times faster than the global average from 2005 to 2018. Scott Morrison also will be quick to again debunk any uncosted Labor polices.
At his press conference on Thursday, Mr Albanese likened himself to Mr Biden: “A bloke who was a former deputy leader and an experienced politician who had held a wide range of portfolios and who was someone who was underestimated by some — he is now President of the United States, and I will be the leader of this country after the next election.” It was a bold claim. Mr Biden, however, had built a consistent lead in the polls against Donald Trump before the US presidential election last November. Polls are never the whole story. But Mr Albanese’s rivals will be watching how he and the party fare in polls in coming days. His leadership is under pressure and the reshuffle was brought forward from the end of the week after news of Mr Butler’s move leaked on Wednesday.
As with any reshuffle, there were winners and losers. Potential leadership rival Tanya Plibersek, who set out her vision for the nation post-COVID on these pages this week, kept her shadow education portfolio and has been given responsibility for women. But she lost oversight of skills to deputy leader Richard Marles. Indeed, Mr Marles was the major winner. He moves from defence to a key economic role as spokesman for employment, small business and science. Or as Mr Albanese put it, “jobs and more jobs”. But Labor should not forget governments do not create jobs. They create conditions that encourage businesses to invest in new staff.
Mr Albanese wants to restore unity in the ranks ahead of parliament. Doing so would make the opposition more competitive and effective in holding the government to account in the interests of the nation. Shuffling the deck chairs is not enough, however, if Labor does not overhaul its policies. Nor is it enough, necessarily, to dampen leadership speculation, even though changes made by Kevin Rudd make it harder for the party to change leaders.
