Anthony Albanese is on record as saying his political raison d’etre is “fighting Tories”, but it’s a solid bet his loathing of the Greens is what gets him out of bed every morning.
The election result cast Albo as the Grim Reaper, scythe in hand, pointing a skeletal index finger at his political opponents.
The leader of the opposition, the manager of opposition business, the shadow spokesman for communications – all felt his icy breath on May 3. But it was La Muerte’s surprise knock on the door at Greens leader Adam Bandt’s seat in Melbourne that might have given the Prime Minister the greatest satisfaction.
If I may be permitted to switch metaphors mid-stream, Bandt’s termination was more Albo as Michael Corleone in the penultimate scene of The Godfather, with Bandt in the role of his brother-in-law, Carlo. Everyone has gone, he explains. Today Albo settles all Labor business.
Post-election, the Greens have largely been left alone to their pain. Truth be told, there’s not much left of them. They have one solitary seat in the lower house and now one fewer in the Senate than they had last week.
Fresh from a sledge where she claimed Environment Minister Murray Watt’s announcement to extend the life of North West Gas Project was proof the Albanese government was “held to ransom by the coal and gas industries”, WA Greens senator Dorinda Cox will now be shrouded in Labor red. Her “if you can’t lick ’em, join ’em” decision to abandon the Greens leaves them with an empty chair on the Senate crossbenches. Miffed at being overlooked for a leadership position with the Greens, Cox, an Indigenous woman, seems blissfully unaware that if she did the opposite and went from the Labor caucus to the Greens goji acai tearoom, she would be described at this very moment and for some considerable time thereafter as a common or household rodent by her former colleagues. Just ask Fatima Payman.
Perhaps Albo is becoming more ecumenical with age. He has thrown his arms around the senator and embraced her into the fold.
Commentators elsewhere have mused that Cox enters the Labor caucus with more than the permissible limit for carry-on baggage. There are angry ex-Greens staff members who have complained of bullying in her office. One came forward on Wednesday to express shock that the Prime Minister had declared the bullying allegations “dealt with”.
Cox has been highly critical of Labor’s Indigenous policy in the past and we can expect a deep trawl through her public statements in the coming days. In outstanding business from the previous parliament, Cox has presented a private member’s bill for the establishment of a truth and reconciliation commission. We can safely expect that bill will never see the light of day.
More likely the defection is, as the sports commentators like to say when a squad is bursting with fit players, many of whom can’t get a run, a good problem to have. Her jump to the centre-left is more probably a case of caveat emptor than buyer’s remorse but the prospect of getting one over the Greens was too delicious for Albo to ignore.
Now it is the Greens’ turn to feel betrayed. Macrame cardigans are speckling with outraged spittle as we speak, amid public statements of disappointment.
Already there has been a leak where Cox texted a former Greens colleague with a remark about senator Pauline Hanson that was grossly offensive. Expect more dirt to be dug up and hurled about. This is what it sounds like when doves cry.
Let’s not forget Grayndler, the once working-class stomping ground of grand Labor wit Fred Daly, has become so gentrified in the past two decades there are more electric car charging stations than trees.
Challenge after challenge has come from the Greens. Albanese was said to be at his most vulnerable in 2013 but he has now held the inner-west seat for 29 years, only rarely being required to go to preferences. He always has seen the Greens as the enemy.
The Prime Minister is putting the Greens to the test. There is profound bitterness in Labor ranks about the minor party’s conduct in the 47th parliament: the housing bill that waited a year to be passed while the Greens played wretched politics, the blind fixation on Gaza, and a my way or the highway attitude to negotiations in general. This is not the party of Bob Brown any more and voters are on to them.
On Monday, the Prime Minister sunk the slipper again.
“We know that the Greens have lost their way,” he said. “That’s one of the reasons why they lost three of their four seats in the House of Representatives and the domination of issues that certainly aren’t environmental have been their concerns. I think having to sit in the Senate while the Greens blocked funding for public housing would grate against anyone who regards themselves as progressive.”
Meanwhile, he has left the door open to the Coalition to negotiate the passage of legislation associated with the superannuation tax hikes for superannuants holding balances of $3m or more.
This may lead to a more inclusive parliament. Labor and the Coalition work together more often than either party is given credit for. If Albo extends a hand across to the opposition benches, the Coalition can decide to be part of the process or slap his hand away. Divide and conquer, either way.
To prove that point, Greens leader Larissa Waters and LNP senator Matt Canavan had a frank exchange of views on the Nine Network’s Today show on Tuesday morning.
Waters made noises in support of the new tax. Canavan, on the other hand, said his party would “fight to the death” to stop it.
Be careful what you wish for, Senator, with Albanese around.
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