PM has learned nothing from voice failure

Anthony Albanese during Question Time.

Anthony Albanese has learned nothing from the catastrophic defeat of the referendum on the Indigenous voice to parliament, absolutely nothing.

The voice referendum failed because the Prime Minister put his faith in “the vibe”, refused to give the public facts and details, dismissed critics as “chicken littles”, and bluffed and blustered his way to blaming everyone else about any failure.

But six weeks after acknowledging he had to take responsibility for the failure of the referendum he’s still adopting the same political and parliamentary tactics and mistakes to critical issues ranging from Chinese President Xi Jinping, illegal boat arrivals and the cost of household power.

Ironically, when he was in San Francisco for a weekend at the APEC meeting Albanese gave more press conferences there than when he was back in Australia for a full week, and continued the evasion in parliamentary question time on Monday.

Monday was the first sitting day of the last parliamentary session for 2023 and yet there were no answers to any real questions as the PM and his ministers sought to duck and weave while blaming Peter Dutton for everything that has gone wrong since he came into parliament.

Albanese continued the confected argument that he doesn’t talk about conversations with world leaders unless it is a formal bilateral meeting as he continues to refuse to say whether he raised the issue of Chinese navy injuries to Australian naval divers directly with Xi.

Declaring that he wouldn’t be “taking lectures” from the Opposition Leader, Albanese told parliament he was refusing to say what he raised with Xi at APEC because that “ensures you are engaged” on foreign policy.

Dutton’s history as defence minister, health minister and immigration minister were all used to accuse him of being negative and against the interests of working Australians – rather than answer a question directly there was evasion on a Treaty with First Nations, the cost of renewable energy and even a refusal to rule out a new tax on the family home.

Disdain and dismissal didn’t work when people wanted details about how an Indigenous voice to parliament would work, and it won’t work on immigration control, national security and the burgeoning cost of renewable energy as power prices rise.

Albanese and Labor are in trouble and have suffered a great loss from the defeat of the referendum, but there’s no sign of any self-awareness or increase in political acuity.