Promise of hope quells anger and tension – for now

As a country, how did we go from contesting ideas and policy to making it personal – from playing the ball to playing the man?

Penny Wong, Labor Leader Anthony Albanese, his partner Jodie Haydon and his son Nathan Albanese celebrate victory during the Labor Party election night event at Canterbury-Hurlstone Park RSL Club on May 21, 2022 in Sydney, Australia. Labor leader Anthony Albanese has claimed victory over Liberal Prime Minister Scott Morrison to become Australia's 31st Prime Minister. (Photo by James D. Morgan/Getty Images)

Australian democracy, flawed as most democracies are, should be the envy of the world. Our elections are peaceful, as is the transition of power from incumbent to incoming.

We vote in our budgie smugglers, our beanies, our Sunday best. We have robust and passionate debates about which polling booths have the best democracy sausage on sale and whether onions belong on the top or on the bottom. For the civilised among us, the answer is, of course, onions on the top.

All of that aside, this election has been fraught in a way we’ve not seen for some years. It felt anxious. Angry.

There was an undercurrent of animosity that manifested in various troubling ways. Defaced campaign material. Vile insults. The odd conspiracy theory.

A lot has been said in an attempt to process and explain this behaviour. As a country, how did we go from robustly contesting ideas and policy to making it personal? From playing the ball to aggressively playing the man. I don’t think it happened quickly. And it wasn’t just left to right, politically speaking. For example, the Morrison government had an unlikely foe in the Australian Christian Lobby.

Personally (as a Christian), I don’t think Jesus needs a lobbyist. Reading over a media statement on the group’s website this week, it all but crowed over the demise of moderate liberals. All but taking credit for the loss of those seats, in an ignorant belief that the incoming independents will champion their causes. Apparently, the outgoing prime minister wasn’t Christian enough for some Christians.

But before those on the other side begin to gloat, a friendly reminder that Labor’s primary vote was a staggeringly low 32.8 per cent. By way of comparison, Labor’s primary vote under Rudd in 2007 was in the low 40s. Traditional Labor Party voters abandoned it. This government has no firm mandate. The administration slid into power via preferences.

A young girl watches her mother as she casts her vote at a polling booth on May 21, 2022 in Brisbane, Australia. (Photo by Dan Peled/Getty Images)

But it is here now. And it may surprise some of you to hear me say I wholeheartedly wish for a successful term for Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and his cabinet. So, my side of politics lost. That’s life. But to wish ill on the government of your own country? To speak Straylian for a moment, it’s cooked. We’ve seen the fruit of bloody-minded ideology. It’s bitter and sour.

There’s no doubt the Albanese government faces headwinds. As a mate observed dryly, the new Prime Minister stands to be on the receiving end of a conveyor belt of manure sandwiches. None of them are of his making, it must be said. Global economic forces. Inflationary pressure. Interest rates.

Yes, the Prime Minister has inherited an Australian economy that is healthier than most. It fared incredibly well during Covid by global standards, thanks to the Morrison government, but you can’t print so much money (politicians like to call it quantitative easing, I prefer a more honest descriptor), unleash so much stimulus while concurrently annihilating entire sectors of the economy like hospitality and tourism without there being a correction.

Which makes me wonder if those who have been conditioned to be financially rescued by the government for the past few years are ready to shoulder some of the inevitable cost of being weaned. Are those who enthusiastically threw out the old willing to wear some of the pain that will come with the new?

Treasurer Jim Chalmers has rightly begun to soften the electorate for a conversation about budget repair. It must happen and it will take strong leadership. Chalmers has so far refused to say when he will go to the Fair Work Commission to ask for the rise to the minimum wage that Labor campaigned on so heavily. I wonder if that’s because he knows it’s inflationary?

Albanese campaigned heavily on hope. On a better way of doing things. Of uniting the country. Almost Menzian and, for the record, hope is the best currency of all. Napoleon himself described leaders as “dealers in hope”.

The main challenge for the Prime Minister is eventually we’re going to want to cash in. The wider the gap between hope and delivery, hope and realisation, the bigger the eventual problem.

Albanese promised to fix everything. Raise productivity. Increase the minimum wage. Fix aged care with nurses who will apparently just materialise and be happy to work 24/7. The weather will be better. The world’s heaviest producers of emissions and pollutants will magically pay attention to what we say about climate change. Everyone will be kinder because (remember?) Labor cares.

On that, before Peter Dutton was even installed as Opposition Leader, Tanya Plibersek had to apologise for likening him to Voldemort, the evil villain from the Harry Potter films. She made public comments on his ability to lead based on what he looks like – the sort of stuff that would end a man’s career were he to say the same things. Looks and sounds like the same old.

Labor has promised hope, promised to fix everything. That’s fine. as long as you can deliver.