Anthony Albanese on track to emulate era of Kevin Rudd and Julia Gillard for reviews and inquiries

Anthony Albanese is on track to emulate the Rudd-Gillard era, with his government commissioning at least 140 reviews, consultation papers, roundtables, summits and inquiries.

Anthony Albanese’s government has ordered at least 47 reviews, 38 consultation papers, accords and strategies, two summits, the Robodebt royal commission, 51 ministerial roundtables and an inquiry into Scott Morrison’s multiple ministries. Picture: Gaye Gerard

Anthony Albanese is on track to emulate the Rudd-Gillard era of reviews and audits, with his government commissioning at least 140 reviews, consultation papers, roundtables, summits and inquiries in less than 10 months.

New analysis by The Australian reveals that since last year’s federal election, the government has ordered at least 47 reviews, 38 consultation papers, accords and strategies, two summits, the Robodebt royal commission, 51 ministerial roundtables and an inquiry into Scott Morrison’s multiple ministries.

Peter Dutton. Picture: Nikki Short

The scale of reviews, defended by the government as necessary to make a “thorough assess­ment of the mess we inherited”, compares with about 490 ­reviews, audits, inquiries, discussion papers and taskforces put in place under former Labor prime ministers Kevin Rudd and Julia Gillard.

Similar analysis in 2019, which included parliamentary inquiries, joint reviews with other jurisdictions and internal party probes, showed the Morrison government had commissioned and endorsed 72 reviews over 12 months.

At the time, Mr Albanese said Mr Morrison was running a “do-nothing government with no plan for Australia”.

“Whenever Scott Morrison encounters a problem, he gives it the mirror treatment – he looks into it rather than taking genuine ­action,” Mr Albanese said in October 2019.

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton on Monday said Labor’s current tally, which does not ­include the growing list of parliamentary committees reviewing the Prime Minister’s legislative agenda, was evidence of a government “that has hit the ground reviewing”.

“Instead of more reviews and inquiries, the Australian people want action,” Mr Dutton told The Australian.

 

“Anthony Albanese had big promises: cheaper electricity, cheaper groceries, cheaper mortgages. Instead of delivering these core promises he’s delivered a record number of reviews and inquiries – something he ­explicitly criticised previous governments for doing.

“Australian families are doing it tough. They want action on power prices and action to deal with inflation and the cost of living crisis.

“Instead, the Albanese government has delivered well over a hundred reviews, roundtables, and inquiries – some of which have laid the groundwork for broken promises.”

A government spokeswoman said: “We make no apologies for being a responsible ­government and conducting a thorough assessment of the mess we inherited.

“We’re working hard to be straight with the Australian people who were let down by the previous government’s cover-ups and neglect.

“After reviewing the Liberal Party’s six years of failures, Scott Morrison then dedicated his government to hiding the problems he uncovered and doing nothing to deliver a better future for Australians.

“The more the Albanese government looks at the past 10 years of the Liberal Party’s failure, inaction and delay, the more we gain a fuller understanding of the challenge in front of us.

“We only need to look into the past week to see the latest Liberal Party mess in the Agriculture Department and the latest revelations at the Robodebt royal commission.”

Mr Dutton said the Albanese government’s “so-called ‘consultation’ stunts like the stage-managed union ­summit and the ‘conversation’ they started on superannuation have only led to broken promises like multi-­employer bargaining and higher superannuation taxes”.

“This is a government ­without an economic plan and without a plan to address the cost-of-living crisis facing Australian families and businesses,” the Opposition Leader said.

The federal government has completed its Defence ­strategic review, which is due to be ­released next month, ­and an ­independent review of the carbon ­market.

It has also uncovered major cost blowouts across defence contracts and the Snowy 2.0 project.

Senior Labor sources said their reviews were “faster and more targeted” than the Morrison government’s reviews, and had revealed structural spending problems in key government programs set up over three terms of Coalition rule.

Ahead of the May 9 budget, the government is preparing to release the findings of several high-profile reviews, including the Reserve Bank of Australia and Defence strategic reviews.

While Mr Morrison was known for referring contentious issues to departments, bureaucrats and agencies for review, the Albanese government’s review agenda is largely linked to major policy reforms promised before last year’s federal election.