Coronavirus politics kicks off: Labor stakes out its own ground

Labor has decided to oppose Scott Morrison’s strategic approach to the COVID-19 crisis on both health and economic fronts, while delivering scathing personal criticism of the Prime Minister.

Only 48 hours after providing parliamentary bipartisanship to deliver the Coalition’s $60bn stimulus package and guarantee financial supply, Labor is moving politically to sharply differentiate itself from the government.

The politics has begun.

Labor is now adopting sharply contrasting positions to the government’s approach on trying to limit the spread of the virus, having fundamentally taken aim at the overarching economic stimulus, decried the attempts to protect jobs and attacked Morrison’s motives, credibility and ability to manage the crisis.

Just as the Coalition did during the Rudd government’s response to the global financial crisis, the Labor opposition is now setting out an alternative agenda to manage the pandemic that it argues would be more successful.

Anthony Albanese is also pursuing his aim of damaging Morrison personally as a leader and creating an impression of government blunders, confusion, mixed messages, political motivation, tardiness and indecision.

The Opposition Leader, Chris Bowen and Tony Burke launched a broadside at Morrison on Wednesday in Sydney, marking the beginning of a political war that will go until the next election.

The danger in this approach is that the politics will compound the public anxiety, uncertainty and confusion as the opposition appeals to demands from all sorts of groups to the government to change course before the race has even begun.

Albanese dismissed Morrison’s central tenet that there is a twin crisis — one health and one economic — arguing that it is a “false distinction” and said: “Let’s be very clear, the government has a responsibility to deal with this health emergency. That is the first priority. Then it needs to deal with the economic consequences of the health emergency and the appropriate response. It needs to be done in that order.”

Albanese said he supported “stricter shutdowns” and “clearer messages” with strict timetables, while accusing Morrison of being confused because of different decisions on school closures.

After denigrating the national cabinet’s formation, then seeking to be included in the leadership group, the Opposition Leader is now seeking to exploit the inherent differences between state jurisdictions as premiers make different judgments.

Albanese is questioning Morrison’s strategy on limiting the virus through “proportionate responses” and demanding that new measures be introduced to provide more support for workers — such as wage subsidies. He also accuses Morrison of “hectoring and blaming people” while being responsible for state government decisions. Morrison’s position is that a go-hard-and-early shutdown to close off the virus spread isn’t the advice he’s receiving medically, and providing a safety net for businesses and employees through existing structures is better than dangerously creating a new system in a blind rush.

There is no doubt that the medical advice Morrison and all the state leaders are receiving is that a scalable defence against the virus is best.

Deputy Chief Medical Officer Paul Kelly declared on Wednesday in relation to school closures: “We’ve heard a number of competing voices over the last 24 hours or so. I think that it needs to be very much clarified. All … expertise, and that includes the Victorian Chief Health Officer on the AHPPC (Australian Health Protection Principal Committee), agree on what has to be done to defeat this virus.

“There is no dispute amongst experts or the states and territories or the federal government about those measures.’’