‘Grieving’ Anthony Albanese must shrug off Indigenous voice to parliament defeat, focus on economy

Anthony Albanese in question time on Tuesday. Picture: NCA NewsWire / David Beach

Anthony Albanese is showing signs of political strain after the massive defeat of the Indigenous voice to parliament referendum, marked by incongruous parliamentary responses, a failure to deal with Coalition tactics and letting opponents get under his skin.

The Prime Minister’s normal political equilibrium and usual ability to dominate the floor of parliament with irony and satire at the Coalition’s expense have visibly diminished under the pressure of the referendum defeat, the Coalition’s tactics and the emotional atmosphere after the terror attacks in Israel.

Albanese looks unsettled. His habitual mocking dismissal of Coalition and Greens MPs has faltered, his answers are jarringly uncertain and he’s falling into a trap over the future of an Indigenous truth-telling Makarrata Commission.

In light of the overwhelming rejection of his proposal for a voice to parliament, the best thing Albanese can do is accept the decision, stop talking about the failed proposal and start talking about the economy. Labor needs a new agenda beyond the politics of the voice to parliament.

Instead, Albanese is being drawn into detailed arguments about the voice, treaty and truth-telling, which threaten to extend for weeks and blot out Labor’s attempts to refocus on the economy and cutting cost-of-living pressures.

At one stage his answer to a question about misinformation swerved into an almost irrational and certainly pointless citing of anti-Semitic attacks on eight prominent Jewish Australians, whom he named, during the referendum campaign.

It was a bizarre connection made between misinformation, the voice to parliament and the terror attacks on Israel. There was clear discomfort on the Labor benches as he then said he wouldn’t give the author free publicity after reading the entire attack in parliament.

Albanese’s own explanation for holding the referendum – that he is a man of conviction and commitments – is also drawing him into a contradiction where, having given a commitment to a treaty and truth-telling commission, he can’t abandon it. At the same time he can’t hold on to it and move on from the referendum loss.

Richard Marles, as Deputy Prime Minister, in calling for the “dust to settle” looked calmer, more self-possessed and in command next to Albanese.

Even his bete noir, the pesky Greens, who sneeringly refer to him as a property investor, clearly prickle the rime ministerial pores and drive him over the top in angry responses that betray the depth of personal impact of the parliamentary questions.

Albanese is in shock and grief after the referendum loss and embroiled in a highly emotive management of public and political responses to the deaths in Israel, but he needs to get back on track or risk making the damage he’s already suffered worse.