Labor’s mission is to govern – and govern for the long term. This was Anthony Albanese’s message to the first ALP national conference since winning the election.
Albanese wants the party thinking “over the next decade”. Once the rabble-raising warrior, Albanese tells the party its mission is not to protest, not to indulge in “grand gestures”, but to assume a governing mentality.
“We are in this for the long haul, the long term,” he told delegates.
As PM, he wants a party disciplined, managed and educated by the reality of power. Albanese’s strategic essence is that Labor only changes Australia in the 21st century by entrenching itself in high office.
He didn’t spell it out but his entire government is consumed by this ethos – no brief reformist rush like Gough Whitlam, no internal convulsion like Rudd/Gillard, no Labor reforms only to be reversed by the next Liberal government.
Albanese is no orator. He can’t uplift or inspire. He has difficulty getting the true believers fired up. If the opening morning is any guide, this looms as the flattest ever national conference.
Fidelity was at the heart of the leader’s speech. Albanese wants the party to respect the government and pledges, in turn, the government will be faithful to the party. His past stature as a Left ideologue helps this story, but he speaks as a party leader who has delivered on much of the election mandate he won.
Albanese radiates conviction but tells the party he governs for the entire country. He hammered the cultural stamp of this government – delivering on the economy, national security, climate change and compassion. But he tells the party nothing about the ugly policy shocks coming down the track in the world of polycrisis that Labor faces.
Coalition dreams that Labor will revert to its old, bad habits and crack under pressure misjudge the government’s character. But the conduct of this conference will test whether the delegates have heard the leader and endorse his message.
Speaking after Albanese, Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles reinforced the message. He told delegates the purpose of the conference was “to lay the foundation for a long-term Albanese Labor government”. Marles said from the creation of the Labor Party in the 1890s, Labor had never been a debating club; it knew genuine change came from being in office. Expect to hear more of this. The Greens are dismissed as the party of blockers, not builders. As for the Liberals, Albanese devoted a major section of his speech to denouncing the Liberals for their “wasted decade”, Robodebt, hollowing out manufacturing, opposing renewables and trashing the public service.
At the election, Labor’s negative campaign against the Coalition will be savage and based on memories.
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