Scott Morrison plays inept Anthony Albanese off a break

Leader of the Opposition Anthony Albanese. Picture: NCA NewsWire / James Gourley

Anthony Albanese’s political and tactical judgment is being seriously questioned by some senior colleagues after what can only be described as a parliamentary stunt gone disastrously wrong.

Not only did the Opposition Leader provide Scott Morrison with a thundering platform from which to declare his solidarity with long-suffering Victorians, Albanese put the loyalty of his own MPs, namely those from suburban Melbourne, to the test.

Perhaps worst of all, he exposed himself to accusations that the welfare of Victorians may have been a lesser genuine concern for federal Labor than its failed quest to try to politically embarrass the Prime Minister and Josh Frydenberg.

You’d be hard-pressed to find a Labor MP able to sufficiently explain the tactical basis for what occurred at the start of question time in Canberra on Tuesday.

An opposition seeking to move a motion that effectively suspends most of question Time is highly unusual. Having the government agree to it is even more unusual.

But when Albanese rose to move a motion expressing support and praise for the people of Victoria for making it through the worst of the lockdowns, Morrison called the bluff and quickly obliged.

And why wouldn’t he?

Albanese spoke for only seven minutes of his allotted time of 15. The second nominated Labor speaker to the motion, deputy leader Richard Marles, spoke for barely five of his 10. It begs the question as to whether they had anticipated being on their feet at all. The suspicion is they hadn’t.

While there may have been sincerity in Albanese’s short statement, the tactical play that preceded it appeared to be lacking any.

Albanese’s snub of Morrison’s offer to allow all Labor’s Victorian MPs to speak to the motion raised further doubts about the motivation that inspired it all.

It had the added effect of sending a shockwave through Albanese’s Victorian ranks.

Having a Sydney-centric leader refusing his own suburban Melbourne MPs the chance to speak to the lockdowns that they had all endured didn’t go down well.

Even Marles, who is from ­regional Victoria, appeared sheepish.

He could only say he had been “speaking with colleagues” living under stage-four lockdowns as he had not been suffering them ­himself.

This was in stark contrast to Morrison, and the Treasurer — who does live in suburban Melbourne — who both made the most of the opportunity.

Frydenberg claimed vindication for his impassioned condemnations of Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews and the economic and social impacts of the lockdowns.

Morrison used the platform to prosecute the case, ahead of the Queensland election this weekend, that border closures and lockdowns were hallmarks of failures to control outbreaks rather than measures of success in containing them.

They ensured that the only voices anyone heard for the rest of the day were theirs.

Albanese was left presiding over an apparent charade that only left him wounded.