What’s the point of this spectator Prime Minister?
Anthony Albanese is a diminished Prime Minister, ever keen to excuse himself to the sidelines and shirk responsibilities he had pledged to shoulder.
Anthony Albanese is shrinking before our eyes, like an empty Twisties packet on a heater. Failing by his own criteria, running from his responsibilities, he is a diminished Prime Minister unable or unwilling to exert whatever authority he can muster.
Albanese is fond of saying that he has been underestimated all his life, strangely proud of his inability to impress.
Yet, going by the way he is ducking issues and hiding from decisions, the Prime Minister must have seen the sense of these assessments because even he does not trust himself to do his job.
His shirking reached what must be close to its nadir early this week on the second anniversary of his election win, when he refused to offer a view, any comment, on the International Criminal Court prosecutor’s push to arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over alleged war crimes.
“Well,” Albanese said, “I don’t comment on court processes in Australia, let alone court processes globally, that which Australia is not a party.”
This was not a legitimate reason to remain mute, of course, but rather a spineless ruse to avoid the issue. Albanese contradicted his own lame excuse with the very next issue raised at the media conference when he offered a firm position about the overseas court case involving Julian Assange.
It is in moments such as these that leaders melt away before our eyes like a Paddle Pop on a hot footpath. Think about how quickly the public and the caucus fell away from Kevin Rudd after he gave up on his emissions trading scheme that was supposed to tackle the “greatest scientific, economic and moral” challenge of our time.
Albanese has not surrendered on anything so central yet, but he is embarrassingly uncertain on any number of topics, seemingly tentative about anything that has not been workshopped and choreographed by an ALP advance team. Here is the leader of our nation refusing to shape events or exert authority; here is the leader of our nation subbing himself out.
Earlier this month, the Prime Minister used the court proceedings ruse to duck accountability over how his government had presided over the immigration detention debacle that left Perth cancer patient Ninette Simons severely bashed, allegedly at the hands of a criminal non-citizen freed from detention and bailed without federal government opposition. “It’s inappropriate to comment further given it’s in the middle of, uh, the investigation by WA police,” Albanese said. “Of course, uh, state bail schemes are run by the states by definition.” This was disingenuous. He could have spoken in detail about the allegations, the concerns, the way this detainee had been freed – all he had to avoid was presuming guilt.
On the same topic, Albanese also distanced his government from the responsibility of monitoring freed detainees. “The community protection board is of course a board that is independent of politicians,” he defended.
Despite hammering the Coalition over an interest rate rise in the lead-up to the 2022 federal election, Albanese has handpassed responsibility for the dozen hikes that have followed on his watch: “The Reserve Bank of Australia is an independent body and the government doesn’t direct them on what to do.”
What about the GST allocation argy-bargy between the states and Canberra? Apparently, the premiers are barking up the wrong tree because Albanese says: “The Commonwealth Grants Commission operates at arm’s length from government, it’s not something my government has direct in involvement in.”
What is the point of this Prime Minister? He seems to be more spectator than player. Yet he must know better. Shouldering responsibility was a central promise of his election campaign, on the back of savage criticism directed at Scott Morrison.
At the Sky News leaders debate of April 2022 Albanese declared, “If I’m prime minister, I’ll accept responsibility each and every day, I’ll work hard and I’ll accept responsibility, not always seek to blame someone else.” This pledge flowed from his critique of Morrison – “a prime minister who never takes responsibility and only ever looks to blame others”.
Pot meet kettle. Albanese has blamed his failure to control electricity price rises on the Ukraine war, even though it had begun before he made the promise to cut bills by $275 a year.
The Prime Minister has even distanced himself from the voice referendum that he claimed triumphantly as a historic Labor reform on election night in 2022. By last year he was saying, “This is not my proposal, it’s the Australian people’s proposal.”
When asylum-seeker boats began arriving for the first time in years and making it to the mainland for the first time in a decade, Albanese’s denial and desperation got the better of him. “I’ve been travelling in the car, ah, so I’m not, I haven’t, ah, been advised about that,” said the leader of our nation, refusing to offer a view on breaches of national border security.
What is the point of spending a lifetime in the labyrinthian world of ALP factional politics to get to the prime ministership if all you do is run for cover when you are there? “I won’t blame someone else, I’ll accept responsibility,” Albanese said during the 2022 election campaign, “that’s what leaders do.”
Albanese’s failure to live up to his own accountability test means he is hoist with his own petard. Not that the public wouldn’t be on to all this regardless; voters spot leadership, or the lack of it, at 20 paces.
We know these are turbulent times, rife with risk: China’s belligerence combines with Russia’s expansionism and the Middle East tinderbox to create enormous strategic uncertainty; post-pandemic debt and inflation generate global economic threats; and our self-induced domestic energy crisis undercuts the natural advantage that built our modern prosperity. This is not the time for equivocation and self-doubt.
Either Albanese has no core political values, is confused about them, or knows that if he is true to them voters will reject them. We are left with a listless government and a Prime Minister ever keen to excuse himself to the sidelines.
Labor has long criticised Peter Dutton for being too tough, which has turned into a bit of an own goal because the times might suit him. The contrast with Albanese is flattering on issues such as standing up to Hamas, confronting anti-Semitism, defying Beijing’s bullying, protecting our borders and keeping the community safe from criminal non-citizens.
Besides, Dutton simply does not leave voters wondering where he stands. He has the courage of his convictions.
Albanese, on the other hand, has turned himself into a political Rorschach test. He hopes everyone will see what they want but many will see what they fear.
In a transactional sense, the Prime Minister will have some idea of what he is doing: sacrificing Australia’s support for Israel to bolster the Muslim vote in crucial seats; or avoiding tough decisions on border protection to appease the Socialist Left and the Greens. This stuff is reprehensible – sacrificing the national interest in favour of sectional interests – but at least it can be rationalised.
There are other areas of ambivalence from Albanese that are not so easily explained. Which means we must consider that he might be a hollow man, devoid of the character, values or intellect required to make big calls on behalf of the nation.
Albanese had a terrible day on Tuesday hiding from commentary on the ICC issue, then avoided all media and public events on Wednesday, before popping up for an unavoidable media conference on Thursday afternoon when he attempted to reassert himself and repair his ICC mess.
“I got asked a question yesterday, I didn’t get asked, I got asked an obtuse question, ah, yesterday or the day before,” the Prime Minister began, “and today I make this point, that there is no, cos I assume you’re referring to the ICC, which actually was signed up to of course, ah, not by my government but by the Howard government when Alexander Downer was the foreign minister, so it’s up to them I think to explain those decisions at that time.”
Oh dear. He is lucky most voters did not see this. It was like a Paddle Pop meeting a Gold Coast footpath in summer.
More Coverage
Trump ally issues pointed warning over Rudd’s future
A member of Donald Trump’s inner circle has signalled Kevin Rudd’s days as Australia’s US Ambassador could be numbered.
MAGA’s doomsday haters need to get a grip
To help Terrified Progressive Adults get through January, when Trump’s inauguration may trigger further trauma, may I suggest purchasing a small sign that says: ‘Dry your eyes, Princess’.