Tom Minear: Albo’s tax lie shows we are one-eyed, not clear-eyed

All politicians struggle to tell the truth. But if we expect that to change, Tom Minear argues we must take it seriously when a leader breaks a promise.

If you wanted to develop a political Rorschach test, to identify the breadth and depth of our innate biases, you couldn’t do much better than Anthony Albanese’s decision to break his promise on delivering the stage three tax cuts.

If you love Albo, you don’t care that he changed his mind – in fact, you think it’s the right thing to do, a view undoubtedly helped by the fact that you get some extra cash.

If you hate Albo, you’re furious that he lied his way to The Lodge, and you’ll remain angry even as you probably also keep more of your wage from July 1.

Judging by the intensity of both views, I suspect that if Scott Morrison made the same call, the people in each camp would swap places. That is the beauty of this test – and the problem with the state of our politics.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese outlining his new tax cuts plan at the National Press Club last week. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Martin Ollman

I would like to think that, at least in a vacuum, all Australians could agree that it means something for politicians to keep their word. But the ease with which Albanese’s supporters have breezed past the significance of his broken promise suggests otherwise.

Certainly, there is a popular view that all politicians struggle to tell the truth. If we expect that to change, however, then we must take it seriously when a leader lies – even if and especially when it’s a leader we like.

That’s not to say Albanese must be voted out for abandoning his commitment. Voters will make up their own minds about the merits of his choice.

It is simply an argument for us to genuinely value honesty in politics, because the more we refuse, the more we normalise the alternative. And none of us will like the outcome.

Living in the US, one of the things I miss about Australia is our relative lack of political polarisation. I recently came across a stunning statistic to explain the divide here: only about four per cent of all marriages today are between a Republican and a Democrat.

I don’t think most Australians are so wedded – pardon the pun – to living in a world where they are not challenged by differing views. That said, amid the fallout to Albanese’s broken promise, it seems many would rather be one-eyed rather than clear-eyed about politics.

Many Americans no longer seem to value the truth. Let’s not go down that road too.

Originally published as Tom Minear: Albo’s tax lie shows we are one-eyed, not clear-eyed