It is time to look beyond the family feud and focus on what binds us

The Coalition has now hit the punchline in the old Irish joke where a local is asked by a stranger how to get to Dublin.

“Well, I wouldn’t start from here,” comes the answer.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Treasurer Josh Frydenberg. Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

With the budget delivered the federal election must be called within a fortnight and, at the latest, it will be run and done within 52 days.

Time is rapidly running out for a government trailing badly in the polls and the task Scott Morrison faces is neatly summed in a mnemonic sequence recited by a shadow minister: one, five, seven. Lose one seat to Labor and the Coalition falls into minority, lose five and Labor wins the parliamentary bargain for power, lose seven and Labor governs in majority.

Morrison is tempting the fates in his quest for a second miracle victory. His last best hopes are that the budget is well received and that his mistake-prone Coalition runs a flawless, highly targeted marginal seat campaign. It will have to battle on two fronts, against Labor, the Greens and independents on the left and One Nation and the billionaire-bankrolled United Australia eroding its primary vote on the right.

So, Anthony Albanese seems well-placed to win but, as ever, nothing is settled until it is done.

All elections matter but this one comes at a historic inflection point. Australia faces a world that is far more dangerous and unpredictable than at any time since the Second World War. We must be prepared for a fight between autocrats and democracies that might run decades and see the world again divide into spheres of influence. That preparation must include taking all necessary steps to stop China from building a military base in the South Pacific.

Such a consequential time demands an election that paints big pictures and debates the different paths we might follow to hold our freedom.

But what is on offer?

Listen to the major parties’ key messages and the looming contest appears to be a choice between a pathological liar and a gutless fraud. There are policies, of course, but the central battle is over the character of the leaders, or rather, their lack of it.

Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese addresses the Labor caucus on the morning of the budget. Credit: James Brickwood

Labor says Morrison stands for nothing, goes missing in a crisis and then blame shifts. The Coalition argues Anthony Albanese is an extremist disguised in a beige suit. Neither caricature fits the man, but public life has become the art of character assassination. Maybe it always was but social media makes a cacophony of it.

These thoughts swirled in the golden light that filled St Patrick’s Cathedral in Melbourne on the afternoon I attended the funeral of a friend: Kimberley Kitching.

She was, like all of us, imperfect. She could be as tough as anyone who seeks advantage in politics. But she was a whip-smart patriot, and the big questions were what animated her. She forged many unlikely alliances and her friends were out in force to see her off.

As the church emptied to follow her coffin to the street, to the strains of the triumphant How Great Thou Art, there trudged a parade of the walking wounded of Australian politics. There was the MP tormented out of politics and another who had faced a dark, lonely fight in the pitiless spotlight of scandal. There was the Labor “family” as battered and dysfunctional as any reality TV sideshow.

But near the altar burned the Paschal candle to remind that hope shines even in darkest places. I had caught a glimmer of it just a few days before in South Australia, as new Labor leader emerged who seemed to understand that the times demand better politics.

As Peter Malinauskas stood before adoring true believers in an Adelaide Oval function room, he began his victory speech working against the instincts of the mob by thanking the Liberals.

“The Liberal Party of Australia is an essential component of our federation, it’s an essential component of our democratic process. I take this opportunity to acknowledge that the Liberal Party are not our enemies, they may be our adversary, but they are not our enemy.”

I hope the Premier rises to these high words because he will find taking the low road is much easier. I trust he means it because his example can deliver a message the nation needs to hear. Because neither is Labor the Coalition’s enemy.

It is time to look beyond the family feud and focus on what binds us. Time to stop nitpicking every flaw in our democracy and rediscover the big things which make what we have infinitely better than any alternative. The people of Ukraine are fighting and dying because they don’t want the future a despot has mapped for them. That’s a powerful cause. It is ours too.