A Labour MP I have known for years and who has seen it all was reflecting on a growing frustration that permeates the entire Labour bloc: the concern that Team White is increasingly a closed space run by an inner sanctum that pushes others to the margins.
The MP suggested that the only opinions that matter to Albo among his parliamentary colleagues are those that Senators Penny Wong and Katy Gallagher have to say.
The disgruntled lawmaker referred to the triumvirate as “the Three Amigos,” a reference to the 1986 comedy starring Chevy Chase, Martin Short and Steve Martin.
It is a modern version of the so-called “Gang of Four” that Kevin Rudd assembled as his kitchen cabinet during his first term in office. That group included Rudd, Deputy Prime Minister Julia Gillard, Treasurer Wayne Swan and Finance Minister Lindsay Tanner.
Albo’s cabinet – the three friends – is even smaller. Treasurer Jim Chalmers is not part of it, nor is Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles. “It is a club of friendship and factions,” says the MP.
They point out that unlike other kitchen cabinets that are inevitably formed to minimise the sometimes cumbersome approach of traditional cabinet government, Albo’s triumvirate is made up of members of the left-wing faction and have been friends for many years.
Wong and Albo have a particularly close relationship. Albanese persuaded her not to stand down after the 2019 election defeat, and Wong was the only Labor MP to be at Albo’s home on election night while the results were being known.
He asked her to accompany him to the podium when they arrived to be declared winners. The couple raised their fists in the air, holding hands, on stage.
Gallagher’s ability to avoid joining those two and becoming a case of three is a multitude, and that is due to her important role as finance minister. More than the Treasurer – who does most of the public-facing work in selling the government’s economic agenda – the finance minister is the gatekeeper of public spending.
Albo’s alliance with Gallagher means it’s easier to keep Chalmers out of the inner sanctum, especially considering Chalmers and Gallagher are close friends.
There aren’t many Labour MPs Chalmers would risk supporting, but Gallagher is one of them. When she was caught up in the whole “mean girl” treatment meted out to the late Labour senator Kimberley Kitching, Chalmers was one of Gallagher’s biggest supporters.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese (pictured) is failing to deliver on his promise to run a cabinet-style government, only listening to his inner sanctum.
Of all the ministers close to Albo, Penny Wong is the one who has a particularly close relationship with the Prime Minister. Above, the couple celebrate the Labour Party’s election victory in 2022
Marles has no chance of being a member of the inner sanctum despite being deputy prime minister, because Wong, as foreign minister, has the full spectrum of international portfolios covered. Marles is the Labor Party’s defence minister. He also belongs to the wrong faction: the Victorian right.
It’s a small inner circle, but between them Albo, Wong and Gallagher cover all the bases: Albo is a former House leader, so he’s comfortable dealing directly with Tony Burke on the management of the lower chamber.
Wong is in charge of the Cabinet’s powerful security committee and Gallagher is in charge of the expenses review committee. Between them, Wong and Gallagher brief the Prime Minister on Senate negotiations.
“This is as far as cabinet government goes,” says the disgruntled Labour MP, pointing out that much of what goes to cabinet is treated as “tick-tock and tick-tock”. Dissent in the chamber is actively discouraged.
This is despite Albanese regularly claiming to be running a traditional cabinet-style government similar to that of Bob Hawke.
Government MPs often become increasingly frustrated when they feel excluded from decision-making processes, especially when the government of the day is not doing well, as is the case with the Labour Party at the moment.
Recent polls suggest that the White Team is right, despite still being a first-term government.
But the real concern beginning to emerge among some Labour MPs is the sense that the inner sanctum of this government is out of touch with voters in the seats that matter.
Penny Wong (pictured) is a trusted ally of Albo, part of his three friends, according to a Labour MP
Finance Minister Katy Gallagher (pictured) has the confidence of the Prime Minister, more so than her high-profile colleague, Treasurer Jim Chalmers.
That is, constituents from marginal districts in the outer metropolitan areas. The Three Amigos are removed from those voters.
Albo represents an inner-city electorate and now lives at The Lodge in Canberra.
Wong is a Senator for Adelaide. Gallagher is also a Senator and represents the ACT.
They are all leftists who have long defined themselves by the social causes they defend.
The triumvirate is as far removed from the issues affecting working-class districts on the outskirts of the metro as any within the Labour cause.
“Yet they are the ones who make all the decisions,” laments the Labour MP.