I’m going to say it straight and without sugarcoating it: Australia is in a terrible situation right now.
The Labour government has, in a relatively short space of time, proven to be utterly useless.
Anthony Albanese is an unworthy Prime Minister, and I say this as someone who had high hopes for the job he could do.
We find ourselves in this situation during brutal economic times when good governance is essential to minimize the pain.
But the Labour Party does not take advice from people outside its inner circle, blinded by a combination of ignorance and ideological barriers.
The result is that it represents little and pleases few, as it tries to escape problems rather than govern effectively.
We’ll go over all the depressing reasons why this government is so bad shortly, but if that was the only problem facing Australia, we wouldn’t have much to worry about.
That’s because there’s a federal election just around the corner. An opportunity to oust this hopeless government.
The problem is that I am not sure the Coalition is prepared to return to government so soon after the defeat of the Morrison administration.
Anthony Albanese is an unworthy prime minister, writes political editor Peter van Onselen
If Labour were a minimally good government, they would not stop to consider changing teams at the next election.
This is due to the track record of Morrison’s do-nothing (often offensive) coalition team that was in charge from 2013 to 2022, and the lack of depth in the current opposition.
The bad news for Australia doesn’t end there, it just gets worse. With polls showing the major parties tied and with so many third parties already in the House of Representatives, there’s a good chance that independents will control the balance of power and decide which major party will form government after the next election.
Dictate the terms to the majority party in power after that.
Under normal circumstances, this might be a consolation, given the current sorry state of the main parties, but it is not at all.
That’s because the independent group most likely to dictate the terms after the next election is the Greens, who have some crazy policies on their legislative agenda.
Voters may not care about all of Labor’s problems or the Greens, and return to the Coalition after just one term despite the Morrison government’s failures.
If that happens, it would be the first time a one-term government has lost since 1931, so such an outcome remains unlikely.
This means that the most realistic scenario is for Labour to return to power, either with a slim majority of its own or as a minority government beholden to the Greens.
The thought is not even worth thinking about.
Which brings us back to why this government has been so bad so soon after coming to power. Here we go…
But it is unclear whether Peter Dutton’s opposition is prepared to return to government so soon after the defeat of the Morrison administration.
Albanese is a weak leader. His cabinet is not delivering. His best ministers, such as Ed Husic and Madeleine King, are sidelined from important decision-making moments.
The kitchen cabinet of Albo, Penny Wong and Katy Gallagher is a left-wing faction with no understanding of mainstream Australia at all.
Treasurer Jim Chalmers is completely out of touch. The government is even at war with the Reserve Bank, turning the wheels of the economy in a different direction than the central bank wants.
The Labor Party’s policies on The Voice, Gaza refugees and trade union empowerment are causing incalculable damage to Australia’s social fabric.
His refusal to adopt tax reform to modernize the economy is stifling productivity and neglecting the need to improve distribution lines. State governments, in general, are faltering.
Spending (at the state and federal level) is growing out of control at the same time that the mining boom appears to be slowing down.
The Labour Party does not listen to the concerns of business and simply does not consult when it makes bad public policy decisions that affect workers and businesses.
The default position of this Labour government is to put more emphasis on content.
Albanese is not a detail-oriented person, never has been. He only held one portfolio before becoming prime minister, meaning his ministerial understanding of governance is very limited.
The Treasurer, Deputy Treasurer and Finance Minister do not have a single economic qualification between them, just at a time when economic management is of the utmost importance.
Then there are the failures on immigration. The issue led to two ministers who had failed in their duties (Andrew Giles and Clare O’Neil) being sacked from their portfolios and then moved to roles requiring better management.
Clare O’Neil was not performing well enough: what will happen? She is now in charge of an even more vital political matter
Giles is now in charge of skills and training, while O’Neil is in charge of housing. What to do about housing is a key political question, but the prime minister has given the job to one of his worst-performing ministers, and she is already making mistakes.
Whether you’re a pensioner hit by unannounced superannuation changes at the election, a mainstream voter branded a racist for opposing The Voice, or a younger Australian struggling to buy a home, this government is your worst nightmare.
If it’s higher education that matters to you, Labour is putting the whole sector at risk with changes that will stifle the overseas students who help pay the bills. That might be fine if it were looking for other ways to fund universities, but it isn’t.
If you’re a small business owner, Labour is making compliance costs worse. New labour laws are undermining investment in this country and increasing the likelihood of rising unemployment as the economy slows.
However, if you belong to the ideological left, this Labour government has also failed you, as it attempts to walk both sides of the fence, ultimately pleasing no one.
What a mess!