Albo’s true constituency
With Roger Cook in his ear, Albo lets just about everyone down.
Months out from an election, is anyone happy with Anthony Albanese?
The remaining progressives in Labor aren’t after he killed promised federal nature laws. Albo’s most recent backflip predictably came after the mining companies applied pressure via their messenger boy Roger Cook. “Sadly vested interests from the west appear to have undermined Labor’s confidence and derailed progress,” wrote Labor Environment Action Network co-convenor Felicity Wade when the news came through. “A group of dedicated Labor members woke up this morning feeling wobbly, their faith somewhat shaken.” We bet.
Some parents might be happy that Albo has ruled to ban social media for under 16s, but they won’t be once they realise how easy it will be for teenagers to bypass the ban, nor when they’re forced to verify their ID or facial data to log in themselves. The teenagers themselves surely see through the ban as idiotic and ineffective. The major parties would do well to remember that many of these kids will be old enough to vote come 2028.
Few seemed happy with Albo’s scrapped misinformation laws. As distrust of governments and politicians increases, who would think it's a good idea to put bureaucrats and law-makers in charge of deciding what is and isn’t true?
There’s one group who might be happy with Albo right now – the ghouls from big fossil and the Minerals Council, who are the Prime Minister’s true constituency (and Roger Cook’s to an even greater extent.) But their loyalty is shallow. After all, they know that to get what they want from the Opposition would require even less persuasion.
Speaking of the Opposition, they also seem pleased with Labor, given Albo is happily embracing some of their more extreme positions. Shadow Immigration Minister Dan Tehan bragged this week that the Coalition are “basically running the immigration system for the government because they have failed … to do it themselves”.
Where does all this leave Albo come next year’s federal election? In dire straits, we predict. Dutton is doing his best to capitalise, and seems to understand our new political reality better than the Labor elite. But we suspect it’ll be independents, minor parties, and oddballs of various persuasions who’ll be the main beneficiaries of Labor’s failures.
Albanese will be back in Perth this week, promising loudly that if we give him another chance, he’ll actually do something about the housing and cost-of-living crises. It’s unclear who’s still listening.
