TheHerald does not believe the Morrison government should be granted another term and views the election of Labor as the preferable outcome – even though it shares the public’s lack of enthusiasm for Albanese and his timid opposition.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Labor leader Anthony Albanese.Fairfax Media
The latest Herald Resolve Political Monitor captured the antipathy that has permeated Australian politics in recent years. Many voters are,while support for the major parties has also collapsed – the Coalition primary vote has fallen from 41 per cent at the 2019 election to as little as 34 now,while Labor’s is hovering at 31 per cent – two percentage points worse than its horror 33 per cent result under Bill Shorten.
Is it any surprise? At a time of extraordinary domestic and international challenges,Australians have been subjected to a six-week election campaign lacking substance,inspiration and honesty. For both sides,cash handouts and funding pledges for an array of small local infrastructure projects have taken the place of serious economic reform. Voters enter polling booths on Saturday understandably underwhelmed and torn.
TheHerald shares Australia’s despondency – particularly at the lack of policy ambition. Labor is still badly burnt from the rejection of its expansive 2019 election reform agenda and has run a small-target strategy in 2022 built around a core proposition that Albanese is not Scott Morrison. Voters deserve better.
The Coalition,though,has even fewer excuses for its wafer-thin offering. A government with the advantages of incumbency should be overflowing with ideas and vision,but the government offers a limited vision for the next three years. It is a sign of a tired government weighed down by a lacklustre frontbench.
Morrison is a strong campaigner but his focus on the tactical comes at a cost. He often lapses into a state of complacency. Perhaps the most revealing moment of his tenure came in a January interview with theHerald’s associate editor and special writer,Deborah Snow,in which the prime minister said he was. As Snow observed at the time,for Morrison it’s as if devoting headspace to larger ideas about the future of the country is a form of moral or intellectual vanity,a derogation of prime-ministerial duty. TheHerald believes legacies matter.
When the Coalition asked voters for a fourth term in 2004,John Howard at least knew what he wanted to do with the gift of extra time. By contrast,Morrison’s proposed changes to small business support,trade and skills shortages and health delivery tinker at the margins. The Coalition’s boldest offering – a pledge to let of their superannuation – has pitfalls,although theHeraldwelcomes the opening of a substantial debate on property ownership and recognising the challenges young people face breaking into a tough Sydney housing market.
Morrison and Treasurer Josh Frydenberg can also share credit for two other key achievements:the unemployment rate falling to a near-50 year low of 3.9 per cent – arguably its biggest selling point –and sparing Australia from tens of thousands of deaths during the coronavirus pandemic. The COVID-19 response was far from perfect – the vaccine procurement process and rollout was a shambles,aged care home residents were not properly protected,the JobKeeper program had serious design flaws which wasted money and the closing of our international borders came at a cost to stranded Australians and our image abroad. But,on the whole,the government’s handling of the crisis holds up well by global comparison.
But these two positives do not do enough to outweigh the government’s failings or absence from other important areas. Both Morrison and Albanese frame the May 21 poll as a “choice” about the future and theHerald agrees. To return the government to power would be to reward and incentivise inaction at a time when the country has a growing list of problems to tackle.
On climate change,theHerald is deeply concerned that the Coalition is not committed to delivering the urgent reforms needed now to achieve a net zero economy by 2050. While Morrison is right that technological advances will reduce emissions,further market mechanisms and government policy are crucial but the government has all but ruled them out. Beset by internal divisions and a disregard for science,the Coalition has missed a chance to seize the economic opportunities presented by the clean energy transition.
On integrity and trust in government,the Coalition has proposed a national integrity commission that would not be able to hold any public hearings in inquiries involving federal politicians,their staff or departments,nor would it be able to make public findings,receive tip-offs from the public or investigate third parties corruptly influencing public officials. Labor’s model is far superior.
Morrison went to the 2019 election with a vow to establish a long-overdue federal integrity commission. He failed to deliver,so why should voters believe him now when he claims he remains committed to it?
There are broader integrity questions surrounding this government,too. Ministerial accountability is close to non-existent,posing real risks to the way taxpayer money is used. TheHerald has spent months highlighting the use of scarce funding for flagrantly political purposes – an unacceptable approach at the best of times but even worse in an era of ballooning deficits and debt.
Finally,win or lose on Saturday,the Liberal Party is on the verge of civil war. Bad blood lingers from the knifing of Tony Abbott and Malcolm Turnbull,the party is deeply unhappy with Morrison’s undemocratic overturning of preselections in key NSW seats and a fight looms over where the Liberal should sit on the ideological spectrum and whether blue-ribbon inner-city seats such as Wentworth,North Sydney,Warringah and Mackellar could be sacrificed for a hard pivot towards suburban Australia. It is in the country’s interest for this rupture to play out in opposition rather than government.
If Labor does win on Saturday,it will have little time to celebrate:the Reserve Bank of Australia is about to embark on an economy-changing interest rate rise cycle,inflation is rising sharply and wages remain stagnant. China is on the march in the Pacific and the war in Ukraine still threatens global energy security. And Labor’s climate policy – – still falls short of what is needed to prevent the most damaging effects of global warming.
Debt and deficits also remain a major concern for theHerald– next year’s budget will be $78 billion in the red and debt is forecast to hit $1.2 trillion by the middle of the decade – yet Labor has shown little interest in dealing with this huge problem. If it is successful on Saturday the party must make difficult decisions. Does it have the guts? The early signs aren’t encouraging but a fresh start and new team in government will help.
A victorious Labor Party will also have little cause for hubris. Albanese will have made it to The Lodge by virtue of being the least-worst option and voters will rightly judge him harshly should he govern as timidly as he has campaigned.
Albanese has at times appeared brittle,under-prepared,short-tempered and unwilling to accept the additional transparency and accountability that comes with being the nation’s alternative prime minister. If he does win he must act like a leader,govern inclusively and avoid undue influence by the union movement. He must avoid the command and control approach of his campaign and be more willing to accept advice from a wider inner circle. Morrison’s tenure has been marked by lack of instinctive empathy,particularly on the treatment of women in Australian society and theHerald hopes this would change under a Labor government. And while Australia has escaped the worst of the US culture wars and racial division,Albanese will need to draw on his empathy and energy to bring an increasingly polarised country together.
Labor will also need to justify the electorate giving it the benefit of the doubt. To do that,it must deliver its election promises but not hide behind its weak 2022 platform as an excuse for not doing anything of substance. Albanese recently spoke about his concept of a,but he cannot expect the public to indulge him with an uninspiring first-term which back-ends all reform and repair towards a second.
If Albanese governs the way he has campaigned,Labor will be guilty of the same complacency that has marked the Coalition over the past three years and has denied Australians a more ambitious government that tackles long-term challenges. Labor must not waste the opportunity to lead and shape Australia. It should,at least,be given a chance to make the attempt. On balance,the nation needs a change.
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