Once elected to Parliament in 1980,Hawke had his eyes firmly fixed on the prime ministership. Two and a quarter years later,many Australians rejoiced when he toppled the rather dour Labor leader Bill Hayden on the very day that Fraser called the election.
Hawke promptly made the election all about reconciliation. It fitted the popular mood after the unsettling tumult of the Whitlam years and the harsh tones of the Fraser regime. As the new opposition leader,Hawke had the advantage of being both a fresh face at the top and a very familiar one in Australian living rooms.
Hawke not only romped home at the 1983 election but remained ensconced in the Lodge for longer than Fraser. Not surprisingly,it is to Hawke,rather than to Whitlam or to more recent Labor leaders,that Albanese looks.
Like Hawke,Albanese isn’t a great orator. That probably doesn’t matter. Sunday’s launch saw him displaying the sort of passion and authenticity that Hawke had in spades and which will prove an asset to Albanese in the coming debates. Like Hawke,he also presents as something of a fresh political face,complete with a slimmed-down look,new suits,glasses and a more energetic demeanour.
Voters aren’t as familiar with Albanese,as they were with Hawke. He’s been a background noise in a national conversation dominated by other players. He’s largely watched from the sidelines as Morrison has been steadily diminished by rorts,wrongdoing and sheer incompetence and seen the Prime Minister whittled down even further by attacks from premiers,both Liberal and Labor.
With Morrison appearing as a hollowed-out husk of the figure who confronted Bill Shorten in 2019,and with his government falling apart,Labor’s election chances are getting better by the day.
Until recently,a majority Labor government seemed like a long shot. Even a Labor victory seemed like a toss-up. Just like Hawke’s surprise toppling of Hayden in 1983 changed the political dynamics,the final two weeks of Parliament has done likewise,revealing a government in disarray,unable even to govern itself.
With the federal budget in the red for years to come and the federal debt about to top a trillion dollars,it will be difficult for Morrison to replay his previous campaign centred on economic management. The lived experience of most Australians should neutralise his arguments this time around.
But neither should Albanese think that a well-crafted speech and a hungry look will allow him to walk in Hawke’s footsteps. Hawke faced a huge challenge in opening up the sclerotic and highly protected economy. Hence his slogan back then of “Bringing Australia Together”,which resonated with voters and was given practical meaning in the national economic summit that he convened in the wake of the election. It set the scene for the economic transformation of Australia that he and Keating subsequently orchestrated.
Loading
Albanese’s challenges are even greater than Hawke’s. Apart from restoring integrity to government,bringing reconciliation with First Nations people,averting any further deterioration in the relationship with China,promoting respect and equality between men and women and enhancing the living standards of all,his government has to decarbonise the economy and grasp the enormous opportunities that the transformation will bring in its train.
It is only when these challenges are successfully surmounted that Australians will have a chance of enjoying the better future that Labor’s slogan has promised them. Voters will have to hope that Albanese is up to it.
David Day’s most recent book isPaul Keating:The biography. His biography of Bob Hawke will be published in 2022.