Sometimes it feels like we’re inhabiting a pre-motorisation Australia. The postal service is so sluggish that it can make the days of the horse and cart look jet-propelled. Energy prices are out of control.Interest rates are on a steady upward trajectory. So,too is inflation. Contrary to the bleatings of well-paid commentators and business lobbyists,wage rises for ordinary workers in the suburbs and regions have no chance of keeping pace.
Let’s face it:these are troubled times. The world is becoming a scarier place,everyday life is challenging and the old normal is gone. We have a legion of Australians,from children all the way to the aged,whose heads have been messed up by the fear,isolation and disruption of the pandemic. Those experiences don’t fade away;they leave a mark. The statisticians tell us we have full employment but a patchy economic outlook. There is a recovery,but it doesn’t quite feel like a recovery.
Internationally,we are witnessing – and could fall victim to,either economically or militarily – the decline of the US and the rise of China. Russia’s expansionism in pursuit of a recreated Soviet empire,also a driver of our inflation problem,is but one development ratcheting up the threat of nuclear conflict. Domestically,years of rising housing and income inequality are now putting stresses right through the society.
This is an era that will be examined and analysed by historians for many decades to come. It is a pivotal moment like the world wars and the Great Depression. These moments always have political consequences. Sure enough,we’ve broken with the recent past and just elected a new government – with qualifications.
We had an election where the defeat of the incumbent government was emphatic,and the victory of the challenger was not. The Liberals lost 19 seats,but the ALP improved its seat count by only nine. All the same,it was enough to give Anthony Albanese and his team a shot at running the country.
This offers an enormous opportunity for a new political settlement. As far as I can see,the biggest challenge facing the Albanese government isn’t necessarily meeting all the usual political metrics such as improving the budget bottom line,as vital as they are:it’s changing the ways in which political issues are argued and understood. Among the worst aspects of Australian politics over the past dozen years or more has been the embrace of glibness and the superficial presentation of policy.