Opinion: Bob Hawke’s revisionist view became truth in his own time. When he became prime minister in 1983, Australia was in the depths of the worst recession in 50 years. He went on to be Labor’s most successful prime minister. Can Anthony Albanese foll...
To survive, human beings are programmed to hope for the best. That’s why back in early 2020 many – probably most – of us believed the COVID-19 pandemic would pass before the end of the year. Remember the predicted snapback that was supposed to happen after September 2020? But here we are deep in the pandemic’s third year, with higher death and infection rates than ever before, masks still a fact of life and, inevitably, a dislocated economy.
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 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.
The defeat of the Coalition government at the May election was emphatic while Albanese’s victory was not.If there’s one genuine insight in Hawke’s interpretation of history, it’s that it seems to be Labor’s destiny to find itself in office during tough times. The oil shocks blighted Gough Whitlam’s stint as PM and the global financial crisis happened early under Kevin Rudd’s watch.
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