Breaking promises and ‘building trust’

Anthony Albanese was highly reluctant to break promises in his first term, resisting pressure to reverse the Coalition’s tax cuts, because he had undertaken to deliver them intact. Second time around, it’s a different story.

One year on

Australians are persistently anxious about the present, and increasingly pessimistic about the future, so a year on from Labor’s election winning landslide, what has the Albanese government done to allay their worries?

Why don’t voters like Albo?

The times seem to suit Anthony Albanese and the opposition is in disarray so why isn’t he more popular?

Restoring faith in democracy

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says his second term government is “focused on delivery” to improve Australians’ faith in democracy as well as the strength of the economy.

Time to deliver

Labor made a lot of promises and spending commitments during the election campaign, so it’s now time to deliver results and achieve its housing, wages and other economic aims.

What’s the big idea?

After a modest list of achievements in its first term, Labor has the majority and political capital to pursue more ambitious goals in its second term, so what policy reforms should it take on?

Did Labor deliver?

Democratic governments across the globe tend to deliver roughly two-thirds of their promises, though most voters believe it is far fewer, so how did Labor do in its first term?

Labor needs a refreshed message

Anthony Albanese and the Labor Party’s hope of clinging to government in 2025 hinges on dramatically reshaping their pitch to voters more concerned about hip-pocket issues than broader economic messages.

Shorten’s plea for moderation

In his farewell speech to Parliament, Bill Shorten has declared himself ‘a proud moderate’ and that Australians ‘in the middle’ shouldn’t be hostage to intolerant fringes.

Happy Christmas, Albo?

Halfway into its first term, the big question is whether the Albanese government is in a temporary bad patch, or at the beginning of a downhill slide.

One nation

Anthony Albanese will be taking nothing for granted in his relations with Labor state and territory governments and the premiers and chief ministers will know better than to expect too many free kicks.

Hard choices lie ahead

Labor faces an interconnected international polycrisis, encompassing Russia’s war in Europe, an aggressive China, climate change and the environment, energy, the continuing pandemic, a deepening geopolitical divide and dysfunctional global institutions with rising inflation, declining real wages and stagnant productivity at home.