Politics

There should be little doubt that Andrew Hastie is already running for the Liberal leadership.

Colleagues say the thumping election win has given the prime minister … an air of sure-footedness and vindication in the way he goes about his job. That belief will surely be tested when he meets Donald Trump in the Oval Office in a little over two weeks’ time.

It is perilous and foolish to speak into the maelstrom. As a rule, I tend to avoid it. This week, events compel me to break my rule. I am speaking of the assassination of Charlie Kirk and its subsequent fallout. In this case, the human tragedy is amplified by the zeitgeist it catalyses.

In the Albanese government’s first term, Education Minister Jason Clare observed that Australia has one of the most segregated education systems in the OECD. What is deeply shocking – though not surprising to anyone who has been following this issue for as long as I have – is that our children are mostly segregated according to social class. No schooling system anywhere in the world is completely equal, but Australia is alone in using education funding to turbocharge the divide between rich and poor.

Never before has Australia more needed a full-service, independent Centre for Disease Control, able to address the rising challenges of disease, both infectious and non-communicable … Now the government has produced a draft bill for the centre that hives off key responsibilities, is silent on priorities and is constrained by an insufficient budget and limited vision. This initiative is simply too important to allow it to be stunted from birth.

Frank Sinatra once sang that if you can make it in New York, you can ‘make it anywhere’. It could well be the anthem for Anthony Albanese’s assertive trip this week, putting his stamp on Australia’s sovereignty at the apex world forum of the United Nations General Assembly.

Clearly, not everyone saw delusion in Jacinta Nampijinpa Price’s run for, and subsequent attacks on, the Liberal leadership.

Of all the things that could have gone wrong ahead of Anthony Albanese’s first face-to-face meeting with Donald Trump, few would have predicted the involvement of one of Australia’s most lauded journalists.

Anthony Albanese could only nod his head when the host of the Pacific Islands Forum, Solomon Islands Prime Minister Jeremiah Manele, midweek told the assembled 18 government leaders that the ‘world around us is changing fast’.

The federal government is on the cusp of two significant moments regarding Australia’s climate ambition. If this nation is to chart a course to becoming a clean energy and green exports superpower over the coming decade and beyond, it must be prepared to seize both opportunities.