Politics

Is it too much to aspire to, that our elections might be decided by which party will deliver the better government? The benchmark against which voters assess parties and candidates should be their capacity to govern well, not short-term political pointscoring, or some politically clever remark or slogan, or the outcome of competing scare campaigns.

Zali Steggall is not the only independent in the House of Representatives to be frustrated by the fact Question Time has become a largely boring exercise in political pointscoring, something exacerbated by the looming byelection in the Victorian seat of Dunkley. Some of the independents have written to the speaker, Milton Dick, and the leader of the House, Tony Burke, asking for reforms in standing orders to restore the exercise to its original purpose of holding the government to account and eliciting responses that would serve the national interest.

The federal Labor government has reached a vital crossroad in its journey to success or failure at the next election. It has a real opportunity to win not only the next election but at least one more to meet the average term since 1975, about nine years. A government heading in the right direction is a good place to be. There are, however, still challenges.

Peter Dutton will just continue to create the impression, as the election draws nearer, that he will release a raft of policies consistent with his unspecified ‘vision’ for the country.

Albanese easily handled Dutton’s attempts to create a ‘look away diversion’ by asking about everything except the new stage three arrangements … One minister said it was the best Question Time performance of the term, with the government strong on the counterattack.

Dutton says you can no longer believe anything Albanese or Chalmers say on their future tax intentions. It hasn’t dawned on him that he lacks the clout of incumbency. Governments are in charge; oppositions can only promise and decry.

We are in a time of division. Information is selective and conditional. There are few agreed facts, few shared ideas. Silos are everywhere and for the cynical and opportunistic they are particularly useful. An essential starting point is to engage but not condescend.

The possibility of Donald Trump being re-elected as president of the United States later this year is surely the most significant geopolitical risk faced by the world, both directly and as a possible ignition of other risks.

Just when everyone had pretty much given up on Albanese being willing to do something big, he did, transforming a regressive $21 billion tax handout into progressive economic and social policy.

Dutton is testing, and pushing out, the boundaries of acceptable public discourse as part of a new configuration in Australian politics, of which the ‘No’ campaign was the harbinger. There’ll be more of it. Much more.