Politics

In less than two weeks the new National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) will be officially in operation – the long-awaited answer to a defining issue of the last federal election.

So much for respect and reconciliation in the national capital. As parliament returned for the final two weeks before the long winter break, it was more bare-knuckle combat with no one wanting to take prisoners.

Labor announced its desire to host a United Nations climate conference in the lead-up to the 2022 election. Officially called the Conference of the Parties, the UN describes its COPs as ‘the biggest and most important annual climate-related conferences on the planet’.

When justice and politics collide, politics usually prevails. So it is in the case of Brittany Higgins versus Bruce Lehrmann.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s speech in Singapore last week deserves more attention. Not only was it his first major foreign policy statement on the global stage, it was a profound and nuanced expression of the challenges Australia faces in balancing diplomacy with its national interests and security in a reconfigured world order.

The economy roared back into view as the major focus of contention this week, with some weird developments adding extra drama to the pain and usual blame game that happens when the going gets really tough for millions of Australians. The pain came with the Reserve Bank of Australia continuing its aggressive round of interest rate hikes. The weird came with the nation’s biggest business and industry groups jumping at shadows.

Labor’s litany of recent political decisions continue to invalidate the promise of the Voice. Despite all it says about ‘closing the gap’, ‘reconciliation’ and ‘better outcomes being achieved when Indigenous people have input on the decisions that affect them’, there is not yet any proof this Labor government is curbing its contempt, no glimpses that it can in fact be cured.

After Anthony Albanese received a standing ovation on Monday night for his Lowitja O’Donoghue Oration arguing the case for the Voice referendum to succeed, Adelaide’s lord mayor made a telling observation.

The choice Australians will have later this year in the referendum goes beyond recognising the special place of First Nations people in the constitution. It also goes to the sort of national leadership we are prepared to endorse.

On Monday, the Albanese government will celebrate its first birthday. The prime minister is confident it has been a year that has established in voters’ minds the character of his government as responsible, measured and very busy.