Comment

The de-ScoMofication of Australia on the world stage took a leap forward this week as the Albanese government consolidated its international relations edge over an enfeebled opposition in a series of high-level meetings in Europe.

The greatest challenge facing the defeated federal Liberal Party is not whether to move to the right or the left, nor whether to court voters in the outer suburbs or try to win back its once blue-ribbon seats. It is how to stay relevant.

While it is still early days, it is becoming clear that the Coalition and their media sycophants didn’t believe they would lose the election. They seem unprepared to move on. Beyond the immediate disappointment – both individually, for those who lost seats, and collectively, for a party now facing at least three years in opposition – clearly some are soul-searching.

Thirty-four is the number and it has turned federal parliamentary politics on its head. While the Albanese government has a slender majority in the lower house – 77 of the 151-seat chamber – it falls a long way short in the senate.

There is nothing that delights Murdoch more than removing Labor leaders – premiers and prime ministers – or destabilising them. There are two reasons for this: first, Murdoch is personally addicted to power; second, he always wants governments to do his policy and financial bidding.

In December 2018, 34 former judges wrote a letter to the prime minister expressing their support for the establishment of a national integrity commission with the power to hold public hearings. Apparently, it was not Scott Morrison’s ‘job’ to take advice from those who are experts in what they do.

This week, the need for the new Albanese government to fix the mess it has inherited became personal for millions of Australians at the mercy of a failed energy market. The threat of blackouts and of freezing in their homes in the middle of one of the worst winter cold snaps for years brought with it an unexpected urgency.

There is something almost comical about the Liberals and Nationals throwing the forlorn spectre of nuclear power back into national energy debates, right after their loss in the 2022 ‘climate election’.

Can you imagine our governments encouraging our food producers to export all their product even if it meant Australians would go hungry? We have done this with gas, which is so important for household heating and cooking and as an input for many industries.

Visual stunts – or picture opportunities, as they are called in the trade – are nothing new in contemporary politics. On Tuesday, Indonesia’s President Joko Widodo provided the visual metaphor of a bike ride, which neatly summed up the progress of the fledgling Anthony Albanese prime ministership: a shaky campaign but a much more assured and proactive performance now he is in the job.