Anthony Albanese and Scott Morrison before the Sky News Courier-Mail People's Forum in Brisbane on Wednesday. Photo / Jason Edwards / Getty Images
OPINION:
The old saying of "hoping for the best but planning for the worst" is now being put to the test by the Labor Opposition.
Labor leader Anthony Albanese issued bad news on Thursday night, saying he had tested positive for Covid-19 and would be spending the next seven days confined to his home in Sydney.
He had been due to lead the campaign machine to Western Australia today, where Premier Mark McGowan has just tested positive as well.
It has been a rollercoaster campaign for Albanese after a shocking first week, when he couldn't remember that the national unemployment rate was 4 per cent and he was booed by the audience at the Byron Bay Blues Fest – they were expecting Jimmy Barnes, not a politician introducing him. (Barnes supports Labor and is a friend of Albanese).
Albanese's much better second week included a good performance at the Sky News first leaders' debate in Brisbane before 100 undecideds (Albanese turned 40 per cent of them, Scott Morrison 35 per cent and 25 per cent remained undecided).
Isolating at home will be a mixed blessing. It will disrupt the momentum Albanese was building but allow others to shine. Albanese has been accompanied on the campaign for much of the past week by shadow Treasurer Jim Chalmers, a potential leader in the event of another Labor loss, and someone who has a better grasp of detail.
Housing spokesman Jason Clare fronted for Labor this morning in a very polished press conference covering a wide range of issues.
No sooner had Prime Minister Scott Morrison talked about the Australian people being sick of "walking on egg-shells" because what they say may upset someone, when Morrison said something that upset people. Not just Labor people but the much-loved paralympian and 2022 Australian of the Year, Dylan Alcott.
At the Sky News People's Forum, Morrison had told a woman with an autistic son: "I've been blessed. We've got two children that don't… haven't had to go through that. And so for parents, with children who are disabled, I can only try and understand your aspirations for those children."
Anyone could tell from watching that he meant well but mangled it by implying that disabled children were not a blessing. The next day he offered a profuse apology, personally to Alcott, and to others offended by his comments.
Labor was so chuffed with Albanese's performance it whipped up a Twitter ad of what it saw as his greatest hits against Morrison, a formidable debater but who turns every answer into a listicle.
Missed the debate last night? Here are Albo's best moments. https://t.co/CowDT6d6uv
— Australian Labor (@AustralianLabor) April 21, 2022
Confirmation this week that China has signed a security relationship with the Solomon Islands has kicked off a furious debate over whether the Coalition Government could have done more to prevent it.
Australia's engagement in the Pacific has intensified in recent years through its 2018 "Step-Up" programme, increasing funding for development, energy, infrastructure and defence ties. Albanese called it a "stuff-up" rather than a step-up. Labor shadow foreign minister Penny Wong called it Australia's greatest foreign policy failure since the Second World War. Labor deputy leader and Pacific expert Richard Marles was especially strong in his criticism of the Coalition Government over the China deal with the Solomons.
But Labor's attacks backfired today when The Australian newspaper uncovered recent comments by Marles during a trip to China. "The idea the Pacific nations would adhere to a call from Australia to not engage with China is silly," he said in a speech in Beijing. And in a book published in August last year, Tides that Bind – Australia in the Pacific - Marles wrote: "Rather than worrying about the prospect of foreign military bases in the region, our real call to arms must be the Pacific performance against [Millennium Development Goals]."
Defence Minister Peter Dutton was characteristically blunt in what Australia was up against. "We don't pay off and we don't bribe people. The Chinese certainly do. There are some things we can do. We can provide support but can't win a deal at the end of the day if somebody is relying on a corrupt payment." (Radio 3AW).
Albanese's weakest policy area, last week and this week, has been on the issue of turning back boats from Indonesia of asylum seekers.
At issue is not so much Labor's current position, which is similar to the Coalition's, but its historic position. Albanese said Labor supported turning back the boats because it meant there was no need for offshore processing centres in third countries such as Papua New Guinea.
He then clarified his position to say Labor supported offshore processing of asylum seekers. He then said Labor supported the current temporary protection visas (which do not allow such people to apply for permanent status in Australia) and then corrected himself to say it did not support TPVs. And he had no answer during the Sky News debate as to why Labor had opposed turning back the boats when he was Deputy Prime Minister in 2013.
Coalition Home Affairs Minister Karen Andrews has posted an ad on twitter.
We can’t risk Labor’s border chaos. pic.twitter.com/I6vvzX7XRu
— Karen Andrews MP (@karenandrewsmp) April 21, 2022
The Murdoch newspapers are used to scathing assessments of bias by former Labor Prime Minister Kevin Rudd but The Australian copped an earful this week when it suggested he could be the next ambassador to the United States under a Labor Government (Albanese was Deputy PM to Rudd).
Rudd called it "total garbage" and responded with a complaint to the Press Council but signed off with a bitter flourish saying he did not expect the council would even acknowledge his letter given its "ignominious track record". "It is no wonder that the Senate Communications Committee recently described your institution as an important toothless tiger that is respected by neither journalists not publishers."
Labor has not actually ruled out the possibility of Rudd filling a diplomatic post but it would be a bad idea. He is way too opinionated and political to suit such a role and he is proving to be a strong and valuable voice in public discourse over the future of China.
Meanwhile, Rudd continues to publish his own regular assessment of bias by the Murdoch papers.
Murdoch front pages are like LNP campaign posters plastered across every supermarket, setting the tone for other media. In Week 1, his 4 biggest papers went in hard for Morrison: 23 favourable articles vs 4 for Labor. But Murdoch’s CEO says they don’t have a preferred candidate… pic.twitter.com/juUwibZxaw
— Kevin Rudd (@MrKRudd) April 17, 2022
QUOTE: Scott Morrison's riff at yesterday's standup channels Donald Rumsfeld, as he talks about the large number of Australian voters yet to make up their minds. "What they do know is what they don't know about Anthony Albanese, what they don't know about his plan, what they don't know about his experience on national security and on economics. What they do know is what they do know about our Government, the Liberals and the Nationals…."
RATINGS: Albanese, who scored minus 10 last week, warrants 7 out of 10 this week. A huge improvement on his campaign start but that would not have been hard. Morrison, who scored 7 out of 10 last week, rates a 6 this week. A strong performance but not outstanding, and way too much waffle. Peter Dutton 5 for straight-talking. Richard Marles minus 5. The Australian's investigations editor Sharri Markson, 10, for uncovering Marles' comments.
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