Anthony Albanese has to balance expectations with reality

A close look at Albanese’s agenda shows that he kept his promises even when his rhetoric took off.

Albanese has repeatedly claimed that he was a small target in this campaign. True, his soft, persuasive catchphrase about “safe change” was deliberately cautious, but it is also unfair to call politics “petty.”

About climate, for example, the gap between Labor and the coalition was not measured only by the gap between their targets of 43% and 26%. The Albanians risked supporting the mechanism with an implicit carbon price modification of the existing “protection mechanism” oblige large companies to reduce their emissions. This is a stark difference from the coalition approach to spending taxpayers ’money on subsidizing the same companies.

While Greens and independents will pursue higher goals, Albanese witnessed the cost of labor more than a decade ago when he struck a deal with the Greens for the price of carbon. Political history will tell him to avoid another deal.

In terms of honesty, Labor is setting up a much more powerful commission to investigate corruption using a model that responds to calls from expert groups such as the Center for Public Integrity and Transparency International, as well as an open letter from 31 former judges last week. This is a significant commitment.

With regard to gender equality, Albanez promises to act in accordance with all the recommendations of the Respect @ Work report and to impose a positive obligation on employers to prevent discrimination. Whether or not it is a “small” enterprise may depend on whether someone has ever been discriminated against. The key point is that Albanese is going where Morrison would not have gone.

With regard to the minimum wage, Labor is committed to asking the Honest Labor Commission to raise basic wages. Albanese says he “absolutely” supports the 5.1 percent increase, but was sure to add that this does not apply to the millions of workers whose wage rates are tied to the minimum wage. However, he has clearly raised expectations and must find ways to raise real wages.

When it comes to childcare, the labor policy is specific and affordable: spending $ 5.1 billion on larger subsidies to reduce spending on families. Expect this to be one of the first items on the agenda.

On other fronts, expectations are low. State prime ministers want at least $ 5 billion to support emergency departments in recovering from the pandemic, but Albanese has just promised to talk.

And economic reform? Albanese outlined the agenda in a speech to the Australian Chamber of Commerce in the fourth week of the election campaign. He did not mention tax reform and buried the labor tax agenda from the last election, but focused on measures such as caring for children to expand the workforce.

Loading

This looks too modest for economically tough heads who want the future prime minister to include meat in his agenda, which he believes should be able to boost wages and profits in tandem by boosting productivity. This is a key area where he hopes but does not determine how he will deliver.

Again and again Albanese said he wanted to under-promise and overfulfill. He was cautious with his commitments – too cautious, in fact, for many Labor supporters. Some went to the Greens for this very reason.

This may explain why Albanese also talked about an agenda that could take two deadlines, another way to encourage people to be patient. If changes take place under this government, they are likely to happen slowly.

Orwell knew the danger to the leader of the Progressive Party was that it raised unrealistic expectations. The Albanian seems to know this too.