Cautious Albanese keen to not rock Parliament ahead of election

Parliament may be sitting, but federal politicians appear to already be in election mode, with Labor having taken a particularly cautious approach to what may be the final sitting fortnight. 

Ahead of this week, Anthony Albanese scrapped plans to establish a new environment protection agency, reportedly after pressure from Western Australian Labor Premier Roger Cook and parts of the mining industry. “I can’t see that it has a path to success. So at this stage, I can say that we won’t be proceeding with it this term,” Albanese told The Conversation. 

Then on Thursday, Labor agreed to send a childcare bill off to an inquiry that won’t report back until next month, despite the Greens saying they’d support the bill through the Senate. The bill would have subsidised child care for families earning up to $533,280. It would also have ended an “activity test” that critics said tended to punish single mothers who looked for work. 

In his Conversation interview and elsewhere, Albanese has bragged about what Labor has achieved so far while promising the government has more up its sleeve. “We are going to do more, but we’ve already done a lot,” was his answer to a question of whether he’d commit to introducing legislation to restrict gambling advertising. 

But when pressed again on whether he’d actually “do something on the advertising” — a reference to reform first proposed by an inquiry headed by one of Labor’s own MPs — Albanese simply answered: “We will continue to consult with stakeholders and continue to take measures.” 

If Labor’s cautious balancing act is aimed at seeming hands-on and productive without giving opponents any more ammunition so close to the election, the Coalition has a simpler tactic: relentlessly criticising the Albanese government. 

“I think we’ve all heard a message right across the country, and it’s not the prime minister’s message that this is a year of optimism and that people are very happy with where the government’s at — it’s not that situation at all,” Opposition Leader Peter Dutton told his joint partyroom on Tuesday. 

The Greens are walking a tightrope too, maintaining relentless pressure on Labor while trying to shake off its reputation as a stopping block in the Senate. The party has vowed to support government legislation like the childcare reform and a “free TAFE” bill that passed the House of Representatives on Thursday, but will make demands when it comes to passing a bill aimed at keeping the National Broadband Network public and will use its leverage to negotiate on the details of other bills.

“We’ve come to Parliament this week to get outcomes, but the ball is going to be in the government’s court on what they want prioritised — we want gambling reform, they know that. We’re willing to work with the government to try and pass the other bills,” Greens Senate business manager Sarah Hanson-Young told Crikey.

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