The poor priorities and inconsistencies of Anthony Albanese’s government are nearly summed up by the political manoeuvres taking place as we enter the final parliamentary sitting period before the summer break.
They are tangible evidence for why Labor is floundering in the polls in just its first term in power.
On the one hand, Labor spent months telling us its misinformation bill was a vital reform aimed at stamping out… you guessed it, misinformation in public discourse.
Yet Labor dumped the bill once a united front lined up against it – the Coalition, the Greens, a plethora of crossbenchers representing the right and the left.
But it didn’t just walk away from what it once claimed was so important in the here and now.
It has promised not to pursue the changes even after the election – assuming it is victorious – with Special Minister of State Don Farrell saying: ‘That’s the end of it’.
I guess what was proposed can’t have been that important after all.
In truth the proposed laws were highly subjective, badly drafted, lacked consultation and transparency in their development, impinged on free speech, and even if you liked the idea of muzzling opinion they didn’t go far enough to satisfy supporters.
So they have been thrown in the policy garbage bin, as they should be.
Submissions for public comment on the misinformation bill closed back in September.
However they have never been uploaded and made public. I suspect the government wanted them hidden from view because they were so scathing.
It is so ironic that when Labor walked away from the misinformation bill its political spin to justify doing so was littered with untruths.
They claimed, for example, that the Coalition and the Greens were in cahoots – even though their opposition to the bill was for diametrically opposing reasons.
The Greens said the bill didn’t do enough to stop misinformation, while the Coalition said it was an attack on free speech.
The government’s approach to its planned social media laws that ban under 16s from accessing platforms such as TiKTok and Reddit is equally shady.
The government opened public comments on the bill for just a single day. That’s not how good government takes consultation seriously.
Labor will be successful rushing its youth social media bans through the parliament because the Coalition came up with the idea before the government did, and it plans to support the changes.
It will likely do the same when it comes to election donations reforms, which haven’t even been sent to a parliamentary committee for consultation and public feedback. So much for good policy process on that front.
Meanwhile, there won’t be legislation forthcoming to curb online gambling or gambling ads, as had previously been promised.
Why? Probably because Labor doesn’t want to upset big media organisations who enjoy streams of revenue from its advertising.
So what excuse have they used to justify the inaction and the broken promise?
‘This is a very difficult and complex piece of work that simply cannot be finalised in the remaining week that we have of parliament this year’, according to minister Murray Watt.
Yet so are changes to social media usage and laws designed to curb misinformation. As are adjustments to political donations. Yet Labor found ways to rush these law making processes when it suited them.
Such inconsistency is equally evident when you listen to Labor’s rhetoric about concern for young Australians as it moves towards social media bans.
But the sound of crickets is all you hear when asking the same politicians why they won’t act to curb online access to violent and graphic pornography for minors.
All of the above highlights the policy-making failures of this government.
It’s proof positive that it is a bad government unworthy of re-election. Which is not to say it won’t win re-election.
No first term federal government has lost a re-election attempt since 1931, so history favours Albo’s chances of securing a second prime ministerial term.
While social policy scripts such as those referred to above are dominating the final sitting period, voters could be forgiven for wondering why Labor’s priorities are focused in that direction and not on the economy.
On Wednesday we’ll get updated monthly CPI figures. We already know inflation is higher than in other western nations and there are no guarantees interest rates will fall in the first half of next year. That’s despite anaemic economic growth and falling real living standards.
You would have thought Labor wanted the optics of its final sitting week to be all about the economy and its plans to address cost of living concerns hurting so many Australians.
Yet that isn’t the focus at all, probably because Labor can’t say anything too positive on that front because it’s fiscal policy settings – spending too much – are grinding up against the RBA’s monetary policy advice.