Australians should not be ‘happy' with Albanese's attempts at relationships with the US
'It is absolutely essential our prime minister of Australia, one of the biggest powers, biggest militaries in this region meets with the United States president,' Mr Canava said.
'To discuss the strategic and defence concerns of our country.'
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Sydney Morning Herald
an hour ago
- Sydney Morning Herald
Albanese is the conservative who mugged the Liberals. Let's hope he seizes the moment
Anthony Albanese is a man who likes props. In the 2022 election campaign, he regularly brandished a one-dollar coin to emphasise his support for a pay rise for workers on the minimum wage. And in the lead-up to this year's election, he employed his Medicare card as a talisman to ward off Peter Dutton's supposedly evil plans for the nation's healthcare system. Clearly, his approach has worked. Everyone has a Medicare card and Albanese was wise to embed in the public consciousness that Medicare is a Labor Party creation, implemented by Bob Hawke's government in 1984 against the fierce opposition of the Coalition. Because Medicare, for all its shortcomings, is an entrenched and popular feature of everyday Australian life, the Labor Party of today has been able to leverage Hawke's long-ago policy success to its great advantage. There's upside for the ALP in portraying itself as a defender of institutions, as it can make the party look less risky, and Albanese leant into this heavily during the election campaign. At his recent post-election address at the National Press Club, he outlined the reasons Labor had won a second term. Electors, he said, had voted for Australian values and for doing things 'our way' – that is, not like Donald Trump and Trump-wannabe Peter Dutton. He also cited Labor's 'commitment to fair wages and conditions, universal Medicare and universal superannuation' that 'set us apart from the world'. In some respects, it's a conservative formulation for a centre-left party: preserving what's already in place. And that signals some potential downside for the government. Universal super was the joint brainchild of Paul Keating and the ACTU's Bill Kelty as part of the union movement's Accord agreement, which also gave rise to Medicare. The historically transformational nature of universal super has been brought into sharp focus this week, with the attainment of the compulsory 12 per cent super contribution and the wider discussion about super balances in the millions of dollars. Inevitably, talk of that achievement invites comparisons between the current Labor government and the all-conquering five-term government led first by Hawke and then Keating. Hawke and Keating wasted no time in office. The Albanese government is 38 months old. Inside the same timeframe, the Hawke government had held two summits – on the economy and on tax – and introduced Medicare, a new incomes policy, an assets test on pensions, floated the dollar, changed the banking system, begun the march on super and produced a comprehensive new package of tax measures. Loading Somewhere within the Labor Party, people will eventually start to ask what a Labor leader 40 years from now will be fighting to preserve from the Albanese years. The course that the prime minister is pursuing – backed strongly by Labor's national secretary Paul Erickson, who has definitely earned his status as the nation's campaigning guru du jour – is the one that secured the government's second victory. In short, the government's first priority will be about delivering methodically on its promises, namely reducing HECS debts, building 1.2 million homes, continuing the push towards renewables, increasing the number of Medicare urgent clinics, and continuing to keep inflation down. That makes sense, especially since the national political scene is now a bunch of players who have, to an extent, been mugged by reality. Everyone is a smartie after the event, but no one expected a Labor landslide. The government wasn't geared up for it. The Liberals had even less of a clue. None of the polls predicted it. YouGov got closest; its central projection was 84 lower house seats for Labor – a mild increase on its majority but still 10 short of the actual, stratospheric result.
The Age
an hour ago
- The Age
We can have a good childcare system, or a cheap one. When protecting children, that choice should be easy
Once it became clear that a string of child abuse offences may have taken place across Melbourne for years undetected, and parents of 1200 children were contacted, it was obvious that there would be wider public consternation. Parents across the nation would have experienced a pang of doubt. But childcare is not simply childcare. It is, as the federal government knows, a vital building block in the way modern Australian families live, and it underpins our economy. Put simply, parents cannot work productively unless they can outsource this care for part of the day. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese made widened access to childcare a key part of his re-election pitch, and has introduced legislation to guarantee three days of subsidised early education and care universally, with talk of a flat-fee system as part of his second-term vision. His government has also pushed higher wages for those working in childcare. But this week's revelations of police investigations bring us back to fundamental questions about a sector that the Commonwealth and states are anxious to build out rapidly. In March, reporting by the ABC's Four Corners showed that childcare centres were allowed to continue operating despite falling short of regulatory standards, and that regulation was infrequent and staff sometimes unqualified. At the time, Albanese insisted that a royal commission into these allegations was unnecessary because states would be able to investigate such clear wrongdoing. Loading At a hastily convened press conference on Wednesday, Premier Jacinta Allan and Minister for Children Lizzie Blandthorn implied that Victoria was moving quickly on reforming the sector, only to find itself frustrated by the pace of progress at the national level. They pledged to have a state register of workers in the sector by the end of August, which they hoped would then slot into a national register. The uproar surrounding the case of Joshua Dale Brown understandably has parents demanding immediate action, while politicians are left explaining the constraints they work under. But it is nearly three years since Deborah Glass, in her role as Victorian ombudsman, issued a report pointing to holes in the state's system of working with children checks. It was only this April that Allan launched a 'rapid review' of the system. Why such a delay? Robert Fitzgerald, a commissioner for the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, told The Age federal and state governments have had the opportunity to act on the recommendation for a nationally coordinated working with children scheme since 2015. In the ten years since, they have failed to do so. He says it is time to 'get the job done.' Yesterday, the premier spoke about an 'urgent review' into the incident. For parents waiting to discover whether their children have been abused, talk of urgency and pledges of reform will wear thin if not followed by palpable action.
The Age
an hour ago
- The Age
Albanese is the conservative who mugged the Liberals. Let's hope he seizes the moment
Anthony Albanese is a man who likes props. In the 2022 election campaign, he regularly brandished a one-dollar coin to emphasise his support for a pay rise for workers on the minimum wage. And in the lead-up to this year's election, he employed his Medicare card as a talisman to ward off Peter Dutton's supposedly evil plans for the nation's healthcare system. Clearly, his approach has worked. Everyone has a Medicare card and Albanese was wise to embed in the public consciousness that Medicare is a Labor Party creation, implemented by Bob Hawke's government in 1984 against the fierce opposition of the Coalition. Because Medicare, for all its shortcomings, is an entrenched and popular feature of everyday Australian life, the Labor Party of today has been able to leverage Hawke's long-ago policy success to its great advantage. There's upside for the ALP in portraying itself as a defender of institutions, as it can make the party look less risky, and Albanese leant into this heavily during the election campaign. At his recent post-election address at the National Press Club, he outlined the reasons Labor had won a second term. Electors, he said, had voted for Australian values and for doing things 'our way' – that is, not like Donald Trump and Trump-wannabe Peter Dutton. He also cited Labor's 'commitment to fair wages and conditions, universal Medicare and universal superannuation' that 'set us apart from the world'. In some respects, it's a conservative formulation for a centre-left party: preserving what's already in place. And that signals some potential downside for the government. Universal super was the joint brainchild of Paul Keating and the ACTU's Bill Kelty as part of the union movement's Accord agreement, which also gave rise to Medicare. The historically transformational nature of universal super has been brought into sharp focus this week, with the attainment of the compulsory 12 per cent super contribution and the wider discussion about super balances in the millions of dollars. Inevitably, talk of that achievement invites comparisons between the current Labor government and the all-conquering five-term government led first by Hawke and then Keating. Hawke and Keating wasted no time in office. The Albanese government is 38 months old. Inside the same timeframe, the Hawke government had held two summits – on the economy and on tax – and introduced Medicare, a new incomes policy, an assets test on pensions, floated the dollar, changed the banking system, begun the march on super and produced a comprehensive new package of tax measures. Loading Somewhere within the Labor Party, people will eventually start to ask what a Labor leader 40 years from now will be fighting to preserve from the Albanese years. The course that the prime minister is pursuing – backed strongly by Labor's national secretary Paul Erickson, who has definitely earned his status as the nation's campaigning guru du jour – is the one that secured the government's second victory. In short, the government's first priority will be about delivering methodically on its promises, namely reducing HECS debts, building 1.2 million homes, continuing the push towards renewables, increasing the number of Medicare urgent clinics, and continuing to keep inflation down. That makes sense, especially since the national political scene is now a bunch of players who have, to an extent, been mugged by reality. Everyone is a smartie after the event, but no one expected a Labor landslide. The government wasn't geared up for it. The Liberals had even less of a clue. None of the polls predicted it. YouGov got closest; its central projection was 84 lower house seats for Labor – a mild increase on its majority but still 10 short of the actual, stratospheric result.
