I’ve been consistently critical of the Labor party since Anthony Albanese became leader after Labor’s narrow but unexpected loss in 2019. It’s always easy to fall prey to confirmation bias in this kind of thing, making much of the bad and ignoring the good. To check my beliefs, I’m taking a widely circulated list of Labor’s claimed achievements, and giving my own responses. This is by no means a complete list of the governments achievements, and of course it doesn’t mention failures, but I’m confining myself to the list for now. Readers can judge whether I’m being fair.
Claims are in bold, my responses in italic
*Establishing National anti-corruption Commission
No significant prosecutions yet, decision not to pursue robodebt
*Cheaper child care
Genuine, but partially eroded by fee increases
*Pay rise for aged care workers
A special case, amid real wage reductions for most workers
*Tripling the bulk billing incentive
Not sufficient to prevent a decline in bulk billing
*Single parent payment extended to age 14 (57,000 single carers will receive an extra $176.90 p/n)
Good. Reversal of change made by Howard and accelerated under Gillard
*$500 electricity rebate for all concession card holders
A once-off handout
*Savings on PBS subsidised meds
$12.50 per script Small but worthwhile
*60 Day dispensing halving the cost of medications
Overstated, but still worthwhile
*Paid domestic violence carers leave
Up to 10 days, small but worthwhile
*Increase to Jobseeker and Rent Assistance (biggest increase to rent assistance in three decades)
Jobseeker increase of $20 above indexation (Morrison gave $50 increase). Still way below poverty line. Rent assistance just kept pace with rising rents
*Cybersecurity developments
No idea what this is
*The Housing Australia Future Fund
A half-baked idea, still to produce any actual houses. Greens pressure drove much stronger action.
*Robodebt Royal Commission
No consequences for those responsible, no systemic reforms
*180,000 fee free TAFE places
Good. Probably the most significant expenditure initiative of this government
*NDIS sustainability
These are cuts. Arguably necessary but misleadingly described
*Largest increase ever for cancer nurses
Small but worthwhile
*Review into Australia’s visa system
If there is one thing this government does, it’s review
*Reopening trade to China
Overstated – China’s sanctions were largely symbolic and never affected our major export, iron ore
* Triple incentives for GPs
Repeated from above – not enough to stop decline in bulk billing
*58 Urgent Care Clinics
Worthwhile but small, and far too little to fix problems in emergency wards
* Fairer conditions for workers
Working conditions one of the positives for this government, but real wages have fallen
* Fixing a one-sided tax change
More hide than Jessie the Elephant. The one-sided tax change was their own election commitment, matching the LNP. Even after the fix, most middle income earners paid higher taxes than when the government was elected because of the scrapping of LMITO
* Two Surpluses (Two more than the LNP)
Who cares
* Aged care reforms
Marginal tweaks
* Halving of the inflation rate since coming into office.
If Labor wants credit for this, should be blamed for increase in unemployment rate and reduction in real wages
John Quiggin 
The Artificial Labour Party is led by a teflon PM. The desperate attempts to avoid all blame for anything, only to provide half baked solutions to serious community problems, marks the outcomes of the first two years of this government. There are incompetent ministers being allowed to hold on to their well paid jobs. There are also incompetent public servants that are either, left in high paid jobs, or, allowed to go off with good references into high paid private employment. The federal anti corruption commission is a white elephant. It does nothing. This makes it a perfect brainchild of this federal cabinet. In a paranoid way, the ALP cabinet seeks not to offend anyone. This is impossible to do when in power. Already it has offended the Palestinian community and a large part of the
Muslim community. This may cost the ALP seats at the next federal election.
But it is it’s half baked solutions to everything that really lose them support. This federal cabinet has no vision. It only aims to survive and stay in power. This greed for power will bring it down. When this happens the ALP only has itself to blame.
Re inflation and housing affordability. From the SPA eNews October #1, 2024:
“While Australia’s Canberra Bubble ‘Handsome Boy’ leader focuses on the evils of potato chip ‘shrinkflation’, it has been noted that between January 2020 and December 2022, the cost of a starter home (a house in the 25th percentile by value) rose by 36.8%, while the cost of a packet of chips, as measured by the CPI rose 9.5%. Australians are being forced into smaller houses on smaller blocks of land at three time the price that was common just 30 years ago.”
Home – Sustainable Population Australia
Albanese’s finest achievement during this term for Another Liberal Party’s misgovernment remains yet to be claimed:
Proposed campaign finance changes are disingenuous and disrespectful
Nicolette Boele
Oct 06, 2024, updated Oct 06, 2024
Proposed election campaign finance changes are disingenuous (thenewdaily.com.au)
I feel similarly to GJM but also see things a little differently. I think this is the first fully adult, competent, unified, and in fact individually serious Federal government in Australia since at least perhaps Keating’s ended and we ended up with Howard. So the first potentially real government this century. And that has certainly been desperately needed. Yet the fact it’s been such a wreck tells us a few things. I am way left of Labor. I think it should stop calling itself the ALP and become the Australian Market Party, since they only take account of workers, etc, in terms of what I think is a weasel word, “aspiration”, and for them “the market will solve everything”. So I wasn’t expecting that much, even from the first real government in ages. I did have some hopes though, that there would be at least some real movement, on climate for example. Most of these hopes have been more than dashed. If one accepts that this is a government with serious intentions and coherence, then what has gone wrong? Most things, but why? Many sides to this. The government was always going to be conservative, with the usual centre right position for most “social democrats” now, dominated by the outmoded economics into which those involved are literally educated (JQ is very good on critique of the economics involved of course). But to be fair, they’ve also inherited a diabolical series of circumstances, their own “polycrisis”, and this within an equally diabolical (and largely infantile) media context. I think they still should have pursued the good. Dutton and co are a reason, although again not the excuse they’ve become. And I don’t care about parties—Labor people are obsessed with the ALP—when they’re not going to do anything because of “reasons” .. the country needs things to be done, whatever (I’m old enough to remember Whitlam). But if they ever had the courage, they lost it pretty quickly. Though I also think it’s pretty much impossible to govern these days. There’s just too many demands and too much going on. The demands are very real. And indeed we can tend to fetishise the more visible theatre of government and personalities, ignoring what’s really going on and where it’s going on. This, the broader problem, is seriously systemic. Globally, but with very distinctly Australian inflections. One aspect of this is how all kinds of management/organisational work work (or more correctly, no longer function). Instead it’s “reasons”, “comms”, dodgy KPI etc schemes, line management controlled by the well remunerated dubious. Along with huge investments by and in lobbyists, think tanks and notably big consultants (and all of whom seem literally to have a large hand in writing actual policy/legislation these days) .. all of this substituting for actual, real-world function. In government, public service, corporations, and in the increasing blurring between these, etc. It’s convenient for everyone, including and especially politicians, because there’s lots of activity but you don’t have to do very much at all for real. Except service the various “interests”. So Australia is basically only continuing to find real function within momentum from the past. And this is not heading anywhere good. I’ve never been so concerned about it to be honest. When you think of all the major problems (social, changes in technology, which are huge, often regressive but demanding, political, environmental, economics, etc etc) and then you think of all the scandals of dysfunction/corruption, governmental and corporate, it’s hard not to despair. These scandals and dysfunctions are usually, in public discussion and the media, made into individual events. The fact is you find very similar dynamics within them all. Indeed within much of what now passes for everyday life. And that is hardly discussed, within the mainstream anyway.
For the most part I agree with your assessments. That said, you identify one omission (failures, e.g., the way they handled the review of the Covid episode, the way they handle the Palestine – Israel – Lebanon conflict) and of course the key question is whether on balance a government run by Dutton (or Morrison) would have done a better job. For all I can see, fat chance that. The only predictable outcome of the 2025 federal election is that the political duopoly of Labor and LNP will become even less influential. Which in my book is not a bad thing.
[…] Assessing Albanese: an annotated list by John Quiggin (Independent analysis) – Upfront and honest with a little shameless critique, easy read. A little sharp in places but let’s not make apologies, since Labor can do much better. And then there’s the Australian Greens Labor love to demonise, we sometimes call this reaction formation or just plain professional jealousy… hmm, professional that’s not right. […]