The practical challenge, in fact, is that labor policy to improve the electricity grid cannot go fast enough. The plan includes a $ 20 billion investment in transmission networks, courtesy of taxpayer support, in a colossal public intervention to support renewable energy. This will make no difference this winter because the Liberals and Nationals were unable to add enough power to the grid while holding power for nine years.
A new scheme to subsidize power generators that provide a reliable supply, known as a capacity mechanism, will also take time. The final design will not be delivered to Energy Ministers until February; no one knows when it will start and how much consumers will have to pay for the subsidies.
The first four weeks of the new government included a backflip. Albanese repeatedly criticized the structure of the national cabinet while in opposition and promised greater transparency about its decisions. He left it, without explanation, on Friday. The top council, which is not really a cabinet, will be as secretive as before.
It is impossible for a new cabinet to take control without breaking the gears.
The first days also saw a call: the treatment of Tanya Plibersek. While there may be some logic to moving her from education to the environment, given that her new job is crucial and a new minister had to be found, she was not appointed Minister of Women. he had held this portfolio, with passion and skill, for six years. Whatever the reasons for Albanese’s decision, merit could not have been one of them.
The new women’s minister, Katy Gallagher, will have more than enough on her agenda as finance minister, a job that will force her to say no to spending. The problem is that the Minister of Women will have to be the voice of new policies and, inevitably, of new spending. The result is a structural challenge, not just a personal fault.
The work agenda will slowly emerge. The truth is that the government is still moving through the ministerial wing of Parliament, where former employees have just turned off paper shredders and newcomers are seeking technical support. Exhausted after years of opposition, some advisers have chosen not to sign up for new jobs. The rapid search for new workers is underway.
No one should be surprised that the transition takes time. It has been nine years since an opposition came to power in Canberra. This is a rare moment.
The last prime minister to go through this exercise, Tony Abbott, came out on the ground reviewing. Abbott set up a national audit commission in late 2013 before making major decisions. Elections were in September, the audit came out in May. Only then did the new government’s fiscal policy see the light of day with unpopular spending cuts in the first budget.
Australians should remember this story if and when the Liberals start complaining about the long wait for Albanese to reveal his hand. The work will take five months to draw up its budget; the Coalition took eight. (Of course, there was an update to the Coalition’s mid-year budget in late 2013, but the main policies only came the following May.)
It is a strength, not a weakness, for a new government to start with revisions. Albanese has called on senior public officials to review health funding. Treasurer Jim Chalmers has asked his department to audit spending programs. Chalmers will receive a five-year review by the Productivity Commission in February, which will shape the debate on economic reform. He wants an Intergenerational Report by the end of next year to focus on long-term decisions.
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Then there is the employment summit to be held in September or October. Labor has outlined its plans for the workplace law, including paid leave for domestic violence, minimum standards for “concert” workers, prohibitions on wage theft, and rules to ensure that workers hiring companies receive no less than directly hired workers. The summit opens a debate on new changes.
The country needs the cycle of renewal that a new government entails, but the cycle is not running quickly or smoothly. The whole exercise means breaking the gears of the government machinery at some point. It’s a shock to the system. It is designed to be.
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