But downshifts can also involve a bit of crunchiness. Albanese has vowed to change the tone of politics for a “conflict-weary” electorate.
The resolution of the fate of the Nadesalingam family, who on Friday was able to return to their foster home in Biloela, Queensland, was a vision of what Australia might look like without the kind of punitive policy that kept the family closed for 1,500 days.
Sisters Kopika, right, and Tharnicaa with their parents Priya and Nades Murugappan at a press conference after landing on Friday at Thangool airfield near Biloela. Credit: Dan Peled / Getty Images
Albanese’s meeting with Indonesian President Joko Widodo in the Bogor Gardens was also refreshing: after so many years of male politicians riding large vehicles and operating heavy machinery for the cameras, a pleasant ride on bamboo bikes was enjoyable.
But back home, the evil problem of the energy crisis was expected. Energy Safety Board chief Anna Collyer said the challenge of switching the coal-fired power grid to clean energy was “mind-boggling” in its difficulty.
On Wednesday, Federal Energy Minister Chris Bowen convened a meeting of his state and territorial counterparts to find a solution. He described the meeting as “very cooperative and constructive”; no adjectives have been used for a while to describe a multilateral meeting.
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The group also agreed to create a national transition plan to eliminate fossil fuels. It is a plan to make a plan, but even so, it would have been impossible for the Morrison government to make such a resolution, paralyzed as it was with the internal division over fossil fuel policy.
The problem with the tender outbursts of cooperation we are witnessing is that opposition leader Peter Dutton is not involved. He has already made it clear that “he will not support any policy that makes it unbearable to turn on the lights for families and businesses.” A strange statement considering that it is the policies (or lack thereof) of nine years of coalition government that have led to the current accessibility crisis.
“If electricity prices go up 100 percent, then climate change won’t be as important a priority as it is now,” Dutton told my colleague Peter Hartcher last week.
Dutton’s recent engagement focuses on the “forgotten people” of Australia, the aspiring people of the suburbs. He says they care more if electric cars are affordable than if they are good for the planet. But the two things are not in conflict in the medium and long term.
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Clean energy, when established, is cheap and constantly replenished.
Dutton knows Labor will get a free pass for a while, which he can rely on to blame his predecessor for a period of time. But he is interested in making sure that this period is as short as possible.
Albanese is not a lamb, but is he a natural fighter? For someone who grew up in the wild kindergarten of NSW Labor, it is remarkable how little political baggage he carries with him to the Prime Minister.
Albanese held the torn threads of Julia Gillard’s minority government together (until they were completely broken). As the leader of the Gillard government house, he had a cordial and business relationship with his office, although everyone knew that he was part of the Rudd team during the damaging leadership wars of that period.
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When the party disintegrated under pressure from the Rudd-Gillard rivalry, Albanese delivered a public speech in which he said he liked to fight the Conservatives.
“That’s what I do. That’s what I do,” he said.
This line is sometimes used against him, with the context stripped.
He was close to tears as he spoke because his heart was broken by the Labor Party’s internal war at the time. He did not want to fight against his own people. He wanted to fight his political opponents.
The good news is that Dutton will give you plenty of opportunities to do just that.
Twitter: @JacquelineMaley