Is Anthony Albanese’s honeymoon over yet? Have we collectively moved into the passionless, just-staying-together-for-the-sake-of-the-kids state of marital monotony? Or are we still in the early haze of love in which even Albo’s most annoying habits are kinda cute?
Let’s ask the media.
Opinion, as they say, is divided. Some thought the honeymoon was over, really, before it began. Any thoughts of a honeymoon were rapidly diminishing, Nick Feik opined in early June, barely a fortnight after the election. A subeditor at Nine agreed, declaring Albanese’s honeymoon ended in a headline on a Sean Kelly piece on June 13.
Some waited a bit longer. On July 12, Guardian Australia declared the honeymoon was “fading”, just a few days after Chris Wallace wrote for Nine that “the Albanese government’s honeymoon has been one of the sweetest in political memory but could also be one of the shortest”.
But Newspoll showed the honeymoon was still continuing in early August — indeed, according to Jacqui Lambie, Albanese was still waltzing at the wedding. A couple of weeks later, the ABC’s Karen Tong reckoned that, by expert calculations, Albanese’s honeymoon would end on August 23.
Still, Eliza Edwards for Nine thought Albanese was going well at the end of August — but the next 100 days would be crucial (predicting “the next XXX period of time will be crucial” is a whole other form of political commentary). On September 5, Peta Credlin estimated the honeymoon was still going. But three weeks ago, Albanese’s honeymoon was “quickly coming to an end”, according to another Sky News commentator. A subeditor at The Australian waited until last week to declare the honeymoon over, even though Geoff Chambers only ventured “the prime minister’s post-election honeymoon and polling support will be put to the test”.
You can’t really blame political journalists for wanting to get back to real politics. It’s boring to write about popular prime ministers and steady-as-she-goes management as ministers get their feet under the desk. We became accustomed to the Morrison government, which rolled out a bungle, a lie or a major scandal every other day, in an extended high-tempo period of incompetence unmatched since, well, the Abbott years. A government that wants to take its time and try to get things right, or which is stolidly committed to carrying out its election commitments, is no fun at all.
That’s why the debate over the stage three tax cuts is so exciting, with headlines about Labor being divided and plans being prepared for abandoning the handouts to the wealthiest. At last — we’re back to governments breaking promises and misleading voters!
At News Corp, it’s manna from heaven. For months, journalists and editors at News Corp have had to endure a popular new Labor government. For a company where the commitment to ousting Labor would have been made in blood at about 10pm on election night, it’s undoubtedly been deeply frustrating. But here is an issue that could help damage Albanese and get the Coalition back in the game — the regime change project can finally commence.
Too bad the government has yet to decide anything, and appears to be floating the tax cut idea because it wants — as Jim Chalmers said recently — to have a conversation about how to pay for the dramatically larger government Labor inherited from the Coalition. But it’s been a particularly joyless honeymoon for News Corp, and the end can’t come soon enough.
