From lefty legend in his own lunchtime to lobby lady of the evening. This is the story, as I see it, of our current Prime Minister.

I had high hopes for Albo, given what I knew of him and the Labor braggadocio surrounding him (you have no idea how much I searched for workable alliteration there). I confess in the Shorten/Albo struggle for supremacy I was on Bill’s side, given his public, courageous, yet vain attempt at selling traditional Labor policy ideas and objectives. But Bill’s failure speaks to a broader issue both for Labor and Australian polity generally. I’ll get to that (probably not). For now, lets look at Albo, the iconic, poster-boy, archetypal etc etc Labor personality.

Fuck it. It’s true. He was. Hell he was even a supporter of Palestinians at one time.

I know, right? He used to not be a totally compliant, gutless prick.

It’s true Albo grew up with all the right cultural, political and socio-economic accoutrement to evolve into a Labor Party icon, which he successfully did. It’s also true he was a beacon of those characteristics and ultimately a valid object of such social-political enthrallment. He was, even if in some sense a background poster boy for Labor ideology, nevertheless a meaningful motif. His public persona has long been of this nature. His support for leftist economic and social policy also largely in lock-step. But it’s become clear, to me at least, that the position of Prime Minister changes people, and mostly for the worse.

I understand the pressures of such a position, or at least I can do my best to imagine them, and therefore have some sympathy for those in such a position of what has to be said is immense responsibility. I understand the complexity that exists in juggling vested and powerful interests. I mean, we saw Kevin Rudd cave to the pressure of the mining lobby over a no-brainer tax policy. We saw Julia Gillard cave to just about everyone. We saw Bill Shorten ruined by the nation’s real estate industry at the 2019 election (though, to his credit, he never actually caved). Politics is tough, perhaps tougher than it’s ever been. Maybe there’s less scope for genuine idealism in our modern polity than has previously been the case. I’m increasingly inclined to that somewhat maudlin view.

But here we are with Albo, a man, a “leader” (cough), granted the gift of a rare, undeniable political mandate (a thing that only very rarely occurs). But what has he and Labor done with that clear mandate? Fuck-all from Blackall is the only reasonable and probably culturally inaccurate reference I can think of.

Yes, Labor has done some half-decent stuff, and yet we have the worst housing/rental and homelessness crisis this country has ever seen. I see no urgency of response or policy creativity regarding that but I do see a lot of dick-waving about back-to-back budget surpluses, which in most circumstances I consider an economic and moral travesty. I see a lot of under-the-radar pin-feather plumage weakness, but not much action that such a political mandate grants and warrants, if not outright demands.

Then, and this is a big “then”, we have Labor’s current geopolitical model, which seems to amount to the most pathetic, paltry, pitiful capitulation to some of the most poisonous political paradigms of modern history. Again, I get the necessity of diplomacy. I also get that our relationship with a given nation is bigger than our relationship with some passing, pissant administration. But, really, there are limits, both political and moral. Embarrassing your own country to preserve some perceived international relationship is never acceptable, and never a sign of intellectual or political proficiency. There are ways to tell someone to “fuck off” without losing the relationship. Professional diplomats do it every other day.

Albo’s moral passivity, intellectual indolence and absence of character crying out for more than just a touch of tadalafil has become intolerable. And, at the risk of being called a racist, which I am prepared to wear in this circumstance, a Wong doesn’t make him right. His, and his government’s position (whatever the living fuck that actually is) and their weasel-mouthed “concerns” regarding Israel and Gaza are a thing to be seriously questioned if not outright repudiated. The World knows a genocide is happening. The World is prepared to say so, but not to do anything meaningful in response, it seems.

Australia can’t even raise itself to the level of a serious rhetorical rebuke. This is how strong the Zionist lobby has become. My feelings about that belong in another article, but suffice to say Albo is possessed by its power. And this is where I return to my view that high office changes people. And while I can understand how this might be inevitable to some degree, I think in Albo’s case it’s now evolved into the realm of the inexorable. Whether that speaks to an aspect of his own character or a facet of political power and responsibility I don’t really know. I’m inclined to the latter, but in the end the distinction is all but trivial as it’s the real and practical consequences that matter.

I’m sadly of the view that Albo’s “decline” echoes and perhaps closely mirrors that of the Labor Party more generally. A façade built in the image of past glories and accomplishments, but now fabricated on an edifice the equivalent of a game of Jenga, where corporations, lobbyists, and the disgustingly rich get to have the first, if not all the goes.

Thanks for reading. Best to you all.