As the budget session ended, the hitherto dominant Albanese government was waking up to the existential threats it faces on multiple fronts.
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Threats like inflation, interest rates, the economy, housing affordability, and the Voice.
Unusually, each has an oddly Jekyll and Hyde-like quality being both a policy priority and a site of distinct vulnerability.
This dualism makes Labor's political calculus contingent on outcomes not yet knowable.
And the ALP is not the only party thinking this way.
The "careful reader", to borrow a favourite Martin Amis phrase, will discern much from the tone and speed of attacks emanating from Labor's right and left flanks.
The stratagems adopted by the Coalition and the Greens betray where they believe Labor is vulnerable, and, just as interestingly, what their social research arms are telling them about how the government and the issues are tracking - right down to the words and arguments used by voters.
Bearing this in mind, it was ominous that the opposition zeroed in so relentlessly on Indigenous Australians Minister Linda Burney all week, ventilating claims now endemic on social media, that the Voice is inherently "divisive" and that it would weigh into every matter coming before government.
Moreover, it seems the Coalition has judged Burney to be an unconvincing chief advocate of the Voice once the discussion moves beyond broader brushstrokes.
Labor erred by leaving the 66-year-old on her own to face a sometimes sneering fusillade of pseudo-gotchas in question time, each crafted to generate an increasingly bellicose right-wing opposition.
Seemingly pleased with his work, Peter Dutton even had the chutzpah at week's end, to lament the looming setback for Indigenous reconciliation after an unsuccessful referendum. A setback it appears he is trying his darndest to bring about.
What next? PwC railing against greed and bemoaning the collapse of trust in our corporate tax system?
Labor's serenity during this pile-on was beyond odd. It was not clear why questions probing the legal scope and technical design aspects of the Voice could not be handled by Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus (who introduced the referendum bill) or the Prime Minister himself.
It took days for a properly front-footed case presaging better policy outcomes to emerge from Albanese, Health Minister Mark Butler, and Education Minister Jason Clare.
The official line from the government is that the Voice debate now moves from Parliament and politicians to people and communities.
![Greens leader Adam Bandt, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Opposition Leader Peter Dutton. Pictures by Sitthixay Ditthavong and Keegan Carroll Greens leader Adam Bandt, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Opposition Leader Peter Dutton. Pictures by Sitthixay Ditthavong and Keegan Carroll](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/rJkJNFPcdBkDQKqtkgHSjA/03e4d516-a4b8-49dc-b7f6-ab4f57ae16b4.jpg/r0_0_3750_2108_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
Yet that comforting notion really only made sense before the current polarisation, before the Coalition committed itself to a high-octane wrecking role. Like it or not, this referendum is now very political with both sides viewing it as a golden opportunity, albeit for opposite terms.
The situation on the economy is not dissimilar.
Treasurer Jim Chalmers continues to field questions about the future of Philip Lowe, Governor of the Reserve Bank, and chief lightning rod for angst over soaring interest rates.
Lowe's five-year term ends in September and few believe he will be re-appointed given the 12 cash-rate hikes he's dialled in since May, 2022 (before the election).
Dr Chalmers is canvassing cabinet colleagues on the Governor's extension or replacement. Even this is not straightforward. Lowe has been a useful human shield during the worst inflationary spike in more than a generation - a spike that has forced the central bank to ruthlessly tighten the screws after signalling mortgage rates would stay low until 2024.
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It is hard to think of another occasion when the independent bank and its governor have been so awkwardly drawn into the daily politico-media discourse. There are two schools of thought. Some in Labor believe he should be dumped, not least for seemingly underestimating the inflationary hangover-effect of $300 billion-plus of Morrison-era stimulus.
Although, others warn that, once removed, opprobrium over what could yet become a recession will shift more decisively to the government, which has largely escaped that blame until now.
A bullishly strong post-pandemic economy with very low unemployment is another Jekyll-and-Hyde factor.
The government brags in Parliament that wages are finally rising, that the jobless rate is extremely low at 3.6 per cent, and that 465,000 jobs were created in its first year in office - a record for any new government. But, again, these same indicators are likely to force the RBA to keep tightening, whether Lowe's there or not.
Labor's stoush with the "Greens political party" as it insists on calling it, became surprisingly bitter during the week also around the issue of soaring rents and a dearth of affordable housing.
The minor party has played hardball by teaming with the Coalition in the Senate to block Labor's Housing Australia Future Fund. It believes Labor's commitment to low-income housing is inadequate even though the Greens extracted significant concessions - a $500 million annual floor in public housing construction rather than a $500 million cap, and another $2 billion for the states to flow immediately.
Albanese and Tanya Plibersek, two inner-city Sydney MPs who have faced direct challenges from the Greens party over successive elections, wound up the hostility mocking the Greens as a party that preferred protest to progress.
The smaller party bristles but there's no denying it has taken a calculated risk, gambling that the one-third of Australians locked in the rental vortex will thank it for political representation even if it comes at the expense of material action.
Now into its second year, Labor faces renewed political competition on both sides, and must know that nothing can be taken for granted.
- Mark Kenny is The Canberra Times' political analyst and a professor at the ANU's Australian Studies Institute. He hosts the Democracy Sausage podcast. He writes a column every Sunday.