Who Am I?

I was raised in public housing by my mother, who was a single parent.

The first in my family to finish school, I graduated from university with a Bachelor of Economics.

My pet dog is called Toto and I live between Sydney and Canberra.

If you guessed Anthony Albanese, you’re right. You’re probably also in a select few.

Who is Anthony Albanese, and where the hell is he?

The ALP leader, on paper, fits his post like a pea in a pod.

He knows how hard it is for families, because he’s been there.

He’s committed, no doubt, having introduced one bill – to grant same-sex couples the same super benefits as heterosexual couples – four times before it eventually became law.

He works hard. Long days. Short nights.

He’s Sydney to the boot-straps, and is a parent who wants his son to inherit a better world.

He developed Labor’s Climate Change Blueprint, and served in a host of portfolios.

He’s done his time.

The apology to the stolen generation is the day he nominates as his proudest in Parliament, he was instrumental in the National Disability Insurance Scheme, and both inside and outside the party, Labor supporters rejoiced when he took over the reins as party leader in 2019.

But is that the end of the story?

Where is Labor’s big vision? Where is its take-down of a Coalition that is messy and chaotic and lacking vision?

Indeed, where is Anthony Albanese?

Party rules mean that a leadership coup is unlikely, or near impossible. Labor’s learnt its lesson there – but does that mean mediocre leadership is now the party’s future?

Australia needs a vision that goes beyond a three-second television grab, beyond the revolving social media cycle, and beyond tomorrow.

It needs a post-COVID plan, and a plan for a future that isn’t based on coal and distrust and acrimonious divisions between states.

And that calls for a leader with courage. Paul Keating might have been a bull in a china shop, but everyone knew he was in charge.

Leadership, thank goodness, has changed since then – but the importance of leading and taking people with you has not. And Anthony Albanese has failed in his ability to do both.

Worse than that, it’s a case of Where’s Wally. Where is he today? Yesterday? Tomorrow?

Few can claim the Coalition, under Scott Morrison, is doing a good job. He’s not.

On most days, from both a national and an international perspective, his government is caught up more in a demonstration of chaos than order.

That should provide an inside run for Labor, but it has failed to capitalise on both the Coalition disunity and the consequences of it for our nation.

On climate, Scott Morrison and his side kicks in the National Party look all over the place – so why isn’t Labor seen and credited widely as the leaders here?

The Christian Porter saga should have been the moment every voter was demanding more transparency and accountability in government – but Labor has allowed that debate to be side-tracked too.

On the pandemic, why is it the states, not Anthony Albanese, that is providing a way forward.

Scott Morrison V the States appears to be the new political battle ground. It should be Morrison V Albanese. The Coalition V Labor.

Playing the small target used to work, and political parties used it to their advantage. Its effectiveness, though, has been muted by social media where supporters and detractors can, at the tip of their fingers, access news firsthand, and provide feedback.

Safe politics might work on individual issues now, but not when a nation is screaming out for a post-pandemic vision that is coal-less, and transparent, that looks beyond the next government term, and ensures our children are able to find a job.

Voters want the mental health epidemic they are seeing in their schools and communities addressed. They want to know that tomorrow will be better than yesterday.

They want to know their prime minister. They want to hear from him. And believe in him.

Anthony Albanese, in his first speech, said he would be satisfied if he could be “remembered as someone who will stand up for the interests of my electorate, for working-class people, for the labour movement, and for our progressive advancement as a nation into the next century.”

His time – to secure that legacy – is running out.

And so is his chance to define a brand of leadership voters will back.