Labor soars, Coalition fumbles – and no one’s really looking at the big issues

Labor finished the last parliamentary week on a high. There is a feeling within caucus that the party has a plan for dealing with One Nation, helped along by the fact the Coalition is completely without one.

The Liberals’ switch to Angus Taylor has put a spring in the steps of Anthony Albanese and his office.

Criticising Sussan Ley had to be done in very specific terms, given the dangers of being perceived to be speaking down to, or acting aggressively to, a woman. But Taylor, who appears to have stepped out of Liberal Party central casting, is fair game.

Plus, no one is going to accuse him of being quick on his feet, despite his time in the political bullpit. For a political animal like Albanese, Taylor’s leadership has been a gift.

The “three right-wing political parties” is a line that has tested well for Labor and hence has been deployed at every opportunity.

The only sign the Coalition had found a point of difference came with a heavy assist from independent senator David Pocock and the Greens, who co-sponsored legislation with the Coalition to keep humans at the forefront of aged care funding decisions. This followed reporting from Guardian Australia’s Melissa Davey earlier this year that revealed the cruelty of algorithmic decisions, which may be ticked off by humans but have largely removed their discretion.

Pushes from MPs such as Monique Ryan, who have been tireless in taking constituent cases to the Aged Care Minister Sam Rae to show the real world impact of the system, along with the non-partisan united front in the Senate, forced Labor to concede an “extenuating circumstances” discretion was needed. Critics immediately pointed out it would capture fewer cases than what the Greens, Pocock and Coalition legislation aims to help.

For a very brief few moments in the last House question time, the Coalition had found a cause that gave it some legitimacy and had Labor on the backfoot. Then it chose, again, to shoot itself in it’s own foot, returning to culture wars and inside baseball, areas where Labor is more than comfortable fighting.

Much like he did in defending Ley against misogynistic headlines, which served to highlight that her Coalition colleagues had not, Albanese defended and praised the Liberals’ most likely next leader, Andrew Hastie, for taking a stand against One Nation – again, shining a light on the fact the Coalition leadership had not.

Meanwhile, Coalition MPs continue to freelance, seeing “socialism” and “communism” everywhere from superannuation to housing programs, while unable to find a cohesive message on some of the biggest challenges of our time.

Because, as Taylor undertakes a winter break seat blitz, aimed at trying to arrest the fall he is expediting, in the shadow of a NSW ICAC investigation involving a close ally, Labor continues, as Sydney Morning Herald columnist Sean Kelly has pointed out, building its steady as she goes strategy, brick by brick.

It’s able to do that, because all the issues overhanging Labor – and the country – are ones the Coalition remains in lockstep with the government on. There are so many issues that need attention – from the targeted compliance framework and the life-altering (and most likely unlawful) penalties underpinning our mutual obligations framework to the burning question of sovereignty regarding submarines provided by the US under AUKUS – as well as what happens with American bases on Australian land in the event of conflict.

Australia’s environmental laws remain a mess, heavily skewed towards fossil fuel interests.

There is no real mainstream political interest in regulating big tech, even in the face of AI, which is setting up conflicts with Australia’s natural resources; not only will AI’s data centres suck up water and energy – both of which have led to price increases for every day citizens in the US where data centres have been built – it will compete with housing developments for land use. That’s before the issues of copyright and protections for workers, which was raised again by advocates in the parliament this week but is yet to be taken seriously by either of Australia’s mainstream political parties. Because that’s the big issue here.

Zoom out and Australia faces major existential questions and threats, but our politics is focused on the horse race between a lame non-starter and a Clydesdale.

It may be true that the more voters see of Pauline Hanson and One Nation the less attracted they are. It may also be true that it won’t matter – because if it’s not Hanson, it will be another populist grievance harvester with no answers but plenty of permission for unleashing our worst selves.

Labor has already taken care of any major dissent potential at the upcoming national conference at the end of the month, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t any. And the Coalition will limp along with Taylor until it can find someone else willing to step up to the loser’s plate. Neither help the country.