Promise and Performance

This is the first comprehensive review of the Albanese Labor Government. It seeks to provide a critical but balanced assessment of the Albanese Government’s first term. The academic and expert contributors to this edited volume have been asked not just to review what happened but to assess whether the Albanese Government has made its mark on Australian government and if so in what ways. Was it ‘reformist’ in the Hawke-Keating style, or was it ‘reformist’ in the more traditional Labor mode like some regard the Whitlam Government? Is there a leading reform that has made life better for Australians in a measurable way? Was its successes or failures of its own making or the result of trends outside its immediate control?


Contents
Promise and Performance: An Introduction – Scott Prasser

Part 1: Overview: The Changing Political Environment
1 The Albanese Government’s Election Performances – Malcolm Mackerras
2 How Albanese and Chalmers have Created a New Narrative of Australian Politics – Greg Melleuish
3 Labor’s Federal Election Performance in Queensland – John Mickel
4 The Dutton-led Opposition in Labor’s First Term – Peter van Onselen

Part 2: Managing the institutions
5 The Public Service under Albanese – Paddy Gourley
6 Creating a New Standards Regime and a Safer Workplace for Parliament – Maria Maley
7 The Albanese Government’s Public Inquiries: Targeting Political Opponents? – Scott Prasser

Part 3: Managing the policies
8 The Australian Economy over the Albanese Government’s First Term – Gene Tunny
9 Fiscal Policy under the Albanese Government, 2022-2025 – Saul Eslake
10 Perverse Productivity Policies: Rhetoric vs Reality – Gary Banks
11 The Albanese Government’s Industrial Relations Program – Richard Calver
12 Energy and Environment Policy – Aynsley Kellow
13 Aviation Policy: A Reluctance to Reform? – Peter Forsyth
14 Labor’s Higher Education Agenda: A La-La-Land Wish List– Salvatore Babones
15 The Voice Debacle – Gary Johns
16 The Drift of Australian Foreign Policy – Michael Easson
17 Defence Policy – David Lee
18 The Albanese Government Record on Government Services and Digital Transformation – Mike Kelly
19 Religious Freedom: Always the Bridesmaid, Never the Bride – Mark Spencer
20 Anyone for Footy? A Policy in Search of a Goal: The Albanese Government’s PNG NRL Initiative – Andrea Wallace

Part 4: Aftermath: Lessons for the Future?
21 Lessons for the Future – Scott Prasser