While the government may not wish to blindside the electorate, there is plenty of room for more ambitious reform in areas it has established as priorities.
While the government may not wish to blindside the electorate, there is plenty of room for more ambitious reform in areas it has established as priorities.
Editorial
The Age’s View
May 10, 2025 — 5.51am
May 10, 2025 — 5.51am
“Move us away from fossil fuels and into a future of clean energy and exports”; “far-reaching policies on housing”; “a tax system that is fair and equitable” ; “public schools and health funded so no one is left behind”; “at least begin getting rid of negative gearing”; “address the treatment of refugees and asylum seekers”.
The Labor Party’s unprecedented achievement of winning a second term with an increased majority has The Age’s letter writers thinking big. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Treasurer Jim Chalmers are sitting on a freshly won heap of political capital, they argue; surely now is the time to start adding items to their shopping list for the next three years and even beyond?
On election night, Chalmers acknowledged “impatience” in the community when it comes to “our big national challenges”, but when asked about major tax reform, he demurred, insisting that “our agenda is the one that we took to the people” and pointing to the numbers in the Senate – which are not so clearly in Labor’s favour – to qualify any talk of greater ambition.
The priorities Chalmers reiterated on election night – housing supply, transforming how we generate energy, increasing productivity – are certainly first-order tasks and ones where Labor could be accused of so far tinkering at the edges rather than making the kind of profound policy shifts the situation demands.
The Age argued throughout this election that more vision is required from our leaders and that in victory, Albanese must seize the mandate he has been given to enact bolder change.
It is certainly arguable that the size of this victory should be seen as absolute vindication of the government’s slow and steady approach to its first term of government. That argument, however, does not account for the continuing low overall primary vote for both major parties. Slightly fewer than 35 per cent of the country preferenced Labor first. Fewer than 21 per cent put a “1” next to a Liberal candidate.
Voters are clearly still looking for something more from the parties of government. While they may not wish to blindside the electorate, there is plenty of room for more ambitious reform in areas they have already established as priorities.
Loading
The Age urges this government to move quickly on its promises of universal access to childcare and to start the process of repealing some of the Morrison era’s changes to the university sector, widely regarded as a failure. Albanese has confirmed that the first bill to be put to the new parliament will be its election promise to cut student debts by 20 per cent.
Advertisement
The question of climate change was one that did not feature prominently in this election, even in those seats held by Greens or “teal” independents, yet it persists. In our immediate region, the Pacific Islands Climate Action Network, made up of civil society organisations, certainly preferred Labor’s re-election to the return of the Coalition, but noted that at this “moment of urgency”, there have been “significant shortcomings” in the government’s approach to emissions and fossil fuels.
The blows being inflicted on the global trading system by the Trump administration and the question of how to manage our relations with both Washington and Beijing in an uncertain world will require Albanese to put some of his newfound confidence to use in articulating how we intend to navigate and build partnerships to address this volatility.
While the treasurer was keen to label the prime minister as “practical, pragmatic, problem-solving”, Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles told us that “there is a power in universality”. Those two threads will have to be woven together if the euphoria of election night and the days that have followed are to be made into something more lasting.
Loading
Nothing is more universal than taxes, and while the cuts Labor took to the election are pragmatic, they don’t solve the problem of what economist Saul Eslake called “an increasingly inefficient and inequitable tax system … increasingly incapable of generating the revenue required to pay for the spending which the public clearly expects”.
Among those services are the NDIS, and it will certainly be a national challenge to keep the costs of that scheme in check while also protecting it from those who seek to defraud it. It is a challenge Labor must meet if talk of universality, kindness and no one left behind is to be more than campaign slogans.
A modest and disciplined campaign delivered Albanese and his team a stunning victory. Yet already there are signs of the party’s factional divisions resurfacing. To do what is best for readers and the nation, the campaign’s modesty and discipline will have to be wedded to a sense of the historic opportunity which now presents itself and a willingness to engage all sections of our community in the work ahead. We hope that Labor can seize the moment.
The Opinion newsletter is a weekly wrap of views that will challenge, champion and inform your own. Sign up here.
The Age’s View – Since The Age was first published in 1854, the editorial team has believed it important to express a considered view on the issues of the day for readers, always putting the public interest first.
Loading
Discover more from World Byte News
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
