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Sussan Ley likes a letter — so much so she added an extra one to her name. In a world in which we're constantly reminded not to put things in writing, the Coalition leader is showing little opposition to putting pen to paper.
And look, if Optus's recent record is anything to go by, the old snail mail is really rising in the ranks of reliable forms of communication (and yes of course she's not literally sending her letters in the post but you get the point).
It was only a week ago that Ley was taking the unorthodox approach of writing to Republican politicians to make clear she'd reverse Australia's recognition of Palestine. Another week, another letter, although this one was potentially to a more hostile audience... her own frontbench.
For decades, the prime minister of the day has written to each member of the ministry to outline their oversight of key government priorities and commitments.
It's not a step opposition leaders have opted for in the past so you can only imagine the surprise some in the shadow ministry got when an email from sussan.ley@goodshipopposition.gov.au dropped into their inboxes on Tuesday.
In comments published in the Nine newspapers, where reports of the letters first emerged, Ley's office argued the letters would help the Coalition develop a "clear, credible policy platform" that the opposition can take to the election.
Some were quick to see the letters as an embattled leader seeking to assert her control over the party after weeks of Liberal-on-Liberal brawling.
On another level, it's not too dissimilar from other steps her office is taking, seeking to put the opposition on a much more professional footing.
Given how the Coalition fared at the last election, where it was derided for being light on policies, it could do worse than outlining policy expectations for frontbenchers.
Renaissance man doesn't need a letter
One frontbencher who wasn't sitting back and waiting for instruction before beginning the task of shaping Coalition policies was Victorian Dan Tehan. Being a Liberal from Victoria makes you something of an endangered species within the federal party.
The Libs have performed so poorly south of the Murray in the last two elections that if you piled its MPs in a Tarago, you'd have spare seats.
Making matters worse for Tehan was his inheriting of a post-election poisoned chalice, the energy and emissions reduction portfolios.
Tehan has taken to the portfolio with gusto, and is freshly back from what he's calling a study tour of the United States, where he says a nuclear renaissance is underway.
Besides offering a nice cover to avoid the latest round of Coalition infighting over net zero, Tehan's US trip reinforced to him the importance of nuclear energy. But it is all but certain the policies he forms ahead of the election will have little resemblance to what came before.
Gone are the days of the Coalition advocating government built, owned and operated nuclear power plants. Instead expect the opposition to vow to remove the moratorium on nuclear energy and leave it to the private sector to invest, should it see fit.
Few expect it will end the internal fight over net zero, of which the government can tap into at any time, should it bring on Barnaby Joyce's (helpful) private member's bill to ditch the legislated commitment.
Cheaper deposits, bigger debt
There are three certainties in life: death, taxes and a prime minister rushing in front of cameras after a trip abroad to remind voters: "I'm here!"
Scott Morrison had no shortage of regional visits immediately after an overseas trip because who doesn't love a salt of the earth farmer?
Albanese is more of a hard hat kind of guy, and found himself in Sydney's inner west on Wednesday morning, just hours after he'd returned from a week-and-a-half abroad.
He was there to tout an expanded first home buyers scheme coming into force. The program allows buyers to get into the market with just a 5 per cent deposit
and avoid having to pay mortgage lenders insurance because the government guarantees 15 per cent of the loan.
"The median home price in Australia today is $844,000 and 5 per cent of that is $42,200," Albanese trumpeted in a media release with Housing Minister Clare O'Neil.
"The last time $42,200 covered the 20 per cent deposit for a median home was 2002, which shows the generational scale of this change."
It's true that a buyer might be able to get into the market with just $42,000. It's also true the deal will still see them owe 95 per cent of the loan, or $801,800, and that's without interest payments.
Albanese stepping out on the world stage
By and large, the government seemed pleased with how Albanese fared on the world stage, even if he copped criticism for attending a British Labour Party conference that even a diehard ALP supporter would struggle to defend as necessary.
Just as happy was deputy leader Richard Marles, who wasted no time making sure his letterhead was updated to remind all who would listen that he was the acting prime minister.
One part of the PM's trip that didn't go as well as he might have hoped was convincing the Turkish government to drop its bid to host next year's UN climate conference.
He did, however, return to better news closer to home, with PNG's cabinet agreeing to a landmark defence treaty with Australia.
Less pleasing for the PM were reports that China had banned iron ore imports from mining giant BHP.
We're yet to get his take on the separation of Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban but a morning commercial radio or TV interview should quickly clean that up.
Between a premier and a pot of money
That's not to suggest the government isn't without its headaches.
On Wednesday, Albanese was reminded about the perils of standing between a premier and a pot on money, with first ministers accusing him of reneging on a hospital funding commitment to the tune of billions of dollars. A deal struck in 2023 was meant to see the federal government increase its share of funding to 42.5 per cent by 2030, and 45 per cent by 2035.
Emerging from a meeting on Tuesday, they said the Albanese government's latest offer (a $20 billion funding boost) only amounted to 35 per cent. Their message, much like that delivered to Jerry Maguire, was simple: show me the money.
Are you still on the line?
The ongoing fallout from Optus's triple-0 outage quickly moved from headache to migraine after it emerged the embattled telco experienced another outage. It came just days before the company's board and parent company were due to
meet with Communications Minister Anika Wells.
Bounced at a press conference after the meeting, Wells attracted no shortage of headlines for, perhaps unwisely, noting she was a new minister in the portfolio. As the minister, she'll carry the can for what comes next within the government.
But questions linger for her predecessor, Michelle Rowland, the communications lawyer-turned-politician who spent six years in opposition and three years in government shaping Labor's policies. Internal critics will argue Rowland was too close to industry.
She's also facing criticism for why she wasn't quicker at introducing legislation for a triple-0 custodian, something she said in 2024 was a priority recommendation following a review of Optus's 2023 outage. Wells will now fast-track legislation to give greater teeth to the custodian, which is tasked with working with the telcos to prevent outages.
Questions linger for the board of Optus too. A hack in 2022 plus the 2023 outage saw the departure of the former CEO. If changing the CEO doesn't stop the triple-0 outages, what will? |
