Good afternoon.
Anthony Albanese runs a tight ship.
Much to the chagrin of the opposition – and the Canberra press gallery – over more than four years in government, federal Labor has been remarkably united.
Government MPs are so disciplined that even Labor caucus meetings, once a place for disagreement and dissent, rarely feature criticism or complaints about the government’s performance.
But outside Canberra, some senior Labor figures are putting their heads above the parapet, and becoming more outspoken.
A not so subtle message
Facing a difficult state election early in 2027, the New South Wales premier, Chris Minns, is increasingly willing to talk about disagreements with Albanese or the treasurer, Jim Chalmers.
This week Minns was vocal on the contribution government spending is making to persistent inflation in the economy, conditions which the Reserve Bank say have forced their hand on interest rates.
“The Reserve Bank’s been really clear,” Minns said this morning. “Public demand, government spending in the economy, is pushing or putting pressure on inflation.”
Chalmers has defended government spending and blamed global fuel prices and the war in Iran for the difficult state of the economy.
But Minns said it was incumbent on federal and state governments to reduce spending where possible, a not so subtle message for his federal Labor colleagues.
Albanese and the NSW premier have had a few more tense moments in recent months, including over failures in the lead-up to last year’s Bondi beach terror attack, on the carve-up of GST revenue and on possible cuts to the rate of tobacco excise.
Pushing problems off to Canberra
With friends like Minns, Albanese hardly needs difficulties with other state and territory leaders. But halfway through the parliamentary term, the federal government is finding it difficult to manage other premiers and chief ministers too.
The Queensland Liberal National premier, David Crisafulli, and Northern Territory chief minister, Lia Finocchiaro, moved quickly to reject a national gun buyback plan launched by Albanese after Bondi. Queensland is still yet to make a deal on Thriving Kids, the program which began operating this week to take demand off the national disability insurance scheme.
Even the South Australian premier, Peter Malinauskas, a friend of the Albanese government, recently pushed back against his federal counterparts’ migration crackdown when he warned against a “political race to the bottom” on immigration, calling it madness and an exercise in appeasement.
State governments of all stripes face their own political challenges, including the threat of big losses to One Nation. It’s easy to understand why premiers may want to criticise the federal government, pushing problems off to Canberra in a political cycle where anger at the establishment is a powerful motivator for voters.
If political conditions in Canberra get tougher for Albanese and Chalmers, state leaders may find it more and more convenient to speak out against federal decisions, making life just a little bit more complicated for the government.
David Shoebridge and Steph Hodgins-May beat out other contenders, including Sarah Hanson-Young, for the Greens leadership. Photograph: Sarah Wilson/AAP
