Labor's first year in power

And how to avoid becoming what you hate

With Labor’s Budget now delivered, and with the first anniversary of the 2022 federal election almost upon us, it is worth thinking about where we are.

The unmistakable conclusion is that the country made the right decision in replacing Scott Morrison’s LNP government with Anthony Albanese’s Labor Party and that by any measure, Labor is a superior government. They have done many good and necessary things, from dropping the case against Bernard Collaery, to helping single parents.

Still, being better than Morrison is an incredibly low bar, and in too many areas, the new government is barely managing to clear it. Labor no longer have anywhere to hide.

There is a righteous level of frustration emerging amongst people who are broadly sympathetic to Labor’s predicament, and who are glad they are in power, and it is a frustration that is threatening to do to Labor what similar concerns about political and economic reform have already done to the Coalition.

In other times, this frustration mig…