The Albanese lullaby
Naming and resisting the anti-democratic effects of the prime minister's calls for "social cohesion" and "lowering the temperature"
Go to sleep, little babe, go to sleep, little babe
Your mama’s gone away and your daddy’s gone to stay,
Didn’t leave nobody but the baby.
—Traditional American
I realise I’ve been framing Anthony Albanese’s incrementalism and managerialism as a sort of absence that is being filled by an increasingly empowered right and far right, and there is truth in that. But after watching this recent speech to parliament, I am thinking that that framing is worth thinking about more carefully. The prime minister’s softly, softly approach is actually an active shaping of public debate, not just an absence, and we need to treat it as such.
A comparison with the Howard years might be useful.
John Howard supported a policy agenda of neoliberal economics with an assertion of social conservatism that amounted to a constant barrage of nationalist, patriarchal rhetoric. …
