Time to rethink the small target

Political leadership in the wake of two-party politics

It’s easy to understand why many Labor supporters—the rusted ons and the more tentatively attached—are willing to cut the Albanese Government a lot of slack in how they are pursuing their legislative agenda. For some of us, opportunities are being missed through an overly cautious approach, and we are winding up with incredibly bad policy like AUKUS and stage-three tax cuts because Labor are too timid to rock the boat (or the submarine).

Supporters point out—rightly, I think—that while there may be some truth in these concerns, much good has nonetheless been achieved and that we would therefore be wise to trust Labor to deliver more in the long term as they ease the population as a whole into the idea of more substantial reform. Much is made of not breaking promises, fear of a media backlash, and of winning over those who are still on the proverbial fence.

Okay, fair enough.

Though, one thing I will say is that, if at any point in your defence of Labor’s small-target approach to governi…