Labor’s instinct is to indulge what it thinks middle Australia wants. It could try simply doing what works

‘Jim Chalmers says “we want to move as many people as we can off [jobseeker] and into good, secure, well-paid jobs”. But the level of the payment itself is a barrier to getting a job.’ Photograph: Bianca de Marchi/AAP

There’s a common argument loved by politicians that if they’re being attacked from left and right, they must be doing a good job.

Australians’ self-conception as a laid-back, not intensely political people promotes this view that there is something inherently “sensible” in sticking to the centre.