I have written enough political speeches to know that few of them say much. But in Sydney on Saturday night, the Australian prime minister, Anthony Albanese, gave one that marked an extraordinary achievement. Labor’s victory, he told his audience, was not just any old election success. It was a triumph of “Australian values”, including economic ideals rooted in the need to build a society in which “no one is held back, and no one is left behind”. He ended by waving his Medicare card in the air – the card that enables millions of Australians to access healthcare free at the point of use – pointing out that it was “neither Labor red, nor Liberal blue”. It was “green and gold”, the national colours of Australia.
There was a confidence to Albanese that felt a long way from Labour’s recent efforts in Britain. The Australian prime minister is no showman, and his dry style has often been compared to Keir Starmer’s. But whereas Albanese has found clarity, in Britain uncertainty seems still to rule the day. Politicians and commentators close to No 10, such as Blue Labour’s Maurice Glasman, seem to think that the only way to respond to Reform is by moving to the right on issues such as diversity, human rights and immigration. Others, including some advising the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, worry that global instability makes this the wrong moment to rock the boat with Donald Trump, especially with a trade deal with the US up for grabs. For that reason, far from attacking the US president, leading UK government figures are still regularly sent out to claim – as Reeves herself did – that there is “a lot that really resonates” between the leaders of Britain and the US. They should beware: perceived support for Trump is partly what did for Australia’s opposition.
