There was a moment during the final question time of the year when Peter Dutton’s frustration got the better of him. “This guy cannot give a straight answer,” the opposition leader interjected, to no one in particular. He was speaking about the prime minister.
Anthony Albanese had floated into the chamber flanked by Sean Turnell, the academic economist recently released by the military junta in Myanmar. Labor MPs were ebullient because they had won an election, tracked through the transition without any major cock-ups, and made it to the end of the parliamentary year with all their initial policy objectives achieved. The opening months of the new Albanese government had been sure-footed. Better still, there had been moments of luck. In politics, persistent luck feels like a blessing from a divine power.
