Albanese needs to steer clear of talking just for the sake of his health
The real failure for the Labor Party from the election campaignās first week has not been what it didnāt mean to do but what it did mean to do.
Anthony Albanese didnāt mean to blunder his way through a far too freewheeling media conference when his brain lacked or blanked the national unemployment number and the Reserve Bankās cash rate.
He paid for that own-goal all week. It might prove the biggest mistake of the campaign although the pace and trajectory of these events suggest other things will roll up and down ā especially in the world of social media and hyperactive journalists outrunning the story.
No, the failure might be what Labor meant to do. Thatās the story of its strategy for week one, a logical flow from Albaneseās budget reply ā all caring, all the time.
That speech was anchored with a big picture $4.5 billion pledge to āfixā aged care and it was cheered in Labor branches everywhere.
Itās safe Labor territory and the inaction of the Morrison Government and its predecessors left the field wide open. The aged care royal commission had a blunt one word summary: neglect.
Laborās approach was summarised in an instant social media ad which said this: āAged Care for when youāre old, Child Care for when youāre young, Medicare for when youāre sick.ā
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Itās Laborās core business and this approach has been the foundation of week one. Money for telehealth, GP urgent care clinics, all feeding into the biggest share of promises in the health and community sectors.
While Albanese was being hailed by health care workers, photographed in very caring surroundings, his opponent was banging a stake into much harder electoral soil everyday.
The first three days for Labor have been all about caring. For Scott Morrison itās been all jobs.
The Coalitionās announcements might be a bit shaky or reworked plans seen in a different suit but that never worries a marketing guy like Morrison ā he hits the āhere it isā button early and hard before running ahead of any scrutiny.
Labor might have some ājobs, jobs, jobsā cards up its campaign sleeves. If it does it might be a good idea to roll something out pretty quickly after Easter.
There is no doubt health is a white hot issue in the community. People saw during the pandemic two things: how vital adequately funded and properly managed health services are and the gaping holes in the business as usual model that has persisted in recent decades.
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The South Australian election last month demonstrated the power of health to bring down an otherwise popular premier which might be part of the reason Albaneseās team has embraced this crusade.
Sure, it is very critical and the caring economy is growing faster than any sector, in terms of labour and demand.
But a couple of caveats need to be kept in mind. Voters see this as Laborās bread and butter and are more inclined to mark them down for not doing something than marking them up for anything proposed.
Second, these health and community issues are second order stuff below the apex of the critical Maslowās Hierarchy of Needs triangle. On top has always been personal and national security ā having enough to live on and a belief in staying safe.
Labor was right to have a good slice of caring in its mix but it is not going to win the election by caring alone.
In 1983 Bob Hawke did not have Medicare as a promise up in lights ā his headline act was economic prosperity and bringing the country together.
When Labor has hung its biggest hat on ācaringā (remember Mark Latham and his doomed Medicare Gold pledge) it has failed spectacularly.
To paraphrase Nobel economics prize winner Paul Krugman, jobs and productivity might not be everything but in the long run it is almost everything.
After all, it is the economy stupid.
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