Prime Minister Anthony Albanese will be given the Atlantic Council Global Citizen Award on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly this week. Photo: Thomas Lucraft.
At a press conference in New York to announce Australia’s official bid for a seat on the UN Security Council, Anthony Albanese was asked about another item on his US agenda this week.
Here’s the question: “Prime Minister, here in New York on Wednesday night, you will receive an award for being a global citizen.
“Don’t you feel like a bit of a fraud accepting this award when, at home, you screwed up the response to the worst massacre since Port Arthur?
“In the polls, you are taking Labor to one point shy of Julia Gillard when you rolled her, and your net negatives are worse than Scott Morrison.”
And here’s the Prime Minister’s answer: “No.”
The PM then moved on immediately to another reporter, hoping for a fresh topic.
His response was as brief as the question was brutal.
How else could the Prime Minister have answered such an emotion-laden gotcha question?
Asking if he felt like a fraud was hardly fair and a bit too undergraduate, but the PM is tough enough to cop a few very public jabs.
Some of the points the question went to, however, are not so silly.
The latest political polling dump contains nothing that would cause Labor to start popping champagne bottles.
Newspoll’s survey, conducted last week, found Labor’s primary vote has fallen from 29 per cent to 27 per cent, which is just one point away from the party’s lowest level of support in 14 years.
The Coalition’s primary vote was 19 per cent, and One Nation’s was 30 per cent.
Albanese’s net approval rating in the Newspoll sits at -27, with 35 per cent of voters satisfied with his performance and 62 per cent dissatisfied.
He remains preferred prime minister, leading at 44 per cent to One Nation leader Pauline Hanson’s 32 per cent and Opposition Leader Angus Taylor’s 24 per cent.
But back to the PM’s award.
The Atlantic Council Global Citizen Awards recognise “the accomplishments of key global citizens seeking to improve the state of the world”, and they go to world leaders, diplomats, top executives, philanthropists, social leaders and even those in the entertainment communities.
That’s quite a mixed bag.
The Aussie PM will be getting his global gong for his “inspirational leadership, his commitment to strengthening Indo-Pacific security, and his expansion of Australia’s engagement across Southeast Asia and the Pacific”.
All fair enough, but his press conference exchange on Sunday begs the question of what purpose, other than sparking ridicule at home, do such international honours serve when they go to incumbent politicians?
Finnish President Alexander Stubb will also be picking up a Global Citizen Award on Wednesday, along with Formula One chief Stefano Domenicali and British actor Cynthia Erivo.
It all seems like a bit of a glamour-fest, and that can only mean domestic mockery will be directed towards politician recipients.
Worse, such international trophies invite citizens back home to spew all the reasons their country’s political representative is undeserving.
Politics is by nature divisive. Handing out global prizes makes it even more so.
Albo is far from the only Aussie pollie to get a global gong. But they’ve all faced some level of disdain on the domestic front.
Labor’s Wayne Swan was named Finance Minister of the Year in 2011 by Euromoney magazine for his management of the Australian economy during the 2007–2008 Global Financial Crisis.
Paul Keating won the same award in 1984, and since then he’s been dubbed (somewhat derisively by some) the “World’s Greatest Treasurer”.
Greg Hunt, as the Coalition’s Federal Environment Minister in 2016, won the inaugural and ridiculous “Best Minister in the World” award at the World Government Summit in Dubai.
The laughter in Australia was immediate, loud and sustained.
That’s the reaction to all these awards of international recognition.
It’s not necessarily that they are given for unworthy reasons; it’s that politicians are paid by taxpayers and are meant to do their very best.
Pouring global praise on them in a glitzy ceremony for simply doing their jobs doesn’t go down well with the Aussie battler – even less so when things aren’t really chugging along so well domestically.
Australia’s living former prime ministers are Companions of the Order of Australia (AC), having been appointed in Australia Day Honours after they left office.
All except Keating, that is.
He declined the appointment, saying he had long believed such honours should be reserved for those whose community work goes largely unrecognised.
He said being Prime Minister was sufficient public recognition.
Wouldn’t that be a great mindset for prime ministers, treasurers and all ministers to adopt about receiving awards while they’re still in office too?
If the opposite attitude played out on the world stage, it could lead to an outrageous scenario where serving United States presidents start demanding a Nobel Peace Prize.
Oh, wait …
Original Article published by Chris Johnson on Region Canberra.
