Opposition Leader Angus Taylor had the PM on the ropes over melon-gate, but his own team took the pressure off Labor. Photo: Michelle Kroll.
Anthony Albanese had a shocking first week back in parliament after the winter break, but by the time the House of Reps rose for the weekend the Prime Minister was in a much better position thanks to some serious own goals from the Opposition.
Liberal Leader Angus Taylor initiated a solid offensive at the outset, but was ultimately let down by some surprising antics from his own side.
Melon-gate dogged Albanese all week, following last weekend’s op-ed by Tokyo’s former ambassador to Canberra suggesting Australia’s PM was disrespectful towards his Japanese counterpart over a slapstick interview in July.
That notorious interview, which by now Albanese must surely wish he had never taken part in, has been the subject of ridicule, chastisement and even a referral to the AFP.
The Coalition was in full-blown attack mode all week, describing Australia’s Prime Minister as grubby, disgusting, deplorable and anything else that could be thrown at him for hand gestures and comments that were deemed inappropriate and beneath his station.
Using the word “melons” to describe melons is pretty innocent, but squeezing hand gestures in front of his chest led to interpretations of sleaze and sexism.
The PM inadvertently gave Nikki Osborne, the innuendo-driven comedian interviewing him, all the rope she needed to turn the friendly chat into a bawdy exchange.
Taylor sniffed a clear vulnerability and led a Coalition charge with angry enthusiasm.
He demanded the PM apologise – to the Japanese and to Australians – and got his whole team to use every opportunity to do the same, to jack up the pressure on the gaffe-prone PM.
When media articles appeared quoting diplomatic exchanges between government officials suggesting Japan took no offence at all, the Opposition urged the AFP to find out who leaked “classified” information.
The whole thing was a spectacular over-reaction by the Coalition, but one it masterfully executed to get right under the PM’s collar.
Albanese didn’t give a direct answer on the topic all week. He just kept reiterating that “the assertion” was wrong and that Australia’s relationship with Japan has never been better.
But just like how some footy teams don’t seem to know how to finish a game properly and take their offence all the way to full-time, the Coalition attack all but fell over by week’s end.
It wasn’t through lack of ambition – Taylor had plenty of barbs to keep throwing in the frustrated PM’s face.
It was several jaw-dropping own goals that saw the Federal Opposition come unstuck just when it looked like it had Albo well and truly sweating it out on the ropes.
It began on Wednesday, when shadow housing minister Andrew Bragg went rogue at the National Press Club, and was followed by more of the same in media interviews the next day.
Bragg strayed so far from his own policy area with his proposals for an “economic revolution” that his own frontbench colleagues (including Taylor) had to publicly rein him in.
Even his suggestions for his own portfolio raised some serious Coalition eyebrows.
Apparently, cutting international student and working holiday visas, and making low-income earners live in sub-standard homes, isn’t really the Coalition’s solution to the nation’s housing issue – but no one told Bragg that.
Shadow treasurer Tim Wilson was pretty like-minded though, suggesting poor folks should just throw a jumper on in winter rather than spend money trying to keep their homes warm.
As if that wasn’t a big enough distraction for Taylor to deal with while trying to needle the PM, come Thursday the Opposition Leader was further undermined by the antics of his own ill-disciplined media adviser.
After persistent questioning over Liberal Party donations and his relationship with someone named in a NSW corruption watchdog probe, Taylor left a Parliament House media conference having repeated he had made no such payments that ICAC was inquiring into.
But that wasn’t enough for his senior staffer who, with cameras still rolling, berated a Channel 10 reporter for daring to pursue that line of questioning.
“Are your ratings that bad?” asked the staffer Kane Silom.
“Seriously, that’s a fricking disgrace.”
“What? Asking questions about an ICAC investigation?” shot back reporter Ashleigh Raper.
“Yeah, and he’s answered them like five hundred times,” Silom said, before having a further dig at 10’s ratings.
“No wonder 10+ got cut.”
If ever there was a sign of a political leader under pressure, that was it.
Liberal senator Dave Sharma later that day said of the behaviour: “I didn’t think it was appropriate. It is bad politics.”
Too right it was bad politics. Mostly because it took the pressure off the PM, just as Bragg’s fun day out at the Press Club did.
By Friday, Anthony Albanese had taken a call from Donald Trump and was looking a little more prime ministerial again.
The Opposition was left looking for new material.
As for melon-gate and the PM’s gaffe (which he could have shut down immediately with a quick mea culpa), it’s already old news and not likely to be raised much, if at all, in the parliamentary week ahead.
As Greens leader Larissa Waters put it at the end of the first week back: “He should say sorry and move on. We don’t think this is a top issue for Australians to be perfectly honest.
“We are in a housing crisis and cost-of-living crisis, in a climate crisis to boot, and so far all the Opposition has done all week is to talk about melons.”
Original Article published by Chris Johnson on Region Canberra.
