Labor in the Multiverse: A journey through what might have been

The following fictional account takes place in the Labor multiverse, a place where many Labors make many decisions across an endless field of universal possibilities.

If not in this universe, perhaps in some other far-flung branch in the vast expanse of better possibilities, the Australian public got the Labor government it expected, voted for, and deserved. This is their story.

The Albanese Labor Government won the election in May 2022. Initially keen to remain a small target in the months of campaigning, but in touch with the public revulsion of the Morrison government, and citing the lack of due diligence and sincerity by a wayward Coalition and its secret cabinet proto-authoritarian PM, party strategists chose two fairly reasonable positions: once in government -- Labor would review AUKUS and the Stage Three Tax Cuts.

The new government didn’t rule out generation taxation reforms or bold domestic strategies that could rock the status quo, Labor didn’t bend over backwards to offer the lowest common denominator answer to Kyle Sandilands, Kieran Gilbert or Ben Fordham, in fact, they didn’t appear much on those programs at all. Labor had kept track of the unhinged media leviathans and their battle of attrition with the Australian public, witnessing how state Labor premiers had managed to stand their ground and emerge stronger by calling out the media and its subjective disingenuity.  

The press automatically attacked the campaign announcements, they went bananas. For a while it felt like the world was ending, but not for long. Within weeks, it was clear that the government had the public support, in fact it found that its approach, not too bold, but not too cowardly, just reasonable, was quite popular on both sides of the political diaspora. It had weathered the storm. When the smoke had settled, and the corporate media, including the increasingly ideologically compromised ABC, had emptied their revolvers, Labor stood unharmed, protected by a definitive public mandate.

After the press had set misinforming the public and causing social unrest throughout cataclysmic continental wide bushfires and global pandemics, going to war on state Labor governments, and working towards destroying the ALP election campaign into the eleventh hour of polling on election day, Albanese finally emerged out of Scott Morrisons shadow, discarded the small target and delivered a historical statement. Albanese addressed the Australian public at Parliament house, saying he had refused a secret meeting with Lachan Murdoch shortly after the election, and he would be refusing to parlay with the corporate media sector in such ways again. He cited the pandemic, the bushfires, the misinformation, the foreign influence, and then finished on the concentration of power, vowing to break up tax-dodging record profit-making duopolies working against the national interest, announcing drastic reforms to the ACCC based on expert recommendations.

Jim Chalmers entered government with a spring in his step. On the way to election victory, he and Katy Gallagher reduced their profile with the attention-seeking industry lobby groups and business councils, courting them to a point, but doing so letting them know for certain that they would be the government whether the lobbyists liked it or not. Chalmers scrapped the tax cuts as promised, and announced that his first budget would involve implementing long overdue taxation reforms and an increase to the cost of living relief in line with OECD medians. Labor announced a genuine public housing scheme that would go beyond corporate build-to-rent partnerships, looking to engage an entire generation of Australians in “building Australia’s future”.

In the months that followed, after a tide of internal pressure from ex-Prime ministers, ASPI founders, Foreign Ministers, and DFAT Heavies, as well as a surge in opposition from the branch level and an outcry from swathes of the public, Albanese announced a special committee that would be reviewing AUKUS in lieu of details. The new government had enough rationale from Scott Morrisons conduct as a Prime Minister, the opaque nature of initial negotiations, and viability of the arrangement itself, found enough reason to explore some of the vagaries, with a majority support of the Australian people who were beginning to understand how much this arrangement was going to cost. Due to political instability and chaos in procurement, a lack of congressional confidence, and a lack of lobbying power to improve it, and the mounting discouragement that came from understanding that Australia lacks the nuclear expertise and infrastructure, AUKUS was left in limbo, without too much pressure from Washington to change this status, and no structural damage to the relationship. Submarine talks reopened with France, with off-the-shelf Japanese options to re-explore as well.

Penny Wong, free of the AUKUS blinkers that threatened to limit our foreign policy and forgo our sovereignty, was able to bring some clarity and purpose to her predecessor's neglectful foreign policy outlook. Wong began to reawaken Australia’s regional diplomatic clout to a responsive and relieved local audience. By choosing not to militarise under AUKUS, Canberra instead invested in diplomatic capabilities. Aware of Australia’s strength as a honest broker, as opposed to a small component in an aggressively postured US war machine, the Albanese government began to make inroads in the region working with its neighbours to urge both China and America to take responsibility as great powers avoid conflict in the region. This approach complemented the repair of neglected relationships in the Pacific, as Australia could start to honestly speak to its Pacific family about a plan to make the region “great-power conflict free”, setting in place guardrails with its neighbours to delineate a region without war built on genuine shared interests.

Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus minted a public facing NACC with teeth, just as promised. It showed its function in prosecuting Robodebt, helping to restore integrity and public trust. He ensured whistleblowers were adequately protected, drafting legislation to ensure that whistleblowers reporting illegal activity were exempt from prosecution. The “Cleaning Up Politics Act” of 2024 was a complementary prologue to the world class NACC that saw instant benefits, restoring urgently missing pubic faith in the social contract. As well as introducing an independent appointments commission to oversee public appointments to remove political favours and nepotism, the bill also made reforms to political donations, disqualifying multinationals from being able to contribute, and excluded lobbyists from unimpeded access to MPs, bottlenecking them through a publicly visible application register with included stated intent.

These bold positions allowed the creative headspace of Labor to return, and the policy and innovation this mindset can bring. As party members felt more confident with the support of their electorate, they began to step out of the small target that could threaten to cause them to atrophy in government, and a clear distinction began to emerge from their major party rival. Early on after the election victory, recognising and respecting the mandate and public support for change, aware of a transformative electoral push towards progressive independent candidates, while also seeing poor turnouts for the Coalition, Labor understood that its political survival no longer rested with the industry lobby groups, and compromised Faustian pacts with a media that worked tirelessly towards its demise, but to the Australian public, who after pandemic, war, and economic doom, were willing to be conscious stakeholders, and more politically astute than they had been in decades.

The Albanese government made a pact with the Australian public shortly after taking government. In a memorable address, the Prime Minister spoke of the need to “return to a country of fairness, a country of prosperity, and a country that knew who it was and where it wanted to be”. After taking promising polling results, against the grain of media condemnation, and delivering a bold but fair opening stanza of government, Albanese announced the ‘Voice to Parliament’ campaign in a different setting, with the authority of a confident Prime Minister leading a dynamic government.

Imagine what would happen next.