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| ‘Don’t panic’ could be Albanese’s mantra but that doesn’t mean we aren’t concerned about life, the universe and everything | ‘Don’t panic’ could be Albanese’s mantra but that doesn’t mean we aren’t concerned about life, the universe and everything |
| (about 1 hour later) | |
| Despite a deep conviction planet Earth is heading in the wrong direction, voters are trusting Labor to navigate the wormholes | Despite a deep conviction planet Earth is heading in the wrong direction, voters are trusting Labor to navigate the wormholes |
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| Our prime minister has navigated the world stage this past week as if being shepherded by The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, the fictional intergalactic wiki that predated the internet, bearing the reassuring aphorism: “Don’t panic.” | Our prime minister has navigated the world stage this past week as if being shepherded by The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, the fictional intergalactic wiki that predated the internet, bearing the reassuring aphorism: “Don’t panic.” |
| From setting mildly ambitious climate targets, to joining a belated coalition recognising the Palestinian state, to enduring the US president’s best impression of Vogon poetry at the UN, Anthony Albanese has proceeded with calculated sobriety. | From setting mildly ambitious climate targets, to joining a belated coalition recognising the Palestinian state, to enduring the US president’s best impression of Vogon poetry at the UN, Anthony Albanese has proceeded with calculated sobriety. |
| Albanese’s disposition has at times resembled that of the displaced earthling Arthur Dent, thrust into the madness of an anarchic universe with nothing but his dressing gown and towel after his planet was destroyed to make way for a hyperspace bypass. | Albanese’s disposition has at times resembled that of the displaced earthling Arthur Dent, thrust into the madness of an anarchic universe with nothing but his dressing gown and towel after his planet was destroyed to make way for a hyperspace bypass. |
| It’s nearly 50 years since Douglas Adams’ work of genius was released as a radio play and nearly 25 years since he died but his social critique still offers insights (“Dolphins still missing” remains the most prescient description of the shortfalls of news media I have read). | It’s nearly 50 years since Douglas Adams’ work of genius was released as a radio play and nearly 25 years since he died but his social critique still offers insights (“Dolphins still missing” remains the most prescient description of the shortfalls of news media I have read). |
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| Indeed, “Don’t panic” could read as the broader mission statement for the Albanese government, whose landslide victory in May was a national vote for stability and a repudiation of the nativist populism that is sweeping so much of the globe. | Indeed, “Don’t panic” could read as the broader mission statement for the Albanese government, whose landslide victory in May was a national vote for stability and a repudiation of the nativist populism that is sweeping so much of the globe. |
| This month’s Guardian Essential Report suggests this positioning is continuing to resonate with an Australian public who, despite a deep conviction the world is heading in the wrong direction, are placing its trust in Labor to navigate said wormholes. | This month’s Guardian Essential Report suggests this positioning is continuing to resonate with an Australian public who, despite a deep conviction the world is heading in the wrong direction, are placing its trust in Labor to navigate said wormholes. |
| This week’s report shows Labor’s primary vote is holding up, while the big mover and shaker appears to be One Nation, which is higher than the Greens and more than double its election performance (more on this later). | This week’s report shows Labor’s primary vote is holding up, while the big mover and shaker appears to be One Nation, which is higher than the Greens and more than double its election performance (more on this later). |
| A determination to occupy the sober centre is most obvious in Labor’s establishment of a target to cut emissions from 2005 levels by between 62% and 70% by 2030. | A determination to occupy the sober centre is most obvious in Labor’s establishment of a target to cut emissions from 2005 levels by between 62% and 70% by 2030. |
| The logic behind this range is that Labor is keenly aware of two contradictory truths: the imperative to take action as the planet heats, versus how hard it is to build renewable energy on a large scale. | The logic behind this range is that Labor is keenly aware of two contradictory truths: the imperative to take action as the planet heats, versus how hard it is to build renewable energy on a large scale. |
| Even at the lower end of Labor’s targets, Australia will need to double the pace of renewable construction, requiring the finance, workforce and social licence to accelerate a transition that is still politically contested, with the Coalition moving away from a consensus about net zero. | Even at the lower end of Labor’s targets, Australia will need to double the pace of renewable construction, requiring the finance, workforce and social licence to accelerate a transition that is still politically contested, with the Coalition moving away from a consensus about net zero. |
| And it’s not just the targets that are calculated to create a sense of calm, compared with the rhetoric that would be at home on a climate campaigners T-shirt: the language of Albanese and the climate change and energy minister, Chris Bowen, has all the passion of a quantity surveyor. | And it’s not just the targets that are calculated to create a sense of calm, compared with the rhetoric that would be at home on a climate campaigners T-shirt: the language of Albanese and the climate change and energy minister, Chris Bowen, has all the passion of a quantity surveyor. |
| If the government has deliberately taken the boring middle option, then the broader population is responding with a suitably stifled “meh”. Nearly half of respondents are satisfied with the range. It’s also worth noting that those who think it is too ambitious far outnumber those who think it’s undercooked, by a factor of more than 2:1. | If the government has deliberately taken the boring middle option, then the broader population is responding with a suitably stifled “meh”. Nearly half of respondents are satisfied with the range. It’s also worth noting that those who think it is too ambitious far outnumber those who think it’s undercooked, by a factor of more than 2:1. |
| This mindful staidness is also present in the government’s stubborn reticence to address tax incentives for property investors, its refusal to review our defence reliance on a US empire that is in decline and its naive embrace of AI tech-boosters. | This mindful staidness is also present in the government’s stubborn reticence to address tax incentives for property investors, its refusal to review our defence reliance on a US empire that is in decline and its naive embrace of AI tech-boosters. |
| On all these fronts the government seems disinclined to scare the horses, lest they stampede. | On all these fronts the government seems disinclined to scare the horses, lest they stampede. |
| The limitations of a “Don’t panic” operating model of government become apparent, however, when panicking becomes the rational response to global heating, democratic instability and rising inequality exacerbated by unregulated technology. | The limitations of a “Don’t panic” operating model of government become apparent, however, when panicking becomes the rational response to global heating, democratic instability and rising inequality exacerbated by unregulated technology. |
| As we take our seats at the “Restaurant at the End of the Universe”, is it good enough to order the house pasta and the second least expensive wine? | As we take our seats at the “Restaurant at the End of the Universe”, is it good enough to order the house pasta and the second least expensive wine? |
| This is the dilemma confronting the British Labour government and its mild to the point of milquetoast leader, Keir Starmer, who may have totally out-sensibled the Tories, but in doing so is opening up a gaping hole for Nigel Farage’s populist Reform movement. | This is the dilemma confronting the British Labour government and its mild to the point of milquetoast leader, Keir Starmer, who may have totally out-sensibled the Tories, but in doing so is opening up a gaping hole for Nigel Farage’s populist Reform movement. |
| Emerging from the successful Brexit forces, Reform is adjacent to the Maga movement and One Nation and every rightwing populist, tapping into the grievance of a global economic system and a desire to return to the certainties of the nation-state and anti-immigrant tropes. | Emerging from the successful Brexit forces, Reform is adjacent to the Maga movement and One Nation and every rightwing populist, tapping into the grievance of a global economic system and a desire to return to the certainties of the nation-state and anti-immigrant tropes. |
| A final question in this month’s report shows that despite a flattening of the post-Covid lockdowns catch-up surge, Australians too are concerned about the pace and depth of immigration. | A final question in this month’s report shows that despite a flattening of the post-Covid lockdowns catch-up surge, Australians too are concerned about the pace and depth of immigration. |
| You can see Andrew Hastie chalking his cue while Pauline Hanson must be positively salivating. | You can see Andrew Hastie chalking his cue while Pauline Hanson must be positively salivating. |
| There is a credible argument that Australia is less susceptible to immigration panics because we have lived them for the past two and a half decades; indeed our model of asylum seeker cruelty is something some other nations aspire to. | There is a credible argument that Australia is less susceptible to immigration panics because we have lived them for the past two and a half decades; indeed our model of asylum seeker cruelty is something some other nations aspire to. |
| But the broader point holds that hitherto progressive parties in power choosing to defend the status quo expose themselves to the totally rational conclusion of voters when the system stops working for them. | But the broader point holds that hitherto progressive parties in power choosing to defend the status quo expose themselves to the totally rational conclusion of voters when the system stops working for them. |
| To be a viable centrist party, the centre needs to hold. And the only way the centre holds is if these parties provide a reason for most of the people to occupy it. That doesn’t mean standing for nothing, it means building something that people want to hold on to. | To be a viable centrist party, the centre needs to hold. And the only way the centre holds is if these parties provide a reason for most of the people to occupy it. That doesn’t mean standing for nothing, it means building something that people want to hold on to. |
| Albanese senses this and his speech to the UK Labour party conference made the point that it is only in improving the material conditions of working people that social democratic parties will have a future. This inevitably means intervening in a system travelling the opposite way. | Albanese senses this and his speech to the UK Labour party conference made the point that it is only in improving the material conditions of working people that social democratic parties will have a future. This inevitably means intervening in a system travelling the opposite way. |
| The truth is the world is getting scarier and crazier. Australia may be bucking the political trends for now but that doesn’t mean we aren’t concerned about life, the universe and everything. | The truth is the world is getting scarier and crazier. Australia may be bucking the political trends for now but that doesn’t mean we aren’t concerned about life, the universe and everything. |
| After 15 years reporting on Earth, the Hitchhiker’s Guide to Galaxy’s reviewer Ford Prefect rates the planet “mostly harmless”. If we get through the next few decades with that entry remaining accurate, then there will be serious grounds for relief. | After 15 years reporting on Earth, the Hitchhiker’s Guide to Galaxy’s reviewer Ford Prefect rates the planet “mostly harmless”. If we get through the next few decades with that entry remaining accurate, then there will be serious grounds for relief. |
| Peter Lewis is the executive director of Essential, a progressive strategic communications and research company that undertook research for Labor in the last election and conducts qualitative research for Guardian Australia. He is the host of Per Capita’s Burning Platforms podcast |
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