When Australian prime minister Anthony Albanese married his long-time partner Jodie Haydon in a private ceremony on November 29th, he was on top of the world, personally and politically.
Parliament had just ended for the summer, six months after his Labor Party won re-election in a landslide, and he had celebrated his second marriage without the press discovering it was about to happen.
The honeymoon didn’t last long. Just over two weeks later, on December 14th, 15 people were shot dead on Sydney’s Bondi Beach while celebrating the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah. It was Australia’s worst terrorist attack.
After the initial shock, there were calls for a royal commission (Australia’s highest level of inquiry) into how the shooting happened and what led to it. Usually one of the most astute observers of the way political winds are blowing, Albanese’s senses failed him as he strongly opposed the commission.
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He said it would take too long and “We know who the perpetrators are here. One of them is dead and one of them has now been transferred to Long Bay jail. We know what the motivation [was], they are motivated by the evil ideology of Isis and a perversion of Islam.”
Though his reasons made sense, it was not what the public wanted to hear. They wanted something, anything, that would look like decisive action. But Albanese didn’t budge and for weeks remained implacably opposed to it.
Finally, he realised the Australian people hadn’t forgotten about the shooting over the Christmas break. On January 4th it was reported his view was “softening” and on January 9th a royal commission was announced.
Parliament was recalled early and new laws passed on gun control and hate speech. They were initially combined in a single Bill, but had to be separated to pass through the Senate, where Labor does not have a majority.
Votes from the Greens helped pass the gun law, while votes from some conservatives helped pass the Combatting Antisemitism, Hate and Extremism Bill.
The heat was further taken off Albanese by the chaos that saw the constituent parts of the opposition Liberal-National coalition go their separate ways last Thursday.
Three Nationals resigned from the front bench after voting against the hate speech Bill, opposing what had been agreed in the joint party room.
Outraged that Liberal leader Sussan Ley accepted the resignations, the other National party shadow cabinet members also resigned and their leader, David Littleproud, said the Nationals “cannot be part of a shadow ministry under Sussan Ley”.
What should have been the coalition’s chance to shine as Albanese made a rare political misstep quickly turned into a disaster. Former Liberal prime minister Malcolm Turnbull said the opposition now looked like “a smouldering wreckage”. Former Nationals deputy prime minister Barnaby Joyce blamed Littleproud directly, saying: “You don’t blow the whole show up so that Australia as a nation doesn’t have a competent opposition.”
Joyce’s words were designed to cause maximum damage as he is now attacking from outside the tent, having quit the Nationals to join the far-right One Nation last month. One Nation, which was formed 29 years ago, is similar to the UK’s Reform Party in its anti-immigration politics and rising popularity. In the most recent poll One Nation surpassed the coalition for the first time to become Australia’s most popular conservative party.
The Greens, meanwhile, have blamed Labor and the Liberals for the new law which they say means criticism of Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu could now be considered illegal.
The potential for confusion and overreaction was seen when a teenage girl was refused entry to an A-League soccer match for wearing a jersey with the Palestinian flag, with a security guard at the stadium reportedly telling her: “We don’t allow countries in here other than Australia”. Having worn both Shelbourne soccer and Munster rugby jerseys into the same stadium without issue, I can suggest, though those are not national teams, that statement is untrue and nonsensical.
All of this wrenching has happened in the lead-up to Australia Day, which takes place today. What is already a tense, contentious holiday (it marks the start of white settlement in Australia and is known as invasion day by many Aboriginals) has become even more of a tinderbox.
The issue has even dragged Colin Hay, singer-songwriter with 1980s Australian band Men At Work, into the fray. He has told anti-immigration protesters to stop using his band’s smash hit Land Down Under at their marches, which are often held on Australia Day, saying the song “does not belong to those who attempt to sow xenophobia”.
