Just don't do what 'they' did

With Labor seemingly still in a 'honeymoon' period, even though they have past the '100 day marker', it's not a bad idea to reflect and see if there's a coherent strategy showing up via their actions. And it seems to me there is and that it might be as simple as "just don't do what they did"..

And whilst it might appear simple it could count as major progress if this government could begin to address the 'big one' - the lack of trust in our politicians and institutions.

When we articulate, in basic terms, what 'not doing what they did' looks like it may indeed go some way to repairing that trust.

Don't blame the previous government

Well not for everything anyway.

Albanese demonstrated this with his very muted (by modern political standards) response to the Morrison secret ministries debacle - better to let the press and pundits do the talking (and kicking) seemed to be the strategy.

At the moment Labor seems to be avoiding the 'blame game' on the economy too, which must be taking some doing given the economic mess the LNP left behind.

Don't bang on about debt and deficit

Well not for the first couple of years.

Don't lie to the electorate

Alabanese is right to assure the electorate he won't break an electoral commitment to 'phase 3 tax cuts' even though it's getting harder and harder to justify them. This will be political manoeuvring of the highest agility if Albanese does manage to build consensus (without any overt action on his part) to scrap these tax cuts later in the Labor term (say early 2024). But, no matter what, the next point ('low hanging fruit') will still apply.

At the moment Labor seems to be telling the electorate 'how it is'. The economic dialogue the electorate seems to be receiving is a realistic one, acknowledgment of the situation (inflation, cost of living etc.) whilst being clear that there are no miracle cures. This bodes well and will undergo a further 'litmus test' as Labor delivers the next budget.

Don't setup 'low hanging fruit' that the opposition (and media) can kick you with

Stage 3 tax cuts are the 'elephant in the room' on this one - if they are repealed (and it will not matter the reasoning, or even if there's total consensus) the opposition will kick and kick and kick Labor about it at the next election.

Economics possibly remains a weak spot for Labor, ironically precisely because the LNP has left economy (debt and deficit wise) in a shambles. But that won't stop the LNP 'blaming' Labor for it at the next election, as it always does. Labor should strategise to present economics as metrics of improvement since the last election rather than just nominal numbers, this could go some way to mitigating this low hanging fruit 'known electoral risk'.

Do have some sort of climate policy

This one is pretty easy because the the previous government effectively did nothing at all therefore the bar has been set so low that getting over it is very simple - do something, anything at all, no matter how small. And Labor has already done that.

Conclusion

This all seems very straightforward but when you stop and think about it, it's probably very difficult to sustain. It would require a level of political discipline that is, arguably, near impossible to maintain over a 3 year term. But we can always hope.

buggered if I know :-P