Labor’s National Conference Perfect to a Tee

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese speaks at the 49th ALP National Conference 2023 at the Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre in Brisbane, Australia on Aug. 17, 2023. AAP Image/Jono Searle

Commentary

National conferences are always public relations exercises irrespective of the political party. They are choreographed within an inch of their lives.

The leader needs to look good and be provided with the obligatory standing ovation while the music blares. After hailing the leader, they are usually tame affairs and designed for public consumption, not genuine policy development.

The Australian Labor Party (ALP) has a history of allowing theirs to be a bit more unruly than most.

Yet this time, the lid needed to be kept on unruliness—lest the observing public is led to believe there is so much disunity that disqualifies its suitability from the government.

The old adage applies—if you can’t govern yourself, you can’t govern the country.

The ALP’s National Conference has come and gone for 2023, and the commentaries have been pretty similar.

The ALP presented itself as a party of government and not a protest movement. However, the various groupings and factions still had their customary displays of virtue signalling to keep faith with their supporters back home while politely doing the right thing on the conference floor.

Gymnastics Around Nuclear

The potential biggest eruption centred around AUKUS and its role in Australia’s future defence capability. Competing views and opinions were promising to spill full-throated onto the conference floor but were largely muted.

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese (L), U.S. President Joe Biden (C), and British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak (R) hold a press conference after a trilateral meeting during the AUKUS summit in San Diego, Calif., on March 13, 2023. Leon Neal/Getty Images

The concept of being able to protect ourselves and other freedom-loving nations in our region with nuclear-powered submarines was just too much for the left-wing ideologues who threatened to rebel.

With national security a clear strong suit for the Coalition, especially with Peter Dutton as leader, the Labor hierarchy had to rein in the brewing dissent.

A compromise deal was clearly struck, which, in an exercise of intellectual gymnastics worthy of a gold medal, saw delegates support nuclear-powered submarines but oppose nuclear power generation on the land.

The distinction, morally, scientifically, or environmentally which allows condemnation of nuclear energy on land but accepted on the high seas and tied up at our ports is truly bewildering.

The left-wing anti-nuclear elements in Labor needed something to take away from the conference so it was the ban on nuclear energy on land. Go figure.

While intellectually bankrupt and devoid of rationalisation, it does highlight how the power brokers choreographed the National Conference to ensure Labor presented itself as a unified team taking on the responsibility of government and not protest.

The failure to endorse AUKUS would have left a gaping wound in Labor’s side. To have the prime minister and deputy prime minister rolled on such a vital issue would’ve handed government to the Coalition.

On-the-Ground Challenges

As for questions to Mr. Albanese, when he was presented with the simple question of the cost of petrol, the prime minister, rather embarrassingly, said he didn’t know.

As Australians engage in a daily battle to balance household budgets, Mr. Albanese’s performance could be considered as out of touch with the day-to-day experiences of Australians.

This will build as his determination to pursue the race-based Voice referendum continues, at the expense of issues being discussed in Australian homes.

But in fairness, despite the hiccup, choreographers behind the Conference managed to give Labor a stable presence and one of unity.

Views expressed in this article are opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.