Canberra’s Federal Labor MPs David Smith, Andrew Leigh, Alicia Payne and Senator Katy Gallagher will have to regroup now that the Coalition isn’t going so hard after the public service. Photo: Region.
Labor in Canberra has suddenly found itself in a spot of bother on two fronts as the second week of the federal election campaign gets underway.
One annoyance comes courtesy of its traditional foes in the Liberal Party while the other, potentially more serious threat, is being delivered by the rising tide of independent pressure.
First, to the Coalition and how a backflip from Opposition Leader Peter Dutton is shaping up to be problematic for the ALP in the ACT at this point in the campaign.
There can be no getting away from the fact that the Coalition went too hard in its push against the public service in its Canberra bash-fest, and it has suddenly realised it.
That realisation no doubt came about through internal polling on Dutton’s ‘force ‘em all back to the office’ policy telling the Libs what everyone else already knew, that it was never going to fly.
Neither could the Coalition sustain a position of slashing 41,000 public service jobs without it affecting frontline services and its impacts reverberating around the whole country.
Faced with that reality and a backlash from within, the Coalition has done an about-face on both those issues, and its leader has been forced into an embarrassing backdown complete with an apology.
Yes, it makes Mr Dutton look like he’s all over the place on the subject of the public service and the wider issue of flexible working conditions.
And yes, it lets the PM have a dig and suggest that Australians perhaps shouldn’t believe that the Opposition Leader has suddenly gained a newfound respect for public servants and working mums.
Some voters, however, might find it refreshing to hear a political leader admit they’ve got a policy wrong or even be impressed to hear one apologising.
However, while this backflip can potentially provide both negatives and positives for the Coalition – and will probably give the ALP a boost nationally – it is also the source of some frustration for Labor in the ACT.
What do they have left to campaign on if Peter Dutton does not take away Canberra jobs and march the rest of its workforce back to the office?
Labor has gone hard on that attack, most especially since the budget reply speech in which the Opposition Leader vowed to get rid of 41,000 public servants in Canberra.
But he’s now said he’s not going to do that.
There will be no forced redundancies and no forced return to the office.
A backflip indeed, but one that has taken the wind out of the sails of Canberra’s federal Labor team.
Condemning Mr Dutton for being anti-Canberra was the foundation of Labor’s election platform in this town.
That platform has just evaporated.
All Labor can do now is try to convince voters that the Coalition can’t be believed about its latest plans for the public service.
Or it could come up with some positive news and policy positions of its own for the capital.
That brings us to the other source of Labor’s difficulties in the ACT – the independents.
David Pocock is right when he says Canberra wouldn’t be getting much love from either major party if it wasn’t for pressure from himself as an independent Senator for the ACT and the threat from strong independents contesting Lower House seats.
The Coalition gives Canberra nothing (bashes it even) because Canberra doesn’t give it many votes.
The ALP has long had a mindset that the capital is a Labor town anyway, so there is no need to factor it in too much when it comes to federal election policies.
It’s a little different this election.
Things changed with the rise of independents nationally at the last federal election, which resulted in an independent Senator being elected for the ACT.
Senator Pocock is on track to be comfortably re-elected, and there are now some excellent candidates for some of the ACT’s House of Representatives seats.
Jessie Price is a real threat to Labor in the electorate of Bean and is making inroads against incumbent David Smith.
Hands up all those who really know what David Smith looks like.
So when Labor announced funding for a new national convention centre on Sunday (6 April), Senator Pocock made a point of publicly noting that it was pressure from independents that made the announcement a reality.
He will do that every time Labor announces anything for Canberra during this election campaign.
Politics is changing in the capital, and it’s somewhat refreshing for most to watch – and more than a little frustrating for the old guard.
