Spare a thought for the poor public servant tasked with considering how two prime ministers would be able to relieve themselves while partaking in a multi-day hike.
It’s likely the LAST thing the respective leaders would want to talk about with anyone, let alone a member of staff.
It’s the thing of dreams for a program like Utopia. You can imagine the whiteboards, the maps and a certain lack of eye contact being made as the planning ensued.
But such are the considerations when you’re a world leader spending two days hiking an iconic track synonymous with Australia and PNG’s war efforts in jungle terrains.
There’s a certain expectation that comes with an Australian prime minister on Anzac Day. They’re often found at the War Memorial in Canberra, visiting a domestic military base or standing on foreign shores where Australian soldiers have fallen.
Anthony Albanese’s decision to spend two days hiking the Kokoda Track, a trip that culminated with a dawn service in Isurava, can’t be underestimated in its significance, and not just back home.
Ninety-nine of the 625 Australians who were killed on the Kokoda Track died in the Battle of Isurava.
On Thursday morning, after trekking for 16 kilometres through the jungles of PNG, an Australian prime minister stood and vowed his country “will never forget” the people of PNG. He did so while recognising the Anzac soldiers and their families whose sacrifice came with the ultimate cost.
But this was more than just about meeting the annual expectation of an Australian PM.
PNG is, geographically, Australia’s closest neighbour and a country under a watchful eye of a Chinese government keen to bolster its relationships throughout the Pacific.
Just 24 hours before Albanese touched down in PNG, China’s top diplomat, in the words of PM James Marape, “blessed” the country with a visit.
Albanese’s thesis when he came to power was that the former Coalition government had taken its eyes off the Pacific. He argued his predecessor Scott Morrison, who faced criticism for how he dealt with Pacific leaders, had created an environment that allowed China to exploit fractures between Australia and the region.
It’s why Albanese was so willing to spend his precious time marching up and down mountains and valleys, climbing hundreds of metres, surrounded by military personnel, security and support staff.
A friend, having completed the Camino de Santiago, once remarked that it was through seeing someone else’s, well, bowel movements alongside the famous walk that it occurred to her that no matter how different our cultures might be, as humans we’re all the same.
Albanese and Marape have just spent two days side by side in some of their most vulnerable states. They’ve talked, they’ve joked and shared an experience that has reminded them about the bond they and their nations share.
The real test is what comes next. If PNG is in a moment of need, Albanese’s hope is that bond he’s formed has moved him to the top of that call list.
Economic headwinds blowing
While the PM was off hiking, back home his treasurer, Jim Chalmers, had returned from his own trip to the (economic) frontline.
Fresh from the US, Chalmers arrived with a warning about the economic headwinds that were blowing our way.
It’s worth remembering that there are three certainties in life: death, taxes and a treasurer lowering expectations ahead of a looming budget.
In little over two weeks, Chalmers will hand down what is widely expected to be his second consecutive surplus, not that he’s willing to make that commitment out loud just yet.
Someone willing to lock it in is the renowned economist Chris Richardson, arguably the nation’s pre-eminent non-government budget watcher.
“Absolutely. Pretty close to in the bag at this stage,” he told the ABC’s Afternoon Briefing when asked if a surplus was certain.
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Richardson dubbed Chalmers’ rhetoric as a “time-honoured ritual”, but argued Australia was in “magnificent shape compared to a bunch of places”.
Iron ore prices might have moderated from their highs but were, as Richardson described it “still bloody beautiful”, and comfortably above budget forecasts.
“Federal budget isn’t being challenged by what is happening globally and it is in much better shape than the treasurer is letting on,” Richardson said, pointing to a budget still benefiting from relatively low unemployment (good for both the government’s income tax take and for lower welfare payments) and high commodity prices.
Where Richardson and Chalmers agreed was the impact inflation was having on the budget.
Privately, Labor hopes an interest rate cut will come before the next election. It had hoped it would come later this year but this week’s inflation figures look to have dashed those expectations.
“It is a reminder that for an ease of cost of living in Australia, it’s going to be be tax cuts well before it is interest rate cuts,” Richardson warned.
It leaves Chalmers facing a tight balancing act. Offer too much support now — which voters might initially like — and he risks fuelling inflation further, which could all but rule out any RBA rate cut before the next election.
He hands down the budget on May 14.
PEP in their step
There was a flurry of excitement earlier this week when lifelong friends Bronwen Bock and Lucy Bradlow announced they’re running in the Melbourne seat of Higgins at the next federal election.
Higgins has often been considered a TEALable seat. A wealthy electorate, demographically it looks a lot like the seats that the teal independents won from the Liberal Party at the last election.
Much was made about how Bock and Bradlow would be the nation’s first job-sharing politicians (even if constitutional law expert Anne Twomey all but immediately dismissed the possibility).
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The buzz seemed to forget that Australia HAS had job-sharing ministers, it’s just the ministers didn’t know about it in most cases.
Scott Morrison’s unorthodox approach to secretly swearing himself into a raft of ministries didn’t come with a week-on-week-off plan like Bock and Bradlow are envisaging. It was more a “I now have your power and will use it irrespective of what you think, Keith Pitt” kind of deal.
In that instance, Nationals MP Pitt was the then-resources minister and by the time Morrison had himself entered into another job-sharing arrangement, he was well versed in the acquisition of ministerial power.
For those who have forgotten, Morrison secretly acquired responsibility for health and finance portfolios early in the pandemic — a “back-up” just in case either of the ministers should be struck down by the deadly virus, he later explained.
A year later, Morrison added treasury and home affairs to his arsenal.
His most brazen power grab, though, was assuming responsibility of the mega-portfolio of industry, science and resources to circumvent Pitt’s desire to extend a controversial offshore gas exploration licence, known as PEP-11, off the New South Wales coast.
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It says a lot about his cabinet that by this point he could no longer trust his ministers to carry out the decisions his government wanted, so had himself sworn in. Morrison, in the end, got his way and rejected the extension — a move Labor supported.
It’s proved a decision that has haunted Labor in government.
After it emerged that Morrison had secretly been the one to reject the application, Asset Energy took the federal government to the Federal Court, which in turn led to the decision being overturned. The company reaffirmed its commitment to PEP-11 in February.
Quietly on Tuesday, Resources Minister Madeleine King released a statement saying she’d recused herself from future decisions about the contentious project.
WA MP King, who knows all too well the role mining will play in determining her party’s electoral fortunes in the west, was a fierce critic of PEP-11 from opposition. Labor insists it is merely a pre-emptive decision to ensure any comments she’s offered previously don’t interfere with what comes next.
But she made sure her comments were more about Morrison than they were about the action she was taking, even if she didn’t name the former PM.
“The Albanese government is one that respects proper process. We make decisions in a way that is orderly and appropriate,” she wrote.
About as subtle as a sledgehammer.
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