Cunning trick Anthony Albanese has borrowed from one of the smartest politicians in Australian history to convince the country his Stage Three tax cuts are the right thing to do

ANALYSIS

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is taking a well-worn path in breaking an election promise he has repeatedly made to the Australian public.

Many leaders before him have done the same, but few have survived politically.

There was Julia Gillard with her carbon tax, Kevin Rudd with the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme, Tony Abbott with cuts to healthcare, SBS and ABC spending, and John Howard with the GST.

Of them all, only one survived the elections that followed the broken promise.

Mr Albanese channeled former Prime Minister Howard when he delivered his National Press Club speech on Thursday – his chance to sell the new phase three tax cuts to voters.

He portrayed these changes as a courageous effort for the greater good – even at the expense of his own reputation.

‘I am very clear about the fact that we have changed our position. We have changed our position for the right reasons. I stand by and accept responsibility for it,” he told the crowd.

“I lead a government that is focused on the needs of the Australian people. What we have done here is put people before politics.

“We expect there will be some controversy about that, but I have a responsibility to put people first. To not put the politics of this first.”

Some 24 years earlier, Mr. Howard struck a similar tune when trying to take the moral high ground.

He told his critics that he was the “unashamed architect” of the GST package he once ruled out and said he would “never” go ahead.

“The reason I did this and I took the risk and put my head on the block and accepted it is because I believe it’s good for the country,” he said.

Mr Albanese will hope the Australian public trusts his motives, as they trusted Mr Howard’s.

Mr Howard took his new GST position into a 1998 election and was voted back into government despite his broken promise.

The key difference between Mr Howard and Mr Albanese is that the current Prime Minister will not face an election between now and the time his new stage three tax cuts come into effect on July 1.

Mr Albanese has built his credibility on being a ‘man of his word’ during his election campaign and his 20 months in the top job.

Now he has gone back on a promise he made no fewer than 36 times; a decision that he said was ‘not the easy choice, but it was the right choice’.

Journalists and voters were alerted that something was wrong when the Prime Minister started to get tricky with his wording when asked about phase three.

“Our position has not changed,” was his standard response. At one point, senior Labor MPs were given clear instructions to say the same thing if asked.

Even on Monday, the Prime Minister’s office gave the same response.

“Our position has not changed,” they said again. At that point, radio host Chris O’Keefe had already revealed that changes were being made.

The Prime Minister was questioned about these ‘lies’ at the National Press Club on Thursday.

The logic he gave for the sentence was that the government’s position did not officially change until Tuesday, when he held a cabinet meeting.

Even though he knew that this would change on Monday. Even though he had already instructed the Ministry of Finance on Monday and received advice that this had to change.

Technically, Albanese argued, his government only officially changed its position on Tuesday evening.

It’s a technicality that may be true, but it sounds a lot like a tricky, political play on words.

‘We changed our position in the cabinet on Tuesday. “I will be here at the National Press Club on Thursday and everyone here is responsible for that decision,” he said.

‘We made the decision on Tuesday. I announced when we changed our position. We changed our position on Tuesday.”

When asked at the press club what makes his broken promise different from those presented to him, Mr. Albanese made it clear that he believes his motives are sincere.

“We are very honest with the Australian people that when economic conditions have changed, it is our responsibility to change our policies,” he said.

“We’re changing our policies for the right reasons.”

Mr Albanese said he met with ordinary Australians – low and middle income – over the Christmas holidays who shared stories of the financial pressures they are under.

‘We have a responsibility to do something about it. Not just to wring our hands and say, well, that’s hard.

“As Prime Minister I have a responsibility to act and that is what we are doing. We act in a way where we provide relief to people without increasing inflation, because that will be counterproductive.

‘This is not an easy decision. The easy option is to kick the can down the road. This is the right decision. Done for the right reasons.

“And as Prime Minister I will always do what I believe is in the national interest.”