The Contradictions of the Albanese Labor Government in Australia: The Promise and Limits of ‘Thin’ Labourism

In 2022, after nearly a decade in opposition, the Australian Labor Party under the leadership of Anthony Albanese won office. The Albanese government faced a raft of challenges in government with tough economic conditions and post Covid-19 recovery, all in the context of stubbornly high levels of inflation. This article considers the achievements, complexities and contradictions of the Albanese government. During this term of office, the Albanese government is not without achievement, often resorting to a range of notable, if technocratic and incremental, responses to a wide range of structural problems. This is an instructive case in understanding how centre-left parties seek to renew and update their historic missions. Drawing upon the work of Michael Freeden, the argument set out here is that the Albanese Labor government is a striking case of ‘thin’ or ‘new’ labourism. At its most coherent, the ALP has sought to reinvigorate a specific social democratic tradition, yet this has entailed a suite of policy trade-offs and its electoral support remains narrow and brittle. The Australian case might well follow the Ardern Labour government in New Zealand, in offering only limited pathways of reinvention for the centre-left.