Tag: Anthony Albanese

Mr Pyne's departure blows a prodigious hole in the ranks of the senior moderates of the Liberal Party, a group already mourning the loss of Julie Bishop. A brand-new backbencher, he was surprised in March 1993 by a visit from John Howard to his office in the House's most distant orbit of junior offices. Along with Ms Bishop, Mr Pyne was routinely overlooked by Mr Howard for ministerial office and served as a parliamentary secretary for many years, leading him to observe on Kitchen Cabinet in 2012 that he must have been an extremely good parliamentary secretary, given his extreme longevity in the role. Aslan was a big clue In the dying days of the Howard government, Mr Pyne was appointed minister for aged care, in a latent demonstration of Mr Howard's sense of humour matched only by the appointment of fellow moderate and notorious bookworm George Brandis to the Ministry of Sport. But it was in opposition, during the Rudd and Gillard years, that Mr Pyne's star rose in the Liberal Party. Never again did he estrange himself from a serving leader the way he had from John Howard; Mr Pyne made himself indispensable to Brendan Nelson, to Malcolm Turnbull, to Tony Abbott (an old friend and regular dining companion for many years, odd as this might seem), and to Mr Turnbull again He became a nimble and expert manager of parliamentary business, maintaining — notably — a warm relationship with his opposite number, Labor's Anthony Albanese. While Mr Pyne has remained as the Government's Leader of the House under Scott Morrison, his recent interview mourning the loss of Mr Turnbull and likening him to Aslan — the slain, Christ-like hero of CS Lewis' Narnia novels — was a beefy clue that the magic had gone out of politics for him. Ironically, Mr Bernardi was recruited to the Liberal Party by Mr Pyne, but in subsequent decades the pair fell out viciously. The end of an era Mr Pyne's life in politics has — in the seamless way of parliamentary men — also produced four children without any particular public comment. The opportunity for a new generation is rich.

“To put it simply, we need to argue our case – every forum, every opportunity,” Albanese said on Thursday night. “Conducting politics in an echo chamber does nothing to advance a progressive agenda”. The speech examined political disruption and what he termed “the new politics”, particularly the polarisation now evident in political systems around the world. That's what normal people do – the ones we need in politics | Joanna Nilson Read more “The polarisation in global politics has seen the demise of many of the historically successful progressive political parties such as France’s Socialist Party, Pasok in Greece, the Partito Democratico in Italy, the Social Democrats in Germany and many other affiliates of the Socialist International,” Albanese said. “The disruption of economic change in these economies has incubated a group of people who are angry that change has not benefited them, and opportunist politicians such as Donald Trump have found an audience from those looking for answers as to why their expectations of quality of life have not been met”. He said on the progressive side of politics, “some have retreated into the comfort zone”, aided by social media, with algorithms designed “to encourage people to engage with the content of people who share their world view”. Albanese said the disrupted environment discouraged problem solving and championed the expression of feelings. He said increasingly, compromise and searching for outcomes were seen as weakness. “Alternative views are not just dismissed, they are not even considered”. “This creates a shock when the outcomes of elections are not what was anticipated, the most notable of which is the election of Donald Trump as US president.