The parallels of how Howard and Albanese came to power are pretty close. Both were experienced politicians who came to power in small target campaigns at the election after their party had lost "unloseable" elections by presenting ambitious reform agendas. Both claimed their most important task was to restore public trust in politicians. The difference is that from the moment he took office Howard jettisoned the small target. In his victory speech he stated he didn't come to office to be a "pale imitation of my predecessors." When he introduced policies he'd ruled out in opposition he said that he'd been in public life a long time and people knew what he stood for (allowing himself the room to manoeuvre by implying that anyone who didn't see what was coming has only themselves to blame). Albanese hasn't shown the chutzpah required to walk back promises not make change. He's been dopey enough to bind himself to doing nothing raising the question of if he's not there with an agenda, why is he there at all? There's an old political axiom that you should never waste a crisis. Having come to power with interest rates near zero and inflation running towards 8%, Albanese probably had carte blanche to say he's been confronted with an unforeseen economic emergency and everything he said before the election is off the table in the national interest. Provided he sold what he wanted to do to the public, he would have freed himself to pursue the agenda of his choosing.
