Anthony Albanese has become the very leader he once despised after spending years condemning him - only this time a compliant media lets him get away with it: PVO

By PETER VAN ONSELEN, POLITICAL EDITOR, AUSTRALIA Published: 13:11, 15 August 2026 | Updated: 13:11, 15 August 2026 What was the point of voting out Scott Morrison if Anthony Albanese is just going to wear his skin? Australians didn't dump Morrison merely to give Albo the keys to the Lodge. They were sick to death of a PM who treated public policy as a PR exercise, promises as disposable slogans, and facts as minor inconveniences to be smirked away. Voters wanted change, and Albo promised them that. It hasn't transpired. When cornered, Morrison would deny, deflect, and gaslight until the electorate surrendered to sheer exhaustion. Albo is now doing much the same thing. He's become what he once despised. Albo diagnosed Morrison's pathology perfectly in opposition, accusing the then PM of saying 'whatever is convenient at the time, regardless of what the facts are'. Fast forward to today, and that diagnosis reads like a devastating autobiography in the making. Albo hasn't just adopted Morrison's playbook; he's weaponised it. It shines through when Albo refuses to apologise for apparent sexism, or when he breaks election commitments or responds to questions with obfuscation and spin rather than straight answers. Albo's weaponisation of Morrison's playbook shines through when he refuses to apologise for apparent sexism. (He is pictured with Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi) Maintaining the Western Australia GST deal is a more serious policy example of Albo mirroring Morrison, with dire fiscal consequences for the country. In 2018, Morrison engineered a crude political bribe, guaranteeing WA a minimum GST share that now elevates Australia's richest state to the same per-person allocation as NSW, irrespective of the wealth fast-flowing royalties deliver the west. Morrison didn't repair a broken national system; he bought political protection in the west, using state parochialism to buy votes. The result hands WA billions more than the independent Commonwealth Grants Commission says it needs to provide comparable services. This isn't horizontal fiscal equalisation - it's welfare for the wealthy, subsidised by the rest of the country. Now facilitated by Albo, to maintain his electoral advantage in WA. But because Albo doesn't want the rest of the country to lose out so that WA gets more, he raids the Commonwealth coffers to top up the GST pool such that WA receives more than its fair share. So other states don't lose out. It's one of the reasons the federal budget is in deficit and national debt keeps growing. The cost of maintaining Morrison's original sin is heading towards $60billion over a decade. Economist Saul Eslake calls it 'the worst public policy decision of the 21st century'. He's devastatingly right. Albo is turning the housing tax system upside down to claw back $8.1billion through broken promises on negative gearing, capital gains tax and discretionary trusts, while incinerating $21.8billion over four years to preserve a cynical electoral carve-out. 'When cornered, Morrison would deny, deflect, and gaslight until the electorate surrendered to sheer exhaustion. Albo is now doing much the same thing.' (Scott Morrison is pictured with wife Jenny) Labor insists taxes must rise because the structural deficit demands hard choices. Yet apparently no choice is too expensive when WA votes are at stake. It is economically illiterate, fiscally reckless, and a total betrayal of the egalitarian principles Labor pretends to champion. Now even Labor premiers on the east coast are raising concerns. To be clear, Albo didn't build this monstrosity, but he is the one now feeding it. When asked what happens when the guarantee expires, his response was pure Morrison evasion: 'Ask me in 2029.' It's the fiscal equivalent of 'I don't hold a hose, mate'. Identify the political threat, smother it with borrowed cash, and let someone else clean up the mess. And where are the Liberals? Hiding under their desks, of course. The Coalition likes to masquerade as the guardians of fiscal discipline while refusing to touch a $60billion black hole it dug itself. With the Liberals desperate to recover seats in WA, electoral self-interest will almost certainly triumph over economic responsibility. If Angus Taylor won't commit to unwinding this disaster because he's terrified of losing votes in Perth, or sparking a leadership challenge by rival and WA MP Andrew Hastie, he should spare Australians his next lecture about debt and deficits. But the GST cowardice is just the start. Albo's broader conduct reveals a PM deeply infected with Morrison's worst disease: the absolute refusal to take responsibility. He broke unequivocal promises on housing taxes, then delivered a sanctimonious sermon framing his betrayal as an act of leadership. The same thing happened with super in Labor's first term. Then came his more recent (and grubby) performance over the melons gifted by Japan's Prime Minister - replete with hand gestures too. A leader with a shred of dignity would have admitted it was crude, apologised and moved on. Instead, Albo went full Morrison, and most of the media bathed in double standards, letting him get away with it in a way Morrison couldn't have. Albo denied what Australians could see with their own eyes, treated the public like fools, and left senior Labor women to humiliate themselves defending the indefensible. The hypocrisy of the likes of Penny Wong was off the charts. The GST deal and the melons controversy are connected by the exact same reflex: Never concede, never apologise, never admit the sky is blue when it's politically convenient to call it green. Treat anyone who points out the truth as a hostile actor. That was Morrison's most repulsive trait and a principal reason voters eventually came to despise him. Today, it is Albo's defining characteristic too. We were promised a government 'worthy of the people of Australia', a cleansing wave of integrity after the secrecy, spin and relentless political management of the Morrison era. Instead, Albo is eagerly defending Morrison's dumbest and most expensive political bribe. He's shredding his own core promises and responding to every self-inflicted humiliation with the same smarmy, arrogant belligerence he once made a career out of condemning. Changing the name on the PM's door means absolutely nothing when the rotting culture inside the office remains the same.