Editorial
Petty thieves

This week a Nazi stood on the steps of Parliament House in Melbourne and addressed a cheering crowd. His followers gleefully attacked a photographer of Asian appearance, hurled anti-Semitic slurs, threatened protesters in support of Palestine, abused Indians and ranted nonsense about migrant numbers. Some joined him in an alleged evening assault on First Nations people.

We have heard timorous statements from Prime Minister Anthony Albanese that this is not the Australian way. There were “good people” at those rallies, who mustn’t be pushed into a “rabbit hole”. But that’s where the debate appears to be, and Albanese willingly followed it. Asked repeatedly about immigration numbers, he insisted they were going down, reminiscent of the ugly debates that dominated too much of the election campaign. There is so much more to be said about why this country and everyone in it needs migration – about the communities, arts and expertise that bring breadth to the rich depth of this country’s postcolonial history. Not to mention the tireless, thankless work that so many born here have long preferred not to do.

This racist moment calls for an unwavering response, for a government of stature and moral clarity. What we have seen – an accident of timing but a contrast nevertheless worth remarking on – is a nasty clutch of bills to reduce transparency and further damage our human rights record on the treatment of refugees.

Labor this week introduced new obstacles to an already convoluted freedom of information process, with a plan for new fees and no anonymous applications. It rushed through laws to deny fair process for people released from indefinite detention, and a plan to deport them to a life sentence on Nauru.

What this government lacks is ambition not only for bolder ideas to address the converging global threats posed by climate change, the rise of autocrats and declining rule of law. It lacks the ambition even to honour the trust that was placed in it at the election – to do what Labor does best.

The government could have delivered the promised Home Care Packages for the elderly instead of being dragged to it by the Coalition and cross bench. It could abolish the tax concessions that are putting housing out of the reach of young people. It could pledge to stop approving fossil fuel projects. It could even choose to dismantle, instead of entrenching, a Commonwealth-sponsored detention industry on an island slowly washing away because Labor won’t take the necessary steps to cut carbon emissions.

Instead of pointing the finger, still, at what a degraded and divided opposition did wrong, the government could correct those wrongs.

There was some positive news on Thursday of a record $475 million in additional payments to victims of the robodebt scandal. A robust response, though, would be to implement in full the recommendations of the royal commission, to ensure accountability for public servants’ misconduct and to abolish the dangerous income apportionment models and welfare cancellations that led to the tragedy.

Labor could start behaving more like it secured a historic and enabling victory, and less like a kid who just swiped a finger bun. There’s no ambition, it has just discovered it can get away with things.

This article was first published in the print edition of The Saturday Paper on September 6, 2025 as "Petty thieves".

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