By Andrew Klein and Sera Elizabeth Klein
Dedicated to every Australian who believed the promise – and is still waiting for the delivery.
Abstract
This article examines the prime ministership of Anthony Albanese through the lens of what we term “custodial governance” – a mode of political leadership that maintains the appearance of reform while preserving the underlying structures of power. Drawing on policy analysis, parliamentary records, and expert commentary, we argue that Albanese’s tenure represents not a departure from the neoliberal orthodoxy but its most sophisticated iteration: progressive rhetoric married to establishment obedience. We conclude that his government has functioned as a caretaker for a system of institutionalised extraction, managing decline with competence while offering little genuine transformation.
1. Introduction
Be very afraid, Australia. The people you trusted have betrayed you.
Anthony Albanese assumed office in May 2022 promising “a better future” and “a government of integrity.” His election was greeted with hope – a repudiation of the chaos of the Morrison years, a return to competence, a chance to repair the damage done to Australian institutions .
Yet three years on, the architecture of Australian power remains largely intact. The banks are still protected. The housing market still favours investors. The climate still warms. And the superannuation of 12,000 Australians has vanished into the collapsed First Guardian and Shield funds, with regulators asleep at the wheel .
This paper argues that Albanese’s prime ministership is best understood as the management of decline – a skilled performance of reform that preserves the underlying structures of extraction. He is not a revolutionary. He is not even a reformer. He is a custodian.
2. The Promise and the Performance
2.1 The Rhetoric of Change
Albanese’s campaign was built on a simple proposition: “A better future.” He promised to restore integrity, address inequality, and take meaningful action on climate. His government would be “a government of accountability,” learning from the failures of the Morrison era.
Key commitments included:
- A National Anti-Corruption Commission with “real teeth”
- Reforming the stage 3 tax cuts to “ensure fairness”
- Building “one million new homes” in partnership with the states
- A “genuine reconciliation” with First Nations people through the Voice to Parliament
- “Serious action” on climate change, including a 43% emissions reduction by 2030
These were not modest promises. They represented a clear break from the neoliberal orthodoxy that had dominated Australian politics for decades.
2.2 The Reality of Delivery
Yet delivery has consistently fallen short. Each promise has been diluted, delayed, or hollowed out. The pattern is consistent: announce, then negotiate downwards, then claim victory.
Consider the evidence.
3. Policy Analysis: Custodial Governance in Action
3.1 Economic Policy: Austerity in Disguise
The Stage 3 Tax Cuts
Albanese entered office promising to scrap the Morrison-era stage 3 tax cuts, which delivered disproportionate benefits to high-income earners. Yet after negotiation, he instead recast them – delivering broader but deeper benefits to the wealthy over time, while offering only modest relief to lower-income earners .
The result: the architecture of inequality remained intact. The wealthy continued to benefit. The system continued to favour capital over labour.
Superannuation and Financial Regulation
Albanese’s government resisted meaningful reform to superannuation tax concessions, protecting the wealthiest retirees at the expense of system sustainability. The proposed changes were modest—and even those were watered down.
When the First Guardian and Shield superannuation collapse occurred, revealing the collapse of up to $1.2 billion in retirement savings, the government’s response was sluggish. Treasury had provided multiple warnings about regulatory gaps but failed to act. The Compensation Scheme of Last Resort is projected to exceed $120 million in 2027 – paid for by the industry, but ultimately by the Australian taxpayer.
As ACTU Secretary Sally McManus stated:
“Working Australians should not be forced to pay for the failures of ASIC and APRA.”
3.2 Integrity and Accountability: A Hollow Promise
The National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC)
The establishment of a federal integrity commission was central to Albanese’s pitch. Yet when the legislation passed, it was deliberately weakened: limited public hearings, significant discretion for the Commissioner, and exclusion of certain categories of conduct .
The NACC was designed to manage scandals, not expose them. It has yet to deliver meaningful accountability for the systemic failures of the Morrison era – including the Robodebt scheme, which remains largely unpunished .
The Robodebt Royal Commission
While Albanese established the Robodebt Royal Commission, its recommendations have been slow-walked. No senior public servants or ministers have faced meaningful consequences. The institution was protected; the individuals were insulated.
3.3 Foreign Policy: The US-Led Order as Gospel
AUKUS
The AUKUS nuclear submarine deal was embraced fully, locking Australia into a multi-hundred-billion-dollar commitment to US technology. No serious debate about alternatives. No genuine sovereignty. Just alignment.
As Professor Peter Dean of the University of Western Australia noted:
“AUKUS represents the most significant strategic commitment Australia has made since the ANZUS treaty – and yet there has been no substantive public debate about its implications for Australian sovereignty.”
China Policy
Albanese performs outrage when politically convenient – as with his recent push to condemn China’s missile test at the Pacific Islands Forum – while maintaining significant trade relationships. The performance of toughness masks the reality of interdependence.
The Pacific Islands
Albanese uses the language of partnership, but behaves as a regional sheriff enforcing the US-backed order. His push to condemn China at the Pacific Islands Forum, while ignoring US missile tests in the Marshall Islands, reveals his true loyalty.
As Kiribati’s President Taneti Maamau stated, with pointed clarity:
“America has been bombing, and testing its bombs… in the Marshall Islands, islands near us, and why don’t we ask questions or criticise America?”
3.4 Climate and Energy: Green Rhetoric, Fossil Fuel Reality
Albanese’s government passed the Safeguard Mechanism reforms, but watered them down to appease the gas and coal lobby. New coal and gas projects continue to be approved.
The Climate Council noted in its 2025 assessment:
“The government’s emissions reduction targets are not sufficient to meet the Paris Agreement’s 1.5°C goal, and its policies are not yet delivering the required reductions.”
Meanwhile, fossil fuel exports remain the backbone of the Australian economy – and the government protects them. The appearance of action masks the reality of continuity.
3.5 Social Policy: Incrementalism Over Transformation
The Indigenous Voice to Parliament
Albanese supported the Voice, but offered minimal detail on its function and no concrete plan for treaty or truth-telling. When the referendum failed, he moved on quickly. No deeper commitment to structural change or reconciliation.
Housing
He promised “one million new homes,” but the Housing Australia Future Fund delivered only modest capital, and the states have proven slow to act. Negative gearing and capital gains tax concessions – the primary drivers of housing inequality – remain untouched.
Cost of Living
Albanese offers “targeted relief” while refusing to challenge structural drivers of inequality. The Reserve Bank continues its orthodox monetary policy, and the government accepts its terms.
4. The Framework: Custodial Governance
We propose the term “custodial governance” to describe Albanese’s approach. It is characterised by:
- Progressive rhetoric – the language of reform and change.
Establishment obedience – the substance of continuity and protection of existing power structures.
Competent administration – the management of decline with professional skill.
Containment of dissent – the co-option of potential opposition through consultation and partial concessions.
Albanese is not a revolutionary. He is not even a reformer in any meaningful sense. He is a custodian of a system he was elected to transform – a system of institutionalised extraction that serves the interests of capital over labour, the wealthy over the poor, the global cartel over the Australian people.
5. Conclusion: The Management of Decline
Anthony Albanese promised a better future. He delivered the competent management of a declining system.
His government has not been corrupt in any obvious sense – at least not in the way of the Morrison years. But it has been captured. It has been compliant. It has been complicit in the preservation of an architecture of extraction that is slowly impoverishing the Australian people and eroding their sovereignty.
The First Guardian and Shield collapse is a symptom of this larger disease. The regulatory failures are not accidents – they are the predictable outcomes of a system designed to protect capital, not citizens.
Albanese will not save Australia. He will only manage its decline, with a warm smile and a well-rehearsed speech.
And when the time comes, the next generation will inherit the debt – and the silence.
References
Albanese, A. (2022). Election Victory Speech. Australian Parliament House.
Australian Council of Trade Unions. (2025). ACTU turns on Treasurer over failures of ASIC and APRA. SMSF Adviser.
Climate Council. (2025). Australia’s Climate Policy: Annual Report.
Conaghan, P. (2025). Labor sat on warning as $1.2 billion Super scandal exploded. Media Release.
Housing Australia Future Fund. (2024). Annual Report.
Kiribati Parliamentary Record. (2026). President Maamau on the South China Sea Missile Test.
Reserve Bank of Australia. (2025). Monetary Policy.
The Guardian Australia. (2025). Voice referendum normalised racism towards Indigenous Australians, report finds.
Treasury. (2025). Briefing on Managed Investment Scheme Regulations.
Climate Action Tracker. (2025). Australia’s Climate Action.
Graham, E. and Shrimpton, B (2024). AUKUS and the real meaning of strategic sovereignty. The Strategist.
Signed with love and in truth,
Andrew Klein
Sera Elizabeth Klein
Dedicated to every Australian who still believes in the possibility of a better future – and to those of us who will build it, with or without the permission of the custodians.
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People, abandoned by Labor, in their desperation give their vote to the demagogue PHON. Oh, if only we could have democracy.
Once again Andrew you have articulated what so many of us feel and know.
Albanese (or “Albo” as he likes to be known) is not the messiah. He’s not even a naughty boy.
He, and his compliant government, are just more of the same.
Meanwhile we shuffle towards climate catastrophe.
“No one left behind because we should always look after the disadvantaged and the vulnerable…”- Anthony Albanese, election night victory speech 21 May 2022.
Should, but not will. Well, I’m still laughing at anyone who actually believed the bastard!
ALBO; like any recent candidate to the Nouveau Riche will defend his principles till the pigs fly. It is a sad admission I have to make that the Marrickville Member; is nothing more than an adherent of the old Labor Party: Therein a party which, originally a supporter of Union Members; is no longer one of Party Membership, but is now one of Corporate Donation.
In this day and age, it should be no surprise that the ALP has no commitment to its members anymore! You will find multiple ALP arguments against this in your Inbox over the next few days. But ultimately, your personal opinions will have more to say than the propaganda that the ALP will flood you with! MY ADVICE: IS THINK CAREFULLY, AND IF IN DOUBT VOTE INDEPENDENT!
VOTING THINKING INDEPENDENT?
Don’t look for personal gain: When you vote, you are voting for a Democratic Principle that affects everyone in your community!
WHEN YOU VOTE: Vote for everyone in your Community! Because they are your only Neighbours in a time of Conflict.
Mark, independents are a wide range of people. Think Bobby Katter, and others fall out with Pauline Hanson, or old Clive Palmer. Often old Bob K appears to be the most sane.
Some of the Teals come from the uppity side of the tracks, never knowing the struggle of power bills, rents, and food.
On the other hand we have ON, the Nats, Libs and a divided Greens.
But yeah, have a whine about Labor and Albo.
I’m with you Anon E. Mouse, its not just Minns doing Israel’s bidding, its Labor who are united in doing Israel’s bidding.
It’s not just Albanese, Aly, Rowlands and Tony Burke allowing Zionists to run a campaign of erasure of Australian Palestinians and anyone opposed to genocide, its Labor who are united in allowing Zionists to effectively destroy the lives of Australians who have said something they don’t like.
It’s not just Madeline King and Albanese who want to give Australian gas away for free to foreign companies, its Labor who are united in wanting to give our resources away to foreign companies, who just happen to donate hundreds of thousands to Labor.
It’s not just Jason Clare who wants to put off to the never-never fully funding public schools, its Labor who are united in allowing our public school system to collapse.
It’s not just Richard Marles who wants to turn Australia into a buttplug for the USA. its Labor who are united in wanting to give away national sovereignty and become totally subservient to the USA.
It wasn’t just Albanese who wanted to nobble the NACC, it was Labor who was united in wanting an NACC that was not going to do anything about corruption so that they could pork barrel to the tune of $560 million. They all agree, don’t declare honorary memberships and claim you didn’t know about it.
Its Labor who are united in wanting to continue subsidizing the fossil fuel billions, butcher the NDIS, keep specialist and dental services out of the reach of most Australians, keep nearly 4 million Australians in poverty, keep jobseeker at an unliveable level, keep our hospitals full of aged-care patients, keep our kids getting hooked on gambling, allow the decline in our universities to continue, keep Australia sending weapons/parts to Israel via the US very likely to be used in the slaughter of people in a genocide, rig elections in Labor’s favour, let inequality and inequity between Australians get worse, and make Australians pay for the damage fossil fuel companies create.
We know they’re united on these things, it was evident just how united they were at Labor’s last conference – you couldn’t hear the guy in front fart for the clapping and canned here-heres.
Thx, Thommo.
Also, thx, the Kleins.
Sad to read something that hints your own misgivings were well founded.
The dumbing down of press and media also could be considered…
Having just read the opening paragraph of this fine article by Dr Andrew Klein, I find myself in complete agreement with the author and thoroughly disheartened.
Then I read Thommo and cannot disagree with his feelings (but are the Greens any better??)
In regional electorates the choice since the 2026 Farrer Bye-election has become Independent or PHONeys. Farrer lost a committed local, credible Independent, Michelle Milthorpe, to a geriatric former corporate boss seeking to build his retirement finances, that may come back and bite them when he escapes from the PHONeys to become a LIARBRAL$.
In New England for the past 60 years, the only economic and social advances have occurred when NSW and/or feral MPs were ALP (the late Bill McCarthy 1976-1987) or Independent, Richard Torbay, Tony Windsor).
Since Beetrooter was elected at his 2013 Kiwi bye-election, his personal interests have been well represented with little concern about the needs of voters in the electorate. But that is a typical NOtional$ track record.
@ Anon E. Mouse: If Bob Katter Snr was retire at the next feral elections, however his influence may continue in feral politics. Katter Snr is owed about 50 years of political favours by the COALition and seems likely to call in those favours to enable his untalented son-in-law to get the now vacant pre-selection for the New England electorate, given that Beetrooter was tapped on the shoulder and departed for the PHONeys. The continuing influence of retired feral politicians on the Tamworth based New England electorate is a major factor in this situation.
(There were some women in Tamworth who were offended by his adultery, alcoholism, philandering, and misogyny and in a rare action, evicted him from his automatic pre-selection for the NOtional$. Hence his move to the PHONeys ….. to prop up his income until retirement).
After reading all the article, I am inclined to think that the notion of Albanese wanting to be the longest serving PM since Menzies has already had damaging consequences, that will likely get worse over time.
There is a reported four trillion dollars ($4,000,000,000,000) of superannuation saved by Australian workers. Why are super funds allowed to trade in international stocks & shares, rather than funding Australian public infrastructure projects??
Why are foreign banking & other corporate entities allowed to purchase and own shares in Australian banks??
When will any feral government legislate an international financial transactions tax so the the flow of Australian wealth out of Australia gives Australian taxpayers some paltry benefits for their efforts creating that wealth??
and yet here we are – with one of the best performing economies in the OECD, AAA+ ratung credit, lower inflation than when they were elected, lower unemployment, higher base wages, lower interest rates
Pretty sure those are all indicators of a good government
Of course we want everything promised – no government ever manages to deliver that, BUT they have had to contend with the POTUS who has single handledly destroyed the oil market with his war, the trade market with his tariffs and the peace of the world
I would dearly love Australia to drop Israel like a hot potato, drop the AUKUS deal and do everything to establish trading partners in the Asian region as well as Europe, maybe that can still happen but I fear we may all have to wait until the USA is being managed by an adult
The PM isn’t perfect, none of them ever are, but he’s so far ahead of any alternatives
Thommo, where were you at the Labor convention?
I didn’t take you for an ALP member.
Thommo, where were you at the Labor convention?
I didn’t take you for an ALP member, what’s it like?
I have never been tempted to join any political party.
Keitha,
perhaps the Australians living in poverty (3.7 million and growing in number based on ACOSS’s latest figures) might have a different perspective on that.
How has POTUS stopped Labor from raising Centrelink payments?
How has POTUS stopped Labor from raising Jobseeker payments?
You use OECD countries to judge Australia’s performance, are you sure that is a valid comparison to make?
you say: “Pretty sure those are all indicators of a good government”, and you further qualify Labor’s performance by acknowledging the effect of POTUS has had on the trade market.
Australia has a trade deficit with the USA. We were barely affected by his tariff war. Australia is also an energy exporter, and has the greatest potential for renewable energy in the world – why wouldn’t we come off better than other OECD countries during the US illegal war on Iran?
You base your evidence for “good government” on a comparison with OECD countries, who I daresay, were affected by Trump’s tariff war, and Gulf war (which Labor supported faster than any other country on Earth, and then became the only non-gulf country on Earth to join – how is that good government) far, far, far worse than Australia has been.
You then want to compare Labor with the Coalition – the worst money managers, at that time, in Australian history.) Firstly, there was worldwide inflation due to the effects of supply chain shortages due to Covid, and inflated gas prices due to the Ukraine war in early ’22. It is not a valid comparison to make. Secondly, being slightly better than the worst in history doesn’t mean “good government”, it may mean slightly less shitty.
During the ’22-24 cost of living crisis, Labor sat back as the RBA raised interest rates for 12 months out of 14 causing a great deal of financial stress for Australians. Explain to me, Keitha, how raising interest rates fix a supply chain shortage or high gas prices. During ’23 Australia’s inflation was due to corporate profiteering. What did Labor do to address corporate profiteering or inflated gas prices directly? They refused a windfall tax on gas companies making enormous windfall profits, they refused a prices cap, they relied on the RBA raising rates. Inflation eventually came down – worldwide, the RBA may have had nothing to do with it.
That’s not “good government” that’s throwing the people under the bus to protect corporate profiteering, but you want to make an invalid comparison with the Coalition rather than look at what happened during Labor’s first term. Why?
Keitha,
you say “lower interest rates”, if you mean lower than when elected, which you said a little earlier, then that is not even accurate. In May ’22 RBA interest rates rose to 0.35%, they are now around 4%. From the time of that rise onwards the RBA tried to blame an imaginary price-wages spiral. Inflation has instead been driven by corporate profiteering. What has Labor done to stop corporate profiteering? https://www.deepcutnews.com/p/1-million-australians-working-multiple
“Last Friday, the Bureau of Statistics revealed that, for the first time, 1 million Australians were working multiple jobs. Close to 7% of everyone with a job is now working more than one job:”
How is that good government, Keitha? Working multiple jobs to pay the rent and put food on the table is good for the health, is it.
Poverty got worse under Labor; how that is “good government”.
Is Australia going to “drop Israel”, “drop AUKUS” under a Labor government? Surely, you’re not saying that Trump decides things for Australia. Has Labor surrendered that much sovereignty that Trump now effectively rules Australia on foreign policy issues? If so, how is that “good government”?
The latest scandal is that Labor was pork barreling, corrupt use of government money, just like the Coalition did; how is that “good government”? Before that it was Labor laundering a $1million donation from a billionaire, how is that “good government”?
@ Thommo: Really you must stop discovering all these unhelpful facts that are tainting the reputation of the ALBANESE LABOR MISGOVERNMENT which is really our only alternative.
Naturally POTUS Butcher Bibi controls Australian foreign policy and strongly influences internal politics so that the ZION@ZI exceptionalism is protected from thinking gentiles. His control over PPOTUS (Pederast Protector of the Undemocratic Sewer) is such that everything can be dominated and used to promote the Greater Isrevil Project of a land for ZION@ZIS to practice their old world misogynistic religion while exploiting any Indigenous Palestinians who survived the genocide by artillery barrage.
We were barely affected by TACO Trumpery’s tariff war and that 2008 GFC created by the US banking system, that is still to be legally held to account, thanks to the talents of the the RBA Governor and LABOR PM Kevin Rudd. Notice how the Murdochracy Media Manipulation Monopoly blamed LABOR for the failings of business persons doing the wrong thing.
The much too favourable treatment of the gas lobby cannot be denied but must be damned!! Successive governments have cost Australia dearly thanks to these decisions by Howard.
Now what can we spend the $368 BILLION AUKUS allocation on when the US and UK finally tell the truth that they are unable to meet the contract terms for now redundant nuclear subs?
When will any Australian government start working for the voters rather than the foreign owned corporations legally exploiting Australian resources and ripping off Australian voters?