Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is proving to be a leader defined not by vision or conviction, but by a chronic inconsistency that is pushing his government – and Australia – into global irrelevance.
His recent move to slash staffer support for shadow ministers is more than a procedural squabble. It’s a deliberate dismantling of a bipartisan arrangement that has helped preserve the integrity of parliamentary accountability. The decision reeks of vindictiveness. It signals a leader more concerned with weakening his opponents than strengthening the country’s democratic institutions.
But this is no isolated misstep. On nearly every front that requires moral clarity or strategic foresight – from international diplomacy to the fight against rising antisemitism – Albanese is missing in action.
Nowhere has this been more glaring than in his handling of the Israel–Hamas conflict. Since Hamas’s brutal October 7 attacks, the Prime Minister has failed to take a consistent, principled stand. As antisemitic hate speech was projected onto the steps of the Sydney Opera House, Albanese offered only a lukewarm response. His reluctance to forcefully denounce what was plainly unacceptable sent a dangerous message: that antisemitism, under the cover of protest, could be tolerated – even excused.
The consequences have been grim. Antisemitism has spread unchecked through Australian universities, community institutions, and public spaces. It is being normalised. And the Prime Minister has allowed it.
Worse still, the Prime Minister attempts to play both sides – offering mealy-mouthed condemnations of antisemitism one day, then amplifying criticism of Israel the next. Penny Wong, his Foreign Minister, reinforces this ambiguity with her constant calls for ceasefires and diplomacy – her language often suggesting a false equivalence between a sovereign democracy and a terrorist organisation.
Of course, this isn’t new territory for the Prime Minister. As an early backbencher, he was a vocal champion of the Palestinian cause – appearing at rallies where anti-Israel rhetoric was standard fare. That ideological foundation now appears to shape foreign policy at the highest levels of government. Instead of pragmatic diplomacy, we get the echoes of hard-left grievance politics dressed up as international statesmanship.
His indecisiveness was again on display during the recent US airstrike on Iran – a nation that bankrolls Hamas, Hezbollah, and instability across the region. While the US acted swiftly, Albanese delayed his response for nearly 24 hours. Doesn’t he work on weekends? When he finally did speak, his words were cautious and uninspired. Meanwhile, Wong rushed to the microphones to call for de-escalation – as though the Ayatollah’s regime were an honest broker. The Islamic Republic does not trade in diplomacy. It thrives on chaos, violence, and terror.
This disjointed messaging exposed more than confusion – it laid bare a lack of strategic clarity at the top of government. In foreign affairs, timing and resolve matter. Both were sorely lacking.
Then came the G7 summit – another missed opportunity. Albanese still hasn’t secured a face-to-face meeting with President Trump. For a leader who promised to restore Australia’s global standing, it was a conspicuous absence. One might argue it’s poetic justice, considering the historic disdain Albanese and US Ambassador Kevin Rudd have shown toward Trump. But in international diplomacy, ideology is no substitute for engagement.
At home and abroad, Albanese is shrinking Australia’s voice. His actions reflect a government out of its depth: reactive instead of strategic, ideological instead of principled, and preoccupied with symbolic gestures and pronouns over meaningful outcomes.
Meanwhile, Albanese and Wong continue to misunderstand a basic geopolitical reality: strength yields results; weakness invites irrelevance. President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu understood this. Under Trump, the Abraham Accords brought about unprecedented diplomatic breakthroughs – with the UAE, Bahrain, Morocco, and Sudan formalising ties with Israel. Saudi Arabia was on the brink of joining before Hamas sabotaged the peace process on October 7.
In contrast, Albanese’s government has threatened to arrest Netanyahu if he visits Australia, citing the politicised ruling of the International Criminal Court. That’s not diplomacy – it’s theatre. And it’s directed at a wartime leader who, for all his flaws, has proven that resolve and deterrence are still relevant in an increasingly unstable world.
This is not leadership. It’s posturing. And it’s costing Australia – diplomatically, strategically, and morally. In short, Albanese is out of his depth, a toddler trying to swim in the big pool.
Critics are right to say this is a rudderless government, managing decline rather than reversing it. As Albanese continues to dodge difficult questions, embolden dangerous rhetoric, and squander diplomatic capital, he is not just failing his office. He is diminishing Australia’s relevance on the world stage.
