It must bring a sense of relief to Brisbane residents knowing that the Prime Minister has jetted into town to personally spearhead the response to Cyclone Alfred.
Using all his knowledge about how to help out. Carefully crafted press conferences to update the nation on what’s happening, and how his government is responding, will be important too no doubt.
Sarcasm aside, Anthony Albanese will have to tread very carefully in the days ahead.
He wants to call the election on Sunday for April 12, but might have to delay doing so if the situation in southeast Queensland and northern NSW is critical.
He wouldn’t want to be accused of putting political strategy first.
He could call it on Monday for April 12, but after that he’s stuck having to delay the election which probably means having to hand down a budget he’d been hoping to put off until after Australians case their vote.
Albo had also planned to jet across the Nullarbor over the weekend to share in the WA Labor victory at Saturday’s state election. A perfect backdrop to the start of his own campaign for re-election in a state that he must do well in to have any chance of hanging onto government.
But Albo can’t do that now. Deserting the people of Brisbane in their time of need to fly into WA for a photo opportunity is a definite no.
Anthony Albanese in Brisbane for a press conference about Cyclone Alfred
Anxious residents fill sand bags on the Gold Coast ahead of Cyclone Alfred’s landfall
Natural disasters can be political opportunities for politicians when things go the right way. But when they don’t, the political disaster can match the natural disaster.
That was Scott Morrison’s experience when he headed to Hawaii for a pre-booked family holiday during the bushfires in 2019/20.
It was hubris on stilts to think he could get away with such a move. John Howard wouldn’t take overseas family holidays during his prime ministership, lest he looked out of touch to mainstream voters.
In contrast to Morrison’s stupidity, then opposition leader Albo quickly cancelled what was left of his summer holiday to get on the ground and help out in bushfire affected areas in full view of the media, of course.
Political leaders will always declare that they aren’t factoring politics into how they address the fallout from natural disasters.
They are too busy helping out to consider such things, they claim to the media.
But that is just political spin.
The simple fact is that all politicians deeply consider the political ramifications of what they do and don’t do during times of crisis.
Political leaders can look out of touch if they hang back, but also need to be careful not to get in the way when charging in to help, writes Peter van Onselen
If they didn’t, they would be negligent in their duty to their party. It’s of course possible to be politically strategic as well as do the right thing by Australians affected by natural disasters.
The trick is not getting caught being political at the expense of doing the right thing.
Political leaders can look out of touch if they hang back, but also need to be careful not to get in the way when charging in to help.
It’s a delicate balance especially on the eve of calling an election.
In this instance, especially when Albo’s personal ratings are in the toilet and the cyclone is forecast to directly hit Queensland, Labor’s weakest state and the home of Opposition Leader Peter Dutton.
The PM needs to make absolutely certain he doesn’t outwardly appear to politicise what’s happening.
He needs to avoid references to climate change causing the disaster, a mistake he’s made in the past.
He also needs to avoid criticising the response of the new LNP state government in Queensland. Doing so might come across as cheap political point scoring.
More likely Albo will want to appear as if he’s working hand in glove with the Queensland Government to show that he’s above partisan politics and differences in political stripes.
But even that will have been a political calculation amongst the PM’s minders.
If Albo hadn’t flown into Queensland he would have been criticised. Some will criticise him for injecting himself into the disaster situation. Sometimes politicians can’t win if ideological opponents choose to take aim at how they respond in a crisis.
All a political leader can do is aim to do what would seem to be ‘the right thing’ away from politics. But getting to that point takes time as the political hard heads come together to decide what version of the right thing works best for them politically.