The difference between Keatingโs, โ๐ฆ๐๐ญ๐, ๐๐๐๐๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ ๐ ๐ฐ๐๐ง๐ง๐ ๐๐จ ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ ๐ฌ๐ฅ๐จ๐ฐ๐ฅ๐ฒโ 1992 despatch box bluster as treasurer aimed at John Hewson, is that he had the credibility and the knockabout, blokey likeabilty of Hawke as a foil.
Albanese has, umm, err, (wait for it)โฆAlbanese.
He is and he embodies, the absolute worst of politics and the Labor government.
Neither he nโor Labor have any credibility or likeabilty about them. None!!! No one believes you sport. Theyโre on to you.
Thatโs why the โfire the liarโ campaign cuts through. It goes to the heart of the Albanese modus operandi.
The other point is that Albanese in 2026 has ordinary keyboard warriors at their kitchen tables, citizen journalists with their devices, the social media of Facebook, Instagram and X, memes, podcasts and AI to contend with which can pump out content in minutes.
On the 4th of July, we could do worse than to borrow from the American Declaration of Independence and say โ๐๐ ๐๐ก๐ ๐๐๐จ๐ฉ๐ฅ๐โ are much more wired and connected and less naive and gullible in 2026 and not afraid to speak up and speak out.
To quote that Labor stalwart and warhorse, Richo, โ๐ฌ๐จ๐จ๐ง๐๐ซ ๐จ๐ซ ๐ฅ๐๐ญ๐๐ซ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐ฆ๐จ๐ ๐ฐ๐จ๐ซ๐ค ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ ๐จ๐ฎ๐ญโ
Keatingโs spontaneous line was pure political theatre and he was good at it but he too succumbed to Richoโs first law of politics.