Cautious pragmatism has been the hallmark of Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s three-decade political career.
From 1972, when Albanese was still in short pants, he watched Labor prime minister Gough Whitlam spend three years unleashing a storm of social and political reform across the full range of government administration following 23 years of continuous conservative rule.
Whitlam was bold. He had the numbers and he used them, without fear or hesitation. In his own words, he was prepared to crash through or crash.
But as Albanese watched, Whitlam moved too quickly. The audacious scale of his ambition alarmed many Australians, and he lost office before many of his signature reforms were bedded down.
