Trump’s victory means old tweets and statements are coming back to haunt Anthony Albanese

Welcome back to your weekly update on federal politics, where Brett Worthington keeps you up to date on what’s happening in Parliament House.

The wind whipped through the courtyard of the Prime Minister’s Parliament House as Anthony Albanese looked down to check the time.

After he called a press conference to announce that children under 16 would be banned from social media, it was as if his mind was elsewhere.

Within an hour, he would be on the phone with Donald Trump, a man he had described years earlier as “scaring the hell out of me.”

Making harsh comments can often feel good in the moment, but they are not without consequences.

While Albanese addressed the media in Canberra, his prime ministerial predecessor Kevin Rudd was on the other side of the world, frantically deleting social media posts.

Years earlier, Rudd had blasted Trump in a series of tweets in which he called him “the most destructive president in history,” “a traitor to the West” and a man who is “dragging America and democracy through the mud.” .

The tweets remained online as Rudd became Australia’s ambassador to the US, ticking quietly like a time bomb getting closer and closer to exploding as Trump seeks the presidency again.

“Out of respect for the office of President of the United States and following the election of President Trump, Ambassador Rudd has now removed these previous comments from his personal website and social media channels,” said a statement from Rudd’s private office.

“This was done to eliminate the possibility of such comments being misinterpreted as reflecting his positions as ambassador and, in turn, the views of the Australian government.”

The tweets may be gone, but their consequences are not. As hard as Rudd has tried to ingratiate himself into Trump’s inner circle, some of Trump’s closest political allies have made no secret of their thoughts on the Australian ambassador.

“He’s trying to get back into favor. He has been very critical of President Trump in the past,” Steve Bannon said earlier this year.

There would be no shortage of irony if Rudd were to lose his job for speaking out about a man for whom shame and consequences never seem to affect his job.

Albanese and Foreign Minister Penny Wong overstated their support for Rudd to remain in Washington and, like Wong, insisted that the Australia-US alliance was “bigger than any one individual’s previous statements”.

At his first national Labor conference as opposition leader, Rudd famously introduced: “My name is Kevin, I’m from Queensland and I’m here to help.”

If he fails to open doors in Trump’s America, his ability to help as an ambassador will be the deciding factor in his ability to stay in the job.

“We were screwed”: The different reactions to Trump’s victory

When the results were announced on Wednesday, senators were busy with their thrice-yearly survey of ministers and officials.

As much as they were focused on the Senate estimates, their eyes were firmly on the distant election.

Labor politicians’ stomachs dropped as what they had hoped wouldn’t happen became likely.

Aside from what it would mean for Australia-US relations, the AUKUS nuclear submarine pact and trade, some tried to come to terms with what the outcome said about the world.

Repulsed by what they saw, some quietly calculated that voters here will decide the federal government twice before Trump’s second term ends.

Across the aisle and away from the Senate hearing rooms, reports emerged of celebrations taking place behind closed doors at the Liberal MP.

However, not everyone in the party celebrated. “We were screwed either way,” remarked one liberal.

While they are certainly not fans of Democrat Kamala Harris, senior liberal hardheads fear Trump’s victory will reignite the appetite for a debate on abortion in their party.

Opposition leader Peter Dutton tried to get ahead of the matter when he addressed his party on Tuesday. He warned the abortion debate in Queensland had cost the LNP votes in the recent election and did not need to be re-addressed at the federal level.

Senate leader Simon Birmingham went further, saying he would actively support Labor’s efforts to repeal a bill introduced by his coalition colleagues Matt Canavan and Alex Antic that would require medical professionals to examine “born alive” fetuses after a late birth to receive medical care. term abortion.

The “many unknowns” Australia faces with Trump in charge

Even before the election result, Finance Minister Steven Kennedy warned that Trump’s threat to impose tariffs of up to 20 percent on all imported goods could harm the Australian economy through higher inflation and lower growth, especially if imposed quickly.

On Thursday, Reserve Bank Governor Michelle Bullock flashed what might otherwise be summed up with a shrug emoji as she pressed on what Trump’s election could mean for the Australian economy.

It appears that the RBA has not emulated Trump’s policies because he is an unpredictable figure.

Even if Australia implements tariff exemptions, officials warn that any impact on China would have repercussions down under.

“There are so many unknowns here. He [Trump] said he would do these things. We don’t know. “Basically, we have to look at what that might mean on the first pass,” Bullock told Estimates.

“Maybe it doesn’t mean much to us.”

Investigations and Mea Culpas Revealed in Estimates

As distracted as the US election was for senators, the estimates still brought a number of developments.

Industrial Relations Minister Murray Watt told a hearing he would be open to expanding CFMEU whistleblower protections after ABC revealed construction sector insiders are fearful of speaking out against the union.

His comments came as federal police confirmed they were conducting a new investigation into crime within the scandal-plagued union.

In another hearing, the shadowy department tasked with overseeing the parliament building, which was recently the subject of a raid by the National Anti-Corruption Commission, could not say when its boss would return from paid leave.

The acting head of the Parliamentary Services Department also confirmed that she had ordered an investigation into the more than $315,000 retirement pay she paid her predecessor for leaving the public service.

Having yet to claim she never received free flight upgrades, Nationals frontbencher Bridget McKenzie was forced to issue what could generously be described as a brief update on her disclosures: she admitted failing to disclose 16 upgrades .

Or as one liberal put it: “She shot herself in the foot.”

The Supreme Court was also involved in the process this week, reminding the government once again that courts impose punishments, not politicians. This came a year to the day after the landmark NZYQ ruling abolished a central pillar of Australia’s immigration detention regime.

The court ruled that the government’s requirement that the former detainees wear ankle bracelets and live under curfew was punitive and unlawful.

The ruling prompted Immigration Minister Tony Burke to rush into enacting new regulations to allow ankle monitors and curfews. He is also seeking to strengthen powers to deport members of the NZYQ cohort.

Albanese’s tough job as acting prime minister

There is currently little evidence anywhere in the world that an incumbent government is worth being in.

Governments are being weakened and those not yet up for re-election are struggling to stay afloat.

Regardless, the prime minister is desperately trying to reassert his control over political discourse – whether with a plan to cancel billions in student debt or the National Cabinet’s support for setting a minimum social media age.

He told colleagues on Tuesday that the upcoming election would be shaped by three aspects: what Labor has done, what it will do next and what risk the election poses to voters.

But if there’s anything Donald Trump’s first term has taught the world, it’s that with a single social media post he can upend the world order in a way that governments will find it hard to act on react.

If that happens again, the gusts in Albanese’s court are far from the only headwinds he will face in the coming months.

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