First we had Trump's 'Liberation Day' - we may have just seen Albo's: PETER VAN ONSELEN on big decision that sums up PM's new approach

Daily Mail​

3 days ago

Has Anthony Albanese been liberated from his dependence on the left wingers around him?
The decision to approve a 45 year extension of the North West Shelf, a mega gas project in WA, over the howls of the teals and Greens, suggests that, yes, he has - at least on matters of the environment.
The Greens aren't too happy about the gas project approval. New leader Larissa Waters has said 'this approval will mean supercharged floods, fires and species extinctions'.
She added that the decision 'totally undermines the government's commitment to net zero by 2050'.
Maybe, maybe not. But either way what it does tell us is that Albo now feels confident in his election victory to stand up to his left flank, when it suits him.
You see, our Prime Minister has always been part of the Labor left, but environmentalism has never really been his calling.
Social justice issues were what inspired Albo into politics, especially insofar as they intersect with economic policies.
Which helps explain his preparedness to target superannuation accounts with new taxes on unrealised gains, Labor's changes to stage three tax cuts to spread the tax cut around to lower income earners - and of course Albo's 20 per cent forgiveness of HECS debts.
It also explains his foray into Indigenous rights by holding the Voice referendum in his first term. It may also therefore he a sign of his likely return to Indigenous issues during this term, as close mate Penny Wong flagged days before the election, and as former senator Pat Dodson hopefully flagged today.
But when it comes to the environment, Albo won't let the left dictate terms to him on major projects that provide the funding he needs to pay for his social left agenda.
That's also why he was quick to shift his frenemy Tanya Plibersek out of that portfolio when reshuffling his cabinet. Plibersek may well have blocked the extension of North West Shelf operations - if only to irritate Albo!
New environment minister Murray Watt was never going to do that. To says he's a vehicle for carrying out his PM's wishes would be to understate his willingness to oblige.
With a lower house team of 94 and no need to acquiesce to teals or Greens or anyone else in the lower house of parliament, Albo is free to stand up to the left when it suits him.
But he'll need to find ways to get the Greens back on side whenever he hopes to pass new laws.
The fact remains that the Greens do now control the balance of power in the Senate.
So when Labor needs legislation to pass through the parliament it will need to go cap in hand to the Greens for support, unless the Coalition already are on board of course.
The unknown is whether or not the Greens catch on to such trickery by Albo and decide to assert themselves in the Senate as a form of payback for other decisions taken against their wishes they have little control over.
The North West Shelf is a classic example.
Albo surely knows that to stay in favour with the mainstream who took a punt on him for a second term he needs to avoid playing to his base too much or too often.
That includes the broader left and the environmental left in particular.
Certainly when doing so threatens jobs and the economy, as was the case regarding this Woodside decision.
So Albo is liberated, at least for now before parliament returns - and the Greens take up their new balance of power position in the senate.