Albanese? Class Warrior?

Give me a break!

The  Murdoch press is replete with straw men and women. Anyone who dares not toe its line is painted in the most lurid of colours. Labor leader-in-waiting, Anthony Albanese, is no exception to the rule - except that, at this stage at least, the Murdoch press has hopes of grooming him as another Bob Hawke, or Tony Blair, if you will.

But first, the straw man:

Albo vows to end class war ran the banner headline on page one of Thursday's issue of The Australian. (For the uninitiated, Albo, a purported left-winger, looks set to succeed the hapless Bill Shorten as leader of the federal Australian Labor Party.)

All talk here of 'class war' is, of course, ludicrous. Whether it's Shorten or Albanese at the helm, the ALP wouldn't know what class war was if it hit it in the face. Still, such propaganda tropes are standard fare, deployed by the Murdoch press against any public figure it chooses to mount a crusade against..

The Australian's Peter van Onselen, now a professor of politics at the University of Western Australia and Griffith University, dishes out the following Murdochratic advice/ directive:

"He may well be, having shown a willingness over the years to crab-walk away from causes considered too radical for a mainstream politician... But to do so in more than an superficial way... Albanese will need to prove that he truly believes in the economic structures that support people's aspirations... " ('Tory fighter' should follow Hawke)

Although I'm not party to Albanese's past record of rhetorical flourishes, I seriously doubt he's ever resorted to expressions the Big End of Town, Us & Them, neoliberalism, privatisation, and other expressions of the social and political reality that oppress us all on a daily basis. For example, has he said anything about the $33bn stock market surge which followed Morrison's election win?

For the record, Friday's Australian trotted out a photograph of Albanese with UK Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, taken last year. Front page, of course. Here's the opening paragraph:

"Labor's leader in waiting Anthony Albanese will be forced to jettison the hard-left policies he has espoused for more than three decades... Mr Albanese has become close to far-left British Opposition Leader Jeremy Corbyn... " (From left field: Albanese, Corbyn and co, Andrew Burrell/ Andrew Clennell)

Further on in the same piece, there's a reference to his "decades-long history as a spear-thrower for Labor's hard left."

In the same issue, former Zionist lobbyist (and, quite incidentally, MP for Melbourne Ports) Michael Danby, has an opinion piece, headed Let's see if feisty Albo's made of Hawke's right stuff, in which we find yet more blather about Albo/Hawke, as well as this wonderful example of the psychological phenomenon known as projection: "... a ratbag such as Jeremy Corbyn."

I am familiar, however, with Albanese's utterly lame and gutless statements over the years on the subject of Palestine/Israel, the infallible test of principle and courage in today's world. For example:

2009: "I don't support the boycott of Israel, I support engagement... dialogue and discussion." (Q & A)

2011: Albanese accused the then Greens-dominated Marrickville Council of "simplistic sloganeering" when they bravely dared to adopt a pro-BDS policy, and lamely opined that "the inner west of Sydney is... a place where neighbours live in harmony regardless of religion or race."

2016: Albanese expressed "concern" about foreign policy funding, and said China, Israel and Taiwan were among the biggest spenders of sponsored travel and donations in Australia.

2018: Albanese warned about "Israel's actions... damaging the country's reputation."