Labor’s history is one of compromise – and Anthony Albanese knows to make lasting change he needs to stay in government

Anthony Albanese is famous for his mantra of wanting to “fight Tories”.

But the member for Grayndler, centred on the people’s republic of Marrickville, has proven just as adept fighting for decades on Labor’s left flank against the Greens and internal progressive disappointment.

Albanese’s keynote address to the party’s national conference on Thursday was all about the Labor virtue of making lasting change by retaining government.

Albanese presented “a plan for progress over the next decade”, arguing unity and electoral success will be “the difference between a moment of progress – or a lifetime of opportunity”.

With Labor holding just a two-seat majority in the House of Representatives and the Greens spoiling for fights to win the votes of the one-third of Australians who rent, Albanese seemed acutely aware the next election will be fought on two fronts.

There were a few elbows thrown in Peter Dutton’s direction, labelling the Coalition “reactionaries” and accusing them of “telling Australians with solar panels on their roofs to make room for a nuclear reactor in their back yard”.

But much of the speech was an attack on the Greens. Albanese accused them of “hypocrisy” for blocking the Housing Australia Future Fund (Haff) and opposing housing developments.

The prime minister argued Labor’s aim of “bringing people together, in the national interest” in the political centre-ground “might not suit the agenda of those who prefer protest to progress”.

Essentially, it is a core Labor value to compromise to get things done. Party conference delegates got the memo, and compromise they did.

The construction union, which had pushed for a super profits tax to pay for housing, settled for the vague commitment to “funding from a progressive and sustainable tax system, including corporate tax reform”.

Note the language: just strong enough to imply Labor will be slugging corporate fat cats; just weak enough to argue existing policies to crack down on multinational tax avoidance fulfil the commitment.

The Labor Environment Action Network (Lean) wanted a ban on native forest logging but instead got a commitment to rewrite the three-decades-old national forest policy statement this term.

Lean’s spokesperson, Felicity Wade, warned in the failure to ban native forest logging “we prove ourselves a little bit deaf to the deep environmental concerns of our members”.

The Electrical Trades Union got a promise of “substantial public investment” in renewable electricity including expanded state ownership, but out came the hard numbers calling for hundreds of billions of investment.

Disputes on defence and foreign affairs were set to be the hottest, but were effectively stage-managed.

The Labor right’s ambition to remove a call to recognise Palestine as an “important priority” was balanced against the Labor left’s goal of strengthening the commitment and hastening its delivery. Nobody officially moved to do either.

Leftwing unions and rank-and-file members got to have their say against the Aukus nuclear submarine acquisition, but the party locked in behind the policy. When things got rowdy, with frequent interjections from the observers’ section, one of the delegates turned around and shouted: “Join the Greens.”

Labor’s support for Aukus is one plank of what Albanese described as “demonstrating [its] responsible approach on everything from the economy to foreign policy and national security”.

skip past newsletter promotion

Sign up to Five Great Reads

Five of the most interesting, entertaining, and thoughtful reads from across the Guardian

Privacy Notice: Newsletters may contain info about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. For more information see our Privacy Policy. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

after newsletter promotion

Labor’s history is one of compromise. Even the socialist objective added to its constitution in 1921 qualified the ambitious promise of “democratic socialisation of industry, production, distribution and exchange” with the loophole “to the extent necessary to eliminate exploitation and other antisocial features in these fields”.

The Greens are less keen on compromise. After grinding out deals in return for their support for a 43% emissions reduction target and the safeguard mechanism to help achieve it, the party is still fighting for a ban on new fossil fuel projects.

The $10bn Haff is stalled in the Senate. The Greens housing spokesperson, Max Chandler-Mather, is still denouncing Labor and claiming it is responsible for “unlimited rent rises” despite national cabinet this week limiting rises to one a year.

In July 2022 Labor’s national secretary, Paul Erickson, paid the Greens a compliment in his post-election National Press Club address, describing them as “an effective campaign machine”.

“And they do have a very successful strategy they’ve honed over 20 years,” he said in answer to a question. “To always position themselves two steps to the left of Labor, minimise our successes, give zero credit for progressive gains made by Labor governments, constantly criticise, and divide Labor’s base in a manner that doesn’t help progressive politics.”

With the Greens primary vote hovering in the low double digits, according to polls, it’s unclear whether voters will be fired up by Chandler-Mather’s rent freeze campaign or agree with Albanese that the minor party isn’t “interested in solving the problem” because they just want the fight.

At a left faction dinner on Thursday, Albanese went further: labelling the Greens’ approach “Maoist”, claiming the minor party aims to force some into impoverishment in the hope they will rebel.

“They are the blockers – we are the builders,” Albanese said in his conference speech. Long-term Labor government is the “difference between laying the foundation – and finishing the build”.

Albanese vowed to keep the “great Australian dream” of home ownership alive for the next generation, with policies including Labor’s Help to Buy shared equity scheme to start next year and the $3bn incentive to achieve the target of 1.2m homes.

Progressives may choose different paths: compromise or criticism.

But on emissions reduction and housing affordability, we have metrics for success for the Albanese government seeking a decade of Labor in power.

In the case of this affordability crisis the proof of the housing will be in the living. If increased supply and lower rents can’t be delivered the great Australian Labor dream of progressives remaining inside the tent may be lost.