The Good Fight examines Anthony Albanese’s Labor government as it moves through its second term. Kelly argues that the Prime Minister has built his leadership style, and the modern Labor movement more broadly, around kindness, collaboration, and a soft-spoken civility. These qualities have distinguished him from his predecessors and resonated with voters who were weary of political combat.
But Kelly questions whether this gentler approach has blunted Labor’s sense of purpose. His central claim is that Albanese’s government suffers from a lack of belief: it tends to make decisions based on what is achievable rather than what is aspirational. This pragmatism, Kelly suggests, makes the government safe but timid. It has allowed Labor to quietly abandon or dilute several election commitments whenever bipartisan support proved elusive.
Listening to Kelly’s reflections, I found myself realising things about Australian politics that I hadn’t before. I follow politics casually, but his analysis illuminated the deeper tension between conviction and compromise that defines contemporary Labor. The essay is not a hit piece; it’s a thoughtful, sometimes sympathetic exploration of how belief, identity, and caution interact at a pivotal moment in our national politics.
Kelly writes with the precision of a journalist and the empathy of someone who has seen politics from the inside. The Good Fight doesn’t offer easy answers, but it does leave you asking whether doing “the achievable” is enough when the country might need something bolder.
4 out of 5 quiet revolutions.
