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Analysis: One hundred days after being elected, the honeymoon continues for Anthony Albanese, but significant political landmines lay ahead.
The Prime Minister marked the milestone with a speech to the National Press Club, rattling off the wins Labor has notched up since its election victory on May 21.
Mending fences with the French. Striking a deal on climate legislation. Scrapping the cashless debit card. Starting reform on the aged care sector.
But it's not to say the first 100 days of the Labor government have been seamless.
At the height of the winter Omicron wave, the new administration was forced to backtrack on plans to scrap isolation payments. Albanese also picked a fight with the new wave of independents by cutting back on their staffing allocations.
But the big tests are yet to arrive.
The first will be fulfilling an election promise to deliver genuine wages growth.
The government will be hoping to pick up some ideas at this week's Jobs and Skills summit, but the answers aren't easy and the PM knows he'll be marked down if wages continue to go backwards in real terms. It is a likely prospect given inflation is yet to hit its peak.
'Labor has hit the right note in its first 100 days. But the next 100 will test its mettle'
And as the cost of living crisis continues to bite, the pressure will be on the government to deliver sufficient relief in its October budget.
One move that won't be popular is ending the petrol tax discount at the end of September, making it about $11 more expensive to fill up a 50-litre tank. Despite calls for the government to reconsider the move, it argues keeping the halved excise in place is unaffordable for a budget so heavily indebted.
Something that could relieve pressure on the books would be winding back the stage three tax cuts, which are due to kick in in 2024/25 and will cost the budget $243 billion over a decade.
The Greens and crossbenchers want the planned tax relief for high income earners to be revisited, but the government is unmoved, fearing significant voter backlash down the track.
The repercussions of a promised cut to energy bills are far more likely to eventuate. Power prices have soared since Labor was elected and that pain is set to continue for the foreseeable future.
Keeping energy costs down, while keeping the lights one will be one of the biggest challenges not only this term of government, but for years to come, given the scale of the energy transition facing the country.
Another fraught issue in this electoral cycle will be a referendum on a Voice to Parliament for indigenous Australians.
The Prime Minister has declared it a key priority, but there's scarce detail about what the advisory body would look like, or when a national vote will be held.
Labor has hit the right note in its first 100 days. But the next 100 will test its mettle.
Source: 9News
