Risk‑averse voters want caution and visible reform. Can Albanese deliver both?

As citizens, we decide whether governments deserve to be rewarded, punished or replaced – often with imperfect information. The First Albanese Government offers a clear‑eyed account, as Labor proceeds through its second term, of its first: the reforms, missteps and limits.

As a political scientist, I am – by training and instinct – in the business of criticising political parties. That usually means cataloguing failure, inconsistency and over-promising. But this book pushed me to realise how narrow the space for governing has become within a single term.