Sooner or later Anthony Albanese or his successor will lead the Labor government to defeat. Probably a decisive defeat, with many in the electorate thinking that Labor had had its turn and that it was time for the other side to have a go. As NSW and Queensland show, voters are quite forgiving of parties after they have had a spell, sometimes only a short one, in the wilderness.

When the time for a turnover arrives, campaign warnings of the risks posed by the opposition, based on old history will be ignored. When Labor loses, it will be only because Labor's biggest governing weakness was always its failure to galvanise voters around ideas and ideals, or to unite its supporters around enduring Labor values.

The aftermath of defeat always involves regret and recrimination. We are seeing t

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