Sean Kelly’s Quarterly Essay The Good Fight asks a harder question than whether Labor is governing competently – it asks whether it still knows what it believes, and whether belief is translating into action.

Anyone who reads Sean Kelly’s opinion pieces in the Nine newspapers will not be surprised to learn he is disappointed by the federal Labor government. The sense that, despite the lack of a credible opposition, the Albanese government is moving too slowly and cautiously is a widespread belief amongst Australians who identify loosely as on the left.

As I was writing this review, James Massola, chief political commentator for the Nine newspapers, wrote a column  echoing this view. A similar position was taken by The Australia Institute’s  Amy Remeikis who wrote, “Looking at this Labor government, you now have to wonder what are they waiting for?”

Kelly’s Quarterly Essay,  _The Good Fight_, reflects these doubts, but in a tone different to that of an 800-word opinion piece. Kelly writes both personally and philosophically. He is interested in how we might think of the relationship between political beliefs and actions.

Rather like the prime minister, Kelly stresses he did not come from wealth. Only through a scholarship could Kelly attend a prestigious school. His previous experience includes working for former prime ministers Kevin Rudd and Julia Gillard and he is very aware of the lessons Labor has learnt from the successes and failures of those years.

The question of what a party stands for is currently most often thrown at the Liberals. But while Labor is in power in Canberra and all but two of the states, its basic beliefs are no longer obvious, beyond winning government.

The Good Fight addresses this question, but through a single-minded focus on Albanese. Frequently the prime minister refers to his “three great faiths: the Labor Party, the Catholic Church and the South Sydney Rabbitohs”. But this tells us little about his political beliefs, nor how the Labor Party he now leads differs from the party he joined as a young man.

Kelly clearly yearns for a party that is sufficiently committed to equity to take major steps towards the redistribution of wealth within Australia. He quotes  Andrew Leigh, Assistant Minister for Productivity, Competition, Charities and Treasury, who warns we’re on track to an........

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