Labor’s national conference has come and gone as expected – without bloodshed or public disagreement.

Labor, under Anthony Albanese, has been a model in what political watchers like to call “discipline” – disagreements are brief and in-house, and the leader’s view prevails.

That is praised by Australia’s modern political and media class, which puts a primacy on order above almost anything else – including good policy. It doesn’t matter if Albanese and Richard Marles are behind the beat or failing to meet the moment – they are doing it orderly, with control over their caucus, and any change is incremental and within the bounds of what the media and political classes have deemed acceptable.

Take away the party branding and the big announcements could have come from a Liberal campaign event – more money for AUKUS and defence, and ruling out a gas tax, while the fossil-fuel obsessed states of Queensland and Western Australia sent their representatives in to make sure everyone knew the environment wasn’t to be given any special consideration.

At the same time as offering the same sort of major policies as their vanquished ideological enemies in the Liberal-National party, Albanese and co named One........

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