Six months before the 1998 election, Anthony Albanese reminded the parliament of claims John Howard, then in his first term, was the worst prime minister since Billy McMahon. The verdict, he said, was “unfair to Billy McMahon”.

In a piece published later that year, journalist David Leser reported the surprising fact that Albanese had received both input to and endorsement of his speech from Howard’s colleagues. Similarly, writer Norman Abjorensen put it to a minister at the time that Howard’s may have been the worst Australian government ever. The minister responded: “You’re expecting an argument with a proposition like that, but you will not get it from me.” Abjorensen used the comment in an article in The Canberra Times.

John Howard’s first term as PM was his worst. Anthony Albanese is battling hard to win his second term.Credit: Graphic: Marija Ercegovac

It makes sense that first-term governments are often not that good. They can be like clumsy lambs. They are used to opposition, a political role, so they lean too much towards the politics. Inexperienced, they tend to the chaotic. They can be obsessed with their predecessors, having few ideas of their own. They forget that governing demands particular standards: Howard quickly lost several ministers.

What happens in a second term? You could make the case that by then a government has come to know itself. It has, stumbling about in the dark, discovered its direction. It knows its competencies; its........

© The Sydney Morning Herald