Anthony Albanese began his prime ministership asking Australians to believe him. Pledging to restore trust in politics. In reality he has done more to break the trust of voters than any other politician in memory. But will he be punished for it, given all the problems the Coalition are having?

Albo’s pitch to be PM was as a straight-talking Labor leader who would say what he meant, mean what he said and restore trust in public life. It came off the back of the Scott Morrison years, a prime minister who became increasingly known for trickery.

‘My word is my bond,’ Albo once declared. How hollow that now sounds. And how brutal it must have been in Question Time this week when the opposition shouted the line back at the PM each time he tried to justify his broken election promises.

Albo’s propensity to break his word ('our position has changed') is becoming a serial addiction.

At the last election, he explicitly ruled out changes to negative gearing and capital gains tax concessions. And not in the evasive style of a leader leaving himself room to move. 

Now he is changing both, as Treasurer Jim Chalmers announced in Tuesday’s Budget.

Albo can argue that the policy is a good one, although that’s certainly a contested ground. He can say the housing crisis demands it. He can claim circumstances have changed. The PM can talk about intergenerational fairness, tax integrity, housing supply, renters, first-home buyers and all the rest of it. Some of these arguments may even have merit. But that’s not the point.

He said he would not do it, and he is doing it. It’s a breach of faith, and if he always had the intention after a big election win, it was an out-and-out lie.

 And it’s not an isolated breach of faith. That is the problem for Albo now. One broken promise can be explained. Two starts to look careless. But three or four becomes a pattern of bad behaviour that goes to his character.

Is this a PM who will say anything when it suits him? Including claiming that his 'word is his bond'.

Before the 2022 election Albo said he would not change the stage three tax cuts. Then he changed them. He promised Australians cheaper power bills. That didn’t happen. He said he would not touch superannuation, then he did.

Albo has now gone to two elections asking Australians to trust him on major economic questions, only to use the authority of victory to do the opposite afterwards. It’s a 100 per cent strike rate for lying to voters.

That should be politically corrosive. It should also be personally damaging, because voters don’t like being played for mugs. 

But will Albo get away with his blatant acts of deception because the Opposition is a mess?

Did Albo change his mind, or did he mislead voters before the election on purpose, which makes him a liar. There are only two possibilities and neither is edifying. 

Either he meant what he said at the time and later decided to break the promise, which makes him reckless with his word. Or he did not mean what he said at the time, made the promise because it was politically convenient, always intending to break it. That is worse, but that’s the definition of a liar.

If politicians want to be respected they should take major policy changes to elections, argue and win the debates, thus securing mandates for change. The last election was less than a year ago.

Albo has also benefited from the property system he is now restricting for future investors. He has owned investment properties. He has used negative gearing. He has benefited from capital gains tax concessions. There is nothing unlawful about that. Plenty of Australians have done the same. 

But there is something politically ugly about a PM using the rules when they suit him, then closing the door behind him once he has had the benefit.

And in Parliament this week Albo tried to turn questions about his property interests into questions about his family homes: the house he shared with his first wife, and the coastal property he bought with his second. But that was tricky too.

The issue wasn’t simply whether Albo had owned homes, it was whether he had benefited from investment property arrangements that his government is now curtailing. 

On that point, his answer was not nearly as clear as it needed to be. Because he has also owned investment properties, which is why the question was being asked.

That is where trust dies. Not in one dramatic moment, not in one scandal, not at one media conference. It dies by accumulation, when being less than truthful becomes a pattern.

Each time there is an explanation, a justification, a lecture about responsibility or not bringing family into the debate. But voters aren’t stupid. The obfuscation is all part of the willingness to lie and break promises. It’s precisely why the public doesn’t respect the body politic.

The great irony is that Albo came to office promising to restore trust after the Morrison years. He said he would be different. ‘My word is my bond.’ It turns out his word isn’t worth diddily-squat.

The next time Albo says he has no plans to change something, voters have every right not to believe him. Death taxes, inheritance taxes, higher taxes on super, another income tax bracket being added, you name it. 

The PM can rule such possibilities out, but guess what: that’s also what he did on negative gearing, CGT, super and stage three tax cuts. Yet here we are….

The next time Albo asks Australians to trust him, why on earth should we?