Labor wants to change the channel. Nobody's holding the remote

SMH · Parnell Palme McGuinness · Saturday 30 May 2026

Labor wants to change the channel. Nobody's holding the remote

A column on the collapse of narrative control: the major parties no longer set the agenda, and Labor's attempt to move past the budget runs into a fragmented media landscape that takes orders from no one.

Time was a Treasurer dropped a budget and owned the week — Hawke could set the agenda over breakfast and have it hold till the evening news. Now it buys you an afternoon before the algorithm wanders off to something shinier. Labor wants to move the conversation along, but nobody handed them the remote. There's a million of them now, and every hand holding one's got a grievance.

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