PETER VAN ONSELEN: How Labor insiders are growing frustrated about the ‘Three Amigos’ who REALLY run Australia – and the BIG names who Albo won’t let into his inner circle

A Labor MP I’ve known for years who has seen it all was reflecting on a growing frustration permeating across the Labor caucus: A concern that Team Albo is increasingly a closed shop run by an inner sanctum which pushes others to the outer edges. 

The MP suggested that the only opinions that matter to Albo amongst his parliamentary colleagues are what senators Penny Wong and Katy Gallagher have to say. 

The disgruntled MP referred to this triumvirate as ‘the Three Amigos’, a reference to the 1986 comedy starring Chevy Chase, Martin Short and Steve Martin. 

It’s a modern version of the so-called ‘Gang of Four’ Kevin Rudd formed as his kitchen cabinet during his first term. That grouping included Rudd, deputy PM Julia Gillard, Treasurer Wayne Swan and Finance Minister Lindsay Tanner. 

Albo’s kitchen cabinet – the three amigos – is even narrower. The Treasurer Jim Chalmers isn’t part of it, nor is the deputy PM Richard Marles. ‘It’s a friendship and factional club’, the MP says.

They point out that, unlike other kitchen cabinets that inevitably form to minimise the sometimes cumbersome approach of traditional cabinet government, Albo’s triumvirate are all members of the Left faction and have been friends for many years. 

Wong and Albo are particularly close. Albanese convinced her not to retire after the 2019 election defeat, and Wong was the only Labor parliamentarian at Albo’s home on election night as the results were coming in. 

He asked her to introduce him to the podium when they arrived to claim victory. The pair pumped their fists in the air holding hands on stage. 

Gallagher’s ability to avoid joining those two and becoming a case of three is a crowd is all about her important role as finance minister. Moreso than the Treasurer – who does most of the public facing work selling the government’s economic agenda – the finance minister is the gatekeeper for government expenditure. 

Albo’s alliance with Gallagher means that it’s easier to sideline Chalmers from the inner sanctum. Especially given that Chalmers and Gallagher are close. 

There aren’t too many Labor parliamentarians Chalmers would go out on a limb to support, but Gallagher is one of them. When she was wrapped up in the whole ‘means girls’ treatment of late Labor senator Kimberley Kitching, Chalmers was one of Gallagher’s biggest defenders. 

Of all the ministers close to Albo, it is Penny Wong who is particularly close to the Prime Minister. Above, the pair celebrate Labor’s election win in 2022

Marles doesn’t get a look in as a member of the inner sanctum despite being deputy PM because Wong as foreign minister has the international portfolio spectrum covered. Marles is Labor’s defence minister. Besides, he’s also in the wrong faction – the Victorian Right. 

It’s a small inner circle but between them Albo, Wong and Gallagher cover all the bases: Albo is a former Leader of the House so he’s comfortable dealing directly with Tony Burke about the management of the lower house. 

Wong has the powerful security committee of cabinet covered and Gallagher covers off the expenditure review committee. Between them Wong and Gallagher report back to the PM on Senate negotiations. 

‘So much for cabinet government’, the disgruntled Labor MP says, pointing out that too much that goes to cabinet is treated as ‘tick and flick’. Dissent in the room is actively discouraged. 

That’s despite Albanese regularly claiming he’s running a traditional cabinet-style administration similar to Bob Hawke’s approach. 

Government MPs often find themselves increasingly frustrated when they feel left out of the decision making processes. Especially when the government of the day isn’t travelling well, which is the case for Labor at the moment. 

Recent polls suggest that Team Albo is on the nose, despite still being a first term government. 

But the real concern starting to bubble to the surface amongst some Labor MPs is the sense they are getting that this government’s inner sanctum aren’t in touch with the voters in the seats that matter. 

Penny Wong (pictured) is a trusted Albo ally, part of his three amigos, according to a Labor MP

Finance minister Katy Gallagher (pictured) has the ear of the PM, more so than her high profile colleague, Treasurer Jim Chalmers

That is, outer metropolitan marginal seat constituents. The Three Amigos are removed from such voters. 

Albo represents an inner city electorate and now lives at The Lodge in Canberra.

Wong is a senator from Adelaide. Gallagher is also a senator and represents the ACT. 

All are left-wingers who have long defined themselves according to the social causes they champion. 

The triumvirate are about as removed from the issues impacting working class outer metro constituencies as anyone within the Labor causes. 

‘Yet they make all the decisions’, the Labor MP laments.