After the trauma of defeat, it makes sense for Labor to play it safe. But why has it taken so long for Albanese to define himself? | Katharine Murphy

The trauma remains deep etched, for Wong, and for Labor.

But with the budget now in sight, and the campaign proper then under way shortly after, Labor is executing a gear change. A political party that thinks and moves as a collective, even during periods of maximum derangement, is entering the season of Anthony Albanese.

Obviously Albanese has led his party for a full parliamentary term, steering colleagues past the trauma of the defeat, so when I say the season of Albanese, I mean Labor is about to learn whether or not the bloke up front can persuade voters he is the man for the moment.

So you can see where this is all going.

Rudd had wanted to lure the Liberals into talking more about him, so that campaign was more than introductory. It was bait, and the bait worked.

From my vantage point, the tone of this desperate barrage landed somewhere between hyperbole and hysteria.

Given Morrison is currently on the rampage, firing indiscriminately, it would make sense for Labor to call time on strategic ambiguity, if this is, in fact, a strategy.