Anthony Albanese's woes go much deeper than a reshuffle. Voter confidence has plummeted

Anthony Albanese has made larger-than-expected changes to his frontbench in an effort to put his best athletes on the field for election season. It shows Australians have only a marginally higher level of confidence in the Albanese government than they did in the Morrison Coalition government in its last year, a result that goes some way to explaining the political temperature and the way the prime minister approached his new frontbench configuration. Albanese appointed three: Peter Khalil, who is being targeted by anti-war protesters, as special envoy for social cohesion to try to tackle the rising anger and fragmentation in the community; Luke Gosling becomes special envoy for defence, veterans' affairs and northern Australia; and rising star Andrew Charlton becomes special envoy for cyber security and digital resilience. Other changes Senator Murray Watt becomes minister for employment and workplace relations, a big win for him — and a vote of confidence in his ability to land the government's key messages. The results show that Australians have only a marginally higher level of confidence in the Albanese Labor government than they did in the Morrison Coalition government in its last year, a result that will alarm the government as it positions for the election.