Speculation, of course, but Albanese is either uncommonly talented in the art of self-destruction, or Labor is getting ready to clean-house and erase their bad press with a new leader (probably Chalmers).

With a disastrous race-baiting referendum, misinformation about energy bills, and an economic crisis under his wing, there’s no redemption arc in the works for Airbus Albo.

It’s not all Albanese’s fault, but Labor needs a scapegoat to sacrifice. Fast. After being ridiculed as a ‘global censor’ on Twitter this week, and with his e-Safety Commissioner embroiled in a very public spat with – uh – the rest of the planet, Albanese appears to have latched onto women’s safety as a flimsy distraction.

This side-step was conducted with about as much finesse as printing the women’s Budget on pink paper.

‘Look over here! Look over here! We suddenly care about women!!!’

The collective eye-roll from Australia was audible. Labor MPs can’t define what a woman is, let alone protect them. Labor’s interest in women’s safety waxes and wanes depending on opinion polls.

Albanese doesn’t really want to talk about women’s safety, because then he’d have to call out the Premiers.

Under Labor Premiers, (with a special mention for the Tasmanian Liberals in Name Only), states have issued an aggressive onslaught of legislation that has robbed women of their fundamental rights via Self ID laws. Labor has deliberately elevated a special class of biological men who can push girls and women off the sporting podium and barge into their bathrooms.

Ask women, Albanese, what they think about coming face-to-face with men in public bathrooms.

Safe? Labor isn’t interested in safety.

So thanks, Labor – but no thanks. Your progressive politics is preying on women.

Which brings us to Albanese’s disaster.

Newspapers could not help but print the catastrophic optics of the Canberra Violence Against Women rally where the Prime Minister appeared to make the organiser cry. It was a poignant image – the Prime Minister clutching the microphone, speaking to a crowd of women, while the female organiser teared-up off to the side.

Imagine if it had been Scott Morrison!

Published in the ABC, it was reported that the organiser said the Prime Minister ‘lied’ about asking to speak.

The Prime Minister, who attended with the Minister for Women Katy Gallagher, said words to the effect that they had been asked to speak and told ‘that wasn’t possible’, to which the organiser of the rally could be heard saying, ‘That’s a lie – that’s a full out lie.’

The organiser posted on Instagram:

‘Representatives from Gallagher and Albanese’s offices both said this morning that they were sure Katy would be happy to speak. Not the Prime Minister. Albanese’s office made it clear he was just walking and was not interested in speaking. Myself and What Were You Wearing never denied him from speaking. He never asked to speak. For him to not only demand he speak because he was being heckled, but lie, was disgraceful.’

It was meant to be simple for the Prime Minister. Walk-in and then walk-out with a few extra percentage points on the polls. What could go wrong?

Albanese left looking thuggish.

This is the problem when politicians seek to hijack cultural movements – it doesn’t always work. The #MeToo movement, with more than a little nudging from within the ranks of a giddy and drooling Labor Party, helped to sink Scott Morrison. No matter how desperately he tried to immerse himself in the discussion, there was no way through the anti-Morrison frenzy.

Albanese did say something of note, even if he didn’t understand the words coming out of his mouth.

He said: ‘We need to change attitudes. We need to change culture, because [violence against women] is completely unacceptable.’

The truth is that women’s safety conflicts with the Labor voting base. Australian women come second to transgender activism on the slippery ladder of identity politics.

To rescue the narrative, Albanese is now focusing on Indigenous women.

Correctly identifying that Indigenous women are attacked and killed in domestic incidents at a much higher rate than anyone else, one is left to wonder how Albanese is going to square the circle with Indigenous activists.

Activists highlighting violence against women in remote communities are the same people who shout ‘raise the age’, a mantra that seeks to allow (predominately male) perpetrators of very serious crimes (often against young girls in Indigenous communities) to be given lesser sentences. Protesters for Indigenous rights have also been known to demand the release of all prisoners, working on the false narrative that men in those communities are arrested because of racism instead of an elevated level of criminal activity.

How can Labor side with these arguments from left-leaning activists when doing so would immediately endanger Indigenous women and re-introduce their attackers into the community?

How is Albanese going to stop violence toward Indigenous women without intervening in the culture that has seen horrific violence against women for tens of thousands of years, including the arranged marriages of young girls to old men, the trading of women between tribes, and treating women as second class citizens. City activists lack the stomach to criticise ‘culture’ even when it harms women.

Labor’s policies on the Indigenous violence issue are already collapsing, with Indigenous groups calling for restrictions on alcohol to restore peace – restrictions which Labor removed to pander to the Utopian delusions of inner-city left-wing voters.

No matter how you look at it, women’s safety – and especially Indigenous women’s safety – is a minefield for Labor.

Labor can replace Albanese, but they cannot replace their progressive ideology which threatens the safety of every citizen.