Sarah-Jane Tasker: Prime Minister Anthony Albanese prays for a new year reset

Anthony Albanese and his merry men and women will be counting down the sleeps until Christmas like kids waiting for the big guy in the red suit to deliver presents.

There’s nothing better than a little festive season interlude to take the focus off a Government that is starting to come under pressure.

Most people are already switched off for the year and don’t care about politics and that’s good for Albo and his team who will take the opportunity for a re-set.

The Government has had a bit of a shocker in recent months as the PM and his Cabinet crawl to the 2023 finish line.

One key failure has been their inability to understand earlier the number one issue for households — cost-of-living pressures.

They tried to focus the blame on the RBA rising rates, without acknowledging the role Australians look to them to play to address rising concerns.

Economic indicators are starting to track in the right direction but the lag effect of the rate rises and a few other global headwinds will be front of mind for the first half of next year.

Labor has a big year ahead and we may see them start to unravel — and we’ve all seen what can happen when there’s a little bit of discontent in the ranks and they start to turn on each other.

Or, as Albanese will be wishing for over his Christmas lunch, they start the new year refreshed and come out swinging to claw back the support they’ve started to lose.

Either way we’re in for an interesting 2024.