At a time of global political upheaval, can Albanese really resist calls to be more ambitious? | Peter Lewis

In his National Press Club address on Tuesday the prime minister laid down an existential challenge to those who cheered the loudest on election night when Peter Dutton and his miserable crew were confined to the dustbin of history.

In a time of rolling and intensifying crises in geopolitics, technology, climate and inequality, is it enough to say this is the limit of the government’s work? How can a government determined to occupy the centre ground be shepherded to more ambition? progressive groups need to confront the situation as dispassionately as the PM.

- Peter Lewis is the executive director of Essential , a progressive strategic communications and research company that undertook research for Labor in the last election and conducts qualitative research for Guardian Australia . He is also the host of Per Capita’s Burning Platforms podcast.