In this perceptive, compelling essay, Katharine Murphy offers a profile of Anthony Albanese in motion - a piece about character, the balance of forces, and the mood of the nation.

Are Albanese and his party up for change? Are Australians up for it? What does the new prime minister embody, if anything? Has the centre of the polity shifted, with the success of the Teals and the Greens? Where could - and should - the new government be ambitious?

This is an essay that draws out the meaning of an eventful political year, offers a telling portrait of the new prime minister, and looks to the challenges of the future.

Katharine Murphy has worked in Canberra's parliamentary press gallery since 1996 for the Australian Financial Review, The Australian and The Age, before joining Guardian Australia, where she is the political editor. She won the Paul Lyneham Award for Excellence in Press Gallery Journalism in 2008 and has been a Walkley Award finalist twice. She was awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of Canberra in 2019. She is a director of the National Press Club and the author of On Disruption and Quarterly Essay: The End of Certainty.