It could even be a "road to Damascus moment" that might end the decade-long stalemate that has cost Australia dearly in terms of energy infrastructure investment, thanks to the lack of clear direction for either industry or the relevant agencies to follow.

There is even a little of bit of "only Nixon could have gone to China" in it. Bill Shorten couldn't have extended this olive branch, and nor could his predecessors, Julia Gillard and Kevin Rudd.

So why, given the potential positives, is everybody being so cynical? Even before Mr Albanese delivered his latest "vision thing" at the National Press Club on Wednesday, one of his MPs was quoted as saying: "We've taken ourselves hostages and now we're sending the PM a surrender note."

The assessment, while cutting, was not without truth.

Riffing at great length, as Mr Albanese has been doing, on the shortcomings of the Coalition's "technology road map", made public last month, is a blatant way of trying to draw attention away from the fact Labor has been struggling to develop saleable energy and climate change policies of its own since last year's poll.

You have to remember, when Mr Albanese correctly says the government's road map "is not a policy" on the grounds "it says where we are going... but it doesn't answer the question of how we get there", that Mr Morrison and Angus Taylor aren't the only emperors without any clothes.

Labor tried to play energy and climate policy both ways in the lead up to the 2019 election by telling voters in Melbourne one thing and voters in Queensland something completely different. They paid a heavy price for this, losing a lot of skin - and votes - in the process.

While the ALP has reaffirmed its commitment to the zero net carbon emissions by 2050 target it has been championing for years, it is still refusing to say if it will re-commit to the 45 per cent by 2030 emissions reduction target Bill Shorten took to the last election.

It is hard to criticise the Coalition's 2030 emissions reduction target when you don't have one of your own.

All of that said, the admission there are some positives to be found in the draft technology investment road map has the potential to be a game changer if both sides want it to be.

Labor supported Malcolm Turnbull and Josh Frydenberg on the National Energy Guarantee. They probably wouldn't be averse to getting behind something similar even if it was introduced under another name.

But there is no way of knowing if this apparent continuation of the consensus that has prevailed during the coronavirus crisis is for real, or if it simply marks the beginning of a return to "politics as usual".

Mr Albanese is correct when he says Australia can't continue to linger in an energy and climate change policy limbo where politicking is the name of the game and nothing is decided until it is far to late to achieve meaningful results.

He is also correct when he says the Coalition's current position is "you give us a fourth term (in two years' time) and we'll (eventually) come up with a climate policy".

That's just not good enough. If, against the odds, Labor and the Coalition can work together to break this decade-long impasse it will be something the whole country would celebrate.