Anthony Albanese’s colleagues have been left rolling their eyes at the prime minister’s decision to participate in a photoshoot to accompany a magazine profile of his fiancée Jodie Haydon while his office tells Labor MPs to talk only about the cost of living.

Stylised photographs of Albanese and Haydon were splashed across tabloid front pages on Wednesday, accompanying headlines suggesting the Reserve Bank of Australia was unlikely to give households more rate relief before the federal election due by May 17.