Albanese skips Test cricket as election blitz takes over

Anthony Albanese has skipped the Test cricket and is not expected to attend the Australian Open, seeking to capitalise on a traditionally quiet time in politics with a blitz through northern Australia at the start of a de facto election campaign he enters with flagging popularity.

Attending major sporting events over summer has been a tradition for Australian prime ministers, with John Howard and the late Bob Hawke regular spectators who played up an everyman image at stadia around the country.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese hosted the Australian cricket team at Kirribilli House on January 1.Credit: Dominic Lorrimer

But after a year in which he was criticised for buying a $4.3 million clifftop holiday home, Albanese enters the election year with a message to voters that he is a workhorse politician with a trip through northern Australia.

Albanese hosted the Australian and Indian teams before the fifth Test at the SCG this month but was not spotted at the match, instead embarking on a tour of northern Australia, where he gave a $7.2 billion commitment to upgrade Queensland’s Bruce Highway.

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton attended the Test on the first day. Howard and NSW Opposition Leader Mark Speakman were also present.

Albanese’s office declined to comment on his decision to skip the cricket and would not say if he would be at the Open, which began with qualifying matches on Monday and runs until January 26.

The prime minister is a tennis fan who plays the sport regularly and has made much of his lifelong attachment to the South Sydney Rabbitohs in the NRL, using it as a marker of his authenticity as a public figure.

His decision not to attend the cricket in the days leading up to the government’s major announcement in Queensland signals Albanese’s intense focus on the election, which must be held by May but could be called sooner.

Independent senator Jacqui Lambie, the country’s most popular politician according to this masthead’s Resolve Political Monitor, called the prime minister’s decision to start campaigning so early in the year “bizarre”.

“I think people want to have their holidays,” she told Sky News.

On Tuesday, Albanese continued his pre-election pitch as he was peppered with questions about the timing of the poll on breakfast television, radio and at a press conference in Rockhampton.

“We should have four-year fixed terms like they do in most states and territories to avoid these games,” Albanese told Seven’s Sunrise as the presenter attempted to guess the election date.

Historian Frank Bongiorno said it appeared Albanese wanted to have an image of working hard before an election, despite the long association between politicians and sport.

“They’re always vulnerable moments when politicians turn up at a sporting moment,” said Bongiorno, a professor at the Australian National University.

“Bob Hawke even at a time when he was quite popular went to a VFL grand final and was booed, so there are moments as a political leader that you’re vulnerable to the mood of the crowd.”

Last year, Albanese was booed at the Australian Open. Former prime ministers Scott Morrison, Kevin Rudd and Tony Abbott were also booed at least once each at sporting matches.

Bongiorno said Albanese’s decision to skip the cricket could be to focus on his Bruce Highway announcement, which funds upgrades to the road that runs through a host of Queensland seats that could determine the election.

“My guess is it’s about very fine calculations about where the prime minister’s priorities are given the election is so near and the prime minister is trailing in the polls,” Bongiorno said.

The Resolve Political Monitor conducted for this masthead last month showed Labor was on track to lose its majority unless it could reverse its fortunes.

Bongiorno also noted summer could be a volatile time for politicians, citing Morrison’s decision to take a family holiday to Hawaii during a bushfire crisis in 2019 that haunted him politically.

Howard also faced scrutiny when he attended a cricket match in November 2005 on the day of the scheduled execution of Australian citizen Nguyen Tuong Van, a convicted drug trafficker in Singapore.

Howard at the time defended his decision, saying he had a duty to attend the match as host.

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