Real reason behind Anthony Albanese’s ‘dangerous’ gaffe

The Labor leader’s shocking rate gaffe was mad, bad and dangerous. But it could actually play to his advantage.

Anthony Albanese’s D-Day election gaffe was mad, bad and dangerous not to know.

But the real truth is it wasn’t that he didn’t know enough. It was that he knew too much.

In an election campaign ruthlessly focused on jobs and cost of living, there is no question Albanese should have known the unemployment rate and the official interest rate as well as he knew his own name.

Instead both figures became part of a list of numbers ranging from the price of a loaf of bread to the gap between inflation and wages growth.

Albo had studiously memorised them all and reeled them off but when he got asked the one figure that really mattered he had a brain freeze.

There is no doubt it was embarrassing and will haunt him for the rest of the campaign. But there is no truth to the claim that he was ignorant of the facts. He got caught out by a classic gotcha question and fumbled in the full glare of public scrutiny, just as every leader has at some point.

No doubt, Anthony Albanese not knowing the country’s unemployment and official interest rates will haunt him for the rest of the election campaign. Picture: Supplied

The difference is that instead of pretending he was misquoted or misheard or that he was talking about something else or that the journo was out of line, he just admitted he screwed up and apologised. And that act alone may have actually won more votes than the stuff up cost him.

I have heard from a number of sources that Albo’s immediate mea culpa actually turned more voters towards him than against. People are giving him credit for being human and admitting his mistakes. Finally, an honest politician!

Because it is an axiom of politics — perhaps more so in Australia than elsewhere — that punters don’t expect much of politicians and are thus not surprised when they screw up. What they don’t like is being taken for fools.

If you make a mistake and admit to it there is often little harm done. But if you make a mistake and attempt to convince people that you didn’t then the mob will turn on you. Voters have a very highly attuned bullsh*t detector.

If you make a mistake and own up to it, there is often little harm done. Picture: Martin Ollman/Getty Images

There is no doubt Albo failed the media stress test on his first day on the hustings but at least he didn’t pretend it never happened. He never tried to convince people that black was white.

And this comes back to the art of the apology, the hardest and greatest skill that any politician can master. Most, I suspect, are simply born without it.

There is an apocryphal tale about none less than the fabled JFK that after the US President was forced to issue a grovelling mea culpa about the CIA’s disastrous attempted invasion of Cuba his approval ratings actually shot up.

According to legend, he said to his advisers: “You should have told me to f*ck up more often!”

Closer to home the folksy Queensland Premier Peter Beattie was able to defuse almost any crisis with a heartfelt apology while the masterful NSW Premier Bob Carr was able to outflank the Opposition by being more outraged at his government’s failings than they were.

And more recently the current Premier Dominic Perrottet was able to defuse anger about flood relief by quickly and simply admitting the response wasn’t good enough rather than arguing the toss as his federal counterpart has a tendency to do.

These should be almost rudimentary political arts but in an age of constant leadership coups and endless public aggression the act of admitting fault is often seen as a death sentence when in fact it is often the only way to avoid that fate.

More to the point, a genuinely mortified Albo just figured it was the right thing to do. It’s worth noting he also privately owned the error and apologised to his campaign team behind closed doors. Other leaders would have ranted and raved and blamed them instead.

Anthony Albanese apologised to his campaign team privately and owned his error. Picture: Matt Jelonek/Getty Images

In other words Albanese managed to save himself because he is simply a pretty good and decent bloke — a rare creature in the animal kingdom of politics.

Unfortunately the same cannot be said of the self-appointed “Labor” activists who then completely derailed Albanese’s rehabilitation when one of their number gatecrashed a private function in order to abuse and screech at Scott Morrison.

It was a nasty and stupid scene that might have almost taken out a prime minister — and you can rest assured that PM isn’t Morrison himself.

Once more Albo was forced onto the back foot, this time not to defend a gaffe but to condemn the ugly face of Labor — a face the party desperately needs to scrub. So much good work got undone in that moment.

Easter is a time for renewal and rebirth and Albanese will be counting on the long weekend to reset his campaign, perhaps with the help of a little divine intervention.

The Labor leader will be using the long weekend to reset. Picture: Toby Zerna

And by this I of course mean the NSW Labor lords in Sussex Street, who must make sure the self-immolating hijackers who kicked Albo in the guts just as he was getting off his knees are purged from the party forever and ever.

Amen.

Watch Joe’s new show The Blame Game — 8.30pm Fridays on Sky News or stream on demand at flashnews.com.au.