Federal Election: Anthony Albanese confident he can win and pick up seats in ‘every state’

Despite a series of campaign hiccups and poor poll results, Anthony Albanese says he still thinks he can win. Here’s why.

Despite a week-long barrage of bad publicity following a series of gaffes, Anthony Albanese is adamant he has had a strong campaign and will not waver from his “strategy”.

In an exclusive interview following a bruising first week on the hustings, the Opposition Leader told News Corp he was confident he could win the May 21 election and pick up seats in “every state” because Labor had a coherent “plan” and Prime Minister Scott Morrison did not.

Mr Albanese acknowledged he was heading to a natural “reset” at the first leader’s debate on Wednesday night, remaining tight-lipped on his plans other than to say he was preparing for the clash “in my own way, with my team”.

Asked if he still thought he could win after taking a plunge in the polls, Mr Albanese said “of course we can,” but added he “never underestimated the task” of getting into government.

He owned his campaign day-one gaffe, forgetting the cash rate and national unemployment rate, but did not believe the overall week had been negative.

Anthony Albanese with Shadow Treasurer Jim Chalmers and Labor candidate for Brisbane, Madonna Jarrett. Picture: Toby Zerna

“We’ve been really well received around the country,” he said.

“I made an error due to a memory lapse, and took responsibility for it. I didn’t try to blame someone else.”

But following this day-one mistake there were a string of errors he has had to clarify, including Labor’s position on offshore processing of asylum seekers and temporary protection visas.

On Monday Mr Albanese was also unable to say how many extra doctors or nurses would be needed to staff Labor’s $135m plan to trial 50 after-hours urgent care GP clinics.

Mr Albanese described Labor’s start as very “positive” so far, even as his treasury spokesman Jim Chalmers said he made “no apology” for a Mediscare-style smear campaign against the Coalition claiming pensioners would be forced onto cashless debit cards.

Of his very mixed reception at Byron Bay’s Bluesfest on Sunday night, Mr Albanese said the crowd’s boos had kicked off when the MC mentioned the word “federal election” before he was even introduced on stage.

“I was really well received around the people I talked with and engaged with,” he said.

Mr Albanese said people wanted to hear Jimmy Barnes perform and not necessarily hear about politics, acknowledging the legendary singer had sent him a message of support after the event.

Anthony Albanese visits flood victims in Auchenflower, Brisbane. Picture: Toby Zerna

Labor needs eight seats to form majority government, one of which is expected to include the newly created Victorian seat of Hawke.

Asked where Mr Albanese thought he could gain the remaining seven, he named the Liberal-held seats of Swan and Hasluck in Western Australia, Bass and Braddon in northern Tasmania, Reid and Robertson in NSW and Brisbane in Queensland as viable gains for Labor.

Mr Albanese said he was “tough” and was prepared for the next five weeks.

“A lot of people have underestimated me,” he said.

“I’ve fought for everything I’ve got and I expect to fight for the job of prime minister. I expect to have to fight for it and argue my case strongly.”

Mr Albanese said he did not believe his campaign needed to change, adapt or reset, arguing this would occur naturally.

“Resets happen naturally as part of the campaign – the first debate, then there’s another debate, and there’s the campaign launch,” he said.

“There’s a range of things that will change the direction, the tempo the dynamic of the campaign.”

Mr Albanese said when he became leader he put in a “strategy” that has meant Labor has “gone into the election campaign … competitive”.

Labor leader Anthony Albanese visits flood affected Newstead Brewing Co in Brisbane. Picture: Toby Zerna

Repeatedly pushed on whether he thought it was harder to win now than it had been before the campaign started, Mr Albanese refused to be drawn.

“We’re competitive,” he said.

After having had to clarify his own comments multiple times so far on the campaign, Mr Albanese insisted he could perform under pressure if elected prime minister.

“I’ve had big tasks and during that period of being leader of the (minority) government in the House of Representatives if you want to talk about pressure, that was absolute pressure each and every day,” he said.

Mr Albanese said he thought he had been getting Labor’s “themes” of a “better future” out, and he specifically wanted the public to know “cost of living is a real priority” for the opposition.

“We have a range of measures out there, (including) on childcare, electricity prices and cost of health care,” he said.

“We know that the price of everything is going up except people’s wages, and we actually need a plan for that.”

The Labor leader spent day eight of the campaign in Brisbane. Picture: Toby Zerna

Mr Albanese said that plan included “secure work” so people had what they needed to “get ahead” in life.

“I think the fact that 500,000 Australians are working three jobs or more, just shows the pressure that people are under and the fact that that figure has doubled on this government’s watch,” he said.

On his opponent, Mr Albanese said Australians had “quite rightly” marked Mr Morrison “down on bushfires” and saw he did not take “responsibility” for what he considered failings in the vaccine rollout and purchase of rapid antigen tests during the pandemic.

Labor will prosecute the wages growth issue during week two of the campaign, highlighting the fact in NSW wages have increased only 19 per cent since 2013, while expenses have soared.

Australian Bureau of Statistics figures show in the same time vegetables have gone up 28 per cent, child care up 46 per cent, and home repair and maintenance up 25 per cent.