Andrew Bolt: Even when he’s falling, Albo’s convinced he hasn’t put a foot wrong

Anthony Albanese lied about falling off the stage, even though the entire nation saw it happen. It’s proof that when Labor is selling make-believe, he’s the perfect salesman.

Anthony Albanese said an utterly bizarre thing after falling off a stage last Thursday that sums up why his government is still favourite to win the election, despite making Australians poorer.

Millions of voters saw the footage for themselves, only for the Prime Minister to now tell them their eyes were lying.

The video clearly show Albanese walking behind union bosses at Cessnock campaign event and suddenly slipping.

He grabs one man by the waist as he tumbles, twists and seems to land on his feet below and behind the stage before toppling backwards, disappearing from view behind a table.

Two men reach down and grab him by the arms as he steps back up to the stage, about knee-high from the ground, while the audience claps in relief.

In short, Albanese fell.

Anthony Albanese lied about falling off the stage, even though we all saw the footage. Picture: Jason Edwards

I know, it’s just a fall. Could happen to anyone.

So why am I going into such detail about something that, of itself, is so trivial?

Well, because hours later Albanese went on ABC radio to insist the nation didn’t see what they’d plainly had.

Asked if he was OK after he “fell from the stage”, Albanese snapped: “No I stepped back one step. I didn’t fall off the stage.”

The most he’d concede to reality, after falling bum-first, was: “Just one leg went down, but I was sweet.”

This is weird.

Why would you deny what we’d seen on every TV news bulletin in the country, and when there was nothing to lose from being honest?

I’ll leave the psychology to others. But I will note a pattern.

When three Chinese warships did a loop around our country last month, causing 49 commercial planes to divert by firing their weapons without warning, Albanese also denied what actually happened.

The PM being helped to his feet after the fall. Picture: Jason Edwards

“China issued, in accordance with practice, an alert that it would be conducting these activities,” he said.

It hadn’t.

True, a Virgin pilot had alerted our navy to the Chinese ships firing weapons, but a NZ frigate tailing them warned us “at around the same time”.

It hadn’t. That NZ warning came 50 minutes later.

I thought then that Albanese was just covering up for China. Now I wonder if he was just trying to wish another troubling reality away.

What other truths is Albanese denying – even to himself – that you don’t know about?

Sure, some other examples could be excused as just Albo playing politics.

For instance, Albanese won an election three years ago claiming he’d commissioned terrific scientific modelling from RepuTex proving that Labor’s plans to replace coal-fired power with unreliable wind and solar would cut your power bills $275, much like he on Sunday promised subsidised batteries he claimed would save you up to $1100 a year – after you’ve stumped up the remaining $8000 to buy them.

Asked three years ago why he thought he’d cut bills by $275, Albanese waved a 43-page document: “I know because we have done the modelling.”

But last week that modelling “we” had done became the modelling “they” had done: “RepuTex modelling was RepuTex modelling that they put out.”

Again, that may just be Albanese playing politics, rather than denying the obvious even to himself.

Even when he’s falling, Albanese is convinced he hasn’t put a foot wrong. Picture: Jason Edwards

Still, are the two connected? Has Albanese learned that he can say any damn thing, as long as it’s with conviction, to make it seem true to a too-gullible or too-tribal public?

Indeed, Albanese has been widely praised for “winning” week one of the campaign, even though he simply persuaded voters to believe things that aren’t true.

He repeatedly flashed his Medicare card and claimed Opposition leader Peter Dutton “wants to cut Medicare” – had even made a “promise to cut it” – when Dutton has said no such thing, instead promising even more health spending than has Albanese.

Albanese then boasted that Donald Trump’s shock tariffs on our exports wouldn’t hurt so much because he’d made “Australia’s economy more resilient and our exports more diverse”, when he’s instead done the opposite – weakened our economy and increased China’s share of our exports to a dangerous 32 per cent.

And, of course, Albanese is spending billions to fight a climate crisis that doesn’t exist, including with a green hydrogen gas than doesn’t work, while blocking mine and gas projects because of “sacred” animals no one has seen.

This really is the damnedest election campaign. But let’s admit that when Labor is selling make-believe, Albanese is the perfect salesman.

Even when he’s falling, he’s convinced he hasn’t put a foot wrong. It’s all sweet.

Originally published as Andrew Bolt: Even when he’s falling, Albo’s convinced he hasn’t put a foot wrong