Peta Credlin: Anthony Albanese’s minders not helping him with childish prank

Anthony Albanese’s office did him no favours with the gifts they bought him to put underneath the parliamentary Christmas tree, writes Peta Credlin.

Working in the Prime Minister’s office, a few years back, I came up with the idea of a parliamentary Christmas tree to support local charities with toys for needy families.

It didn’t hurt either that the PM’s end of year media conferences would also have the image of a Christmas tree in the background, reinforcing the place of Christmas in our national life against those that want to cancel it.

The PM was all for it, so we got Kmart involved and the Salvation Army, and proudly, it’s now become a continuing tradition.

But some politicians can’t help themselves.

What gifts do you think Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese put under the tree? A fire-truck. A jigsaw with the Eiffel Tower on the front. A toy submarine. And a solar windmill. You get the drift; presents for kids who don’t have much, being used for low rent trolling of the Prime Minister.

Scott Morrison and Anthony Albanese deliver presents at the Kmart Wishing tree launch at Parliament House. Picture: AAP Image/Lukas Coch/

Is it any wonder people think so poorly of our political class? The smart-alecs in the leader’s office who came up with this idea should be ashamed of themselves. It might have been half-funny as an in-joke among left-wing apparatchiks, but wiser heads should never have allowed their boss to demean himself in this way.

I know how busy leaders are and how much they tend to operate more-or-less on autopilot; but it should still have occurred to the alternative prime minister on the way over to his rival’s office as he pushed the trolly of presents that politicising Christmas was a dumb idea.

Judgment is the one quality senior politicians most need and, on this occasion, Albanese was bereft of it; and then compounded the fault with his office briefing the media about how ‘clever’ he’d been.

With Labor wanting to make character a feature of next year’s election, my advice is: Be careful what you wish for. Albo’s makeover won’t help if voters conclude there’s a nasty streak (and no judgment) underneath the spivvy suits.