‘Risky strategy’: Brutal lessons after Anthony Albanese’s week from hell

It’s been a week would-be PM Anthony Albanese would rather forget – and it has left Aussies with one major unanswered question.

What a difference a week makes.

Anthony Albanese went into the official election campaign this week as the clear favourite, with Labor trouncing the Liberals in the polls and making an underdog out of Prime Minister Scott Morrison, a man increasingly on the nose among fed-up voters.

But then on Monday, he spectacularly stumbled over the first hurdle, failing to answer the simplest economic questions about the cash and interest rates during a disastrous first press conference in Launceston in Tasmania.

The gaffe made headlines across the country within minutes, with commentators flabbergasted by such a damaging own goal so early in the piece.

News.com.au has been travelling with the Opposition Leader on the election campaign, and noticed that by that afternoon’s photo opportunity in nearby Devenport, the would-be PM appeared somewhat deflated. But he gamely insisted to reporters that while he was “human” and had made a “mistake”, he would “accept responsibility”.

Soon after, he was dealt another, albeit far more minor, blow when a disgruntled local briefly disrupted his meeting with nurses to confront Mr Albanese over his decision not to hold an inquiry into the alleged bullying of late ALP Senator Kimberley Kitching.

The next day, the word “mistake” dominated the second presser of his campaign, with the Opposition leader issuing a public mea culpa and repeating the word at least 15 times, while also insisting he had “fessed up” and “owned” his blunder.

On Wednesday, a gushing Medicare rally was overshadowed when Mr Albanese abruptly walked away from a press conference after just eight minutes with no prior warning.

Albo’s day one flub was a spectacular own goal. Picture: Sky News

The move enraged reporters who had been promised the Labor leader was “not Scott Morrison” and would answer all questions, fuelling speculation of a tactics pivot in a bid to regain control of the campaign and sparking a slew of furious media coverage.

But by Thursday, there were signs Albo was starting to get his mojo back.

He was noticeably reinvigorated during an appearance at Cessnock Hospital in the Hunter electorate, coming across as far more polished, prepared and poised and keeping his cool while deftly answering bruising questions about his lack of popularity with voters and sticking to his campaign’s key messaging.

There were also a string of not-so-subtle references to statistics and economic details – indicating the Grayndler MP was determined to put Monday’s snafu well and truly behind him and prove his fiscal prowess.

While his claim Labor “wouldn’t need” offshore detention centres because the party would be successful in deterring “illegal” migrants by “turning boats back” caused a furore, with Mr Albanese forced to later clarify that while that was his “preference”, ultimately Labor would keep offshore detention, it was a visibly upbeat Mr Albanese who turned up to a mine site at Mount Thorley later that day for his second media appearance.

After swapping his blue suit and yellow tie for a more laid-back jeans-and-boots combo, there were even more clues that the old Albo was back, and that he was even starting to enjoy himself.

The 59-year-old hammed it up for the cameras and cracked jokes with reporters as he posed next to Labor’s statuesque Hunter candidate Dan Repacholi, jesting about the pair’s massive height difference and his own recent weight loss.

Anthony Albanese was in his element hamming it up for the cameras with Labor candidate for Hunter Dan Repacholi on Thursday. Picture: Toby Zerna

But can he bounce back from a week which he’d surely rather forget?

University of Sydney political expert Dr Sarah Cameron told news.com.au that Australian election study data indicated Albo’s misstep may not be as costly as many Aussies might assume.

“Usually around 10 per cent of voters cast their ballots based on the party leaders,” she explained.

“Swing voters are more likely to vote based on the evaluation of leaders, so leadership, although not the most important driver of voter behaviour, can play an important role, particularly in close contests.

“The leader qualities voters consider most important include honesty and trustworthiness.

“Whether the leaders are considered knowledgeable is less important for their overall popularity.”

But while University of Sydney professor and expert in the study of storytelling Tom van Laer echoed that sentiment, he said there was a far more pressing challenge facing Labor.

“I’ve been looking at the kinds of messaging coming out of the two parties, and you can see that content-wise, they are two completely different angles,” he said.

“Labor is focusing on five arguments, and saying if you want those things, vote for us. It’s very simple and factual.

“The Liberals are going for a much more emotional approach, both in terms of trying to create a sense of contempt for Albo … and on the flip side, a positive feeling of trust for ScoMo.

“It’s an interesting approach and it’s … probably the right approach. It makes sense in the first week especially … and it makes much more sense psychologically than what Labor is doing.”

Dr van Laer said Labor had so far failed to adequately deal with the Liberal party’s criticism that Mr Albanese couldn’t be trusted and their repeated claims Aussies don’t really know who he is – a claim shaping up to be one of their main attack points.

“The Liberals have thrown down the gauntlet, saying ‘you can’t trust this guy, you don’t know who he is’. Labor is not picking this up – Labor is saying ‘we’ll just stay with the issues, not the person’ when someone is basically smacking them over the face,” he said.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison election campaign has focused on emotions so far. Picture: Jason Edwards

“Labor’s reaction to the whole situation of ‘who is this person’ is cold and factual … They are afraid of doing too many things because of what happened last time when they had a laundry list strategy, and now because of that fear they are hung up on getting these five things signed off, when at the beginning of a campaign it’s not relevant – that’s final stage stuff.

“In the beginning, people are interested in feeling a connection, and it’s interesting that the Greens are doing that, the Liberals are doing that … Labor is missing the timing a bit, because they are doing week six stuff in week one.

“It’s hard to say how risky Labor’s strategy is.”

And he said Greens leader Adam Bandt’s recent response to a similar “gotcha” question about the wage price index was a lesson for Albo.

“He said ‘Google it mate’, and I thought that was very clever. (It sends the message that) you know what, none of us know these numbers, and frankly, it shouldn’t be what this is about,” Dr van Laer said.

“He pushed it back on the journo. The problem is we have a disengaged population right now … there are more interesting things to ask apart from stats.

“It was a fair point to make, and had Albo done the same thing on Monday, he would have had a very different week – he would have come across as a very funny guy who could think quickly on his feet. It was a missed opportunity.”

But Dr van Laer said while week one hadn’t gone Mr Albanese’s way, there was still time to show voters his human side and win them over.

“It’s interesting because now the spotlight is obviously on Labor, but over the last couple of years it was ScoMo who gave the impression of being out of touch … now all of a sudden, the tables have turned,” he said.

“My advice would be to deal with this right away – tell people who you are … so it doesn’t get bigger and bigger before eventually festering.”

Originally published as ‘Risky strategy’: Brutal lessons after Anthony Albanese’s week from hell