Why Albo’s girlfriend suddenly disappeared from the campaign trail
Anthony Albanese’s partner was an “asset” in the early days of his election campaign, before being quickly moved out of the spotlight.
Analysis
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With Aussies set to cast their votes within days, attention is turning to one unexpected move by Anthony Albanese that has left experts baffled.
After getting off to a shaky start with a series of awkward blunders, Mr Albanese eventually hit his stride and now polls indicate he is on track to unseat rival Scott Morrison on May 21.
But it could still be a tight contest – and one major campaign decision could have cost him much-needed votes.
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After opening up about his previously low profile, two-year relationship with new partner Jodie Haydon in a February Women’s Weekly feature, the public’s interest was well and truly stoked, with many expecting her to feature prominently on the campaign trail.
But that never happened, with the 43-year-old only popping up at a handful of events over the past six weeks.
Deakin University political expert and analyst Dr Geoffrey Robinson told news.com.au the ALP’s approach to Ms Haydon had been “interesting”.
“You’d almost have to be a political insider to know they were together,” he said.
“There have been some soft-focus newspaper articles (featuring their relationship) but she wasn’t mentioned much, and I’m puzzled by that.
“She’s an accomplished, professional woman, and I would have thought that would look good to part of the demographic.
“Politicians’ partners can be an asset, they can appeal to a part of the demographic (a leader) might want to add, and they can pull interest, so it was surprising more use wasn’t made of her.”
Dr Robinson said there may have been several good reasons behind the move, but that it was still an unexpected decision.
“Albanese might be wanting to protect her, and she might not want to define her role as the Prime Minister’s partner,” he speculated.
“And I suspect maybe from past experience – the break-up of his marriage to Carmel Tebbutt, who was a big hitter in NSW politics – Albanese learnt some ideas about how to manage a relationship (in the spotlight).
“Maybe Albanese wanted to focus more on being his own man, he may have thought that was important, after emerging from the shadows as just a generic Labor politician to become a potential Prime Minister.”
‘Missed opportunity’
Public relations expert Nicole Reaney agreed, telling news.com.au that while a politician’s partner “can make or break their image”, Ms Haydon’s limited public appearances had been very successful.
She pointed to examples of Ms Haydon meeting members of the public, such as Reverend Rosemary Wynter, whose community of Bangalow was affected by floods recently.
Rev Wynter later told news.com.au she had an “instant rapport” with Ms Haydon, and that she was an “amazing asset” for the Labor leader.
“In the early campaign trail, Jodie appeared in support of Anthony and it worked in his favour,” she explained.
“In this instance, stories circulated of favourable experiences of people meeting and interacting with Jodie.
“Jodie’s positive traits and her softer, feminine qualities added a new dimension to Anthony’s image.”
Ms Reaney said it was odd Mr Albanese hadn’t wanted to take advantage of this potential secret weapon.
“It is a missed opportunity that we didn’t see more of the pair – showing a united front and allowing the public to learn more about Anthony,” she said.
“A partner provides an insight into the personal life of a candidate, outside of cameras and politics.
“On the flip side, the biggest mistake would be for Jodie to overshadow Anthony and try to win the limelight.
“The fact that Anthony remained central to his campaign worked in his favour.”
Australia’s ‘first lady’
Meanwhile, Dr Robinson said Scott Morrison’s wife Jenny was a perfect example of how a politicians’ partner can be a huge political advantage.
“Jenny Morrison goes over quite well with the public – I think she’s an asset to him,” he said, adding that “most people feel positive towards Prime Ministers’ wives”.
But Dr Robinson said Mr Morrison tended to overdo it when it came to attempting to leverage his wife and daughters Lily and Abbey.
“Morrison’s persona is very much a family-based one, although that doesn’t actually seem to have appealed to women,” he claimed, in reference to polls indicating Mr Morrison was on the nose with female voters.
“The constant stressing of his wife and daughters maybe didn’t appeal as much as they thought it would.
“The effort to set him up as consulting her and all that back and forth did seem a bit forced at times though.”
Originally published as Why Albo’s girlfriend suddenly disappeared from the campaign trail
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