Prime Ministers, VIPs & family videos: Inside Anthony Albanese and Peter Dutton’s campaign launches
Anthony Albanese and Peter Dutton are bringing out the star power at their respective campaign launches this Sunday. Here’s who you can expect to see.
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Australia’s proudest Labor state — Western Australia — will host Anthony Albanese’s official re-election launch while the Liberals and Nationals bring together their heaviest hitters to rally for Peter Dutton in suburban Sydney.
Both camps will leverage party luminaries with Mr Dutton getting endorsements from his mentor John Howard and Tony Abbott.
Scott Morrison, who has been based in the US after retiring from politics in 2024, will also be in Sydney to support his former cabinet colleague.
Other VIP guests include former South Australian premier and current Liberal Party federal president John Olsen.
The party’s former president Nick Greiner will also be in attendance, as will every member of the Coalition frontbench and a contingent of about 20 candidates, mostly from western Sydney.
Labor’s camp is also expecting big-name former Prime Ministers but exactly who will turn up was being closely guarded.
For his last campaign, Mr Albanese was joined by Paul Keating and Kevin Rudd.
After Mr Keating’s brutal assessment of the Labor government in August last year, his appearance would surprise many.
The Labor icon labelled the Albanese government “a sellout” who had “fallen for the dinner on the White House lawn” over the AUKUS defence pact with America.
All eyes will also be on ex-PM turned US ambassador Mr Rudd if he does make it back to Australia for the launch in the middle of Donald Trump’s tariff war.
Labor sources were tight-lipped on the location of their event but it will be in Perth, in a repeat of 2022.
“I am back in Perth. I launched my campaign here in 2022,” Mr Albanese said at a press conference on Saturday.
“People said why are you doing that? I said because I want to represent the whole country and WA is really important.
“I am back here again in WA because guess what? WA is not just still important, it is more important than ever.”
One big name expected to play a leading part is West Australian Premier Roger Cook, who has just returned to government after a monumental victory over the opposition.
Prominent federal ministers hailing from the mining state like Early Childhood Education Minister Anne Aly and Resources Minister Madeleine King will be on hand to rally party faithful as well as Labor’s other MPs from WA.
Both leaders will also rely on family with Mr Dutton to be joined by wife Kirrily, his sons Tom and Harry and daughter Rebecca.
It’s widely expected Mr Albanese’s fiance Jodie Haydon, who joined him on the hustings in Perth on Saturday, and his son Nathan will be by his side like 2022.
Beloved nine-year-old pooch Toto is not expected at the event.
The opposition’s event is being held at a 250 person capacity venue in the Western Sydney suburb of Liverpool, which is the federal seat of Werriwa – a Labor-held electorate the Liberals are trying hard to pick up.
The crowd will hear from Coalition Western Sydney spokeswoman Melissa McIntosh, as well as Nationals Party leader David Littleproud and Liberal deputy leader Sussan Ley.
There will be upbeat music and a video featuring Mr Dutton speaking with his family, which was recorded in the days after his father Bruce suffered a heart attack.
Mr Dutton’s dad is not in the video and will not be flying to Sydney.
Labor wouldn’t give away Mr Albanese walkout song but he has recently favoured Sounds of Then (This is Australia) by Ganggajang at recent campaign events.
The Liberals have not planned a special walk out theme.
The Liberals are planning for a short event where Mr Dutton will unveil a range of policies focused on small business, families and community safety as he makes the case for why the Coalition should be elected to government.
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Originally published as Prime Ministers, VIPs & family videos: Inside Anthony Albanese and Peter Dutton’s campaign launches
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