Anthony Albanese waits to see if 19-day travel risk pays off amid criticism
Anthony Albanese is preparing to jet off out of the country once more amid speculation his decisions in his first few weeks as PM could backfire.
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As Anthony Albanese prepares to jet back overseas, questions are swirling over whether the new Prime Minister’s decision to spend much of his critical first few weeks out of the country will pay off.
The Prime Minister has been forced to defend himself against criticism, particularly from members of the Liberal Party, who lashed out at him for spending so much of his time out of the country.
Social media users also jumped on the bandwagon, dubbing him “Airbus Albo” and “Anthony Over-seasy”.
Since being sworn in as Australia’s 31st Prime Minister on May 23, Mr Albanese has spent a significant portion of his first weeks in office outside of the country.
One of his first acts as PM was to fly to Tokyo, just hours after being sworn in for a rescheduled meeting of the Quadrilateral leader’s summit, where he was joined by US President Joe Biden, India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida.
In June, he headed to Indonesia with several of his new ministers, where he met with President Joko Widodo.
Last week he travelled to Madrid for the NATO leaders summit.
There, he also met individually with other world leaders, including Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez.
He then flew to Paris, where he met with French President Emmanuel Macron in a bid to re-establish the Australia-France relationship after former Prime Minister Scott Morrison angered the country by cancelling a submarine contract.
After that, Mr Albanese travelled to Ukraine where he met with President Volodymyr Zelensky and announced additional military aid for the country.
He then went to Poland before returning to Australia on Tuesday night.
He is set to fly out of the country again next week to attend the Pacific Island Forum in Fiji, which is being held from July 11 to 14.
When he returns he will have been in office for just over 50 days, 19 days of which he would have spent out of the country.
University of Sydney Australian politics academic Stewart Jackson said there are both negative and positive impacts of Mr Albanese’s decision to focus on international ties this early on.
“It takes him out of Australia so that is the first negative. Particularly as we are suffering, floods, cost of living price rises and inflation. So it’s a lot of domestic and economic issues,” Dr Jackson told news.com.au.
“And you kind of hope that your Prime Minister is available to deal with those issues, even though they won’t necessarily deal with it directly, but to be there in charge of the team. Particularly as it’s a bedding-in time for the new government.
“He has only been in office for not long over a month. It is not like the government is properly bedded in yet. But that will certainly be seen as ‘why is he jetting off around the countryside or around the world when maybe he should be here’. Certainly that’s the sort of criticism I would expect to see.”
However, while Mr Albanese might be copping criticism now, Dr Jackson said there were also a lot of positives that could come from his focus on international issues.
“This is a change of government, so there is a an opportunity to reset a number of relationships fairly quickly,” he said.
He noted repairing the relationship with France was particularly important, as well as strengthening ties in the South Pacific.
Dr Jackson also believes that Mr Albanese’s trip to Ukraine was particularly important, branding it the “right thing at the right time”.
With parts of NSW currently dealing with devastating floods, one of the key criticisms being levelled against the PM this week has been his delayed response to the crisis due to being in “radio silence” while in Ukraine.
Since returning to Australia, Mr Albanese has announced government support for flood victims, offered the help of the ADF and visited impacted areas.
But with the PM preparing to leave the country again within days, there is speculation the move could hurt his popularity with the public.
Dr Sarah Cameron, Senior Lecturer in Public Policy at Griffith University, said there have been multiple instances of leaders being criticised for being absent during major domestic crises.
“We saw this with Scott Morrison’s Hawaii holiday during the major bushfires in late 2019. The Queensland Premier was also criticised for her trip to Tokyo in relation to the Brisbane Olympic bid amidst the Covid-19 pandemic,” she told news.com.au.
Though, Dr Cameron noted the optics of being absent because of a work trip are far better than being absent because of a personal holiday.
“Crisis events can be an opportunity for leaders to show leadership,” she said.
“This was a major criticism of the previous government, that former prime minister Scott Morrison was viewed as being absent at times of crisis.”
ScoMo Hawaii comparisons ‘beyond contempt’
On Wednesday, Mr Albanese said comparing his visit to Ukraine to Mr Morrison’s trip to Hawaii during the 2019-2020 bushfires was “beyond contempt”.
“I was fulfilling a responsibility that I believe that I had, of travelling to Ukraine. And to compare that with a holiday, I just find beyond contempt, frankly,” he said.
“And it says a lot about the people who made those comments.”
On Monday, shadow treasurer Angus Taylor accused the Prime Minister of being more worried about his “reputation on the global stage” than the thousands of Australians who are currently suffering due to the floods.
“Almost every day during his election campaign, Albanese said he would step up and take responsibility as leader. It was flooding for 48 hours, Luke, and he has only just picked up the phone to Dominic Perrottet to ask if he needs a hand,” Mr Taylor told 2GB.
“You do have to be there. Albanese made a real scene about this and yet he couldn’t even pick up the phone and frankly, it’s not good enough.”
Speaking of Mr Albanese’s decision to go to Fiji next week, Dr Jackson said it seemed like a situation where the PM “can’t win either way”.
“If he didn’t go, he’d be accused of not going to shore the South Pacific and being there when other leaders are there,” he noted.
“If he does go then he’s not here, so I think he’s a bit damned either way.
“He’s chosen the South Pacific, because he’s the Prime Minister and there’s plenty of other people on the ground (in NSW).
“And he is definitely not on holiday.”
He also noted that there is only a limited amount of practical support the Federal Government could provide during situations like the current floods in NSW, which Mr Albanese has already offered.
Dr Jackson said the criticisms coming from the Liberal Party have been “underwhelming”, noting it could come back to bite them at the next election.
“I actually think they’ve got a lot of work to do. They are carping. They’re not actually making good points,” he said.
“They’re sort of going ‘Oh, well, now they’re spending lots’ and it’s like, hang on they’ve had 40 days. They really haven’t had a chance to do a great deal and you’re already on to this sort of carping.
“It’s really like they haven’t quite gotten over being out of government. That’s something that the Liberal Party really needs to get hold of quickly if it wants to be in the game in three years time.”
Survey data from the Comparative Study of Electoral Systems shows Mr Albanese has had the benefit of starting his Prime Ministership as the most popular leader since Kevin Rudd after the 2007 election, Dr Cameron pointed out.
“Australian Election Study data shows that the three most important factors influencing a leader’s overall popularity are whether they are considered trustworthy, honest and competent. Australians will be assessing Albanese’s performance across these dimensions,” she said.
Dr Cameron said new leaders benefit from a “honeymoon period” where they enjoy a heightened popularity, which will undoubtedly come in handy for Mr Albanese as he waits to see if his focus on international matters – despite criticisms – will pay off.
Originally published as Anthony Albanese waits to see if 19-day travel risk pays off amid criticism
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