Andrew Bolt: Albanese must prove he’s not soft before election day

My heart doesn’t get sick at the thought of Anthony Albanese winning this election, but I do wonder about his judgment.

I’m a conservative, but I like Anthony Albanese. He’ll get a lot of mud thrown at him in this election, but not from me.

My problem with the Labor leader has never been like ones I’ve had with past ones.

I don’t find him arrogant (Paul Keating) or a megalomaniac (Kevin Rudd) or totally chaotic (Gough Whitlam).

He’s even put huge effort into wooing business leaders, and talks to conservative commentators like me who others of the Left treat like lepers. Unlike another former Labor leader, Julia Gillard, he reaches out.

So my heart doesn’t get sick at the thought of him winning this election, which seems now likely. I wonder only about his judgment.

See, Albanese wasn’t in the Socialist Left because he read Karl Marx. I’d say it had more to do with growing up the poor son of a single mum, and being so emotional.

As late as 2015, Albanese still fought the Liberals’ tactic of turning back the boats, even though Labor admitted it had worked to stop the flood of illegal immigrants – and the drownings.

Labor leader Anthony Albanese speaks after the election annoucement. Picture: Flavio Brancaleone

Albanese’s objection was simply that he was too soft: “I couldn’t ask someone else to do something that I couldn’t see myself doing.”

Nor has Albanese shown courage – yet – in saying no his own tribe. He went along with the hate campaign against the innocent Cardinal George Pell, and told Israel to stop firing back at the Hamas terrorists who’d fired their rockets first. How would he handle Vladimir Putin, or China’s dictator?

Then there’s Albanese’s go-with-the-flow belief – against the facts – that the planet is heating dangerously, and we should cut our emissions harder, for zero effect on the weather.

Could Prime Minister Albanese say no to anyone with their hand out, even when our debt is soaring to a trillion dollars? Already he’s promising more nurses and higher wages, with not a word about how to pay for it.

His emergency management spokesman, Murray Watt, gave a warning of Labor’s style last week when he berated the Morrison government for making flood victims show basic proof – even just a photograph of their flooded premises – before getting a disaster handout.

Pardon? Would an Albanese government just hand over the cash, no questions asked, when Service NSW is already investigating hundreds of potentially fraudulent claims for flood relief?

So, no, my problem isn’t that Albanese is too nasty. I wonder if he’s too soft.