Andrew Bolt: Anthony Albanese caught out being a fake

In possibly the most catastrophic press conference given by a Labor leader, Anthony Albanese exposed himself as a fake — pretending to have experience he does not have.

Don’t buy the spin about Labor’s disaster.

No, Anthony Albanese’s election campaign hasn’t blown up just because he’s got a bad memory for figures.

The Labor leader hasn’t gone from streets ahead in the polls to bleeding in the ditch just because he couldn’t remember Australia’s unemployment rate.

It’s much more serious, which is why Albanese is looking so rattled, and aides have already rejigged their strategy to protect him more from questions.

Albanese has actually been caught out being a fake — a man who’s pretended to be something he’s not, pretending to have experience he does not have and beliefs he used to fight.

Voters will now wonder: who is this bloke really? Can he be trusted to run this country?

Who can blame them, as this Fake Albo falls to bits before their eyes?

On Saturday, Albanese, who for decades was of Labor’s hard Left, put out a campaign video pretending to now be a fiscal conservative who’d learned “what makes the economy tick”.

But just two days later, he proved he hadn’t.

In possibly the most catastrophic press conference given by a Labor leader, Albanese admitted didn’t have a clue about our unemployment rate — our most important economic statistic.

Anthony Albanese has had a horror start to his campaign. Picture: Toby Zerna

He guessed it was 5.4 per cent, when in fact it was at a 48-year low of 4 per cent, as the Liberals had told him dozens of times in parliament, which is why businesses are screaming for workers.

On Tuesday, more bits fell off Fake Albo.

Desperate to keep up his pretence of knowing “what makes the economy tick”, Albanese claimed “I have an economics degree from Sydney University” and had been “an economic policy ­adviser to the Hawke government”.

That’s sad. What other leader has ever had to wave around a bachelor’s degree to prove he can run a modern economy?

Worse, Albanese’s claim to have been an “economic policy advisor” to the Hawke government is a cosmic joke.

Albanese didn’t advise any of that government’s economic ministers. He was instead a researcher for the far-Left Tom Uren, then Minister for Local Government and Administrative Services.

And what makes Albanese’s claim not just false but a joke is that Uren, with Albanese’s help, didn’t advise the Hawke Government on its economic reforms, but actually fought them as sellouts.

This takes us to Albanese’s real problem. He used to fight many of the big issues he now pushes.

Voters will be asking questions about Albanese after his gaffe. Picture: Sky News

Sure, I’m happy to believe Albanese just got wiser with experience, but that just raises questions about his shocking judgment.

Why has he been so wrong so often, until forced by reality — or ambition — to change his mind?

Just how often Albanese was wrong was spelled out this week when he decided to unveil the real Albo in a remarkable interview with Daily Telegraph reporter John Rolfe.

Just three years ago, Albanese declared “we also need to acknowledge that China has been a nation in which we have a friendly relationship”. Now, belatedly, he admits “China is a threat to our security”.

Seven years ago, Albanese was still fighting the Liberals’ boat turnbacks, which had stopped the boats and the drownings, sighing: “I couldn’t ask someone else to do something that I couldn’t see myself doing”.

But now he backs those turnbacks he fought: “That’s an example of something I’ve changed my view on. Boat turnbacks worked”.

Unfortunately, Albanese has had to change his mind an awful lot, suggesting a troubling history of being wrong the first time.

In 1996, he boasted he was a “democratic socialist”. Now he says he’s of the “Centre Left”, with “mainstream views”.

Four years ago, Albanese rubbished new coal mines, saying “there’s not a market for it” and “the markets are speaking (and) moving in one direction”.

Today, those markets tell us coal prices have instead tripled, and Albanese won’t say whether he’s against new mines to feed this huge demand.

How many more examples do you want?

In 2015, Albanese argued for the “­Buffett rule” — a new minimum tax rate to claw even more money from the rich. Now he’s dropped it.

So who is Albanese? Are his critics right to call him “Each Way Albo”? Or has he now realised many of his past beliefs were bad for Australia?

I’d add a few more to that list. His hatred of nuclear power is brainless. His global warming policies are useless and damaging.

Still, give Albanese time and he might change his mind on them, too.