James Campbell: Anthony Albanese shows just how out of touch he is with ordinary Australians
A prime minister splashing $4.3m on a beach house would be dumb politics at the best of times. Doing it in the midst of a cost of living crisis makes you wonder if he’s already checked out.
Opinion
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What is he thinking? Has Albo given up? Seriously, it’s hard not to wonder.
A Prime Minister splashing $4.3m on a beach house would be dumb politics at the best of times.
But as everyone knows, for most people these are not the best of times.
Since he’s been Prime Minister, Albo’s fellow Australians have suffered the biggest fall in their standard of living of any country in the OECD.
But here he is splashing out millions on a bolt hole in a region of Australia where people are living in caravan parks because there’s nowhere to rent.
A bloke who for the past 30 years has been on the public payroll.
Short of using taxpayer money to fly around the country to attend free Taylor Swift and Katy Perry gigs, it is hard to think of a more obvious way of showing he’s out-of-touch with the experiences of ordinary people.
Oh hang on, he did that didn’t he?
“It’s his Hawaii moment,” one of his colleagues texted this morning.
Just imagine the shudders Labor backbenchers fighting to hold marginal seats will have felt.
Perhaps he thinks he’s got some kind of special Hawke-like relationship with the Australian public where they will forgive him anything.
Either that or he just hasn’t grasped that when you get the top job different rules apply.
The alternative of course is that looking ahead, he was worried that if he waited until after the election the bank might have some concerns about … umm… serviceability.
Or maybe he just doesn’t care because he’s already checked out.
Whatever, it’s a shocking look and shows a complete failure to understand the job he’s in.
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