Albanese hasn’t really had a career ‘in the real world’

Anthony Albanese is the pollster’s favourite for Australia‘s top job. But he’s only had one ‘real’ job in his career.

A few days into the official election campaign, both the major party leaders have been jetting around the country, pitching their vision of Australia to voters.

Despite Anthony Albanese’s long career in politics, he has been labelled by some as something of an unknown quantity. On news.com.au’s podcast I’ve Got News For You, political editor Samantha Maiden offers her analysis of the Opposition leader, whose party has held a lead in the polls in the last six months.

Mr Albanese does not have much experience outside politics, says Samantha Maiden.

Anthony Albanese speaks after the election was called. Picture: Bianca De March/AAP

“One of the criticisms of Anthony Albanese, which is not unreasonable, is that he hasn’t really had a career in what you might describe as the ‘real world’.

“He has absolutely been immersed in politics from a very young age.”

Mr Albanese worked as a bank officer from 1980 to 1981 while studying an undergraduate degree in economics at the University of Sydney.

“And that’s kind of the only job he’s had in the private sector,” says Maiden.

“As soon as he finished university – it may even be slightly before – he went to work for Tom Uren, who was obviously something of a Labor hero of the left.

“[Mr Uren] became something of a mentor for him.”

Mr Uren was a totemic figure in Australian politics, a stalwart of the left faction of the Labor Party. He served as deputy leader of the Labor Party and in various ministerial portfolios during the Whitlam and Hawke governments.

Labor legend and Balmain resident Tom Uren with Anthony Albanese in 2013. Picture: Anthony Albanese's Instagram account.

Mr Albanese then worked his way up the ranks of the NSW Labor Party before being preselected for the 1996 election in the seat of Grayndler in Sydney’s inner south. He replaced retiring MP Jeannette McHugh, the first NSW woman to be elected to parliament, who served as the minister for consumer affairs in Paul Keating’s government.

Mr Albanese is one among a growing class of politicians who have spent little time outside of politics. The late journalist Mungo MacCallum also observed that the more successful Australian prime ministers tend to enter politics in their youth.

“Proponents of the ‘start them young and keep them focused’ method can point to some successes; in their different ways Bob Hawke, Paul Keating and John Howard all had their eyes on the prize from a very early age,” he wrote in a 2010 essay.

Since becoming an MP, Mr Albanese’s career has been long but somewhat removed from the public view, said Maiden.

“On the one hand, he’s really experienced. He did rise very briefly to be deputy prime minister when Kevin Rudd was prime minister second time around, but the criticism of him from the Liberal Party would be that he’s never held one of those frontline portfolios like treasury, finance, or defence.

“The role that he did have which is quite important and pivotal was that he was a manager of government business. Now, in one sense, in a lot of parliaments that doesn’t sound terribly exciting.

Then prime minister Julia Gillard and opposition leader Tony Abbott watch as the manager of opposition business Chris Pyne and leader of the House Anthony Albanese argue in 2012. Picture: Alan Porritt/AAP

“But in a hung parliament under Julia Gillard, it was incredibly important because he was wrangling all of the crossbench, all of the Labor MPs, and you will recall that, despite the fact it was a hung parliament, Julia Gillard’s government was quite successful in getting legislation through and he was pivotal to that.”

Maiden said this experience will be invaluable if Mr Albanese becomes the prime minister of a hung parliament, an outcome some have predicted.

In the podcast, Samantha Maiden also talked about how Mr Albanese wants to present himself to voters, saying he “likes to think he’s a bit of a cool kid”, who likes to DJ and play music.

Podcast host Andrew Bucklow also talks to reporter Sam Clench, who has been following Mr Albanese on the campaign trail, offering a peek behind the curtains of the press corps that cover the campaign.