Anthony Albanese’s close link

He looks certain to be the man to take Labor into the future, but a telling Instagram post from Anthony Albanese reveals one of the major headaches he faces.

Perhaps one of the most difficult things about politics is not knowing exactly why millions of people vote the way they do.

After all, any one of us could make a decision based on a myriad of different factors in our lives.

But as the soul-searching goes on within the ALP ranks after its crushing loss at the polls last weekend, commentators and experts have repeatedly claimed the shock result was because of one all-important reason — Labor’s wealth distribution policies were simply too radical for everyday Australians.

And, as it looks increasingly likely by the day that Anthony Albanese — a democratic socialist from Sydney’s inner west — will step into the Labor’s top job without so much as breaking sweat, there are some signs emerging that he might not shift too far from the rhetoric and policies that saw the party crushed just days ago.

One of these is a photo that Mr Albanese uploaded to his Instagram page in March last year.

It shows the aspiring Labor leader sat with one of the UK’s most divisive politicians — far-left British Opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn.

Anthony Albanese and Jeremy Corbyn appear to get a long famously. Picture: Instagram

It’s clear that the pair kicked it off after “talking politics and progress and a bit of cricket” — as The Australian reports they have met least three times in the past 14 months.

It’s a friendship that centrist Australian voters could find problematic, as Albo tries to rebrand Labor and abandon its “top end of town” rhetoric that failed to win over so many ordinary voters.

That’s because Mr Corbyn — whose policies include nationalising Britain’s energy and water network­s and who’s slogan is “for the many, not the few” — is seen as one of the world’s leading figures in the hard left’s fightback against neoliberalism.

But since sweeping into his party’s leadership in 2015, the British public has been bombarded with relentless negative media coverage.

At the height of this hysteria, tabloids ran stories every day about his policies, which were dramatically represented as economy-destroying Communist ploys, and his questionable comments about terrorist groups such as the IRA and Hamas.

All that said, Mr Albanese might not want to distance himself too far from Mr Corbyn — if the UK hard left firebrand’s election performance is anything to go by.

Despite losing the UK election in 2017, Labour made monumental gains across the country under Mr Corbyn’s leadership.

They won 30 more seats than under the dull and uninspiring union-elected former leader Ed Miliband just two years earlier — gaining a massive 9.6 per cent swing.

And, all that was despite unending scare stories about Mr Corbyn in the press and constant attempts from those within his own party to overthrow their “unelectable” leader.

Mr Corbyn defied odds and gave Labour major gains in the 2017 election. Picture: Kirsty Wigglesworth/AP

His policies such as renationalising the country’s rail lines clearly resonated with everyday British voters who have seen their public services sold off and the backbones of their communities disintegrate under severe Tory cuts.

He also had an almost rock star-like presence at massive rallies that engaged the country’s younger voters.

It’s the sort of thing you can’t imagine Bill Shorten pulling off in our wildest dreams.

However, there are fears that this hard left agenda — if Mr Albanese was to follow in the footsteps of his British mate — would result in a massacre at the polls in three years’ time.

And, it’s clear from the indications he has given so far that he is planning to sharply change direction from Mr Shorten’s rhetoric in the election campaign — which was criticised by many as sounding anti-business and anti-aspiration.

“The language used was terrible … unions and employers have a common interest. Successful businesses are a precondition for employing more workers, and that is obvious,” he said in an interview with The Australian.

“There are common interests that are there … and if elected I would look for solutions, not arguments. We have to articulate a ­vision for how we increase wealth and not just share wealth.”

Despite question marks hanging over the future of Labor’s policy direction, one thing is clear — Albo looks certain to take the party’s top job after Queensland MP Jim Chalmers pulled out of the contest to replace Bill Shorten on Thursday.

Shadow treasurer Chris Bowen also pulled out of the race on Wednesday, a day after declaring his candidacy, having realised Mr Albanese had strong grassroots support.

However, there is now greater uncertainty around who will be the party’s deputy, with Victorian Labor right-faction MPs Richard Marles and Clare O’Neil both considering having a tilt at the post.

Mr Albanese looks almost certain to take Labor’s top job. Picture: AAP Image/Dean Lewins

“Many Labor people — particularly Labor women — have contacted me in recent days encouraging me to run for Labor deputy leader to ensure there is a woman in the leader/deputy team,” Ms O’Neil tweeted.

“I’m going to talk to a few colleagues about whether it’s possible for me at this point.” Labor frontbencher Tony Burke says Mr Marles has been ringing colleagues about the post for “quite some time”.

“We have to have a deputy of the sort of calibre that we had when Tanya Plibersek was in the role (under Mr Shorten),” he told ABC TV on Thursday.

Labor has aimed to have a man and a woman in the leadership duo, from different states and factions.

But with Mr Albanese coming from the left faction, the right outside NSW is paying the price for a lack of high profile women in the lower house. If there are no further nominations for leader the Labor caucus is expected to meet as early as Wednesday to confirm the leadership team, including deputy leader and senior Senate personnel.

Mr Chalmers said he carefully considered running for the role of ALP leader on a platform of generational change.

“But in the end I couldn’t be assured of winning,” he said in a statement. “And if I did win, the extra responsibilities of leadership would make it much harder to do my bit at home while the youngest of our three little kids is only five months old.”

— With wires

Originally published as Anthony Albanese’s close link