Anthony Albanese sits down with podcaster, reality star Abbie Chatfield
For Donald Trump, it was The Joe Rogan Experience. Kamala Harris courted Call Her Daddy’s massive female audience. Now, the PM has joined the ranks of politicians turning to popular podcasts to connect with voters, sitting down for 90-minutes with Abbie Chatfield.
Long, friendly interviews with podcast superstars have become a political staple - Donald Trump had The Joe Rogan Experience, Kamala Harris courted Call Her Daddy’s massive female audience.
Now, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is following the trend, sitting down for 90 minutes with Abbie Chatfield, the reality TV star turned broadcaster whose podcast, It’s A Lot, blends “deep stuff” - abandonment issues, mental health, feminism, politics - with sex tips and bad dating stories.
But instead of relationship mishaps, Chatfield’s 250,000-plus listeners got Albanese on nuclear power, tax policy, and cost-of-living relief.
“Universal Medicare, universal superannuation, and universal childcare. Three big things that are so important for people’s quality of life, all of which are effectively opposed and undermined at every opportunity by the Liberal Party,” Mr Albanese said.
“We have worked really hard when it comes to tax policy to make sure that the intervention that we’ve done has really looked after low and middle income earners … and we’ll have more to say about cost-of-living measures,” Mr Albanese added.
The Prime Minister labelled the Coalition’s nuclear energy plan “bizarre”, “friendless”, and “a fantasy.”
“When you have the best solar resources in the world in the sky, when you have the space that we have as well, that allows us to have things like green hydrogen to power manufacturing, it is bizarre that you’re looking at the most expensive form of new energy,” he said.
Mr Albanese criticised Opposition Leader Peter Dutton for failing to “front up to interviews.”
“Peter Dutton has not attended the National Press Club at all since he’s been Liberal leader,” he said. “I do tough interviews … I speak to all media outlets, right wing, left wing. I talk to everyone and engage. Peter Dutton doesn’t.”
The Prime Minister said he isn’t buying his opponent’s emerging “hard man” persona.
“His whole history of his engagement in politics has been essentially attacking people who are more vulnerable … It’s not tough to attack people who aren’t in a position to fight back. That’s weak from my perspective,” he said.
Mr Albanese also defended his government’s decision to pursue an Indigenous Voice to Parliament.
“Indigenous Australians had asked for a referendum … I said that we would honour that and have a referendum. Now, that wasn’t out of convenience. That was out of conviction,” Mr Albanese said.
The Voice was resoundingly voted down by Australians in October 2023.
“We did that and it didn’t work out. I accept that and we accept the result, but that wasn’t an easy thing to do,” the Prime Minister said.
Asked to clarify his stance on the Israel-Hamas conflict, which Chatfield called a “genocide” against the Palestinian people, Mr Albanese said had been consistently vocal in his support of a two-state solution.
“The right of both Israelis and Palestinians to live in peace and security with prosperity. I don’t see that as pitting against each other,” Mr Albanese said.
“We have taken a principled stance … Israel should be recognised by states in the region with its right to exist within secure borders, but Palestinians need justice. Hamas can’t play a role in that … That’s been my position for the 40 years I’ve been in public life.”
Chatfield, a television and radio presenter and former reality TV contestant who got her break on The Bachelor, posted on social media before the episode aired that her conversation with Mr Albanese was “the most important interview of [her] career.”
“It’s going to be very hard because usually I agree with the guests that we have on the podcast or I completely disagree with people,” Chatfield said in a TikTok video posted on Wednesday.
“This actually is, like, consequential and I’ve got 12 pages of notes.”
Her show covers a range of topics, including feminism, pop culture, politics, sex and relationships, and health.
Chatfield acknowledged her listeners are primarily Greens supporters “or a bit further left than Labor” and confirmed to her followers on social media that Greens Leader Adam Bandt will appear in a future episode of the podcast. However, she said Opposition Leader Peter Dutton refused her team’s requests for an interview.
The host said Mr Albanese indicated he might return to the show after the election is called, when the campaign begins in earnest.
“My primary goal in this is to get Labor back into government,” Chatfield said in the episode’s introduction, adding later that Labor’s ruling out of a formal agreement with the Greens prior to a federal election risked alienating Greens voters, who might “put Labor last, essentially to punish them for what they’ve done.”
“If they do that, they’ll end up with Peter Dutton as Prime Minister,” Mr Albanese warned.
The Prime Minister’s interview with Chatfield follows a podcast blitz of sorts: on Thursday, he “popped in” to the Willow Talk podcast hosted by cricket superstars Alyssa Healy and Brad Haddin with journalist Adam Peacock, and appeared on a podcast published by satirical news publication The Betoota Advocate a day earlier.
“I didn’t go into politics to be the Prime Minister, I went into politics to make a difference to my local community,” Mr Albanese told Betoota Talks host Clancy Overell and “eternal cadet” Wendell Hussey, adding he’s wary of America’s brand of political polarisation.
“I don’t want it to go down that road here … I think it’s really unhealthy in a democracy. And I really hope here that we can have more civil discourse,” Mr Albanese said.
The trio also discussed the Premiership prospects of the Prime Minister’s beloved South Sydney Rabbitohs NRL team, where he served as a member of the club’s board in the late 1990s.
“My mum raised me with three faiths: the Catholic church, South Sydney Rugby League Football Club, and the Australian Labor Party,” he said.
Since the start of the year, the Prime Minister has appeared on news and current affairs podcasts The Squiz, The Conversation, and The Daily Aus.
Peter Dutton has given two high-profile podcast interviews in recent months: in an interview with Australian businessman Mark Bouris, the Opposition Leader said the Prime Ministership isn’t supposed to be a cushy job.
“If you want to be a super popular character, then become a movie star or whatever it might be,” Mr Dutton said.
“But for me, the leadership position and the position of Prime Minister is about making the decisions that are not always popular, but that you know are in our country’s best interests.”
Mr Dutton’s hour-long podcast interview with Sam Fricker, released in December, largely failed to leverage the Australian diver’s almost six million YouTube subscribers, having garnered just over 5000 streams at the time of writing.
The interview was criticised by listeners as being soft on Dutton, with the majority of the interview focusing on his childhood and family life outside politics.
“Not a single tough question,” one viewer commented on YouTube.
“His PR people have played you for a fool.”