Anthony Albanese confident he’ll lead Labor at next federal election

Labor leader Anthony Albanese rejects poll, says he has what it takes to beat Scott Morrison.

Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese says he has what it takes to beat Scott Morrison and lead Labor to victory at the next election.

Mr Albanese’s leadership was thrown into question again this week after a union-commissioned poll showed the party was set to lose two seats in the coalmining region of the Hunter Valley.

CFMEU national political organiser Elizabeth Dodge said Tanya Plibersek would have a better chance at winning.

Speaking on 2GB on Wednesday, Mr Albanese defended his position, saying it was not untenable.

He said he’d shown “strong leadership”, particularly when taking on militant union boss John Setka.

“I showed strong leadership when people were out of line within my party and bringing the party into disrepute,” he said.

“We also resisted some of the views of some people in the movement and on Twitter who wanted us to oppose everything that the government did last year.

“We will present a real strong alternative at the next selection, I’m confident we can get there.”

Prime Minister Scott Morrison is touring Queensland, where Labor failed to pick up seats at the 2019 election. Picture: AAP Image/Lukas Coch

The Labor leader will on Wednesday make a speech to the Perth USAsia Centre, condemning Mr Morrison’s response to the Capitol riots.

Mr Albanese said his leadership approach was in “stark contrast” to Mr Morrison, who had failed to call out people like Craig Kelly for backing conspiracy theories about the US election.

“Scott Morrison was the only leader of a democracy who seemed incapable of saying the obvious, which is that Donald Trump played a role in inciting what were dreadful scenes,” he said.

“It shouldn’t be beyond the Australian prime minister to state the obvious.”

—NCA Newswire