Election 2022: Tanya Plibersek to arrive at Anthony Albanese’s side, at last

Tanya Plibersek will join Anthony Albanese on the campaign trail for the first time later this week, amid growing questions over why she hasn’t yet accompanied the Labor leader.

Labor frontbencher Tanya Plibersek at a May Day event at Sydney’s Town Hall on Sunday. Picture: Monique Harmer

Tanya Plibersek will join Anthony Albanese on the campaign trail for the first time later this week, amid growing questions over why she hasn’t yet accompanied the Labor leader as he makes his pitch for prime minister.

Ms Plibersek has been absent from Mr Albanese’s travelling party for the past three weeks and did not appear at his Perth campaign launch on Sunday despite her seniority on the frontbench and regularly polling as one of the more popular Labor MPs nationally.

The opposition education spokeswoman has blitzed more than 20 marginal seats independently of Mr Albanese, with some Labor MPs concerned over whether it was the right strategy to keep her so separate from the ­leader’s top team.

Ms Plibersek’s spokesman told The Australian on Monday she would finally appear with Mr ­Albanese later in the week, for what is expected to be an education announcement.

“I’m sure Scott Morrison would love nothing more than to keep Tanya in Sydney,” he said.

“Sadly for the Prime Minister, and the Liberal Party, in the last few weeks, Tanya has visited around 20 marginal seats, and will visit many more prior to election day. She will be joining the leader on the campaign trail later this week.”

Ms Plibersek flew into Perth on Monday afternoon, visiting Lesmurdie with Tania Lawrence, Labor’s candidate for Hasluck. The seat is one of three Liberal held electorates in WA that Labor is hoping to win.

Ms Plibersek has not only been doing a blitz of marginal seats but of social media as well, with her TikTok page amassing more than 13,500 followers less than six months after it was created.

The member for Sydney has used the platform to give “campaign wraps” and show viewers where she has been and announcements she has made, including a $14m plan that would allow 60 primary schools to hire a full-time First Nations language teacher and a $15m boost to community language schools.

One Labor source speculated that Ms Plibersek’s blitz of the country was a strategy to position herself as strongly as possible for the prospect of Labor losing the election, in which case she would be in the mix as the Party’s next leader. However, Ms Plibersek’s spokesman said she was “completely focused” on getting Mr ­Albanese elected as prime minister on May 21.

Mr Albanese indicated that Labor would have “more to say” on education in the second half of the campaign, with Ms Plibersek’s entrance to the trail suggesting that such policy announcements will come sooner rather than later.