Anthony Albanese has shed his persona as an honest broker and bastion of integrity to become the champion of Labor scare campaigns and hit-jobs, which are often devoid of truth.
Ahead of the 2022 election, the Prime Minister presented himself as a leader who would bring the country together, restore integrity in politics and own up to mistakes. Fast-forward three years and the former ALP party official and staffer has shed any pretence of virtuousness to embrace the political ruthlessness that flows through his veins.
One of the more farcical sagas during the dull and uninspiring election campaign has been Albanese’s bizarre and ongoing rejection that he fell off a stage at a union rally in the NSW Hunter Valley. Despite video evidence that indeed he did fall off a stage, the 62-year-old seems incapable of accepting the facts.
Immediately after the fall on April 3, Albanese said he stepped back one step and “didn’t fall off the stage … just one leg went down but I was sweet”. A few days later in a radio interview, he said: “I went back and that was the end of the stage, so my foot went down but I didn’t go down.”
After The Australian’s Rhiannon Down on Thursday asked him about a remark he made in Perth that falling off the stage was the worst moment of the campaign, Albanese fired up and declared “it was a joke, it was a joke, chill out, next, chill out”. Down followed up by asking about his denial that he had fallen off the stage, to which Albanese said: “No, well, I didn’t fall – I did not”.
It surely can’t be that hard to channel populist former Queensland Labor premier Peter Beattie and just say, “I fell, all good, no broken bones”.
Labor is typically more ruthless and loose with the truth to achieve its ultimate aim of winning. Peter Dutton should have been better prepared for Labor’s scare campaigns on nuclear energy, Medicare, Donald Trump, working from home and cuts.
With the ALP ahead in the polls, pundits writing off Dutton and Albanese’s confidence off the charts, there has to be a strong focus on the agenda and intentions of a second-term Labor government. Albanese doesn’t like fielding questions about Labor’s preferences deals with the Greens, how his government commissioned analysis from Treasury on negative gearing and how he dumped his own RepuTex modelling that promised households reductions in their power bills of $275 from 2025. But they are all valid questions that need to be asked and should be answered honestly.
The Opposition Leader on Thursday told his own fib after claiming comments he made on Monday about not changing Labor’s fringe benefits tax exemption on electric vehicles were based on a different topic and the Coalition’s position on axing the tax break had not changed.
The falsehoods from Labor, the Coalition, Climate 200-backed teals, Adam Bandt’s Greens and Clive Palmer have been flying hard and fast over the past four weeks. Every day, Coalition and ALP operatives send out lists of lies they accuse the other of spreading.
Politics is becoming more Americanised with minimal focus on policy and reform. The major parties have become obsessed with political cycles and mud-slinging, which has fuelled the slide in support for both Labor and the Coalition.
Political leaders talk about the perils of disinformation and misinformation, while engaging in the very same acts.
The Coalition has pressed hard to frame Albanese as a liar and dishonest. The irony of the major parties accusing each other of lies is that voters automatically assume that most politicians are liars. Given that perception, if Albanese wins, it may well be a case of “better the liar you know”.
In the age of Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin, Xi Jinping and Narendra Modi, there has never been a more important time for Australia’s political leaders to be open, transparent and accessible. Whoever wins the May 3 election must avoid the urge to follow the Daniel Andrews model of centralised command and control. It is unlikely politicians will ever be completely honest. But they set the standards. Australians are hungry for leaders with vision and courage, who are not obsessed with political attacks and predictable rhetoric and talking points.
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