Election 2022: Political prey: Albanese puts faith in attack

Anthony Albanese went on the attack on Friday as he fended off ongoing questions about his stumble over the detail of Labor’s NDIS policy.

Anthony Albanese attends a community dinner organised by the Hindu Council of Australia in Parramatta on Friday night. Picture: Liam Kidston

Anthony Albanese declared “I’m in charge’’ and went on the attack on Friday, as he fended off ongoing questions about his stumble over the detail of Labor’s NDIS policy, doubts about his performance from colleagues and the after-­effects of Covid-19.

In an at-times angry public ­appearance on home turf of Marrickville in Sydney’s inner west, the Opposition Leader moved to reassert his authority at the end of a week of curtailed appearances while he recovers from Covid-19 and growing internal concerns sparked by his latest stumble.

Ditching the frontbenchers who had accompanied him through the week and had been left to answer questions on key Labor policies, Mr Albanese ­insisted he was across the detail of Labor’s signature NDIS policy.

The Labor leader, who ­attended a Hindu community ­dinner in Parramatta on Friday night, said that, although he was still feeling the effects of Covid-19, he was match fit.

“Let me tell you what the NDIS is about: it’s not about gotcha questions,” he said. “What leadership is about is ­determining when there is a problem, identifying it, and then ­coming up with solutions. We did that in government. We created the NDIS. We’re doing that from opposition under Bill Shorten, who has had a role both in government and in opposition, and he is coming up with solutions to stop the cuts and to put people back at the centre of the NDIS.”

Mr Albanese became angry when asked whether he would commit not to cut the NDIS if he won office.

“Wait. Seriously, this is an ­example of what puts people off politics,” he said. “You cannot have a clearer answer than that Labor is putting additional funding into health, education and the NDIS, and we stand by it, and you know what puts people off politics? That sort of word game.

“That is very clear. It can’t be clearer. We stand by our ­additional funding. That’s not a cut. That is more funding.”

Thursday’s NDIS stumble sparked private concerns from Labor colleagues that Mr Albanese’s mistakes were risking the party’s election chances.

“He needs to get across the ­detail,’’ one colleague said.

On the other side of the country, Scott Morrison went for the jugular. Asked if Mr Albanese’s latest stumble could be attributed to the after-effects of his recent Covid-19 infection, Mr Morrison said: “If that’s what he wants to believe, if that helps him get through the day, well good luck to him. But when you’re prime minister, you don’t get to do that … being in a campaign is nothing compared to running a government. And if you can’t hack the campaign, then I think people are starting to think: is this guy really up to it?”

The eye of the election storm arrived in Parramatta, Sydney’s geographic heart, on Friday night as Mr Albanese searched for political momentum in a local contest emerging as one of the key battles of the election campaign.

Mr Albanese dined with the Hindu community in support of his western Sydney captain’s picks of Andrew Charlton and Kristina Keneally in his first visit to the electorate since the campaign was called four weeks ago.

Scott Morrison has visited Parramatta, held by Labor by 3.5 per cent, five times during the campaign, making it his most visited seat and ground zero of his electoral ambitions. Political pundits say the Prime Minister rates his chances in the seat, which if it went the government’s way, potentially an obstacle in Labor’s path to a majority.

Mr Albanese’s deputy, Richard Marles, defended the Opposition Leader as “the most experienced politician there is”.

“This is not a pop quiz,” Mr Marles said. “We’re not electing a candidate for Sale of the Century. We’re electing the next prime minister of Australia. This has to be a contest of ideas.

“There are 30-odd policies on our website with many, many pages. I can’t recite all of them. But what I know is that at the heart of those is an agenda which is being led by Anthony Albanese. He will make sure that these are policies which are delivered in government.

“We’ll have a prime minister, in Anthony Albanese, who will be there on every day, good and bad, who will take responsibility and who has a plan for a better future.”

In a bid to neutralise his NDIS blunder, Mr Albanese told the story of his mother, who lived much of her life with rheumatoid arthritis and wasn’t diagnosed and didn’t receive the assistance that she needed.