Anthony Albanese, hitting the hustings early from Melbourne’s cricket ground with a great big football analogy, made it clear he rightly feared the “ghosts of 2019” – when then Opposition Labor leader Bill Shorten was hot favourite in the polls and told by his pollster he was going to win and “on the night” got creamed by Scott Morrison.
When asked in an interview from the MCG if he still feared the “ghosts of 2019” the Prime Minister’s reply was a categoric “of course”.
“That’s why we take absolutely nothing for granted until the results are in. People don’t know what the outcome is going to be,” he said.
“That’s why people need to think very carefully. I respect whatever way people vote, but it is important that they do vote and have their say because it does matter for the future for the country,” he said.
In spreading the credit (or blame) Albanese extended his football analogy, which he’s been using for months, and appropriately adopted Australian Rules terminology from the MCG to say he was the captain of a team not playing “full forward and centre forward”.
But the Rugby League team of the South Sydney Rabbitohs is his first sporting home and he’s even adopted their performance as a bit of an omen. Given South Sydney (inner-City Sydney) is playing the Newcastle Knights (blue collar Hunter Valley) in Brisbane as part of a three-game extravaganza there could be a bit of a ghostly spectre emerge on Saturday afternoon.
Certainly in the inner Brisbane voting booths on Saturday there were more volunteers than voters and more South Sydney Rabbitohs jerseys than Greens’ Palestinian scarves where Albanese expects to regain Brisbane from the Greens.
What’s more, Albanese is well aware of the 1969 rugby league grand final when South Sydney was expected to continue a winning streak but got beaten by the underdog Balmain Tigers with an ugly but convincing win.
There is also Labor’s ghost of Don’s Party, where playwright David Williamson warned in The Australian on Saturday of the heartbreak of an early Labor lead disappearing – as in the same year of 1969 – as privileged postal and pre-poll votes from Liberals come in late.
For Dutton the biggest ghost of 2025 has been the “miserable ghost” of his old leader Malcolm Turnbull who himself complained of former leaders becoming miserable ghosts and then appeared like Banquo’s ghost to haunt Macbeth at his feast.
At least the venerable spirit of John Howard has been in Dutton’s corner all along and Dutton would hope to emulate the ghost of Tony Abbott if he loses, as predicted, and serve a second term as Opposition Leader and become prime minister.
Whatever the result, there will be ghosts and spirits vanquished and venerated on both sides.
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There are more ghosts out and about in the 2025 election campaign than the haunted house at Luna Park.