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Newspoll gives Albanese room to manoeuvre

Anthony Albanese is better placed than Bill Shorten to secure votes from the Coalition, Labor insiders say.

Anthony Albanese’s supporters highlighted his strong support among Coalition voters.
Anthony Albanese’s supporters highlighted his strong support among Coalition voters.

Labor frontbencher Anthony Albanese is better placed than Bill Shorten to secure votes away from the Coalition at the next election, according to backers inside the party.

Responding to yesterday’s Newspoll showing Mr Albanese was twice as popular as Bill Shorten among Liberal and Nat­ional voters, supporters of the left-wing MP said Australians respected him even if they didn’t agree with his policy positions.

“Anthony’s greatest strength is he is Anthony. People understand that when he says something, that’s what he thinks,” a Labor MP told The Australian.

The poll, published in yesterday’s The Australian, suggested almost half of voters would prefer someone other than Mr Shorten to lead the Labor Party, with Mr Albanese and deputy Labor leader Tanya Plibersek both more popular with voters than Mr Shorten.

Labor sources said there was no threat to Mr Shorten’s leadership, but “warning signs” were beginning to emerge.

Mr Albanese’s supporters highlighted his strong support among Coalition voters, at 28 per cent, compared with Mr Shorten’s 14 per cent.

Mr Albanese’s ability to keep the Greens at bay in his inner-­Sydney seat of Grayndler was also highlighted, amid a “lurch to the left” by Mr Shorten as he fights to keep the Greens from winning the Melbourne seat of Batman.

Frontbencher Tony Burke warned yesterday about the dangers of leadership speculation for Labor: “We don’t want to go back to the days, which the Liberal Party are still in, of constant leadership change and speculation.”

The results of yesterday’s Newspoll, showed Bill Shorten is on the nose with voters as leader of Labor.
The results of yesterday’s Newspoll, showed Bill Shorten is on the nose with voters as leader of Labor.

A senior Labor figure said it was significant Mr Burke was not talking up Mr Shorten, but warning of the dangers of change: “Once the argument becomes, ‘We are supporting Bill because the pain of change is too much’, it’s a very dangerous shift in language.”

Mr Shorten has alienated party bosses in Victoria after intervening in state factional dealings, while his support base in the NSW right is limited.

He has also lost key links to the Labor machine in both states following the Senate departures of NSW faction boss Sam Dastyari and Victorian Stephen Conroy.

Mr Albanese has been active over summer, doing at least 25 interviews since parliament rose last year.

His call for a dual referendum on the republic and indigenous recognition in the Constitution generated headlines, and speculation he was positioning for a ­future leadership tilt.

Newspoll showed Malcolm Turnbull’s satisfaction rating rise five points to 37 per cent.

Mr Shorten’s satisfaction rose two points to 34 per cent, but more people were dissatisfied with his performance than Mr Turnbull’s.

Ms Plibersek was rated as Labor’s most preferred leader with 25 per cent of respondents, followed by Mr Albanese at 24 per cent and Mr Shorten at 22 per cent.

However, she is not considered a viable leadership option and her left faction favours Mr Albanese.

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Original URL: https://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/newspoll/newspoll-gives-albanese-room-to-manoeuvre/news-story/b9d01c69f935a988e7ec6f313d1c4e2b