Best of frenemies: Tracing the Plibersek-Albanese rivalry

Tanya Plibersek is one of the federal Labor Party’s brightest stars. Elected at the age of 28 and already the longest-serving woman in the federal parliament, she marked her 55th birthday on Monday.

With just one more trip around the sun, the senior Labor woman – who had all three of her children while in parliament – will have spent half her life in federal parliament.

Illustration by Simon Letch

Over the past week, Plibersek’s relationship with Anthony Albanese has been back under the spotlight after the prime minister went over the environment minister’s head to scuttle a deal she was poised to strike with the Greens (or had struck, depending on who you talk to) to create an Environmental Protection Agency.

While the federal government managed to strike deals to pass 45 pieces of legislation in the final week of parliament and 31 on the final day alone, the failure to pass the EPA bill – and the manner of its shelving – has left Plibersek looking damaged and Albanese looking spiteful.

So why is Plibersek still in parliament, and could she be the second woman to lead Labor, and Australia, one day? In a scorching piece, columnist Jenna Price accused the prime minister of undermining and feeling threatened by his environment minister.

Conversely, Albanese’s supporters point to David Crowe’s front page in the Herald and The Age at the beginning of the final sitting week for the year in which the prime minister’s “no compromises” position on negotiations with the Greens was broadcast loudly and clearly. In addition, they point out that other significant legislation, such as on electoral donations reform and superannuation tax changes, was also parked and that Plibersek somehow missed the prime ministerial memo.

Albanese and Plibersek, publicly and privately, claim to be long-time friends. The reality is more complicated.

Plibersek joined the local branch of the Labor Party when she was 15 and met Albanese, six years her senior, soon after. By 1998, as fellow members of the NSW Hard Left faction, they were moving in the same circles and Albanese played a part in helping secure her preselection for the seat of Sydney, next door to his seat of Grayndler.

The pair rose through Labor’s parliamentary ranks, with Albanese slightly ahead in the pecking order because of seniority. Broadly speaking, they share a similar view of the world, are from the same state and faction, have pursued similar causes over the years, such as marriage equality, and have swapped constituents in redistributions.

It wasn’t until late 2013, during the first (and only) contest for the Labor leadership that gave members a vote, that a decisive break occurred. Albanese easily won the ballot of rank-and-file Labor members and Plibersek voted for him. But her decision to stand for the role of deputy, Albanese supporters argue, created the “permission structure” for other members of the Left to rat on Albanese and vote for Bill Shorten to be leader. Left MPs including Kim Carr, Gavin Marshall, Maria Vamvakinou, Kate Lundy, Lisa Chesters, Warren Snowdon, Brendan O’Connor and Laurie Ferguson all backed Plibersek for deputy and Shorten, the Victorian, scraped home.

Anthony Albanese and Tanya Plibersek in question time this week.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

For years afterwards, the Liberals’ then-manager of government business Christopher Pyne taunted Albanese as the “people’s choice” while Plibersek’s stature as deputy Labor leader grew. Since Albanese became leader in 2019, he has demonstrated a number of times that he has not forgotten 2013. In the 2022 election campaign, Plibersek was mostly frozen out of a frontline role.

Margaret Simons’ biography of Plibersek included a claim from the frontbencher – churlish given Albanese had just won the election – that “if I had run, I would have won” in a theoretical Labor leadership ballot in 2019. That enraged Albanese and his supporters, who believe she would have had only a handful of caucus votes. And then there was Albanese’s decision, after the 2022 election, to take Plibersek’s portfolios of shadow minister for education and women and hand her the more problematic portfolio of environment.

Depending on who you talk to in the caucus, this was either Albanese handing Plibersek a giant shit sandwich – making a leading champion of the Left, in a seat the Greens have long had their eyes on, the minister for approving coal mines – or a giant vote of confidence in Plibersek’s ability to handle a politically fraught portfolio.

This brings us back to Plibersek’s potential as a future leader. Columnist Niki Savva suggested this week that if Labor won either majority or minority government next year, Albanese should step aside so Labor can regenerate.

Albanese does not give the impression he plans to be the country’s longest-serving prime minister. But while John Howard always had Peter Costello and an alternative contender (first Peter Reith and then Tony Abbott) in line to take over from him one day, Albanese has gone a step further.

Labor leadership contenders include Treasurer Jim Chalmers, Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke, Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles (always quick to change his office letterhead to acting prime minister when Albanese is out of the country) and Plibersek. In other words, it’s far from clear who would replace Albanese – which suits the PM perfectly – and it’s worth remembering that Trade Minister Don Farrell, who has the largest group of MPs aligned to him, will have an outsized say in the result, too.

Of the leading quartet of MPs, Plibersek is perhaps the least likely to emerge as the next leader, though it is not impossible. Chalmers’ core factional support base is small, Marles has underwhelmed in his portfolio, and while Burke can count on a decent chunk of votes from the NSW Right, support from his factional rival Chris Bowen is not guaranteed.

The great unknown is what members of the Left would do. Close supporters of Albanese in the faction insist their support would not be automatically transferred to Plibersek on the day Albanese stepped aside, whenever that might be. Other MPs say it is possible the Left could split, with Plibersek’s obvious electoral appeal helping her win a chunk of support in the caucus (and from ALP members, if they get a vote) and, in alliance with one of the other contenders, she could secure the deputy’s job once more, or even the leadership. She has remained close to Chalmers, for example, though both would want to top the ticket.

In the meantime, the environment minister keeps wait, and the prime minister keeps watch.

James Massola is national affairs editor.