Election 2022: Who the real Anthony Albanese is
In a wide-ranging interview, Labor leader Anthony Albanese has answered and explained why his views have changed on China, climate and other issues.
Exclusive: Anthony Albanese no longer argues climate change is the greatest risk to Australia’s future because “China has changed under its current leadership” and is now a serious national security threat.
During a wide-ranging interview with News Corp Australia, the man on track to be the next Prime Minister was questioned about his most strident comments over 25 years in public life and made a fist of explaining some of his recent about-faces, such as abandoning his resistance to asylum-seeker boat turnbacks.
But on other topics — such as whether he supports new coal mines — he fudged.
In a conversation traversing 20 different topics, Mr Albanese revealed that in Labor’s first term he would seek to amend the Constitution to recognise First Nations people.
He affirmed his support for heroin-injecting rooms as well as voluntary euthanasia.
He said he remained steadfastly against nuclear power.
He promised not to scrap the 2024-25 tax cuts or to seek to raise a single dollar of extra revenue from workers.
And, in a complete rejection of the platform Labor took to the last election, Mr Albanese vowed that abolishing franking credit cash refunds and limiting negative gearing were off the agenda.
But arguably the most significant shifts in the Opposition Leader’s outlook were on the risk posed by China and how that now compares to the threat level from global warming.
In May 2019, Mr Albanese said it was necessary to acknowledge China and Australia had a “friendly relationship and have … since the Whitlam Government recognised China in 1972. That is part of Labor’s legacy.”
Questioned about whether his view had altered, Mr Albanese was surprisingly hawkish, telling News Corp Australia: “China has changed and China is a threat to our security.
“China has changed under its current leadership … China is a serious threat potentially to our future security.
“Whoever is in government, there will be a difficult relationship with China going forward and that is because China has changed,” he said.
Mr Albanese was also asked about his statement in 2005 that “climate change is the greatest threat to our future security”.
Rather than now being “the greatest threat”, he described climate change as now being “a threat” on-par with China, “nuclear annihilation”, cyber security and potential health pandemics.
“All of these are major national security issues and a serious federal government needs to deal with all of them,” Mr Albanese said.
On asylum-seeker boat turnbacks, he was upfront on his own reversal.
“That’s an example of something I’ve changed my view on,” Mr Albanese said. “Boat turnbacks worked.”
He was far less straightforward about where he stands today on new coal mines when confronted with his previous views.
In 2018, an interviewer asked him: “Do you want coal mines?”
Mr Albanese replied: “There’s not a market for it.”
But in speaking to News Corp, he tried to claim he had been “answering about stations, not mines.”
He said a Labor government would not prevent new coal mines in Australia.
Mr Albanese said he wanted Australia to become a republic, “but I don’t see it as a priority.
“My priority for constitutional change … is recognising First Nations people.
“I will certainly be trying to do that” in Labor’s first term.
“We will consult with First Nations people themselves about a timetable,” he said. “Also we want to reach across the aisle … and hopefully get support. To get constitutional change in this country, it’s hard if you’ve got (substantial) opposition.”
The Opposition Leader was also questioned about comments he made two years after becoming an MP on the changed appearance of then Prime Minister John Howard.
At the time Mr Albanese said: “You can trim the eyebrows. You can cap the teeth. You can cut the hair. You can put on different glasses. You can give him a ewe‘s milk facial, for all I care. But to paraphrase a gritty Australian saying, ‘Same stuff, different bucket’.”
Asked whether it was hypocritical of him to have recently undergone a similar makeover, Mr Albanese responded: “People will pass their own judgment. I got my teeth fixed for health reasons, which is a very good thing to do. And things that you say when you first arrive in parliament are different from what I would say now.
Munching on a salad, he added: “At the time they were a newly elected government, they were getting stuck into Labor people including our leader at the time Kim Beazley, including about his appearance … (it) was a major focus at the time. So there was some robust discussion.”
In a speech last month, Mr Albanese suggested he wanted to be an economic reformer in the mould of Mr Howard, Bob Hawke and Paul Keating.
LABOR LEADER ANTHONY ALBANESE, THEN AND NOW
ON CHINA …
May 6, 2019: “China has been a nation (with) which we have a friendly relationship and have had one since the Whitlam Government recognised China in 1972. That is part of Labor’s legacy. We will work with the region.”
Now: “China has changed and China is a threat to our security. China has changed under its current leadership … China is a serious threat potentially to our future security. Whoever is in government, there will be a difficult relationship with China going forward and that is because China has changed.”
ON CLIMATE CHANGE …
November 29, 2005: “Climate change is the greatest threat to our future security.”
Now: “It is a threat to our security … China, cyber security, potential health pandemics – all of these are major national security issues and a serious federal government needs to deal with all of them.”
ON ASYLUM-SEEKER BOAT TURNBACKS …
2015: “If people were in a boat, including families and children, I myself couldn’t turn that around.”
Now: “That’s an example of something I’ve changed my view on. Boat turnbacks worked.”
ON NEW COAL MINES …
February 19, 2018
Interviewer: “Do you want coal mines?” Anthony Albanese: “There’s not a market for it.”
Now: “The context would have been for sure about power – about coal mines for domestic use in power. I was answering about stations, not mines.” He said an Albanese government would not prevent new coal mines in Australia.
ON A REPUBLIC …
25 August, 1999: “If this republic goes down, students and young people in 30 or 40 years’ time will look at this and say, ‘How embarrassing for us as a nation that, in 1999, we had that opportunity to declare that we were ready to stand on our own and have an Australian head of state, but we had a Prime Minister who just could not make that leap of faith, who wanted us all to stay stuck in the past.’ I urge people to support the republic and to support it now because it is inevitable — everyone accepts that.”
Now: “I’m a Republican but I don’t see it as a priority. Maybe at some future point but there are no immediate plans. But I support Australia having an Australian head of state.”
ON LETTING LOCAL ALP BRANCHES PICK CANDIDATES …
May 6, 1996: “I am proud to have been selected through the rank and file preselection system.”
Now: “I believed in rank and file preselections … in Fowler’s case … Kristina wanted to transfer to the lower house to continue as a representative. Kristina is a key member of the shadow cabinet so that was an exception. I think there are 47 seats now in NSW in the lower house … 45 of them were chosen with rank and file preselections. In Parramatta’s case there had been branch-stacking and issues that meant that there’d been a suspension of branches in order to restore integrity to the system so there wasn’t going to be a rank-and-file preselection in Parramatta. And Andrew Charlton I think is an outstanding candidate.”
ON VOLUNTARY EUTHANASIA …
October 28, 1996: “How arrogant to … suggest that the ability to exercise conscience should be taken from a terminally ill patient who wants to die.”
Now: “I support voluntary euthanasia with proper controls.”
ON POLITICAL MAKEOVERS …
April 6, 1998: “You can trim the eyebrows; you can cap the teeth; you can cut the hair; you can put on different glasses; you can give him a ewe’s milk facial, for all I care; but, to paraphrase a gritty Australian saying, ‘Same stuff, different bucket’.”
Now: “I got my teeth fixed for health reasons, which is a very good thing to do. And things that you say when you first arrive in parliament are different from what I would say now … at the time they were a newly elected government, they were getting stuck into Labor people including our leader … Kim Beazley about his appearance … (it) was a major focus at the time. So there was some robust discussion.”
ON STAGE-THREE TAX CUTS …
June 23, 2019: “Well we’ve said very clearly that it‘s economically irresponsible … to pass legislation now for (tax cuts) which won’t occur until not just the next election but potentially the one after that.”
Now: Mr Albanese said there were no circumstances in which Labor would seek to roll back the stage three tax cuts.
“Weren’t we right, though,” he said, to see that the economic conditions would change.
ON THE RELEASE OF LABOR’S TAX POLICY POSITION …
June 6, 2021: “Well, we’ll make our announcements well before the election of all our tax announcements and all of our expenditure.”
Now: “You’ll see it well before the election.”
ON NUCLEAR POWER …
May 9, 2006: “Nuclear energy doesn‘t add up economically, environmentally or socially, and after more than 50 years of debate, we still do not have an answer to nuclear proliferation or nuclear waste.”
Now: Position hasn’t changed.
ON HEROIN INJECTING ROOMS …
March 22, 1999: “I wish to speak in favour of the proposed heroin trials and against the policy of zero tolerance … The deaths associated with heroin, for instance, arise not so much from the drug itself, as from overdoses caused by its uncertain purity and from dangerous substances used to dilute it.”
Now: “The (NSW) Liberal government thinks that it’s been effective … there is no question it’s helped.”
ON BULLYING …
November 12, 2020: “More needs to be done to change the culture in Parliament House. Culture sits above policies and procedures and must change.”
Now: “We have a comprehensive internal plan that’s been updated. We went and updated all of our systems in 2021 … we adopted a whole comprehensive suite of independent processes (and) confidential statements.”
ON LIMITING NEGATIVE GEARING …
January 8, 2018: “ … it‘s the right policy.”
Now: “It’s not surprising that Labor frontbenchers back in policy before elections. We lost (the 2019 election.) Under my leadership it’s not the policy”.
Now: “Agree.”
ON ISRAEL AND PALESTINE …
September 16, 2002: “While many Israelis continue to demonise all Palestinians as terrorists, Palestinians experience Israelis as occupiers and employers of cheap labour, interrogators and jailers. Meanwhile, the government of Israel continues to allow fundamentalists to build illegal settlements on Palestinian land. If the world is to truly advance, all UN resolutions, including resolution 242, calling for the withdrawal from the occupied territories, passed on 22 November 1967 — almost 35 years ago — must be implemented in order for all citizens to believe that they have a stake in the peaceful resolution of international conflict”.
Now: “It was a different world” in 2002. “I have always supported a two-state solution on the Middle East. I led the campaign in this area to stop the BDS movement – boycotts, divestment and sanctions – against Israel. I see it as totally counter-productive. You can’t have a Palestinian state and a two-state solution without some withdrawal of forces. I’m a strong supporter of Israel’s right to exist but I also support the rights of Palestinians, as well.”
ON CARBON PRICING …
November 1, 2006: “You need to harness the power of the market and establish mechanisms so that you drive the whole economy towards the carbon constrained model”.
Now: “At that time both parties went to an election in 2007 with an emissions trading scheme (policy). At the time you needed to send a price signal in order to advance renewables. The price signal is there now in the market. You don’t need anything else. That’s why the investment is going towards renewables. It’s the cheapest form of new energy.”
ON ABOLISHING FRANKING CREDIT CASH REFUNDS …
February 3, 2019: “This is a reform that is necessary and it is necessary if we are going to have the Budget in a good position in future years.”
Now: “We took policies to an election. We respected the verdict that was given.”
ON BEING A “DEMOCRATIC SOCIALIST” …
May 6, 1996: “Indeed, my politics as a democratic socialist have been developed from my experience in life.”
Now: “I describe myself as being on the Centre Left of politics. I think I have mainstream views.”
ON AN INHERITANCE TAX …
June 1991: “If you become a millionaire through hard work or investment you are taxed on it … If, however, you gain your wealth through the lottery of birth then there’s no taxation and you achieve that economic influence in society through nothing other than sheer luck. I believe that quite clearly is in contradiction to Labor’s social justice objectives.”
Now: “We have zero plans to have any measures like that. None.”
ON JOHN HOWARD …
April 6, 1998: “Here, also, is a man, small in every sense. Some have said that he is the worst Prime Minister since Billy McMahon. That is unfair to Billy McMahon.”
Now: “I had issues with John Howard and still do but he did win four elections. I have a courteous and professional relationship with John Howard today and I respect the role that he’s played.”
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Originally published as Election 2022: Who the real Anthony Albanese is
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