Days before the publication of a new biography of federal Labor cabinet minister Tanya Plibersek, the Nine newspapers carried an exclusive extract in the Good Weekend magazine, accompanied by a news article leading with Plibersek’s assertion that if she had stood for the party’s leadership after the 2019 election she would have won.
Cue instant leadership threat stories, followed by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese hosing down speculation about the simmering tension between him and his fellow left faction member, and the obligatory guarded comment from Plibersek.
