The Labor leader, Anthony Albanese, has declared he is “hungry” for victory, and predicted the federal election will be on 14 May during a 60 Minutes special spruiked by the presenter Karl Stefanovic as revealing the “real Albo”.
Albanese said during the interview broadcast on Sunday night on the Nine Network that he has learned from “mistakes” from the Rudd/Gillard era – where he served as a cabinet minister and deputy prime minister – and from Labor’s defeats in the 2016 and 2019 elections.
Asked by Stefanovic why Labor “stuff[s] it up so much” and why it finds it hard “to get into government and stay for any length of time”, Albanese replied: “We’re the party of big ideas, and we can sometimes I think be impatient about changing the world quickly.
“We did some good things, but [much] of what we did, many of the things were dismantled and you need that long-term government.”
Stefanovic opened Sunday night’s program by noting the Labor leader was a “nice enough bloke” but he added, “where the discussion might heat up is over whether he has the ticker to take on the top job”.
Albanese insisted he was “hungry to win” and will leave nothing “on the field”.
“I will work until 6 o’clock on what I suspect will be the 14th of May but we’ll wait and see, you heard it here first, I suspect that’s when the polling day is and then I will see what comes,” the Labor leader says.
He said he had lost weight to be “match fit” for the election. He also cited the mind-focusing impact of a near-death experience during a car accident last January. The accident “made me absolutely determined to make a contribution to the country”.
Albanese said he was hopeful of victory in the looming contest. He suggested voters were growing tired of Scott Morrison. “I think people are far more cynical about our opponents this time around, they know what Scott Morrison’s form is and therefore they’ll be more sceptical about what the government’s saying.
“You look at even the photo ops this time, whether it’s the shampooing hair or whether it’s dare I say it, the ukulele playing … the welding without lifting up the mask before you weld – people look at that and go, ah, that’s not really his job.”
Morrison was interviewed by the program back in February with wife Jenny. The prime minister performed a rendition of the Dragon song April Sun in Cuba on the ukelele during the episode. Albanese said of the memorable cameo: “I’ve seen it and heard it, and … now it can’t be unseen unfortunately.”
Albanese was featured on the hustings in Tasmania. Stefanovic noted the Labor leader was pursuing a small-target strategy. The presenter said the “criticism” was the Labor leader was “being wrapped in cotton wool – his people are trying to protect [him] from any kind of mess up in the weeks leading up to an election exposure.”
The Labor leader said: “Well, here we are Karl doing 60 Minutes.”
Asked what he was “hiding”, Albanese said: “People might not always agree with me, but what you see is what you get. Scott Morrison’s got an issue with the truth.”
The Labor leader canvassed elements of his past during the program, including the story of finding his Italian father after the death of his mother, and the end of his marriage to Carmel Tebbutt in 2019.
He was frank about the emotional impact of the breakup. “I didn’t want the marriage to end.
“I didn’t see it as ending. We’d spent Christmas together, I thought we would end our life together. That was the vision that I had.” The end of his marriage “was really difficult to come to terms with”.
Stefanovic asked Albanese whether he was “in love” with his new partner, Jodie Haydon. He replied: “That’s something not for you, Karl. That’s something between me and Jodie.”
Albanese said he was “protective” of his new relationship. “I’m the one running for public office.
“Jodie has to put up with if we’re out having dinner, put up with people coming up and photos and all of that. But it’s part of the deal, it’s part of who I am.”
Asked whether he shared any vices in common with the former Labor prime minister Bob Hawke, Albanese said: “No, I’m a pretty straightforward bloke and I’ve never had a cigarette in my life.
“I’ve had the odd beer or two or three or four. It must be said, well, I’ve got my own beer named after me, mate.”
