Speaker 1: From Schwartz Media. I'm Ruby Jones. This is seven AM.
Speaker 1: When Geraldine Brooks sat down for her first in a
Speaker 1: series of conversations with Anthony Albenesi. It was just before
Speaker 1: Christmas and his popularity had plummeted. The Prime Minister's net
Speaker 1: approval rating had dropped to minus seventeen, while Peter Dutton's
Speaker 1: had improved to zero. Albanesi's critics see him as weak
Speaker 1: and ineffective, a narrative reinforced by the failure of the
Speaker 1: Voice referendum and the perception of inaction on climate change.
Speaker 1: It's a stark contrast to his past as a passionate
Speaker 1: activist who was once arrested at an anti logging protest. Today,
Speaker 1: author and contributor to The Monthly Geraldine Brooks on the
Speaker 1: public perception of Anthony Alberesi and whether he's delivering on
Speaker 1: the legacy he set out to leave. It's Friday, February
Speaker 1: twenty eight. So, Jordane, as you were setting out to
Speaker 1: profile the Prime Minister and the alban easy to spend
Speaker 1: all this time with him, do you remember the image
Speaker 1: that you had of him in your head at the time,
Speaker 1: at the very beginning, who you thought he.
Speaker 2: Was, Yeah, because for a long time I was actually
Speaker 2: living in his electorate, so he's a very familiar cat
Speaker 2: to me. He was my member, as golf Whitlam always
Speaker 2: used to like to say my member. And he was
Speaker 2: a guy who was very open and didn't mind socializing
Speaker 2: with journalists. So I'd actually seen a bit of him
Speaker 2: in the past, and I think that I can't disassociate
Speaker 2: him from the guys I grew up with, which were
Speaker 2: lower middle class Catholic boys who went to the school
Speaker 2: next door to mine de la.
Speaker 3: Salle, Ashfield.
Speaker 2: They were nice boys, idealistic, very much caught up in
Speaker 2: the social justice movements of the time, and so he
Speaker 2: reads as like the neighborhood guy to me.
Speaker 1: And how do you think he was seen by the
Speaker 1: public when he first became Prime minister three years ago.
Speaker 2: I think he was seen as this likable, decent guy
Speaker 2: who understood struggle, the houser who'd grown up with the
Speaker 2: mum with severe disabilities and been super responsible in looking
Speaker 2: after her, and that he was considered a bit of
Speaker 2: a champion of the labor left. He was known as
Speaker 2: such an activist in his university days and he brought
Speaker 2: that with him when he was assistant secretary to the
Speaker 2: New South Wales Labor Party, always seen as that guy
Speaker 2: who wasn't afraid to take on the Tories, but with
Speaker 2: this basic likability and decency.
Speaker 1: Since that moment, though, his approval ratings have declined dramatically. Well,
Speaker 1: Peter Dutton's have gone up. So what do you think
Speaker 1: has changed?
Speaker 2: You know, I think the electorate's very childish at the moment,
Speaker 2: and I think this is true in almost all liberal democracies.
Speaker 2: You see it in New Zealand, you see it in Europe.
Speaker 2: You certainly see the disastrous consequences in the United States
Speaker 2: where more than half the electorate just voted for chaos
Speaker 2: and cruelty. I think there's a throw the bums out
Speaker 2: hangover from COVID, and yes, of course there's a reason
Speaker 2: for that. Inflation is really killing people, and the cost
Speaker 2: of education and the increasing cost of healthcare and interest
Speaker 2: rates and all of this kind of falls on the incumbent.
Speaker 2: And then I think that Albanese has suffered also from
Speaker 2: the defeat of the Voice to Parliament. It's been very
Speaker 2: hard for him to recover his mojo from that, and
Speaker 2: I think that Dutton played a very sinister hand there
Speaker 2: because all the indications were that this would be a
Speaker 2: bipartisan thing. It was actually a very small ask, and
Speaker 2: yet Dutton was able to see an opportunity to characterize
Speaker 2: it as something huge and mischaracterize it as divisive when
Speaker 2: it was actually incredibly divisive of him to not support it.
Speaker 3: And I think Albo got played.
Speaker 1: What do you think that Anthony Ebineze does see as
Speaker 1: his government's biggest successes.
Speaker 2: I think he sees a lot of groundwork, and I
Speaker 2: think it's true that they have laid groundwork for really
Speaker 2: significant quality of life changes for people. They're characterized a
Speaker 2: small ball, but I tell you what, it's not small bore.
Speaker 2: If you need to see doctor and you've got a
Speaker 2: hurting kid in one of these eighty seven new Medibank
Speaker 2: urgent care clinics has opened in your neighborhood and you
Speaker 2: can get your kids seen rather than sitting in an
Speaker 2: hospital and emergency room for twelve hours. These are the
Speaker 2: things that impact people's lives. I think he's kept every
Speaker 2: promise he made about women's issues in terms of decreasing
Speaker 2: the wage gap, and he accomplished that by not only
Speaker 2: several increases in the minimum wage, but also increasing wages
Speaker 2: in aged care and childcare, which are predominantly female areas
Speaker 2: of employment. Their housing crisis has been addressed in numerous
Speaker 2: ways with rent subsidies and money for your social housing.
Speaker 2: And yeah it wasn't as much as the Greens were
Speaker 2: asking for, but it was a significant amount of money.
Speaker 2: But his argument is that they've laid a basis for
Speaker 2: consequence expansions of real assistance to struggling middle class and
Speaker 2: lower middle class families and the things that they haven't
Speaker 2: been able to do yet. They need a second term
Speaker 2: and they don't want to see what they have done reversed.
Speaker 2: And Dutton is insistent that he's going to reverse a
Speaker 2: great deal of it.
Speaker 1: And so these kinds of policies are things that you've
Speaker 1: mentioned like urgent care clinics and increasing wages, money for
Speaker 1: social housing. Do you think that these are policies that
Speaker 1: are cutting through? Do you get the sense of the
Speaker 1: electorate thinks of this government has laid this basis for
Speaker 1: really being able to help them.
Speaker 2: No, I think they're clearly not cutting through. And I
Speaker 2: think you know, there's been a relentlessly negative tattoo beaten
Speaker 2: on the drums against Alvinzi and very little scrutiny or
Speaker 2: equivalent scrutiny given to Peter Dutton and this ridiculous nuclear
Speaker 2: fantasy he has that somehow we can go from zero
Speaker 2: to one hundred on an industry that we don't have here.
Speaker 3: Albanize has also been copying it from.
Speaker 2: The left, and you know, some of that is because
Speaker 2: he hasn't made the kind of persuasive case for the
Speaker 2: urgency of our predicament with climate change and is still
Speaker 2: approving new gas pipelines and expanding existing coal mines and
Speaker 2: then seeing you know, the failure to bring the environmental
Speaker 2: protection legislation forward in an aggressive way and really fight
Speaker 2: for the votes that we needed to pass it. These
Speaker 2: things they drown out the work that is being done.
Speaker 2: And I don't think he's putting a strong enough case
Speaker 2: for what the second term will bring and what his
Speaker 2: real passions are. You know, I've heard him speak passionately
Speaker 2: about his legacy and his legacy wanting to be to
Speaker 2: take action against climate change that's irreversible. He doesn't bring
Speaker 2: that out with the passion that I believe he feels.
Speaker 1: After the break Albaneze's failure to push back against the
Speaker 1: negative narratives.
Speaker 4: What legacy would you like to leave in your story
Speaker 4: in your Australian and the Australian story.
Speaker 5: Oh jee, I think acting acting on climate change. I think, yeah,
Speaker 5: it's a big challenge, but it's an incredible opportunity to
Speaker 5: grab it and sees it. So I think getting on
Speaker 5: that road so that it can't be reversed.
Speaker 1: Geraldine Anthony Aberineze says he wants his legacy to be
Speaker 1: action on climate change. So how does that square then
Speaker 1: with some of these decisions that he's made around the
Speaker 1: Environmental Protection Act and approvals for new colon gas projects.
Speaker 3: Well, I don't.
Speaker 2: I think he isn't doing the work that Alita needs
Speaker 2: to do. You don't follow public opinion, You forge it,
Speaker 2: you know. I think he says, well, if people click
Speaker 2: a switch and the lights don't go on, you won't
Speaker 2: stay in government. Well you might if you've made the
Speaker 2: case that the most consequential thing that's ever happened to
Speaker 2: people on this planet is happening right now, which is
Speaker 2: that human beings are living with hotter temperatures than any
Speaker 2: human being has ever experienced in history, and that if
Speaker 2: we don't take action on that, we won't have an
Speaker 2: economy and I think that albans is really sincere about
Speaker 2: wanting his legacy to be doing something to combat climate
Speaker 2: change that's irreversible, and yet it seems to be contradicted
Speaker 2: by his unwillingness to really make the incredibly hard decisions
Speaker 2: and stand up to the fossil fuel industry.
Speaker 1: And one particular criticism of Albanezi caving to pressure from
Speaker 1: the fossil fuel industry was when he dropped the Environmental
Speaker 1: Protection Bill at the end of last year. So what
Speaker 1: did he say to you about why that was.
Speaker 2: Well, he said that they didn't have the votes and
Speaker 2: they were passing a raft of bills in those final
Speaker 2: days of parliament and that day they passed thirty to
Speaker 2: bills and he didn't feel like it was productive to
Speaker 2: bring forward a bill that he knew they didn't have
Speaker 2: the votes to pass. He didn't push back aggressively, and
Speaker 2: I think in some ways his own worst enemy, because
Speaker 2: you know, he allowed the premiere of Western Australia to
Speaker 2: run around loading this as a victory over lat sipping Easterners,
Speaker 2: when you know he could have pushed back and said, well,
Speaker 2: you know, where are the independence you know, why aren't
Speaker 2: they voting with us on this.
Speaker 1: And that lack of pushback against a negative narrative that
Speaker 1: might form around something that he or his government has done.
Speaker 1: Do you think that that has become a trait?
Speaker 2: I think he needs to really look hard at messaging
Speaker 2: at maybe too late, you know, there's narrative about him,
Speaker 2: maybe too sticky.
Speaker 3: You know.
Speaker 1: One of the biggest challenges I think Anthony Albernezi has
Speaker 1: been addressing the housing crisis in Australia. He obviously bought
Speaker 1: a I think it was four point three million dollar
Speaker 1: beach house recently. How much of an effect do you
Speaker 1: think that has had? How much has that damaged him politically?
Speaker 3: Well, the optics of that were absolutely terrible.
Speaker 2: And you know, he's probably the only person in Australia
Speaker 2: who won't admit that many of his labor colleagues were
Speaker 2: infuriated with him for the timing of that purchase.
Speaker 1: What did he say when you asked about it?
Speaker 2: His time at some point will come to an end.
Speaker 2: He won't be living in the lodge and he and
Speaker 2: his new wife won't go back to the house that
Speaker 2: he lived in with his former wife. And his point
Speaker 2: is that you know, Hawk bought a house and keating
Speaker 2: bought a house, but the times were different and housing
Speaker 2: is at the forefront of everybody's mind now, and so
Speaker 2: I just think it was an incredible own goal and
Speaker 2: it would be better if he expressed some self reflection
Speaker 2: about that.
Speaker 1: And so, going into this election, which could be called
Speaker 1: any day now, what sense do you have of Albernesey's
Speaker 1: ability to get this second term that he has been
Speaker 1: so set on.
Speaker 3: You know, I'm concerned. I'm concerned.
Speaker 2: I think he has a better, healthier, more progressive vision
Speaker 2: for the country, but I'm not sure that he's going
Speaker 2: to be able to convince an electorate in a very,
Speaker 2: very bad mood.
Speaker 1: And so, after all of the time that you spent
Speaker 1: with him, what is your sense of who Anthony Albanezi
Speaker 1: is now? Do you still see much of the local
Speaker 1: member or the politician he was in opposition or even
Speaker 1: you know, in his younger university days.
Speaker 2: Ah, I wish he'd tap that inna Alba a bit more.
Speaker 2: I still think that he is an incredibly decent man,
Speaker 2: and as I said before, in these times that is
Speaker 2: not nothing that I thought to myself, maybe you're a
Speaker 2: bit more relaxed than you.
Speaker 1: Should be in terms of the stakes. Of what's ahead.
Speaker 2: Do you mean, well, I think he needed to be
Speaker 2: a bit more worried about the drop in the opinion polls.
Speaker 2: He was inclined not to take it too personally, and
Speaker 2: I think that's a mistake. I mean, he was saying
Speaker 2: global inflation has caused a turn against incumbent governments everywhere,
Speaker 2: which is true.
Speaker 3: But it's not enough to say that. I mean, you
Speaker 3: really have to fight for it.
Speaker 1: Jeraldine, thank you so much for your time.
Speaker 3: Thank you.
Speaker 1: You can read Geraldine Brooks essay on Anthony Albanezi in
Speaker 1: the March edition of The Monthly. It'll be on newsstands
Speaker 1: next week and online for subscribers later today. Also in
Speaker 1: the News Today, Donald Trump has ordered the expansion of DOGE,
Speaker 1: the Department of Government Efficiency, in spite of mounting criticism
Speaker 1: against the department and its overseer, Elon Musk. The new
Speaker 1: auto directs federal agencies to publicly release government payments and
Speaker 1: travel expenses, as well as work with DOGED when any
Speaker 1: contracts that are deemed unnecessary. It follows the resignation of
Speaker 1: more than twenty civil servants from the Department of Government
Speaker 1: Efficiency over the refusal to use their technical expertise to
Speaker 1: quote dismantle critical public services and a Melbourne graffiti artist
Speaker 1: who painted Pam the Bird across Melbourne City has been
Speaker 1: granted bail. Twenty one year old Jack Gibson Burrow was
Speaker 1: charged with fifty offenses of criminal damage over the blue
Speaker 1: and white bird that police allege Gibson Burrell painted on
Speaker 1: landmarks including Flinders Street station clock and a number of trains.
Speaker 1: Seven Am is a daily show from Schwartz Media and
Speaker 1: The Saturday Paper. It's made by Atticus Bastow, Shane Anderson,
Speaker 1: Chris Danegate, Daniel James, Eric Jensen, Sarah mcvee, Travis Evans,
Speaker 1: Sutton Vecho and myself Ruby Jones. Our theme music has
Speaker 1: been at Beckley and Josh Hogan of Envelope Audio and
Speaker 1: we'll be back on Monday.