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RUBY:

From Schwartz Media, I’m Ruby Jones. This is 7am.

When Geraldine Brooks sat down for her first in a series of conversations with Anthony Albanese, it was just before Christmas, and his popularity had plummeted.

The prime minister's net approval rating had dropped to -17, while Peter Dutton’s had improved to zero.

Albanese’s critics see him as weak and ineffective, a narrative reinforced by the failure of the Voice referendum and the perception of inaction on climate change.

It’s a stark contrast to his past as a passionate activist, who was one arrested at an anti-logging protest.

Today, author and contributor to The Monthly Geraldine Brooks on the public perception of Anthony Albanese and whether he’s delivering on the legacy he set out to leave.

It’s Friday, February 28.

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RUBY:

So, Geraldine, as you were setting out to profile the Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to spend all this time with him, do you remember the image that you had of him in your head at the time, at the very beginning, who you thought he was?

GERALDINE:

Yeah, because for a long time I was actually living in his electorate, so he's a very familiar cat to me. He was my member, as Gough Whitlam always used to like to say, my member. And he was a guy who was very open and didn't mind socialising with journalists, so I'd actually seen a bit of him in the past.

And I think that I can't disassociate him from the guys I grew up with, which were lower middle-class Catholic boys who went to the school right next door to mine, De La Salle Ashfield. They were nice boys, idealistic, very much caught up in the social justice movements of the time. And so he reads as like the neighbourhood guy to me.

RUBY:

And how do you think he was seen by the public when he first became prime minister three years ago?

GERALDINE:

I think he was seen as this likeable, decent guy who understood struggle, the houso, who'd grown up with the mum with severe disabilities and been super responsible in looking after her, and that he was considered a bit of a champion of the Labor left. He was known as such an activist in his university days, and he brought that with him when he was Assistant Secretary to the New South Wales Labor Party, always seen as that guy who wasn't afraid to take on the Tories, but with his basic likability and decency.

RUBY:

And since that moment, though, his approval ratings have declined dramatically while Peter Dutton's have gone up, so what do you think has changed?

GERALDINE:

You know, I think the electorate's very churlish at the moment, and I think this is true in almost all liberal democracies. You see it in New Zealand, you see it in Europe, you certainly see the disastrous consequences in the United States, where more than half the electorate just voted for chaos and cruelty.

I think there's a throw the bums out hangover from Covid, and yes, of course, there's a reason for that. Inflation is really killing people and the cost of education and the increasing cost of health care and interest rates, and all of this kind of falls on the incumbent.

And then I think that Albanese suffered also from the defeat of the voice to Parliament. It's been very hard for him to recover his mojo from that. And I think that Dutton played a very sinister hand there because all the indications were that this would be a bipartisan thing. It was actually a very small ask, and yet Dutton was able to see an opportunity to characterise it as something huge and mischaracterise it as divisive when it was actually incredibly divisive of him to not support it. And I think Albo got played.

RUBY:

What do you think that Anthony Albanese does see as his government's biggest successes?

GERALDINE:

I think he sees a lot of groundwork, and I think it's true that they have laid groundwork for really significant quality of life changes for people. They're characterised as small bore, but I tell you what, it's not small bore if you need to see a doctor and you've got a hurting kid. And one of these 87 new Medibank urgent care clinics has opened in your neighbourhood, and you can get your kids seen rather than sitting in a hospital and emergency room for 12 hours. These are the things that impact people's lives.

I think he's kept every promise he made about women's issues in terms of decreasing the wage gap. And he accomplished that by not only several increases in the minimum wage, but also increasing wages in aged care and childcare, which are predominantly female areas of employment.

The housing crisis has been addressed in numerous ways with rent subsidies and money for new social housing. And yeah, it wasn't as much as the Greens were asking for, but it was a significant amount of money. But his argument is that they've laid a basis for consequential expansions of real assistance to struggling middle class and lower middle class families. And the things that they haven't been able to do yet, they need a second term and they don't want to see what they have done reversed.

And Dutton is insistent that he's going to reverse a great deal of it.

RUBY:

And so these kinds of policies, the things that you've mentioned, like urgent care clinics and increasing wages, money for social housing. Do you think that these are policies that are cutting through? Do you get the sense that the electorate thinks that this government has, has laid this basis for really being able to help them?

GERALDINE:

No, I think they're clearly not cutting through. And I think there's been a relentlessly negative tattoo beaten on the drums against Albanese. And very little scrutiny or equivalent scrutiny given to Peter Dutton and this ridiculous nuclear fantasy he has that somehow we can go from zero to 100 on an industry that we don't have here.

Albanese has also been copying it from the left. And, you know, some of that is because he hasn't made the kind of persuasive case for the urgency of our predicament with climate change. And it's still approving new gas pipelines and expanding existing coal mines and then seeing the failure to bring the environmental protection legislation forward in an aggressive way and really fight for the votes that were needed to pass it. These things, they drown out the work that is being done.

And I don't think he's putting a strong enough case for what the second term will bring and what his real passions are. You know, I've heard him speak passionately about his legacy and his legacy wanting to be to take action against climate change that's irreversible. He doesn't bring that out with the passion that I believe he feels.

RUBY:

After the break - Albanese’s failure to push back against the negative narratives.

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Audio excerpt — News Reporter:

“What legacy would you like to leave in your story and your Australian story?”

Audio excerpt — Anthony Albanese:

“Oh, gee. I think acting on climate change, I think, you know, it's a big challenge, but it's an incredible opportunity to grab it and seize it. I think getting on that road so that it can't be reversed.”

RUBY:

Geraldine, Anthony Albanese says he wants his legacy to be action on climate change. So how does that square then with some of these decisions that he’s made around the environmental protection act, and approvals for new coal and gas projects?

GERALDINE:

Well, I don't I think he isn't doing the work that a leader needs to do. You don't follow public opinion. You forge it. You know, I think he says, well, if people click a switch and the lights don't go on, you won't stay in government. Well, you might if you've made the case that the most consequential thing that's ever happened to people on this planet is happening right now, which is that human beings are living with hotter temperatures than any human being has ever experienced in history. And if we don't take action on that, we won't have an economy.

And I think that Albanese is really sincere about wanting his legacy to be doing something to combat climate change. That's irreversible, and yet it seems to be contradicted by his unwillingness to really make the incredibly hard decisions and stand up to the fossil fuel industry.

RUBY:

And one particular criticism of Albanese caving to pressure from the fossil fuel industry was when he dropped the Environmental protection bill at the end of last year. What did he say to you about why that was?

GERALDINE:

Well, he said that they didn't have the votes and they were passing a raft of bills in those final days of parliament. In that day, they passed 32 bills and he didn't feel like it was productive to bring forward a bill that he knew they didn't have the votes to pass. He didn't push back aggressively. And I think in some ways his own worst enemy, because he allowed the premier of Western Australia to run around lauding this as a victory over latte sipping Easterners. When, you know, he could have pushed back and said, well, you know, where are the independents? You know, why aren't they voting with us on this?

RUBY:

And that lack of pushback against a negative narrative that might form around something that he or his government has done. Do you think that that has become a trait?

GERALDINE:

I think he needs to really look hard at messaging. It may be too late. You know, this narrative about him may be too sticky.

RUBY:

You know, one of the biggest challenges, I think, for Anthony Albanese has been addressing the housing crisis in Australia. He obviously bought, I think it was four point three million dollar beach house recently. How much of an effect do you think that has had? How much has that damaged him politically?

GERALDINE:

Well, the optics of that were absolutely terrible. And, you know, he's probably the only person in Australia who won't admit that. Many of his Labor colleagues were infuriated with him for the timing of that purchase.

RUBY:

What did he say when you asked him about it?

GERALDINE:

His term at some point will come to an end. He won't be living in the lodge and he and his new wife won't go back to the house that he lived in with his former wife.

And his point is that, you know, Hawke bought a house and Keating bought a house, but the times were different. And housing is at the forefront of everybody's mind now. And so I just think it was an incredible own goal. And it would be better if he expressed some self-reflection about that.

RUBY:

And so going into this election, which could be called any day now, what sense do you have of Albanese's ability to get this second term that he has been so set on?

GERALDINE:

You know, I am concerned. I'm concerned. I think he has a better, healthier, more progressive vision for the country. But I'm not sure that he's going to be able to convince an electorate in a very, very bad mood.

RUBY:

And so after all of the time that you spent with him, what is your sense of of who Anthony Albanese is now? Do you still see much of the local member or the politician he was in opposition or even, you know, in his younger university days?

GERALDINE:

I wish he'd tap that inner Albo a bit more. I still think that he is an incredibly decent man. And as I said before, in these times, that is not nothing. But I thought to myself, maybe you're a bit more relaxed than you should be.

RUBY:

In terms of the stakes of what’s ahead, do you mean?

GERALDINE:

You know, I think he needed to be a bit more worried about the drop in the opinion polls. He was inclined not to take it too personally. And I think that's a mistake. I mean, he was saying global inflation has caused a turn against incumbent governments everywhere, which is true. But it's not enough to say that. I mean, you really have to fight for it.

RUBY:

Geraldine, thank you so much for your time.

GERALDINE:

Thank you.

RUBY:

You can read Geraldine Brooks' essay on Anthony Albanese in the March edition of The Monthly. It will be on news stands next week and online for subscribers later today.

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RUBY:

Also in the news today,

Donald Trump has ordered the expansion of DOGE – The Department of Government Efficiency, in spite of mounting criticism against the department and its overseer Elon Musk.

The new order directs federal agencies to publicly release government payments and travel expenses, as well as work with DOGE to end any contracts that are deemed unnecessary

It follows the resignation of more than 20 civil servants from the Department of Government Efficiency, over the refusal to use their technical expertise to quote “dismantle critical public services.”

And, a Melbourne graffiti artist who painted Pam the Bird across Melbourne city has been granted bail.

21 year old Jack Gibson-Burrell was charged with 50 offences of criminal damage over the blue and white bird, that police allege Gibson-Burrell painted on landmarks including Flinders Street station clock and a number of trains.

7am is a daily show from Schwartz Media and The Saturday Paper.

It’s made by Atticus Bastow, Cheyne Anderson, Chris Dengate, Daniel James, Erik Jensen, Sarah McVeigh, Travis Evans, Zoltan Fecso and myself - Ruby Jones.

Our theme music is by Ned Beckley and Josh Hogan of Envelope Audio.

And we’ll be back on Monday.

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