Opinion
Day one of the election campaign didn’t start well for Labor leader Anthony Albanese when he failed to correctly cite the current unemployment rate in Australia, and could quote the Reserve bank’s cash rate.
The Opposition leader’s failure to have the stats at his fingertips played into the narrative that he doesn’t have enough experience in fiscal policy and lacks the ability to manage the nation’s economy.
At an appearance at the National Press Club earlier this year the Prime Minister looked out of touch with everyday Australians when he couldn’t name the price of household expenses like a load of bread, milk or petrol.
Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce followed suit when he suggested people should have no problem buying a house on the minimum wage, citing that he’d bought a house his first property for $68,000 three decades ago. People questioned how you can run the country if you’re not in touch with the lives of ordinary Australians.
Albanese’s failure to get a key statistic right was an embarrassing gaff, he quickly apologised for not knowing the numbers, and said unlike Morrison he’d own his errors and not blame anyone else. The incident however filled the front pages of newspaper, lead the evening news and news discussion programs dedicated hours to analysis to the incident.
Former Prime Minister John Howard was asked about the incident while touring a Perth shopping centre with Liberal candidates. “Is that a serious question?” Howard responded before answering ““Anthony Albanese didn’t know the unemployment, alright, so what?”
Maybe Howard didn’t get the memo, or maybe ‘Australia’s Greatest Prime Minister’ knew the job was about seeing the big picture as much as much as it is about the smaller details.
On Tuesday the media pack zoomed in on asking more ‘gotcha’ questions. When Albanese didn’t appear to be across reports that Australia’s Human Rights Commission might be downgraded in it’s international accreditation. Here was another moment moment to question if he was up to the leadership job.
Albanese admitted he didn’t know who Lorraine Finlay was. The Murdoch University Academic was appointed as Australia’s Human Rights Commissioner last year, her selection by the government seen as a politically motivated appointment.
“At the risk of creating a headline here, I don’t know who Ms Finlay is.” Albanese told reporters.
Assistant Minister to the Attorney General, Amanda Stoker, took Twitter saying it showed that Albanese had “no substance on human rights”.
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On social media Stoker was hit by a wave of people pointing out that she’d actually gotten the Human Rights Commissioners name wrong. She posted a follow up noting that it was Lorraine Finlay, rather than Findlay.
By Tuesday morning former PM John Howard was changing his tune, maybe there had been a few phone calls over night. At a business breakfast at Crown Perth, Howard said that Albanese should have known the figures.
“He should have known that figure, let’s not muck about,” Howard said. “Anybody who wants to be Prime Minister should be on top of that.”
The question is this, does a leader need to be on top of every news story and be able to quote a range of figures? Do they have to be able to nail the Price is Right game, and win five rounds of Sale of the Century?
Or do they need to be able to offer a vision and plan on how we will recover from the effects of a pandemic, stop discrimination and prejudice, create jobs and wages growth, ensure our national security, improve our health system, and deliver a genuine plan on addressing the climate emergency?
Please can we rise above it, and not have forty more days of political pop quizzes.
Graeme Watson
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