The faceless men and women are back. During a week when several senior Liberal MPs have covered themselves in odour, it is, apparently, Labor leader Anthony Albanese whose job is at risk.
At least, it is according to unnamed party figures quoted in News Corp’s national broadsheet, The Australian.
The narrative of Albanese in freefall kicked off in the aftermath of Joe Biden’s victory, and gained serious momentum last Tuesday, when member for coal and right factional leader Joel Fitzgibbon quit the front bench.
Then, overnight, Albanese’s deputy chief of staff Sabina Husic resigned, after an online dossier attacking her character did the rounds, indicating that something indeed is amiss in the leader’s office.
And these flashpoints have been accompanied by the all-familiar rumblings about leadership instability. Anonymous sources are forward-sizzling snippets of Albanese’s political obituary to gleeful News Corp scribes.
Nameless Labor figures continue to express their disappointment with the state of things in The Australian. And slowly, the outline of a target has begun to emerge on the opposition leader’s back.
Biden victory and Fitz fallout
Biden’s election win, a rare recent success for a progressive in the West, gave Labor a bit of a jolt. After congratulating the president-elect, Albanese appeared to urge Scott Morrison to get on the blower and push Donald Trump to concede.
The Australian wrote that Albanese “was privately ridiculed in Labor ranks” for the suggestion. It was, according to political editor Denis “the curve” Shanahan, “just nuts”.
The fallout from the US election, which marks the end of an administration firmly wedded to climate denialism, helped spur on Albanese’s next big headache: Joel Fitzgibbon. Ever since Labor’s shock loss last May, when Fitzgibbon’s formerly safe seat of Hunter turned marginal, the now-backbencher has been freelancing on climate policy, arguing the party’s ambitious emissions targets were the key reason for that defeat.
Fitzgibbon the hero
After months of bitching to the media, Fitzgibbon quit after a caucus shouting match brought on by left MPs using Biden’s success to talk about climate change. Fitzgibbon’s departure sent the hot takes about Albanese’s demise into overdrive, and gave the Oz a new hero.
Within hours, the paper was arguing that the blowup “set the scene for a leadership challenge”, with Fitzgibbon the most likely alternative. Labor right figures (and lord knows who!) told national affairs editor Simon Benson the situation may be “terminal”. Fitzgibbon, Benson argued, had “broad appeal”, and could pose a threat to the Morrison government.
Over on Murdoch’s Sky News, Andrew Clennell said Fitzgibbon was “stoking the fires of leadership speculation”, and in an interview, discussed the “angst” brewing within caucus. Even Albanese’s decision to replace Fitzgibbon with Ed Husic on the front bench was a disaster, Benson claimed, as the western Sydney MP’s support for a live exports ban would surely be a disaster in the bush.
By the start of this week, the Oz’s Troy Bramston had declared Albanese’s leadership on death watch, because, apparently, most MPs were certain he would be dumped before the election or lead them to another defeat.
The Husic affair
Late on Monday, an anonymous dossier, alleging a culture of bullying in the leader’s office began circulating among journalists andstaffers. The Nine newspapers were first to jump on that, reporting yesterday about the dossier’s existence, and later adding Albanese’s insistence it was fake.
By this morning, Sabina Husic had resigned, calling out the “malicious, false, fake and defamatory” attacks made against her in the dossier. Husic, a well-regarded staffer, is the sister of Ed Husic, who took over the resources portfolio after Fitzgibbon quit.
The Daily Telegraph today reports Albanese’s claim that the allegations made about his office were false. Also today, the Oz has used Sabina Husic’s resignation to talk about division in Albanese’s office and how they were “now dividing and distracting every tier of the federal opposition”.
Should Albo care about all this? Just ask Kevin and Malcolm.
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Peter Fray
Editor-in-chief of Crikey
Leave a comment
covered themselves in “ordure” more appropriate
“… a week when several senior Liberal MPs have covered themselves in odour…”
ordure ôr′jər►
n. Excrement; dung.
n. Something morally offensive; filth.
Dang Crikey spellcheck!
Or is it? Dung, Crikey – Spellcheck!
I doubt that it is the fault of SpellCheck.
Rather it is the tendency of a $2 writer trying to use a $5 word to appear clever.
Similarly, the sure sign of a hack is one who uses cliches, without the remotest understanding of their provenance or meaning, to appear competent.
Another reason for an enquiry into the political interference by Murdoch and the collusion with the Liberal Party. It sounds like the dirty deeds of the US Republican Party colluding with the same media mogul. I find these personal assaults especially from such a grubby government disgusting
The article is a bit thin Kishor;even for you; a good deal of speculation but few facts. Let’s have some detail as to the content that (apparently) occasioned the resignation of Husic.
You have reported the remarks of Fitzgibbon (at face value – a Yr9 student could manage that) but you have not examined them. You have to show (and not infer) what you consider to be the errors of Fitzgibbon.
Oh – almost forgot : about the time that the site received a face lift, on a related topic, I suggested (on account of supine performance) that the reins would be returned to Shorten over the New Year. I was surprised at the number of down-votes that resulted (doubtless from the ALP brigade)
Just join The Australian boycott