Anthony Albanese may be quietly considering a near-term exit from politics, after tabling deeply polarising tax reforms with Labor’s May 12 budget.
Sky News Political Editor Andrew Clennell on Tuesday said he “genuinely wonders” if the current PM will contest the next election.
“People think I’m mad when I say this, but I genuinely wonder whether Anthony Albanese is running at the next election,” he said to Sky News host Peta Credlin.
“He’s 64 next year, he has done something he’s never really done in terms of putting these big controversial proposals forward… that’s something you might do if you’re not running anyway.”
Clennell said the PM would face an onslaught of “promise”-related questions ahead of the next election about “what new promises are you going to break next time”.
“So, there’s just a few things in here which make me wonder whether Anthony Albanese has a plan to go next year,” he continued.
“Now, almost no-one in politics believes me, especially Labor. They always say ‘oh, he’s going to go until 2030… he wants to break all these records’.
“He does love the job and he loves the trappings of it, I know that, but I really feel like after that budget – why would you do it?”
Clennell said the recent budget – containing a sweeping overhaul of negative gearing and capital gains tax – appeared to be the move of a PM parting ways with governance.
“It was like a point of principle of something you wanted to do and be remembered for, taking away that capital gains tax discount and then you’re handing the baton on,” he said.
“If his stocks were to lift, maybe he would be convinced to stay on. And he certainly said to me he was running and running hard.”
Clennell and the Prime Minister were involved in a tense interview at Sky News and The Australian’s Economic Outlook Q&A on Friday.
Clennell asked Mr Albanese if he would “definitely” run in 2028. The PM said “of course”.
Clennell said he once made former NSW premier Mike Baird put a bottle of Penfolds Grange on the line over the same question.
“Would you be prepared to do that?” he asked Mr Albanese.
Mr Albanese indicated he would not.
“I got a very nice bottle of wine to declare an interest for speaking today, so I thank Sky and The Australian,” he said.
Speaking to Credlin on Tuesday, Clennell said he still had the feeling Mr Albanese was considering an exit.
“The issue for [Mr] Albanese is, and you see it in a lot of the social media comments, kind of, the longer you’re in this job, the more chance you have of people basically disliking you and getting over you,” he said.
“The question is whether he’s at that point… it’s not dog years anymore in politics or perhaps it is dog years if we’re (having) shorter years… because of social media.
“I’m not in Anthony Albanese’s head, he could prove me wrong and we could both look like fools, but I’m just saying a lot of these things seem to add up to me.”