Why Are We Still Talking About Anthony Albanese’s Slip Up? 

Anthony Albanese - Labor Leader
“Here is a Taylor Swift comment for you, my theory is, 'Shake it off,” Anthony Albanese.

Why Are We Still Talking About Anthony Albanese’s Slip Up? 

“Here is a Taylor Swift comment for you, my theory is, 'Shake it off,” Anthony Albanese.
Anthony Albanese - Labor Leader
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Federal election 2022: Day two was dominated by Labor leader Anthony Albanese’s slip up.

Each day is a fresh start, right? Wrong, if you’re the leader of a political party at least.

While we’re more than 24 hours out from Anthony Albanese’s frankly embarrassing slip up where he guessed the unemployment rate was sitting at about 5.2 per cent – when actually it’s at 4 per cent – it’s still all anyone is talking about.

Scott Morrison came out swinging in a press conference this morning, John Howard weighed in (again) and journalists are still asking and asking Mr Albanese about the slip up.

But why? Of all the things to focus on, why are we still talking about this?

It’s straightforward

There are definitely better things to talk about – like a long-term economic plan that will reverse wage stagnation and ensure the cost of living pressures are eased. But did you kind of drift off (just a little) during that sentence?

The fact is the stuff of real substance in politics, the macro and microeconomics, the ideological stands made… a lot of that can get dense. It can get repetitive. And people can really drift off.

But the Opposition leader flat out blanking on one of THE most important figures there is? That is what it is. It’s straightforward, it’s digestible and of course, it’s compatible with social media clips and reels.

Labor and the economy

The stereotype that’s out there – and which the Liberals love to perpetuate – is that Labor just doesn’t know how to manage an economy. They might be progressives who want all kinds of reforms, but do they know how to cost it? Will it send us into debt?

It’s a myth that’s unfortunately easy to keep pushing when Labor will just always have more reforms and policies on the table. Why? Because Liberals by their nature are “hands-off”. The idea is to stay out of people’s lives as much as possible.

Meanwhile, Labor is more about “interfering” to the extent that they want to encourage equality, to bring up the little guy and to make sure “no one is left behind” as you’ve probably heard Mr Albanese say. And these “interferences” so to speak, do cost money. So, that’s the very binary stereotype. And it’s been criticised as a total myth, because Labor says it could improve wage growth and really do great things for the economy that the Liberals haven’t.

But when a Labor Leader can’t even get the unemployment rate right? Well, it just does the Liberals’ job for them and perpetuates that myth. And it makes Mr Albanese, who has been really vocal about his economic degree and background, just look like he doesn’t have a handle on the basics. 

These moments of not knowing how many people are employed or how much fuel costs, are tests of how well politicians know their country and – more importantly – the people in it.

Remember when Mr Morrison was asked about the cost of bread at the National Press Club? That stuck around for a few days too didn’t it?

It comes down to the same thing. The politician proving he’s a politician.

All words about how much he understands Australians with no follow-through. Mr Morrison was all too aware of this when he doubled down on his attack on Tuesday and said Mr Albanese’s stuff up showed he had “no idea” what was happening in the lives of Australians. 

Make like T-Swizzle and shake it off?

Mr Albanese to his credit did the best he could with a bad situation.

He “owned up” and, in a veiled swipe at the PM, said that he as a leader would always “take responsibility” for his stuff-ups. This comes after months and months of the Labor attack over Mr Morrison shifting responsibility onto states and others rather than owning mistakes or shortcomings.

Mr Albanese even cited Taylor Swift on Tuesday to demonstrate where he was at. “Here is a Taylor Swift comment for you, my theory is, ‘Shake it off,” he said.

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