That’s why the Prime Minister has bought a $4.3 million coastal holiday home that he and his second wife (to-be) plan to call home when he retires from politics.
Is there something wrong with that? The answer is: of course not. Albo can do whatever he wants with his own money.
As long as he doesn’t break the law, he can choose to spend the money however he wants, whenever he wants, on whatever purchases he wants to make.
Including a five-bedroom waterfront home on the NSW central coast.
It is his money that he can waste or spend as wisely as he pleases. He can go to the horse track and gamble everything. As far as I’m concerned, invest in the Argentine peso.
Critics of the Prime Minister’s property purchase are misguided if they begrudge him being able to afford such a property. That would be the personification of the tall poppy syndrome.
If those critics are partisan, they are also hypocritical if they are unwilling to make similar criticisms of coalition MPs.
But defenders of what happened are also missing the point when they simply argue that no one has the right to conclude that the timing of the purchase and its possible political implications were a bad move by Albo.
I fall into the category of someone who doesn’t care how much he spends on a new house, but I’m stunned that he’s done it now – ahead of his bid to win a second term as Prime Minister.
Because whether anyone likes it or not, it looks bad in the eyes of some.
Anthony Albanese and Jodie Haydon will retire to a new home on the NSW central coast – and he will enjoy the benefits of his parliamentary pension
Mr Albanese’s new five-bedroom home has stunning views of the Pacific Ocean and is just down the road from Copacabana Beach
A real estate photo of Mr Albanese and wife-to-be Jodie Haydon’s new notebook
The story broke on the day the Prime Minister announced Labour’s affordable housing policy. What an awkward moment that was.
The purchase also comes amid a cost-of-living crisis. While homeowners are struggling with high house prices, insufficient supply and high interest rates. Of course, the purchase will cause some resentment.
With opinion polls indicating a close election looming, what message does this send that Albo is already preparing for retirement?
Many won’t care, but inevitably some will. Therefore, timing the purchase now is simply stupid, arrogant or unattainable. Or all three.
It is not unreasonable to say that this suggests that Albo has already retired from politics after almost thirty years.
Even some of his own colleagues interpreted the purchase that way.
I also get the impression that the Prime Minister and his closest supporters cannot understand why he is not getting more respect for his ‘rags to riches’ life story.
And why it doesn’t work for him as political leave to buy an expensive property.
Albo was born and raised in the Housing Committee and now lives in The Lodge as Prime Minister. As far as stories of rising from the bottom to the top go, it’s quite an inspiring story.
Although, given the low regard most Australians have for politicians, according to the polls, it may not be as inspiring a story as those of us who study politics like to think it is.
The fact that Albo can’t seem to keep quiet about it probably irritates some people too.
Anthony Albanese often talks about being raised on a housing committee by a single mother – quite an inspiring story, one that is often told
Because his rags to riches story is one where he always benefits from the generosity of the state.
Even though as Australians we realize the importance of our welfare system, if you are not an ideological supporter of Albo, you may not be as enamored with the story.
Think about it: Albo benefited from state housing, the warm embrace of the Catholic Church that paid for his private school fees, and free university education funded by the Whitlam-era largesse that no longer exists.
Then Albo started his political career as a young adult.
That career began with taxpayer-funded political staff positions, before rising to the senior ranks of Labor civil service.
Labor obviously benefits from public funding, as do most political parties.
All this culminated in an almost thirty-year career in parliament, where he worked as a taxpayer-funded politician.
When Albo retires to his waterfront mansion, he’ll enjoy even more taxpayer-funded largesse, courtesy of the old-fashioned parliamentary super plan, which will pay him about $450,000 tax-free every year until he leaves this earth. It certainly makes for a comfortable retirement.
Albo’s fiercest critics would say that he will be on the public teat from cradle to grave.
Mr Albanese went to university at the time of the Whitlam government’s free tuition
Having been an MP for almost thirty years, Mr Albanese’s salary was of course paid by the taxpayer
Let’s be clear about this: whether you like or loathe Albo, including the work he did as Prime Minister and before that during his long career in Parliament, I have no doubt that he has worked hard and is clearly doing well for himself. has done himself.
I also hate the fact that new generations of Prime Ministers will not receive generous lifelong parliamentary pensions as Albo will. They should.
But it’s also not hard to understand why some Australians don’t praise the kind of career Albo has had as a feel-good success story.
Some will see it as a lifetime of living off the taxpayers, that’s all.
He didn’t invent something, work multiple jobs to pay the bills, risk it all for a small business, or devote a lifetime to charitable endeavors.
Perhaps a reason for Albo to stop talking endlessly about his own story from rags to riches.
Because at this point, everyone knows their backstory. Those who are inspired by it need not be reminded.
But for those who aren’t, the more they are told about it, in a form of self-congratulation by the man himself, the more likely they are to get angry.
And when it comes with decisions like purchasing a multi-million dollar waterfront mansion, it’s no surprise that some people turn away.
I’m not one of them. I have been very fortunate financially in my life.
But I certainly think it was politically stupid of Albo to buy such an expensive waterfront property on this side of the election, and not after.
That is also what most of the Prime Minister’s Labor colleagues think privately.
But is it really that much of an exaggeration for a politician who has already said one thing before the election, only to break his promises and then do something else – which Albo has already done with everything from income tax cuts to pensions? to expect him to be smart enough? postpone an expensive real estate purchase until after the next election?
The fact that he wasn’t willing to do so suggests, at best, that he’s a stand-up guy unwilling to engage in deception. Despite the fact that we have consciously done this in the past when it comes to policy disadvantages.
Or it could suggest that he is arrogant enough to believe he can get away with it politically, or that he already has one foot out the political door. Or both.
Whichever way you look at it, it is at least a distraction at a time when Labor needs Albo to be at his best to build election-winning support to give Labor a second term in power.