Media
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April 25, 2025
Friday 25 April 2025
Dana Daniel and Brittney Levinson
The Canberra Times
It’s a tricky thing for a politician to handle, especially one battling to steal or keep the top job.
If you hide it, your risk being portrayed by enemies as lacking in humanity – as Opposition Leader Peter Dutton knows.
At the other end of the scale, you risk humiliation and ridicule if you put too much human frailty on show.
In an election campaign, the stakes are high, and putting a foot wrong can, for even a moment, spell disaster.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s stumble on stage after delivering a speech in the Hunter three weeks ago has come to haunt his re-election campaign.
It wasn’t the six seconds of awkwardness, the time between when he lost his footing, fell from a riser and was righted by his minders, that have caused the ongoing angst.
Mr Albanese recovered his composure almost instantaneously, lifting his hands and grinning at the cameras.
If anything, it showed he had the quick resources and self-composure to deal with an unexpected glitch – crucial attributes of a leader.
But later that day, the Prime Minister made a graver error when asked about the incident on ABC radio.
“No, I stepped back one step,” he told Newcastle Drive host Jenny Merchant. “I didn’t fall of the stage.”
That denial, though technically true as it was the riser and not the stage itself from which Mr Albanese had fallen, prompted ongoing criticism.
Coalition campaign spokesperson James Paterson seized on the moment, the footage of which has been replayed over and over, to argue the Prime Minister could not be trusted.
“He even lied about falling off a stage when there was video evidence of it,” Senator Paterson said in the days afterwards.
“I mean, every Australian could see him falling off that stage. Why he felt the need to lie about that, or why he thought he would get away with it, is beyond me.”
By Thursday morning, at a breakfast event in Perth, Mr Albanese seemed to have decided he just had to own it.
In high spirits, he made light of the incident, specifically mentioning it when asked what the worst moment of his campaign was.
“Ah, probably falling off the stage,” he quipped, before joking that host Seven West Media had been mindful of OH&S and gesturing to the white line marking the edge of the stage.
But by the time he fronted the day’s press conference, the Prime Minister’s defences went up again when asked about the comment.
“It was a joke. It was a joke. Chill out. Next. Chill out,” he told a reporter.
Later in the press conference, he was asked: ‘Why does it matter whether you stepped or fell?”
“I have no idea. I have no idea why it matters,” he replied.
“I have no idea why you are interested in it, compared with the big picture.”
When reminded of the Coalition criticism, Mr Albanese fired up.
“It says something about their character,” he said.
Mr Albanese then returned to his original approach, denying having fallen.
“I stepped off the stage. I didn’t fall over on my backside. I stumbled,” he said.
“That’s what happened. I laughed about it at the time. I laughed about it, since it’s no big deal.”
But it seems the matter is a big deal to the Prime Minister who grows defensive whenever it is brought up.
"If the Coalition is spending time on memes and on media about that issue, it says that my government's economic policy, social policy, environmental policy, foreign policy, national security policy re going okay,” he huffed on Thursday.
“That’s the message it sends to me.”
Understandably, the Prime Minister must feel it’s unfair to be scrutinised so closely over what began with a trivial mishap.
After all, Mr Dutton has made plenty of grave errors during his campaign, not the lest of which was the spectacular policy backflip on his policy to end work-from-home rights for public servants.
But the alternative prime minister did what must be done when politicians stumble: he owned up to the mistake.
Mr Dutton apologised for having come ip with the policy, declaring: “We made a mistake.”
For Mr Albanese, it seems the urge to move on from those excruciating six seconds on stage has prevented him from taking this approach.
If only he could tap into the authenticity of his answers during the second-last leaders debate on Tuesday night.
Asking if Australia needed “more of a hard man as a leader”, he replied: “It’s just rhetoric”.
“Kindness isn’t weakness,” the Prime Minster said.
“Kindness is something I was raised with… We raise our children to be compassionate with each other, but I’ve been capable of making tough decisions.”
He wasn’t defensive. He felt sure of himself. More these moments may help Australians feel that can trust Mr Albanese.