Anthony Albanese: from 'counsellor, kingmaker' to Australia's new PM

On his telling, it was only in 2013, on the defeat of Rudd's second government, that he first entertained thoughts of becoming leader.

Karen Middleton’s 2016 biography of Anthony Albanese concludes with a speech he made that year, on the 20th anniversary of his election to parliament.

“I’m patient”, he told his clapping audience, “I’m patient — I’m a Souths fan”. The South Sydney Rabbitohs are the Rugby League club Albanese supports, which for the greater part of his adult life was notorious for its competitive under-performance.

The audience realised, of course, that in proclaiming his long-suffering dedication, Albanese was really alluding to his political vocation and his other underachieving “tribe” — the Labor Party.

Albanese’s journey in Labor politics has indeed been long and arduous.