# Alfred may have blown Albanese’s election plans off course, but now the PM can show he has the common touch

The prime minister has more reason than most to be the boots on the ground after 63% of voters said he is not in tune with ordinary Australians

## Analysis

The prime minister has more reason than most to be the boots on the ground after 63% of voters said he is not in tune with ordinary Australians.

But the change of plans could also, ironically, prove to be a blessing in disguise for his re-election bid.

After a few incidents in recent history where his opponents were keen to paint Albanese as not being up to the job, the PM was eager to be seen as springing into action as the tropical cyclone bore down on Brisbane.

There would be no repeat of questions about playing tennis or flying to Perth after Melbourne’s Adass Israel synagogue was firebombed; no days of questioning over when, how or if he was briefed about the Dural caravan explosives.

Clad in a waterproof jacket, boots and a puffer vest, Albanese wanted to be seen as “on the job”.

Before and after Alfred smashed the coast, the prime minister headed north – first to Brisbane and then to Lismore – shaking hands and thanking volunteers and defence personnel.

Not only did he receive daily briefings from emergency management experts in full view of TV cameras in the national situation room, Albanese also held press conferences in front of large screens projecting synoptic charts (and shared them on his own online pages).

Giving Peter Dutton a kick for attending lavish fundraisers at a billionaire’s Vaucluse mansion was something of an added bonus for the PM.

Albanese has often turned up to natural disasters, a prominent example being standing in Lismore flood waters in 2022, so it would be remiss to look at this only through a political lens – sometimes people, especially community leaders, just want to help. To bear witness.

“I’m focused not on votes, I’m focused on Australians,” Albanese has said numerous times this week.

“Giving support to people in a totally non-political way.”

But he was also the opposition leader when Scott Morrison took his ill-fated trip to Hawaii during the black summer bushfires, so knows the perils of a leader who doesn’t “hold a hose”.

While most of the federal political class had long thought the election campaign would have been called on Sunday or Monday, there would have been a nervousness about the idea of TV shots contrasting Albanese having tea and scones with the governor general against Dutton in gumboots shovelling mud to help clean up his Brisbane electorate.

In the end, Albanese finally ruled out his election plans late on Friday night, an unsurprising development once Alfred got closer to the coast.

That Dutton himself hasn’t been more visible in the response efforts so far was explained on Monday, when he told Sky News his family was “trapped at home” due to the flood water, which was “up over our front gate”.

Albanese has the advantage of his literal home not being threatened by rising tides. But the prime minister has more reason than most to seize the day.

The Guardian Essential poll has had some grim reading for both major parties lately, with Dutton and Albanese both enduring negative approval ratings, but figures from a month ago painted a troubling picture for the prime minister: many voters simply doubted his ticker.

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