EDITORIAL: Lies, Albo’s damned lies and the dangers of hubris

Not since the heady days of Kevin07 have we seen a prime ministerial candidate so puffed up and confident during an election campaign.

Anthony Albanese was so notoriously poor during the 2022 election, a rambling rabble for the first two weeks of the campaign before Covid struck and enabled him to reset and regain composure to unseat the deeply unpopular Scott Morrison.

But three years on we are living entirely in Mr Albanese’s world. And doesn’t he love it.

Peter Dutton’s dour and dire campaign has been no match for Mr Albanese’s daily dominance of the narrative, denial and deceit included.

Having bumbled around for the last two years of his first term prime ministership, it has come as somewhat of a shock to everyone but himself how in control Mr Albanese has been these first few weeks of the campaign.

Mr Albanese is so relaxed about his lot that he was happy to lean into questions from The Nightly’s writer at large Latika M Bourke about the prospects for cruising through May 3 right on until 2028 and a third shot at the title.

Some might think this a casual slip, others might see a more strategic message behind his words for the ambitious rivals and successors circling the King.

Whether it was a deliberate statement for those wannabes or an inopportune insight into his state of mind, we may never know. But what we do know is it is a red rag to the bulls, and a red flag to the bullish.

Contemplating a third term while still in your first is one hell of a head nod to hubris.

And in politics arrogance has a way of coming back to kick you in the arse.

What is equally as mind-boggling about this campaign is Mr Albanese’s relentless obsession with dirty politics.

Not a day has passes without the Labor Leader taking the opportunity to get very personal and very nasty about his opponent Peter Dutton.

And he has had absolutely no qualms making up monsters in the likeness of Mr Dutton to scare voters away from the Liberal-National alternative.

The famous ABC fact checkers have fallen strangely silent in as Mr Albanese and his key lieutenants like Katy Gallagher have unleashed an unrelenting and hideously unreliable assault on the truth.

Just like Malcolm Turnbull whingeing and wailing about the outrageous “Mediscare” campaign in 2016, Mr Dutton has failed to find the words to effectively drown out and defeat the latest version that has completely derailed his case for change.

This election is meant to be a referendum about the cost-of-living. But the reality is both sides have debased the debate with their muddled and meaningless penny-peddling responses that voters have shrugged and switched off.

The 2025 election should be about us and our future.

Unfortunately at this point it’s not. And Anthony Albanese knows it. This is all about nailing Peter Dutton with the antipodean odium of Donald Trump. And doesn’t he love the irony of it.