To cap off a hectic first week as Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese hit the tennis court, with Labor sources comparing his leadership style to Bob Hawke’s.
Mr Albanese wore a white shirt, blue shorts, and his favorite white Rabbitohs cap to play tennis at the Marrickville Lawn Tennis Club on Saturday, a week after the Labor Party’s long-awaited return to office.
During a game of doubles in the Sydney Badge Tennis Competition, the Grayndler MP demonstrated good technique as he served and moved fluidly around the court, pausing sometimes to take phone calls from a courtside seat.
He has competed in several competitions for the club in the past, wearing their official shirt while playing in relatively low grade games.
Mr Albanese playing tennis at the local club is a demonstration of the quality Labor insiders believe will make him a uniquely good PM with several likening his down-to-earth approach to former prime minister Mr Hawke.
Lachlan Harris, who is a former senior staffer to Kevin Rudd, said Mr Albanese would operate very differently to his predecessor.
‘We have had an era of hyper-professional, hyper-scripted and politically predictable politicians on both sides,’ Mr Harris told Sydney Morning Herald.
‘He is a break with that. His deep and abiding authenticity and real empathy for people … is his greatest political asset and you can build a prime ministership around that.’
Labor’s Tony Burke said his ‘leadership style’ and ‘authenticity’ would be similar to Mr Hawke.
Former Labor minister Greg Combet added: ‘He will be more like Hawke in how he runs the cabinet. There is a pile of talented people [in the proposed ministry] that have had ministerial and cabinet experience.’
Mr Albanese shares a love for sports with former prime ministers including John Howard who took regular walks and Tony Abbott who went swimming in his downtime.
It’s believed the Labor leader has received tennis instruction in the past from former tennis professional John Alexander, one of Mr Albanese’s political opponents before he retired as the MP for Bennelong before the last election.
Mr Albanese has previously touted tennis as a great sport for ‘your mental health’.
‘It’s a very simple game; hit a ball over a net between lines, but you have to concentrate the whole time,’ he told Illawarra Mercury.
‘You can’t be thinking about other things. Whereas if you’re in a movie you can be thinking about the press conference you’ve got to do tomorrow, or a particular policy issue that’s confronting you.’
Mr Albanese was seen moments earlier leaving his home in Marrickville, inner-west Sydney, carrying his racquet and tennis equipment in a bag.
He sported a cap supporting his favourite NRL team South Sydney Rabbitohs.
Mr Albanese has been a lifelong supporter of the club and famously stood in federal parliament in 1999 to table a range of motions including calling upon the NRL to include South Sydney in the 2000 competition after the team was expelled.
Since returning from the important Quad meeting in Tokyo on Wednesday, Mr Albanese has appeared to be running the country from his humble home in Marrickville as he awaits ex-PM Scott Morrison to leave the official prime ministerial residences of The Lodge in Canberra and Kirribilli House in Sydney.
The inner west local has been spotted collecting the newspaper in his pyjamas twice in the past week, while on Friday he welcomed senior government officials to his home including Stephanie Foster, the new Secretary of the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet.
On Saturday it appeared Mr Morrison was finally making the move out of Kirribilli House after he was seen departing the residence with one of his daughters.
The former prime minister appeared to be in a sporting mood, just like Mr Albanese, as he wore a Cronulla Sharks cap before getting behind the wheel of his Volkswagen.
Mr Morrison has had an entire week to vacate the heritage-listed mansion since losing the election and stepping down as the leader of the Liberal party last Saturday.
Mr Albanese was sworn in as the new prime minister on Monday and wasted no time acting on his duties when he flew out for the Quad meeting in Tokyo where he met US president Joe Biden.
The prime minister was also quick to dispatch Foreign Minister Penny Wong to Fiji in her first week on the job to show the new government’s attention to the Pacific Islands.
We need to respond to this because this is China seeking to increase its influence in the region of the world where Australia has been the security partner of choice since the Second World War,’ Mr Albanese said.
Mr Albanese said that ‘Australia dropped the ball’ in its relations with the islands, largely over Mr Morrison’s stance climate change, and pledged to reengage with them.
Many of the low-lying Pacific islands consider climate change their most pressing and existential threat, while Morrison continued to be a big supporter of Australia’s coal industry.
‘We need to be offering more support and, otherwise, we can see the consequences with the deal that was done with the Solomons,’ he said. ‘We know that China sees that as the first of many.’
Back home, Mr Albanese has already been working to deliver on his election promises with his department working on a submission to the Fair Work Commission to raise the minimum wage.