Anthony Albanese Reflects on Political Evolution, Praises John Howard, and Revisits Past Stances

Anthony Albanese has distanced himself from his left-wing roots, praised former Liberal prime minister John Howard and says he got some things about immigration policy wrong early in his career.

The prime minister acknowledged that if he encountered his younger self today the pair would be "having a disagreement … no question about that".

But, he said, over a long career in politics "you learn, and you can change your position". Albanese's Labor government now embraces the strict border measures he argued against in the 2000s, and as recently as 2015.

"If you want to run a migration system that's respectful of the contribution that migrants make, it has to be orderly," the prime minister told the ABC's Kitchen Cabinet with Annabel Crabb.

"And that's the lesson that the British Labor government is dealing with at the moment. It's a lesson that the US Democrats should have learnt but didn't. And it's something that we [the Australian Labor Party] have."

But Mr Albanese insisted that their immigration policy is always "respectful".

"Some of the positions are completely consistent, which is always to seek to bring people together," he said.

In a wide-ranging and candid interview marking 30 years in federal politics, Mr Albanese nominated Mr Howard and Tim Fischer's defiance of their own constituencies to enact gun reform as an act of "courageous" leadership he had witnessed.

Before entering parliament, Mr Albanese cut his teeth in politics while attending the University of Sydney. As part of a protest over the proposed abolition of a left-wing university course, he scaled and defaced a clock tower and led a sit-in protest in a faculty staff common room.

Mr Albanese recalls that, after 10 days of being stuck in the same room with a collection of other activists, he felt like the group had lost sight of their original aims, and the act of protesting had become "the end in itself".

"It had to be consensus decision making, which meant nothing happened … it was an endless 24-hour meeting," he recalled.

So he brought in friends from the university Labor club, who banded together to force a vote to end the occupation.

Joking that if he hadn't forced an end to the protest, it would probably still be going, Mr Albanese acknowledges the incident as a key moment in his thinking about protest and change.

And it was just the start of a life in politics and protest for Mr Albanese. A leading figure of NSW Labor's minority Hard Left faction, he was elected to parliament on his birthday in 1996 — the day the Keating government suffered a crushing defeat.

"I was excited to be elected, and you know, Paul Keating gave his last speech in the caucus room. You felt that sense of history," he said.

"But it was also a very significant defeat. We didn't just get beaten; We had, I think, around 48 or 49 seats in that election. It was time to be part of rebuilding.

"I felt that sense of an opportunity as well to be a part of that."

The prime minister still had a lot of losses to come. Three election defeats followed, and he wouldn't sit on government benches until Kevin Rudd's landslide election win in 2007.

But Mr Albanese thinks all that time in the political wilderness builds perspective.

One night Albanese would rather not relive

Asked to nominate the one day in politics he would least like to relive, Mr Albanese named the day of the 2010 Labor leadership challenge, in which prime minister Kevin Rudd was deposed by Julia Gillard.

"Many of the people who were behind the change of leader … were elected in 2007," he said.

"So, they didn't, in my view, value enough the difference of being in government and being in opposition.

All up, Mr Albanese has spent 20 of his 30 years in parliament in opposition and is now Labor's longest-serving caucus member.

He is only the second leader this century, behind Mr Howard, to serve a full term and be re-elected. Like Mr Howard, the Labor leader's prime ministership was the culmination of decades in parliament and coincided with the rise of Pauline Hanson.

Asked about the similarities between himself and the former Liberal leader, Mr Albanese expresses cordial respect for the opponent he was once given to lacerating in the parliament.

"John Howard understood his party. He had control of the caucus. Howard, as well, I think, understood that the 24-hour media cycle isn't what you have to be focused on. Credit where credit's due: it's a substantial achievement to govern for 11 years," he said.

However, he does think the Liberal heavyweight "probably" stayed longer than he should have.

"I think if [Peter] Costello had have taken over in the lead up to 2007, it would have been tougher for us," he said.

A 'progressive' government occupying 'radical centre'

The size of the caucus, and the Coalition's poor polling numbers, mean Mr Albanese could be the first prime minister since Robert Menzies to retire on his own terms. But he wouldn't put a deadline on his departure.

A series of economic disruptions such as the pandemic and conflict in Ukraine and the Middle East have underscored Labor's years in government.

Mr Albanese pointed to that turbulence, paired with social media algorithms, as the driver of polarisation.

"It's a change in the way that discourse happens that's less respectful of others. And I've said so many times … turn the temperature down."

The prime minister described himself as a "traditionalist" and said his government was both "progressive" and occupied the "radical centre".

"I follow all of the protocols. All of that, I think is really important," he said.