A small European country is delighted Anthony Albanese will be Australia’s 31st prime minister- and it’s all because of the origins of his last name.
The prime minister made news in Albania after his federal election victory on Saturday.
The Albanian news site Politiko reported the win with the headline: ‘An “Albanian” is elected the new prime minister of Australia, believed to be of Arbëresh origin’.
Albanians are thrilled by Anthony Albanese’s election win as his surname means ‘Albanian’ in Italian
The news article explained Mr Albanese is the son of Carlo Albanese from Barletta, a city in the region of Apulia, in south eastern Italy.
His Italian surname means ‘Albanian’ and was a name given to a person from Albania or someone who was from an Albanian settlement in Abruzzo, Apulia, Campania and Sicily.
‘In Apulia lives a large community of Arbëresh. It is believed that about 100,000 Arbëresh live there and that the father of the Australian politician also comes from this community,’ the article read.
‘A strong sign of Arbëresh origin is the surname ‘Albanese’, which in Italian means “Albanian”.
‘The Arbëresh are the descendants of Albanian refugees who fled their lands in the Balkans and settled in the southern parts of Italy in the Middle Ages, after the Ottoman conquest of a large part of Europe.’
A second Albanian news outlet named Oculus News ran the headline: ‘An Arbëresh wins the elections in Australia, Anthony Albanese the new prime minister,’ after the Labor government win.
The Labor leader has repeatedly spoken about how he grew up in social housing and was raised by a single mother, who was on a disability pension for crippling arthritis.
The Albanian news report explained that the name Albanese was given to a person from Albania or someone who was from one of the Albanian settlements in Italy (pictured, Old Town Gjirokaster, Albania)
In his victory speech on Saturday, Mr Albanese said his mother Maryanne Ellery, who died in 2002, would be ‘beaming down on us’.
The new PM said he hoped that families living in public housing were watching.
‘My fellow Australians, it says a lot about our great country that a son of a single mum who was a disability pensioner, who grew up in public housing down the road in Camperdown, can stand before you tonight as Australia’s prime minister,’ Mr Albanese said.
‘I want every parent to be able to tell their child, no matter where you live or where you come from, in Australia the doors of opportunity open to us all.’
Mr Albanese credits his character and moral compass to his mother, who was determined to give him a better life than she had – despite living in a small housing commission unit in Camperdown, in Sydney’s inner-west.
Mr Albanese celebrating his 29th birthday in 1992 alongside his mother Maryanne (right), who died of a brain aneurysm 10 years later
Their flat was conveniently located opposite the hospital, which Maryanne visited frequently due to her 30-year battle with rheumatoid arthritis.
Everyday tasks like opening jars and doors were difficult for her – to the point where most of the knuckles in her hands were eventually replaced with prosthetics.
He was often on his own while Maryanne was hospital, so neighbours looked out for him and made sure he had hot meals to eat.
Mr Albanese also believed his father had been killed in a car accident until he was about 15 when his mother finally revealed he was the result of a fling with an Italian steward she met on a voyage from Sydney to England.
He met his father, Carlo, in Italy in 2009. Carlo died of cancer in 2014.
The new PM was the first in his family to go to university – studying economics at the University of Sydney in the early 1980s, which he funded by juggling multiple part-time jobs.
Anthony Albanese’s mother Maryanne Ellery (right) in the dinning room on the cruise ship Fairsky with the Italian steward Carlo Albanese (standing, left)
Mr Albanese with his father, Carlo Albanese (left), in Barletta, Italy, in 2009
After working for minister and Labor left luminary Tom Uren under Bob Hawke in the mid-1980s, Mr Albanese spent six years as assistant general secretary of Labor’s NSW branch.
He arrived in Canberra in 1996, after he won the seat of Grayndler, as John Howard rose to power.
He focused on social wages and childcare.
Mr Albanese brought the Labor party to victory for the first time in nine years when he was elected – snatching at least nine seats from Scott Morrison’s Liberal Party.
Labor had 77 seats, as of Sunday morning, which was just above the 76 threshold needed for a majority government.
Mr Albanese became Australia’s first non-Anglo-Celtic leader and was officially sworn in as the nation’s 31st Prime Minister alongside four new Labor ministers on Monday.
His beaming son Nathan, 21, and girlfriend of two years Jodie were there to watch him at Government House in Canberra.
‘I, Anthony Norman Albanese do solemnly and sincerely affirm and declare that I will well and truly serve the Commonwealth of Australia, her land and her people in the office of Prime Minister,’ the new leader said.
Mr Albanese (center) celebrated the win with his partner Jodie Haydon (left) and son Nathan (right) and brought the Labor Party to victory for the first time in nine years