Karl Stefanovic joked Bob Hawke may not have gone to heaven after Anthony Albanese said the former PM was ‘looking down’ on him during his campaign.
The Labor leader joined Today on Thursday morning two days out from the election and was asked about comments John Howard made about his ‘meagre’ policies.
Mr Albanese has in the past admitted he was a fan of Mr Howard’s tenure as Australian prime minister, with Karl asking if his comments stung.
Karl Stefanovic joked Bob Hawke may not have gone to heaven after Anthony Albanese said the former PM was ‘looking down’ on him during his campaign
‘John Howard supports the Liberal Party. You know what would be bizarre, Karl? If John Howard endorsed the Labor Party,’ the Labor leader replied.
‘Paul Keating’s supporting the Labor Party. Julia Gillard’s supporting the Labor Party. Kevin Rudd’s supporting the Labor Party, and Bob Hawkes, I gotta say, up there, is lookin’ down, and he supports Labor too.’
‘Are you sure he’s looking down?’ Karl replied before bursting out laughing. ‘He was a bit of a rascal.’
Mr Albanese said ‘Hawkey was a legend’ through a smirk, saying the popular leader was a ‘mentor’.
Earlier this year, Blanche d’Alpuget revealed her Hawke was a sex addict who had four affairs while prime minister.
Former tourism minister John Brown also recalled how Hawke ‘constantly’ chased women – and wasn’t remotely discreet, according to excepts from the book seen by The Australian.
Ex-union secretary Bill Kelty, who worked with Hawke at the Australian Council of Trade Unions, said the politician would routinely sleep with women during drinking benders which lasted until the early hours of the morning.
‘Bob would drink, he would f**k somebody, and he would gamble until 2.30am or 3.30am in the morning – and then when the ACTU executive started at 9am in the morning, he was the second one there and he was fine,’ Mr Kelty recalled.
Hawke famously gave up alcohol throughout his leadership despite being a heavy drinker in his trade union days.
The Labor leader has previously said he would look for an economical reform similar to that of Mr Howards, admitting he was a fan of the former PM’s leadership during his tenure.
The pair appear to have a mutual respect, with Mr Howard leaping to his defence earlier in the campaign after Mr Albanese couldn’t answer when asked for the country’s unemployment rate.
‘Anthony Albanese didn’t know the unemployment, alright, so what?’ Mr Howard said during a Liberal Party event in Perth.
Mr Albanese said ‘Hawkey was a legend’ through a smirk, saying the popular leader was a ‘mentor’
The bipartisan recognition has come as refreshing to voters, but has drawn questions from the Coalition and parts of the media.
Karl asked the Labor leader about his comments early in the campaign about the former Liberal PM, saying he admitted he wanted to ‘govern in the mould of John Howard.
‘I didn’t say that actually, at all, but anyway… I didn’t say that at all. Don’t believe everything you read in headlines in the paper,’ Mr Albanese replied.
‘No, what I said was that John Howard was someone who, even if I didn’t agree with everything he did, he did, past Liberal governments had economic reform this government doesn’t have an economic reform agenda.
Karl replied with comments from Wednesday where Mr Howard said he didn’t think Mr Albanese was ‘up to the job.
‘I don’t find in this election the same interest in Mr Albanese as an alternative prime minister that I saw in the interest of Mr Rudd as an alternative prime minister,’ Mr Howard said on Wednesday in a campaign event for controversial Warringah candidate Katherine Deves.
Former PM Bob Hawke passed away in 2019 after a short illness
‘I didn’t like that interest, of course, but people were thinking about a change in 2007. And they had a look at Mr Rudd and through a combination of reasons they went for him.
‘They’re not looking at Mr Albanese in the same way … I find a marked lack of interest in Mr Albanese as alternative prime minister, there is a growing feeling in the community that he’s not quite up to the job.’
Karl continued to hone in on the comments, asking the Labor leader what he thought of the comments.
‘He said there’s a growing sense in the community that you are not quite up to it. Did that hurt, coming from this legend of politics?’ the Today host prodded.
‘What, John Howard supports the Liberal Party? You know what would be bizarre, Karl? If John Howard endorsed the Labor Party,’ Mr Albanese responded.
‘No, but that was very personal, was it not?’ Karl replied.
‘That would be really weird. That would be really weird, Karl,’ the Labor leader added.