Albanese Admits Rudd-Gillard Mistakes, Says Experience Gives His Government Edge
PM uses Whitlam biography launch to reflect on Labor’s past errors, positions current government as Whitlam’s heir
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Prime Minister Anthony Albanese acknowledged Thursday that his government learned from the “less than perfect” responses of the Rudd and Gillard administrations, marking a rare public admission of Labor’s past mistakes while positioning his current term as the natural successor to Gough Whitlam’s transformative legacy.
Speaking at the launch of a new Whitlam biography, Albanese said his government benefits from ministers with vast experience who can avoid the errors that come with inexperience, a veiled criticism of Labor’s chaotic 2007-2013 period.
“The mistakes that inevitably come when you’re a new government without that, that can be characterised by some of the, shall we say, less than perfect response of the governments I was proud to serve in under Kevin Rudd and Julia Gillard,” Albanese said.
The prime minister explained that after 23 years out of office, Labor returned to power in 2007 without the institutional knowledge needed to govern effectively. He contrasted that with his own nine years in opposition after 2013, which gave him time to reflect on what went wrong.
“What would I have done differently? How could government structure? How can we operate better if I have the honour of leading us to victory in 2022?” Albanese said, describing his thinking during those opposition years.
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The comments represent one of the most direct acknowledgments by a sitting Labor prime minister of the dysfunction that plagued the Rudd-Gillard era, marked by leadership spills, policy backflips and internal warfare that contributed to Labor’s 2013 election loss.
Albanese made the remarks while launching “Gough Whitlam: The Vista of the New” by author Troy Bramston at an event attended by members of the Whitlam family and former Labor colleagues. The prime minister used the occasion to draw explicit parallels between his government and Whitlam’s groundbreaking 1972-1975 administration.
“For my colleagues and me, our time in office has tracked the 50-year anniversary of the Whitlam government,” Albanese said, outlining a series of diplomatic milestones that deliberately echoed Whitlam’s initiatives.
He cited visiting the restored Whitlam family home in Cabramatta in December 2022, traveling to China in November 2023 to mark 50 years since Whitlam’s historic visit, hosting ASEAN leaders in 2024 to commemorate half a century of partnership, and celebrating Papua New Guinea’s golden jubilee last month.
“When drinking water, do not forget those who dug the well,” Albanese said, quoting a Chinese proverb to explain his government’s approach to honoring Whitlam’s legacy.
The prime minister revealed he read Bramston’s biography as the first prime ministerial biography he has consumed while holding the title, calling it “a very dynamic and intellectually challenging experience.”
He said the book contains practical wisdom about governance, including warnings about ignoring danger signs and the need for orderly decision-making.
Albanese focused particular attention on the extensive warnings Whitlam received about Governor-General John Kerr before the 1975 dismissal, noting that “alarm bells were going off” but Whitlam remained convinced “he’ll be right.”
“From that, to me as well, understand the dialectical implications of decisions,” Albanese said. “For every action, there’s a reaction. You’ve got to think through what the response is of decisions that you are making.”
The prime minister praised the biography for avoiding hagiography and instead providing “the full perspective of what was got right and what could have been done better.”
“That is, I think, makes it a much more serious book,” Albanese said.
He defended Whitlam’s lasting impact on Australian society, citing free education, universal healthcare and the single parent’s pension as policies that personally transformed his life and his mother’s life.
“There is no doubt that a range of factors including the improvements in healthcare, the access, the idea that someone from my background could aspire to go to university, all of these things are permanent,” Albanese said.
The prime minister argued Whitlam fundamentally divided Australian history into before and after.
“You can look at the Whitlam government as the key point in modern Australia,” Albanese said. “There is post Whitlam and pre Whitlam, and I think it is that simple.”
Albanese used the platform to criticize what he called Australia’s lingering tendency to defer to other nations, particularly in the context of recent international engagements.
“We still have the, as Paul Keating would say, tug at the forelock, first of the UK for a long time and then of other nations as well,” Albanese said. “We’re a serious operation in this country.”
He said commentary sometimes downplays Australia’s role in the world but credited Whitlam with establishing the principle that Australia should not be subservient to any nation.
“We punch above our weight,” Albanese said. “We shouldn’t be shy about where we are and we shouldn’t be subservient to any nation on earth. We deal with people respectfully, diplomatically, we engage, but we engage on the basis of a position of strength.”
The prime minister highlighted Whitlam’s contributions to gender equality, Indigenous land rights and reimagining Australia’s place in the world, calling the iconic photograph of Whitlam pouring sand through Vincent Lingyari’s hands at Uluru “one of those depictions that changed Australia.”
Albanese said he will travel to Uluru on Friday to commemorate 40 years since that moment, noting that much of what Whitlam did laid foundations for others to build upon.
He praised the biography’s treatment of the dismissal, saying it deals with the injustice “in a characteristically thorough way” without limiting Whitlam’s legacy to that single event.
“It doesn’t diminish the performance of that Labor government by dealing only with the drama and deception that brought about its downfall,” Albanese said.
The prime minister recounted that Bramston’s preface includes a moving 2013 moment when Whitlam told the author, “I want to be remembered as an achiever, not as a martyr.”
“This book honours that hope,” Albanese said. “This is an account of profound achievements.”
Albanese described Bramston’s work as “truly a magnificent book” and “a major contribution to understanding the Whitlam government.” He said he found one minor timing mistake but praised the extensive research and new details uncovered despite the volume of existing Whitlam literature.
The prime minister said he only agrees to launch books he has read himself, showing his marked-up copy as evidence. He noted the book’s tremendous interest speaks to Whitlam’s “powerful and enduring hold on the affections and imaginations indeed of so many Australians.”
He said the Whitlam legacy inspired not just true believers but “all of us whose aspirations, communities and lives have been shaped by the Whitlam legacy.”
Albanese concluded by expressing hope the book will be “widely read” and “studied over many years ahead,” suggesting its contemporary relevance for understanding both past and present Labor governments.
The event included appearances by publisher Mary Rennie, who called the biography “the pinnacle of my career” and “the most significant book I have worked on or published,” with apologies to author Peter FitzSimons.
Albanese’s comments come as political observers speculate about the timing of the next federal election, which must be held by May 2025. His explicit alignment with Whitlam’s transformative agenda while acknowledging past Labor mistakes suggests a campaign strategy balancing ambition with experience.
The speech marks a notable moment of self-reflection from a sitting prime minister willing to criticize previous governments from his own party while simultaneously claiming their mantle. The admission that his government benefits from learning from Rudd-Gillard era mistakes represents an unusual public acknowledgment of Labor’s turbulent recent history.
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