Politics

Karl Stefanovic tells Albanese ‘it’s your time’ to lead Labor

Jun 01, 2018

Albanese was a guest on Today, alongside Liberal Christopher Pyne. Source: Getty.

After a recent newspoll revealed Anthony Albanese is the preferred candidate to lead Labor, Karl Stefanovic took things one step further by telling the politician it is “his time” to take charge of the opposition.

Karl grilled Albanese, 55, during an interview on Channel 9’s Today show and told the Grayndler representative that he needed to “grab the bull by the horns” and challenge Bill Shorten for the top job within the party.

The 43-year-old presenter started by asking Albanese, “when are you going to lead the Labor party?” to which he responded by attempting to deflect the chat towards Labor’s recent success in the polls.

Albanese said: “Look, we’re ahead in the polls Karl. We’re ahead. And we’ve been ahead now for 32 newspolls in a row.”

But Karl was reluctant to let the topic drop and continued to grill Albanese on his potential to become Labor leader. He said: “Bill’s not tracking very well at all. When are you going to take over? Come on Anthony.”

Albanese, who described himself as a “team player” when asked about the poll earlier in the week, replied: “Well one of the things about the Labor party is that we’re focused on the needs of the Australian people, not focused on our internals unlike the Government and One Nation.”

Stefanovic then added: “Anthony grab the bull by the horns.”

Albanese tried to avoid the question one last time by declaring the Labor party was “very focused” and said “everyone else is melting down” before Stefanovic told the politician “It’s your time.”

Shadow Transport Minister @AlboMP responds to polls showing he is preferred @AustralianLabor leader: I'm a team player. Every member of @AustralianLabor 's team is playing their role. Our priority is to get rid of this rotten government.

MORE: https://t.co/QezIn2xR6D #newsday pic.twitter.com/zBeFiWhImD

— Sky News Australia (@SkyNewsAust) May 28, 2018

Liberal MP Christopher Pyne, who was also appearing on the show, then chimed in and told Stefanovic he could smell the change of leadership “in the air” and told Albanese “your secret is safe with us.”

The survey, published by The Australian on Monday, revealed that voters would rather see the Shadow Transport Minister at the helm of the opposition party, over current leader Bill Shorten. Albanese bagged 26 per cent of the vote, compared to 23 per cent in favour of Shorten.

The findings also showed that Bill Shorten is the least popular leader of the opposition of all time, after receiving negative rankings in 66 consecutive newspolls.

Shorten, who was elected party leader in 2013, has racked up the highest number of negative satisfaction ratings for any opposition leader since records began in 1985. The findings also show the Melbourne politician is even less likeable than former prime minister Tony Abbott, who held the top job from September 2013 to September 2015.