Australian federal election 2022 live: Gillard says Labor would be ‘a government for women’; Morrison won’t ‘confirm or deny’ Pacific leak
Julia Gillard #JuliaGillard
A who’s-who of SA Labor joined Anthony Albanese at an Adelaide cafe this morning, as former PM Julia Gillard made a rare appearance in national politics.
Albanese kicked off a three-state swing on the last day of the campaign with a visit his team calls a “candid coffee” with local candidate for Sturt, Sonja Baram.
Albanese and his partner Jodie Haydon joined Gillard, as well as South Australian veterans Penny Wong, Don Farrell and Mark Butler at the coffee shop in Norwood.
The quiet cafe descended into a bit of chaos as the national media pack and half a dozen politicians crammed in; as did a group of Liberal volunteers brandishing “won’t be easy under Albanese signs”. The campaigners, wearing shirts for Liberal MP James Stevens, were quickly shooed out by the owner.
A truck bearing a large billboard of the same Liberal ad slowly circled the block.
“I came down to see Albo,” Norwood resident Rob told us, walking down to the scene after seeing an ABC reporter on the news giving a live cross from his local cafe.
He noted Sturt was a long-time Liberal area, but claimed there was a “mood for change” on the ground.
“What’s going on here?” other local regulars asked as they entered to see a dozen flashing cameras. Others walked up and simply turned back, sighing after seeing the media scrum.
Albanese grabbed Butler’s baby son for a cuddle and a photo, as the Labor table chatted. Behind them on a wall-mounted TV, Channel Seven’s morning show was coincidentally interviewing Christopher Pyne – the former Liberal MP for Sturt – in a segment on the most notable gaffes of the election campaign.
A local married couple peered curiously through the window at the packed cafe. Clutching a large SLR camera with a long lens, the man said he wanted to see “fewer words, more action” from politicians.
We’re despairing for state of the world,” his wife said.
Albanese will hold a press conference in Adelaide in around an hour’s time.
