Australian PM Anthony Albanese announces engagement to partner Jodie Haydon

Australia’s prime minister, Anthony Albanese, has announced his engagement to his partner, Jodie Haydon.

Albanese revealed the news posting a picture of the pair with Haydon showing off the new diamond ring on social media on Thursday morning.

“She said yes,” the prime minister wrote.

It is believed that – depending on the timing of the event – this will be the first time an Australian prime minister has got married while in office.

Speaking later on Thursday, the prime minister said he “put a lot of planning” into the proposal.

However, he would not be drawn on questions about the details of any wedding preparations.

“We will now have those discussions between us, which I think people will understand, and sort out those details, but we just want to live in the moment at this point,” he said.

Jodie Haydon’s engagement ring, specially designed by Anthony Albanese. Photograph: Mike Bowers/The Guardian

The two shared a Valentine’s Day dinner on Wednesday night at Italian & Sons in Canberra’s inner north. The restaurant offered set menus for the special occasion for $135 per person.

Later on, after returning to the prime minister’s residence, Albanese popped the question to Haydon while on a balcony.

Guardian Australia understands Albanese specially designed the engagement ring.

“We are thrilled and excited to share this news and look forward to spending the rest of our lives together,” the newly engaged couple said in a joint statement. “We are so lucky to have found each other.”

The foreign affairs minister, Albanese’s longtime ally Penny Wong, congratulated the two on social media.

“Love is a beautiful thing. I’m so happy for you both!” Wong said in a post on X.

Other Labor colleagues, including the home affairs minister, Clare O’Neil, and the housing minister, Julie Collins, also welcomed the news.

The opposition leader, Peter Dutton, told 2GB that he congratulated Albanese in the chamber on Thursday, adding Haydon is a “lovely person”.

“I wish them every happiness and it’s obviously a special relationship that they’ve got and I wish them every success,” he said.

Peter Dutton congratulates Anthony Albanese on new engagement and upcoming ‘royal wedding’ – video

New Zealand’s prime minister, Christopher Luxon, also offered his well wishes: “Congratulations Anthony – very happy for you and Jodie.”

Celebrity cook Nigella Lawson also sent her congratulations.

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Albanese and Haydon met at a business dinner in Melbourne in 2019. Haydon, who lives at the Lodge with Albanese in Canberra and works as women’s officer for the NSW Public Service Association, has joined the prime minister on a number of formal state visits including a state dinner at the White House with the US president, Joe Biden, and the first lady, Jill Biden.

“I must say, I only have one regret about tonight, which is – I’m not quite sure how I top this for date night with Jodie at any time, anywhere in the future,” Albanese said during the state dinner toast.

“It’s all downhill from here, my darling.”

Jodie Haydon, Anthony Albanese, Joe Biden and Jill Biden at the White House in October. Photograph: Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images

Haydon, who had a career in the superannuation industry spanning two decades before her latest role in the public service union, told News Corp the two first met in late 2019. Albanese was a keynote speaker and the MC had made a joke about the NRL team the South Sydney Rabbitohs – Albanese’s favourite team.

Haydon, from the crowd, had interjected “up the Rabbitohs”. Later in the event, Albanese introduced himself to the fellow Rabbitohs supporter.

Haydon said she later messaged him on social media, kicking off the start of their relationship.

“I slid into his DMs,” she told News Corp. “He had a public profile and I didn’t, so I knew that we both followed the same footy team, we both had a love for the inner west and I think I said in that direct message ‘hey, we’re both single’.”

The pair’s relationship has overcome some challenges already beyond the realm of politics. Albanese faced a near-death experience in January 2021 when a Range Rover driving on the wrong side of the road plunged into him as he was driving in Marrickville.

The accident, which Albanese said made him “more determined” to win the prime ministership, was also the moment Haydon realised her strong feelings for him.

She told 7News Spotlight she saw Albanese’s damaged car before seeing him at the hospital and thinking the worst.

“I remember thinking at the time, ‘this can’t end well’,” Haydon said. “And that overwhelming sense of ‘what if I lose him?’ And I knew then that, yeah, I love him. And I love him deeply.”

Haydon later gushed on the program about his “compassion and kindness”.

“He respects me being independent but also he is kind and thoughtful,” she said.

Albanese was previously married to Carmel Tebbutt, a former New South Wales deputy premier. They have a 23-year-old son, Nathan.