Inside the VERY different lives of Albo and Dutton’s sons – and the fascinating story of how tradie Harry has become the star of his father’s struggling campaign to be PM

Harry Dutton, like any politician’s son, cannot escape the pull of politics. 

Peter Dutton has invoked the 20-year-old several times on the campaign trail this past week. On Monday, the younger Dutton spoke to reporters in Brisbane, telling them he was ‘saving like mad’ to buy a house.

It came two weeks after Mr Dutton first mentioned his son on the campaign trail, making a joke about charging the young man board for living on the family farm north of Brisbane. 

‘Harry will be embarrassed to hear me call him out, but Harry’s just gone into his second year of apprenticeship as a carpenter,’ the Opposition Leader told constituents in his Queensland seat of Dickson. 

‘He’s got a boost in his pay, which means he can start to pay some board at home. I’m not holding my breath for that, but I’ll see.’

Harry’s apprenticeship was brought up as Mr Dutton was answering a question about where Australia would find the tradies needed to build the Coalition’s proposed 600,000 homes.

The political angle was clear: Mr Dutton was able to align himself and his family with blue collar voters – his own son was rolling up his sleeves. 

Harry was seen in the audience laughing at his father’s jibe, which made the Opposition Leader seem very human and relatable; a key goal of the election campaign, to counter the image of a harsh ex-copper. 

On Monday, the younger Dutton spoke to reporters in Brisbane, telling them he was ‘saving like mad’ to buy a house

The Duttons, father and son, burnished their everyman credentials as they appeared in high vis while spruiking the Coalition’s housing plan

Harry Dutton, 20, is in his second year of apprenticeship as a carpenter

Mr Dutton has two sons – Harry (left), Tom (right) with his wife Kirilly, as well as daughter Rebecca from a previous relationship

It is all the better for Mr Dutton that his son’s blue-collar credentials come in stark contrast to the rich, white-collar world of Mr Albanese’s son Nathan, who works for Commonwealth Bank after an internship at consultancy giant PwC. 

The city-slicking banker and the flannel-wearing carpenter – could the two sons be more different? Mr Dutton surely doesn’t mind that question being in the minds of voters. 

There is nothing inherently wrong with Nathan’s line of work. The young man is just trying to ‘make his way in the world’, as his father once said. But he can’t be summoned in an anecdote about the country’s need for more tradies. 

After Harry’s first appearance on the campaign trail, Daily Mail Australia reached out to him asking for an interview. Mr Dutton’s team came back with a firm ‘no’, but appeared to take the hint – rolling him out at least three more times. 

At Sunday’s campaign launch he had pride of place, seated beside two ex-prime ministers in Tony Abbott and Scott Morrison. 

On Monday the Duttons, father and son, burnished their everyman credentials as they appeared in high vis while spruiking the Coalition’s plan to offer tax breaks on loan repayments for first-time buyers. 

It did not all go smoothly. Reporters snookered Mr Dutton into saying he would help his son with a house deposit, at a time when many are struggling to pay their own bills let alone those of their children.

By Tuesday Harry had swapped out the high vis for a suit jacket and become a campaign fixture – despite Mr Dutton saying days earlier that his kids had no interest in politics whatsoever. 

By Tuesday Harry had swapped out the high vis for a suit jacket and become a campaign fixture

Mr Albanese held his son’s arm aloft on the stage at election night 2022, calling Nathan his ‘proudest achievement’

Nathan Albanese was with his father in Canberra during the release of the federal Budget

The opposition leader is also famously protective of his children, citing the horrific cases he dealt with as a police officer. He once revealed he does not allow them to use public toilets. 

The children of politicians are usually off limits to prying reporters, but both Mr Dutton and Mr Albanese have shown a readiness to wheel their kids out to the public, when convenient. 

The Prime Minister held his son’s arm aloft on the stage at election night 2022, calling Nathan his ‘proudest achievement’ and embracing him in front of swooning supporters. 

It caused an internet stir, with some saying Nathan had stolen the show.  

The following year, however, the uni graduate was involuntarily dragged back into the public eye. 

Mr Albanese had procured his son a membership of the Qantas Chairman’s Lounge – a privilege typically reserved for celebrities, executives and big name politicians. 

Mr Albanese had also pulled some strings back when he was opposition leader to secure an internship for Nathan at PwC after speaking with the company’s government relations boss, according to the Australian Financial Review. 

By the standards of political controversies, these acts of apparent nepotism were small beer; technically improper, but the kind of thing most parents would do for their kids if in Mr Albanese’s influential position.

They were on a par with Mr Dutton’s son Tom being photographed with a bag of white powder at Schoolies week – a forgivable act by a teenager in the company of peers, and no real slight upon the Opposition leader as a parent.

When Mr Albanese was grilled about the Qantas controversy, he declared his son was ‘not a public figure’, and for the past couple of years the 24-year-old has remained out of the public eye. 

He was visible on Budget night, and at Labor’s campaign launch on Sunday, seated in the front row as Harry was. Mr Albanese is said to remain personally furious at the Financial Review for dragging his son into the political arena. 

On Tuesday he was the subject of questions lobbed at his father about paying for a house deposit.

Having received a satisfactory answer from Mr Dutton about the bank of mum and dad, reporters wanted the same from Mr Albanese. 

The PM, who has owned an array of properties, refused to be drawn on whether he would help Nathan with a deposit.

‘I don’t go into my own personal details,’ he said.

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