PETER VAN ONSELEN: Anthony Albanese’s credibility is tripped up… literally! Why the PM’s bizarre denial about falling off stage tells voters all they need to know about Labor’s election campaign

So Albo fell off a stage today. My first reaction was what, it happens.

John Howard did the same during the 1996 federal campaign when walking off stage. He went on to win that election comfortably.

What should have been a nothing moment became a something moment when Albo decided to deny that he fell. He used an ABC Radio interview to say: ‘I stepped back one step. I didn’t fall off the stage. Just one leg went down, but I was sweet’.

Seriously? He’s been in politics so long that he can’t even be honest about falling. Even when the footage of his spectacular plunge was captured for a national television audience.

By not simply admitting that yes, he fell, but instead quibbling about the details of whether it was one leg or two, Albo has invited scrutiny about his capacity to tell the truth.

About his capacity to talk straight. About whether or not he’s capable of being honest about the most basic of things.

It draws attention back to when he couldn’t admit that his power price pledge was a broken promise. Or when he backflipped on the stage three income tax cuts. Or when he pledged not to change super taxes before attempting to do just that.

And we can throw in the Voice referendum, which in the aftermath of its crushing defeat he denies was his fault. Saying that all he promised to do was take it to a vote, which he did.

Anthony Albanese fell off stage in an embarrassing campaign trail fail

John Howard took a similar tumble during the 1996 federal campaign when walking off stage

Albo wouldn’t admit that in botching that process he set the reconciliation movement back.

And now here we are, less than a week into the 2025 election campaign and Albo falls over in front of the cameras but can’t admit that he did. Too proud perhaps to own his own stumble.

It’s just such a silly denial to make.

Wild moment Anthony Albanese falls off stage while trying to pose for a photo in campaign trail fail – before the Prime Minister gives a truly baffling explanation

By Max Aitchison, Political Reporter for Daily Mail Australia

The Prime Minister had been trying to pose for a photo after he was given a lifetime achievement award at a Mining and Energy Union conference at Lovedale, in the Hunter Valley on Thursday afternoon when he fell off the back of a one-metre-high stage.

He was hauled back to his feet with the help of three people – but not before the slip-up could be captured by the waiting media. 

The Labor leader was all smiles once he was back on two feet, raising both hands to signal to the cheering audience to indicate that he was okay. 

He suffered no injuries.  

In a subsequent interview with ABC Newcastle, Mr Albanese tried to claim he had not, in fact, fallen from the stage.

‘I stepped back one step. I didn’t fall off the stage,’ he said.

The journalist told him it looked like he had fallen.

The Prime Minister had been trying to pose for a photo to mark a lifetime achievement award at a union conference in the Hunter Valley on Thursday afternoon when he fell off the back of a one-metre stage

‘Just one leg went down, but I was sweet,’ the PM added. 

He will no doubt be smarting from the blunder. 

It marks the first major misstep for the Prime Minister on the campaign trail that will dominate the imagery of today’s campaigning.

Last election, he tripped up on the first day of the campaign when he could not name the cash rate. 

His legions of advisers will no doubt have their heads in their hands, especially given it has widely been thought that the Prime Minister was enjoying a strong start to the campaign.

It comes just hours after he was heckled by two screaming women. 

The Prime Minister was speaking at the Maitland Hospital in the marginal Labor-held seat of Paterson in NSW on Thursday afternoon when two women started yelling at him. 

Mr Albanese had just said ‘we support the coal industry’ when the voices of two women stunned him into silence.

He was hauled back to his feet with the help of three people – but not before the slip-up could be caught on camera

He was all smiles once he was back on two feet but will no doubt be smarting from the blunder

One woman, out of shot, could be heard shouting: ‘Mr Albanese, why has your government approved 33 new fossil fuel projects six times since you’ve come to power?’

The cameras then panned round and captured a woman being dragged away as she tearfully shouted at the PM and pointed her finger.

‘Mr Albanese, why have you approved 33 new coal and gas companies,’ she screamed.

‘This is my future on the line! I want to stay close to raise my children.’ 

It’s understood the women, who were wearing press lanyards, had posed as journalists to get close to the Prime Minister. 

Mr Albanese later said the woman’s actions were ‘entirely inappropriate’.

‘I think that people screaming in a hospital ward says more about them than advancing their cause,’ the PM told ABC radio in Newcastle.

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