Albanese – Telling it Straight

With special guest:

• Karen Middleton
  … in conversation with Bill Kable

Everybody loves Albo - even many of his opponents in the national Parliament.

We can identify the three drives he lists as having influenced his development, namely the Catholic Church, South Sydney Rugby League team and the Australian Labor Party. These drives were all inherited from his fiercely loyal and protective mother Maryanne but behind the relationship between Albo and his mother is another fascinating story that has never been revealed until the release of Karen Middleton’s book Albanese - Telling it Straight.

Up until now there was no mention of a Mr Albanese, Albo’s father. Albo has said that being raised without a father did not bother him and in fact made him more self-reliant. But we question if this is really the case, and Karen Middleton has spoken to over 40 people in Albo’s life to get an answer.

Growing up, Albo believed that his father had died in a car crash in Europe shortly after marrying his mother and conceiving him. But the real story was revealed to Albo by his mother when he was 14 and we are only hearing about it now, some forty years later.

In fact Albo’s father Carlo, a dashing charismatic ship steward, was still alive living with a wife and two children in southern Italy when Albo resolved to try and find him. Carlo had never married Albo’s mother and the story of a marriage overseas had been constructed to shield Maryanne and Albo from an unforgiving environment for unmarried mothers at the time.

What a story! It took Albo many years to follow up on the mystery and it took a few more years before the pieces luckily fell into place leading to a reunion with a whole heap of goodwill on both sides of the family.

This is a wonderful, heart-warming story told by one of Australia’s leading political journalists who also gives us some insight on Albo, the leader of our country.

Karen Middleton

Journalist Karen Middleton is Chief Political Correspondent forThe Saturday Paper. Her first book, An Unwinnable War - Australia in Afghanistan was published in 2011. Previously Chief Political Correspondent for SBS Television, Karen has worked in the Federal Parliamentary Press Gallery since 1989 and served as its president for four years. Karen is an experienced television, radio and newspaper commentator, appearing regularly on ABC TV’s political talk show Insiders. She is a freelance contributor to ABC radio, Monocle24 Radio UK and Radio New Zealand and is based in Canberra.

Song selections by our guest: Bapa by Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu & In These Shoes? by Kirsty MacColl

Note: This program is an encore presentation of the one aired on 30 March 2017.

Podcast (mp3)