Anthony Albanese has mounted an emotional defence of his late mother after Pauline Hanson criticised the length of time she spent living in public housing, calling the One Nation leader’s remarks “nasty” and “spiteful”.
The Australian prime minister was responding to comments Hanson made earlier this year about his repeated references to growing up in Sydney public housing with his single mother.
Speaking on The Karl Stefanovic Show on January 25, Hanson questioned why Albanese’s mother had remained in public housing for decades.
“Housing commission houses should not be there for people to live in them for 30, 40 years,” she said, referring to Albanese’s account that his mother had lived in the same home for 65 years.
“Sorry, that is not on, to me. It should be limited time; you have been given a hand up, move it on to the next ones coming through.”
Asked about the remarks at a press conference at Kirribilli House on Sunday, Albanese rejected the suggestion that he had complained about his upbringing and spoke at length about his mother, Maryanne Ellery.
“Firstly, she made comments about me complaining about growing up in public housing. Nothing could be further from the truth,” he said. “I’m proud of the community in which I grew up. I’m also proud of my mother.”
Albanese said his mother had made the decision in 1963 to raise a child born outside marriage and described her life as one of courage and sacrifice.
“She was compassionate, not uncaring. She was generous, not mean. And she was kind, not nasty. She was a person of great character,” he said.
He recalled how she worked overnight cleaning offices in Sydney while caring for him during the day, despite suffering from debilitating rheumatoid arthritis.
“She had a tough life,” Albanese said, adding that one of her sayings was: “There’s always someone worse off than yourself.”
The prime minister said his mother had never complained about her circumstances or denigrated anyone, and that she had been respected in her community.
“I grew up in a community that looked after each other. It was the opposite of being elite. She was a battler,” he said.
Albanese also criticised Hanson for targeting a woman who died in 2002 at the age of 65, after experiencing serious health problems from an early age.
“For Pauline Hanson to attack someone and their character, who died in 2002 at age just 65, because she did have such a tough life with her health from an early age, is extraordinary,” he said.
He said politicians should expect personal criticism but argued that family members should not be drawn into political attacks.
“If Pauline Hanson wants to criticise me, then that’s fine,” Albanese said. “But my mother was way out of Pauline Hanson’s league. Way out of it.”
