SYDNEY - At a popular bar in the heart of Melbourne back in 2016, a slightly chubby middle-aged man stood behind a turntable leading the crowd in a sing-a-long to Iggy Pop's"The Passenger."
He changed his look entirely, prompting incumbent Scott Morrison to accuse him of trying to be"someone else" on the campaign trail. But he pivoted from that approach ahead of the election. Instead of targeting radical change, as Labor did unsuccessfully in 2019, Mr Albanese instead focused on delivering concrete gains for voters on bread-and-butter issues - and repeatedly hammered Mr Morrison for his government's failings.
Speaking in Melbourne on the last day of the campaign, Mr Albanese teared up while paying tribute to his mother, saying the fact he was a candidate for prime minister spoke to her"courage." He won a seat in the federal Parliament, standing for the working class neighbourhood where he grew up, and at the age of 33 he was sworn in as the member of Grayndler in 1996.