Abbie Chatfield has sharply criticized Anthony Albanese’s tenure as Prime Minister, signaling that he may face significant challenges in his bid for re-election.
Chatfield, a prominent media figure with a large and active following among young people, was particularly vocal during the lead-up to the 2022 election, urging her 475,000 followers to cast their votes.
Back then, she hailed Albanese’s victory as one of the happiest moments of her life, and dismissed opposition from the ‘loser Liberals,’ asserting they couldn’t diminish her joy.
Initially moved to tears of happiness upon his election, Chatfield now likens Albanese to a “mediocre new partner” following a distressful previous relationship.
Her disillusionment, shared by many Gen Z voters, reportedly intensified after Albanese’s controversial participation at a Canberra rally last weekend. The event aimed to protest the alarming rise in assaults on women by male partners and exes.
During the rally, the Prime Minister got embroiled in a dispute over whether he was prohibited from speaking, was accused of dishonesty by an organizer who was left in tears, and ultimately, his intended message was overshadowed by the ensuing drama.
‘I’m sorry… I really had hopes for you my king, but you’ve let us down time and time again,’ Ms Chatfield said.
The tide has turned after the PM’s widely criticised women’s march appearance in Canberra at the weekend
On her It’s A Lot podcast, Ms Chatfield slammed the PM in an episode titled ‘Is this the beginning of the downfall of Anthony Albanese?’
She admitted she had ‘…high hopes after Albanese was elected’, but she now conceded: ‘This is not how I thought his term in office would go.’
She shared her insights on Instagram, with the post attracting dozens of comments agreeing with her.
Mr Albanese received strong support from women at the election, after many female voters turned against his Liberal predecessor Scott Morrison.
A government source told Daily Mail Australia the next election will be a test to determine ‘whether the public voted for him, or were just voting against Morrison’.
‘He needs the women’s vote, he knows that. And the Greens have a lot of the young vote, but he’ll need their backing too.’
The insider said Mr Albanese’s Stage Three tax backflip – which hurts high income earners who tilt older and male – has meant he will be even more reliant on younger voters and women at the next election.
Abbie Chatfield described Mr Albanese’s victory as ‘the happiest day of her life’, telling ‘loser Liberals’ they could not ‘take it away’ from her (pictured, her Instagram post from election night in 2022 celebrating PM Scott Morrison’s defeat)
Mr Albanese was elected on a platform of empathy and gender equality, after women in particular turned on former Prime Minister Scott Morrison
Chatfield said on an It’s A Lot podcast episode – titled ‘Is this the beginning of the downfall of Anthony Albanese?’ -that she’d had ‘…high hopes after Albanese was elected’
But his hopes of winning their support was not helped by the Canberra rally, after footage emerged of him telling the tearful organiser ‘I am the Prime Minister’ as he insisted he be allowed to speak.
Mr Albanese described the recent male on female violence as a ‘national crisis’ and said one or two months of funding would not be enough to solve it.
‘It’s up to men to change men’s behaviour as well,’ he said.
‘Yes, people do need to be made accountable and I’ll be accountable for what my government does.’
Organiser Sarah Williams later slammed Mr Albanese on social media, accusing him of entitlement.
‘Albanese abusing his power by aggressively stating when I asked the crowd if we should let him speak, ‘I’m the prime minister of this country, I run this country’ demonstrated his entitlement,’ she wrote.
Video of the event showed Ms Williams telling Mr Albanese ‘that’s a lie, that’s a flat-out lie’ when he claimed he was initially denied an opportunity to speak.
Chatfield said she ‘cried tears of joy’ when he was elected but has now realised ‘Albanese is the mediocre new partner you have after a really sh***y relationship’
The PM will hold a national cabinet meeting on Wednesday with state and territory leaders to discuss the violence against women crisis gripping Australia
The PM will hold a national cabinet meeting on Wednesday with state and territory leaders to discuss what policy measures can be enacted to reduce male-on-female domestic violence.
In 2024 so far, 27 women have been murdered – amounting to one every four days.
While many were victims of current and former partners, that number also include the five women killed by knifeman Joel Cauchi, 40, as he carried out his stabbing rampage at Westfield Bondi Junction on April 13.
Since then, 28-year-old Forbes woman Molly Ticehurst and 49-year-old Emma Bates were both found dead in their homes in separate incidents. Two men have been charged in relation to each of the tragedies.
Rebecca Young, 42, Samantha Murphy, 51 and Hannah McGuire, 23 have all died in the past two months, while mother Chaithanya Madhagani, known as ‘Swetha’ was found inside a wheelie bin on March 9.
Ms Williams (pictured) who is an advocate against domestic and sexual violence, burst into tears while the Prime Minister spoke to the crowd
Ahead of the 2022 election, the PM led criticism against Scott Morrison for his handling of women’s issues – from the Brittany Higgins rape claim to national women’s marches.
Mr Morrison controversially responded to a women’s march by telling parliament ‘not far from here, such marches, even now are being met with bullets, but not here in this country’.
