
Albo opens up about secret health battle that he's been struggling with in silence for the past four years
Anthony Albanese has made a shock admission about his health that he has suffered since a serious car crash four years ago.
Mr Albanese was metres from his Marrickville home in Sydney 's inner-west on January 8, 2021 when he was involved in a two-car crash.
The then-Opposition Leader was driving his Toyota Camry when a 17-year-old P-plater behind the wheel of a black Range Rover veered into the wrong lane and ploughed into his car.
He was treated at the scene and rushed to Royal Prince Alfred Hospital with extensive injuries.
The Prime Minister has revealed the crash has left him with ongoing spinal issues which he has had to manage during a five-week cross-country campaign for the federal election, which will held this Saturday.
'It took me some time to recover physically and I still have damage to my spine,' Mr Albanese told news.com.au.
It means makes sitting in a car for long distances difficult, with his office trying their best to avoid lengthy road trips wherever possible.
The Prime Minister can move more freely when on his campaign plane, which helps alleviate his back pain.
Anthony Albanese was just metres from his Marrickville home when a Range Rover, driven by a 17-year-old P-plater, veered into the wrong lane and ploughed into his Toyota Camry in 2021
Mr Albanese also revealed that he was 'very lucky' to survive.
'All of a sudden, he was right in front of me and headed straight for me. I had a little millisecond to react,' Mr Albanese said.
'It was all a little bit of a blur for me afterwards... I was just very lucky I had a guardian angel up there looking after me.'
Mr Albanese's car was written off due to the extensive damage.
The 17-year-old driver of the Range Rover escaped uninjured and was later fined for negligent driving.
Mr Albanese had been dating his now fiancce Jodie Haydon for barely a year at the time.
'When I got to the accident and I saw the car before I saw Anthony, and I remember thinking at the time, 'this can't end well',' Ms Haydon told 7 News Spotlight in 2022.
'And that overwhelming sense of 'what if I lose him?' And I knew then that, yeah, I love him. And I love him deeply.'
Mr Albanese's makes a final push in the remaining days of a gruelling six-week campaign before the federal election this Saturday.
On Wednesday afternoon Mr Albanese gave a wide ranging speech at the National Press Club in which he touched on the failure of the Indigenous Voice to Parliament.
Mr Albanese suggested he wanted the referendum to go ahead because he believed Australia should have the Voice - but that he didn't necessarily believe it would be successful or that the majority of Australians were on board.
'We supported a Voice To Parliament. I wanted it out of conviction. Not out of convenience,' Mr Albanese said.
'It's not easy to win a referendum in this country.'
He later travelled to Perth to kick off his 72-hour pre-election blitz of the country.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


Reuters
40 minutes ago
- Reuters
Australia has stabilising role amid rising global division, says PM Albanese
SYDNEY, June 10 (Reuters) - Australia will seek to disprove the "corrosive" idea that democratic institutions are failing amid significant global uncertainty, and play a stabilising role in the region, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on Tuesday. In his first major speech since his centre-left Labor party was re-elected in May, Albanese said the rise of far right and far left populism elsewhere in the world was because people felt they did not have a stake in the economy and that institutions were not working for them. "We are living in a time of significant global uncertainty - and that reaches beyond just economic instability, it is the more corrosive proposition that politics and government and democratic institutions, including a free media, are incapable of meeting the demands of this moment," he said in a speech to the National Press Club in Canberra. Albanese said that while some "cynically seek to harvest it", the Australian government saw its responsibility was to disprove such perceptions. He also referred to an Australian journalist hit by a rubber bullet during protests on Sunday in the U.S. city of Los Angeles as "horrific", and said that his government had contacted the U.S. over the incident to say it was not acceptable. Albanese is expected to meet U.S. President Donald Trump for the first time next week on the sidelines of the G7 meeting in Canada, where the security allies will discuss tariffs and a request from the United States for Australia to increase defence spending from 2% to 3.5% of gross domestic product. Albanese has declined to publicly commit to a defence spending target, saying Australia would focus on capability needs, such as local manufacturing of missiles. "I think that Australia should decide what we spend on Australia's defence," he said on Tuesday, adding the country's ties in the Pacific and Asia were also important for its security. Australia was focussed on strengthening relationships in Asia, amid strategic competition in the region, he said.


The Guardian
an hour ago
- The Guardian
Anthony Albanese calls rubber bullet shooting of Australian journalist in LA 'horrific'– video
'That footage was horrific,' prime minister Anthony Albanese said the day after an Australian journalist was shot by a rubber bullet while covering the LA protests. Albanese said the government had already raised the issue with the Trump administration


The Guardian
an hour ago
- The Guardian
Albanese says footage of Nine journalist Lauren Tomasi being shot by LA police with rubber bullet is ‘horrific'
Prime minister Anthony Albanese says footage of Nine correspondent Lauren Tomasi being shot by a rubber bullet live on air is 'horrific' and he has expressed his concern to the US government. Tomasi was shot while reporting on protests against immigration raids in Los Angeles, with the incident caught live on camera. Footage showed an officer taking aim in the direction of Tomasi and her camera operator and then firing. Albanese said he had spoken to Tomasi and she was 'pretty resilient'. 'We have already raised these issues with the US administration,' he told journalists at the National Press Club. 'We don't find it acceptable that it occurred. And we think that the role of the media is particularly important. The prime minister said there was 'no ambiguity' that Tomasi was a reporter. Earlier, Tomasi told the Today show it was 'a bit of a shock' to be shot by police, but she only has minor injuries. 'I have a bit of a bloody big old bruise and it's a little bit sore, but I am all OK,' the US correspondent told Nine on Tuesday. 'It's a really crappy thing that's happened. But I really don't want to be the story … it's a really chaotic situation that's unfolding in Los Angeles.' Tomasi is the second journalist to be hit by police during the protests. British news photographer Nick Stern is recovering from emergency surgery for a wound sustained during the standoff between police and anti-ICE protesters on Saturday. Los Angeles police chief Jim McDonnell said the LAPD was aware and 'very concerned' about members of the media getting hit with crowd-control munitions. Asked at a press conference how the force would minimise injuries to bystanders, including press, he said: 'We minimise it through training, through the equipment we use. It is a target-specific munition. That's not to say that it always hits the intended target, particularly in a dynamic situation. 'I know that situation you're referring to, with the member of the media. We saw that, we're very concerned about it and we're looking into that.' Tomasi told Today she and the cameraman Jimmy went live around 5am LA time after 'thousands of protesters' appeared on the street. 'We felt that presence of the LAPD and law enforcement really ramp up and [we] went live ... police started pushing their way up the street. They'd begun firing teargas canisters and those rubber bullets, and we moved on to the sidewalk, really tried to stay out of the way,' she said. 'I was really focused on the camera and was finishing that report ... and I got hit. Jimmy scooped me up and we made our way out of there as quickly as possible. It was a bit of a shock.' The media union has condemned the shooting. The national media section of the Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance (MEAA) said Tomasi appeared to be deliberately shot while speaking to the camera. 'Journalists reporting from the frontline of protests and wars fulfil the essential role of bearing witness, and should be accorded the same protections as other frontline workers,' MEAA chief executive Erin Madeley said. On social media Tomasi thanked people for their messages but indicated she did not want to become the story and she had returned to work. 'I'm a bit sore, but I'm OK. Important we keep on telling the stories that need to be told. Here's our report on what unfolded in Los Angeles.' Today co-host Karl Stefanovic called for a thorough investigation, saying the footage 'looks like' Tomasi was deliberately shot. 'She has her back to [the officer]. She has a microphone and is standing in front of a camera. We don't know what was near her,' he said. 'We don't know what threat was so imminent it required a cop to discharge his weapon on a reporter, or whether he meant to shoot her. But it sure looks like that to me. 'The incident was maybe one of three things: a moment where an LA officer so thought his life was in danger, he needed to discharge his weapon; an incompetent warning shot; or the act of a coward. Either way, it needs to be properly investigated. Stefanovic said correspondents report complex, sometimes dangerous issues and take viewers at home to the frontlines of the story. 'Lauren is a hard-working, tenacious reporter who is always determined to be fair and balanced,' he said. 'She's also the best of us. You will not meet a kinder person.'