Ray Hadley has speculated that Anthony Albanese’s proposal to Jodie Haydon may be a tactic to divert attention away from the ‘drama’ within the Labor Party.
The prime minister, 60, shared the romantic news on Thursday morning, making him the first n leader to get engaged while in office.
‘She said yes ❤️,’ Mr Albanese said.
But the 2GB presenter was sceptical of the timing of the grand gesture.
‘Call me suspicious, but isn’t it funny how it’s been determined on this very day when he’s under more pressure than Clive Palmer’s belt buckle?’ he said.
‘He could have done it last week, he could have done it three months ago, he could’ve done it in three months’ time.
‘But all of a sudden with Andrew Giles everywhere, with Angus Taylor jumping up and down about the $40million, what a nice way for Woman’s Day to divert from the drama.’
Anthony Albanese has proposed to his partner Jodie Haydon and she said yes
His colleague Ben Fordham immediately shut down his theory, but Hadley later continued on his rant.
‘The cynical part of me says timing is everything, and Valentine’s Day is a good time to propose, and it’s an even better time to get accepted to a proposal but it’s also at a time when people are still jumping up and down about the stage three tax cuts,’ he said.
‘And the $40million being spent by the government of our money to try convince us that it was the right thing to do.’
Hadley said the announcement would ‘take away for a couple of days’ the issues Labor were facing.
He then wished Ms Haydon congratulations on the proposal.
‘I reserve my cynicism for the prime minister,’ he said.
Hadley was referring to the fallout from Mr Albanese reworking the stage three tax cuts, which will benefit everyone rather than just high income earners.
Labor has committed $40million to a marketing campaign to sell the tax cuts to ns.
Immigration Minister Andrew Giles has meanwhile been facing calls to resign following the release of detainees in November after the High Court found indefinite detention to be unlawful.
Documents tendered to the senate on Monday revealed that among the 149 released detainees are 37 sex offenders, 72 convicted of violent offending, kidnapping or armed robbery, and seven convicted of either murder or attempted murder.
Former detainees have committed 27 crimes since being released.
The government’s delayed attempts to put the detainees back behind bars has led to calls for Mr Giles to be axed.
Calls for Immigration Minister Andrew Giles (pictured) to be axed have grown following the Senate Estimates revelations about the crimes committed by dangerous detainees released by a High Court ruling
Labor leader Anthony Albanese with his son Nathan (left) and Jodie Haydon
Meanwhile, Mr Albanese has received many well wishes following the announcement, including from Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong and Claire O’Neil.
The once-divorced PM met Ms Haydon, 43, in early 2020 at a conference in Melbourne where the then-Opposition Leader was speaking.
Mr Albanese asked the crowd if there were any fellow South Sydney fans present and finance worker Ms Haydon, who lives in his Grayndler electorate, shouted: ‘Up the Rabbitohs’.
He later introduced himself and they decided to go for a drink when they were back in Sydney.
He wooed his new girlfriend with a night out at the Young Henrys brewery in Newtown.
‘We had what I thought would just be a drink at Young Henrys in Newtown, and we got on really well. That’s how it started,’ he told Women’s Weekly.
Mr Albanese, a father-of-one, had recently split from his ex-wife Carmel Tebbutt after 19 years of marriage and 30 years together.
He said he was still ’emotionally bruised’ from the sudden split, which came as a shock.
Mr Albanese attends the n premiere of Hamilton
Ms Haydon, who has never been married or had children, said she wasn’t looking for a relationship but realised she had fallen in love with Mr Albanese when he had a car crash in January 2021.
His Toyota was rammed by a Range Rover and he was rushed to hospital for X-rays but escaped serious injury.
Ms Haydon recalled arriving at the scene of the crash in Marrickville after a phone call and seeing her boyfriend’s smashed-up car.
‘I saw the mess of a car before I saw him and thought ‘he couldn’t survive this”. It was very scary, and in that moment, you realise just how much you love this person – the fear of losing them,’ she said.
‘As I jumped in the ambulance and saw Anthony, I knew then the depth of my feelings towards him.’
During his time in office, she’s been by his side every step of the way, earning the nickname ”s First Lady’ as she accompanies him to international events and joins him on the world stage.
Mr Albanese and his ex-wife Carmel Tebbutt – the former NSW deputy premier. The potential future prime minister said he ‘didn’t see it coming’ when Ms Tebbutt ended their marriage on New Year’s Day 2019