I’ve heard it said that you want political leaders to appear calm, especially in a crisis.
But the schtick of calmness equating to competence fades away when the political leader instead appears like they couldn’t care less about what’s happening.
Today Anthony Albanese was asked about the cyber attack on n superannuation accounts.
Cyber criminals have carried out a co-ordinated hit on some of the country’s biggest super funds.
As many as 600 accounts with n Super may have fallen victim to fraud, and that’s just one super body of at least five targeted.
Rest CEO Vicki Doyle said 8,000 member accounts were affected. Hundreds of n Retirement Trust members have also been targeted.
We are at the early stages of knowing how far and wide this attack stretches.
Big deal? Not if you ask Albo.
When asked about the attacks he sought to play them down, saying cyber attacks happen ‘every six minutes’, before getting back to his election lines attacking the threat Peter Dutton poses if he becomes PM.
Ironic if you think about it.
‘I have been informed about that. We will respond in time’, the PM told journalists.
‘We’re considering what has occurred but bear in mind the context here. There is an attack, a cyberattack in about every six minutes. This is a regular issue.’
Could Albo sound any more chill about other people potentially losing super savings? From the comfort of knowing his parliamentary pension definitely wasn’t impacted by the cyber attacks.
You almost feel like he should have been munching down on a bag of chips while saying it, he sounds so disinterested in the concerns account holders might have.
It was the same when China parked one of its warships off the east coast of not all that long ago.
At least on that occasion Albo said that he’d prefer the ship wasn’t there, before becoming an apologist for China by noting that they hadn’t broken any laws:
‘I would prefer that it wasn’t there. But we live in circumstances where, just as has vessels in the South China Sea and vessels in the Taiwan Strait and a range of areas, this vessel is there’, the PM said, moving from the salt and vinegar bag to the chicken flavoured ones.
It’s not that Albo is wrong on either issue.
If he was echoing briefing notes telling him about the rules of international law, n shipping routes through the South China Sea, and the frequency of cyber attacks on n citizens then he did his job and parroted the talking points perfectly.
However, if you expect a leader to show a little more interest in the events going on around them, affecting the very voters they are trying to woo, you might hope for a little more.