Man of actions

It was more than 30 years ago that, as a recruit at the Sydney Morning Herald, I was told a wild story by a knockabout, cocky bloke in a faded jean jacket and lefty T-shirt from inside the central Sydney headquarters of the Australian Labor Party (ALP).

- BERNARD LAGAN

Anthony Albanese was then a 26-year-old assistant secretary for the Left faction in the party's avowedly rightwing headquarters; the future prime minister was a warrior for social justice while the Zegna suits of the dominant Right lunched power and influence with Sydney's moneyed movers.

Albanese thought them spivs. The loathing was mutual. Right-faction operatives rifled through his desk, and had instructed receptionists not to put calls through to him. A Right leader threatened that anyone who seconded a motion by Albanese would be expelled from the party.

At the time we met, Albanese had just returned from a short holiday to find his corner office dismantled and the space turned into a library. Instead, he'd been allocated a chair and tiny desk in what amounted to a glass cage in the middle of a room, surrounded by his factional enemies. It was said there were chains involved to stop him moving from his new digs.