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Albanese ready for any Labor poll blame

Ahead of a possible decisive election defeat for Labor, Deputy Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says he is ready for the public's verdict.

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Source: AAP


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Deputy Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says he will cop some of the blame if voters reject Kevin Rudd's return to the Labor leadership at the polls on Saturday.

Mr Albanese was one of Mr Rudd's most prominent backers in the leadership struggle with Julia Gillard, and famously cried at a media conference where he announced his support for Mr Rudd in the February 2012 leadership spill.

On the eve of an election where Labor looks headed for a decisive defeat, Mr Albanese said he was ready for the public's verdict.

"The Labor party bears collective responsibility, myself included, for any outcome good or bad tomorrow," he told the Nine Network on Friday.

"In terms of the votes though, I think people will be thinking very seriously about the risks that Tony Abbott represents, the cuts to education, to health, to infrastructure.

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"When they go into the ballot box tomorrow there will be a few shaking hands before they actually put a number one next to a Liberal Party candidate."

Mr Albanese acknowledged the instability of the Labor leadership in recent years, but believed the party deserved another term based on its economic record.

"No point pretending that there hasn't been internal issues," he said.

"But we've got beyond that, and fundamentally has it been a good government? Yes it has."


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