Anthony Albanese revealed he will finally marry his long-term partner Jodie Haydon after the federal election.
Mr Albanese spoke of his wedding plans during a live recording of The Rest is Politics podcast on Saturday night and revealed the couple’s wedding song has been their biggest point of contention.
‘I am getting married in the second half of the year … I’ve been very lucky, very fortunate to meet Jodie at this time in my life and someone who we want to spend the rest of our lives together,’ Mr Albanese told hosts Alastair Campbell and Rory Stewart.
‘We have gone through a range of music that can be played as a wedding song, and I’ve got to say … it will be easier to work through the global geopolitical position than it is to come up with a single song I think at this point in time.
‘We do have slightly different musical tastes.’
In response Campbell, the former press secretary to UK Labor prime minister Tony Blair, said: ‘Well, if I were you, I’d let her decide.’
The once-divorced PM met Ms Haydon 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 shouted: ‘Up the Rabbitohs’.
Anthony Albanese will marry his long-term partner Jodie Haydon after the May federal election
He later introduced himself and they decided to go for a drink when they were back in Sydney.
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.
The pair were engaged in February 2024.
Mr Albanese’s proposal made him the first Australian leader to get engaged while in office.
He shared the details of how he popped the question with The Kyle and Jackie O show, revealing he presented Ms Haydon with a diamond ring after they enjoyed dinner on Valentine’s Day.
‘In the morning she got roses from the rose garden. Later we went out to dinner to a restaurant in Canberra and had a two course meal,’ he explained.
‘We went back to the lodge and I got out a bottle of champagne and glasses on one of the balconies overlooking the garden.’
Mr Albanese revealed the couple’s biggest dispute is over their wedding song
Mr Albanese said he then pulled the ring box out from below his seat and proposed to Ms Haydon.
‘We sat down and I told her I wanted to spend the rest of my life with her and asked her to marry me and she said yes pretty quickly.’
Kyle Sandilands and Jackie O Henderson then asked him how he was able to get the ring in secret.
‘My security team are really discreet and they didn’t write it in my diary,’ Mr Albanese said before revealing he purchased the ring from Cerrone in Leichhardt.
When asked by the podcast on Saturday for ‘three pieces of rock music that you would take to your desert island’, the prime minister struggled to answer – joking ‘I’d abandon food and water to take more’.
‘One would be Cold Chisel, one would be Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, who of course is bigger in the UK than he is in Australia,’ he said.
He also shared some of his favourite Aussie female artists who he noted were ‘really producing some amazing music’.
‘I’ll take the opportunity to promote some younger and not so young women coming up – G Flip, Angie McMahon. Sarah Blasko’s new album is amazing for something a bit quieter to chill out to on a Sunday afternoon as well,’ he said.
More to come…
