In 2014, a young union official from Victoria called Paul Erickson met with Anthony Albanese, then a NSW frontbencher and powerbroker for Labor’s Left faction, at the Standard Hotel in Fitzroy. Over a few beers at a small table, overlooked by a poster reading “Vote 1, Boony for PM!” – a throwback to a Victoria Bitter ad filmed in the pub – Albanese was convinced to back the then 30-year-old to become the assistant national secretary of the Australian Labor Party. It would be one of the most important conversations of both men’s careers and the start of a long and prosperous friendship.
Five years later, Albanese – as opposition leader – would again back Erickson, this time for the top job at Labor HQ, making him Labor’s chief election campaign tactician. Erickson would go on to mastermind the party’s election victory in 2022 that swept Labor to power after almost a decade on the opposition benches, and made Albanese prime minister.
