A small European country is delighted that Anthony Albanese is Australia’s 31st Prime Minister – and it’s all down to the origin of his surname.
The Prime Minister made headlines in Albania after his victory in the federal elections on Saturday.
The Albanian news site political reported the victory with the headline: “An ‘Albanian’ is elected Australia’s new prime minister, believed to be of Arbëresh origin.”
Albanians are excited about Anthony Albanese’s election victory, as his last name means “Albanian” in Italian.
The news article explained that Mr. Albanese is the son of Carlo Albanese from Barletta, a town in the Apulia region of southeastern Italy.
His Italian surname means “Albanian” and was a name given to a person from Albania or someone who was from an Albanian settlement in Abruzzo, Apulia, Campania and Sicily.
‘A large community of Arbëresh lives in Apulia. It is believed that around 100,000 Arbëresh live there and that the Australian politician’s father also comes from this community,” the article reads.
‘A strong sign of Arbëresh origin is the surname ‘Albanese’, which in Italian means “Albanian”.
‘The Arbëresh are descendants of Albanian refugees who fled their lands in the Balkans and settled in southern Italy in the Middle Ages, after the Ottoman conquest of much of Europe.’
A second Albanian media outlet called Oculus News published the headline: “An Arbëresh wins Australian elections, Anthony Albanese is the new Prime Minister”, after the Labor government’s victory.
The Labor leader has repeatedly spoken of how he grew up in social housing and was raised by a single mother, who received a disability pension for crippling arthritis.
The Albanian news report explained that the name Albanese was given to a person from Albania or someone who was from one of the Albanian settlements in Italy (pictured, the old town of Gjirokaster, Albania).
In his victory speech Saturday, Albanese said his mother Maryanne Ellery, who died in 2002, “would be radiating to us.”
The new prime minister said he hoped families living in public housing would be watching.
“Dear Australians, it says a lot about our great country that a son of a single mother who was a disability pensioner and who grew up in public housing near Camperdown, can stand before you tonight as Prime Minister of Australia,” said Mr Albanese said.
“I want all parents to be able to tell their children, no matter where they live or where they come from, that in Australia the doors of opportunity are open for all of us.”
Albanese attributes her character and moral guidance to her mother, who was determined to give her a better life than she had, despite living in a small housing commission unit in Camperdown, in Sydney’s inner west.
Albanese celebrates his 29th birthday in 1992 with his mother Maryanne (right), who died of a brain aneurysm 10 years later.
Their apartment was conveniently located across the street from the hospital, which Maryanne visited frequently due to her 30-year battle with rheumatoid arthritis.
Everyday tasks, such as opening jars and doors, were difficult for him, to the point that most of the knuckles on his hands were eventually replaced with prosthetics.
He was often alone while Maryanne was in the hospital, so neighbors looked after him and made sure he had hot food to eat.
Albanese also believed that her father had died in a car accident until she was about 15, when her mother finally revealed that it was the result of an affair with an Italian steward she met on a trip from Sydney to England.
She met her father, Carlo, in Italy in 2009. Carlo died of cancer in 2014.
The new Prime Minister was the first in his family to go to university: he studied economics at the University of Sydney in the early 1980s, which he funded by juggling multiple part-time jobs.
Anthony Albanese’s mother, Maryanne Ellery (right), in the dining room of the Fairsky cruise ship with Italian butler Carlo Albanese (standing, left)
Albanese with his father, Carlo Albanese (left), in Barletta, Italy, in 2009
After working for Labor minister and left-wing luminary Tom Uren under Bob Hawke in the mid-1980s, Albanese spent six years as deputy general secretary of the New South Wales Labor branch.
Arrived in Canberra in 1996, after winning the Grayndler seat, when John Howard came to power.
It focused on social wages and childcare.
albanian lord He led the Labor Party to victory for the first time in nine years when he was elected, taking at least nine seats from Scott Morrison’s Liberal Party.
The Labor Party had 77 seats on Sunday morning, just above the 76-seat threshold needed for a majority government.
Albanese became Australia’s first non-Anglo-Celtic leader and was officially sworn in as the nation’s 31st Prime Minister alongside four new Labor ministers on Monday.
His beaming son Nathan, 21, and his girlfriend of two years, Jodie, were there to see him at Government House in Canberra.
“I, Anthony Norman Albanese, solemnly and sincerely affirm and declare that I will well and truly serve the Commonwealth of Australia, its land and its people in the office of Prime Minister,” the new leader said.
Albanese (centre) celebrated victory with partner Jodie Haydon (left) and son Nathan (right) and led the Labor Party to victory for the first time in nine years.