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Critics slammed Anthony Albanese on national television saying he should hand over his Taylor Swift ticket to a “real Swiftie” before the superstar’s first show in Sydney.
The Prime Minister was one of 80,000 fans who gathered at Sydney’s Accor Stadium on Friday night to watch Swift perform her Eras Tour in the city for the first time.
But Liberal Party deputy leader Sussan Ley took the opportunity to suggest Albanese should give his ticket to a younger, die-hard fan.
“What the Prime Minister does on his nights off is up to him, of course, and if he wants to see Taylor Swift, that’s fine,” he said on Sunrise on Friday morning.
“But hearing the excitement of so many parents and so many kids and hundreds of thousands of Australians who couldn’t get tickets, I just want to say to the Prime Minister, come on, give your Taylor Swift ticket to a real Swiftie.
“You could change a life, you will change a life and it will look great on you.”
Anthony Albanese (pictured with fiancee Jodie Haydon) was called out on national television to hand over his Taylor Swift ticket to a ‘real Swiftie’ ahead of the superstar’s first show in Sydney.
Swift performed her Eras Tour for the first time in Sydney on Friday night.
Albanese is known to enjoy live music and has said in the past that Swift concerts are unmissable (Mr. Albanese appears dancing at a Midnight Oil concert).
When host Natalie Barr asked Ley if she was sure Albanese wasn’t a “real Swiftie,” she avoided the question.
Instead, he turned the conversation back to the “kids and parents who are so excited and disappointed” after failing to get their own ticket.
Albanese told Kyle and Jackie O on Wednesday that he would attend Friday’s concert.
“Everyone has time for Tay Tay, don’t they?” he said.
Albanese hasn’t been shy about his love for Swift and said his favorite song is her 2014 hit Shake It Off.
He said the song is one of his ‘go to jams’ and that he listens to it on vinyl at The Lodge.
The self-proclaimed superfan was even shown dancing with schoolchildren to the song in archival footage during an interview on the Today show last June.
Taylor Swift won’t be the only concert Albanese will attend this week, as he plans to travel to Melbourne on Saturday to also see Katy Perry.
He will be among an exclusive crowd of 200 watching the private performance at billionaire Anthony Pratt’s mansion in Kew, in Melbourne’s inner east.
The event will take place in celebration of the food and drink industry, with which Mr Pratt’s packaging and recycling company, Visy, works closely.
The event will be attended by some of Australia’s most prominent corporate and political leaders, including US Ambassador to Australia Caroline Kennedy and Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan.
Albanese is a supporter of live music and has regularly appeared at concerts throughout Australia.
Last March, he rushed from Canberra to Brisbane to attend socialist muse Billy Bragg’s concert.
He was also seen at a Gang of Youths concert at Sydney’s Enmore Theater in 2022.
Albanese will also attend an exclusive private Katy Perry performance in Melbourne on Saturday.
Billionaire Anthony Pratt will host the concert at his mansion and has invited 200 of the country’s most influential people to attend.