Anthony Albanese admits he got border protection wrong as he takes tougher stance after learning his 'lesson': 'You can change'

By AIDAN WONDRACZ, ASSISTANT NEWS EDITOR, AUSTRALIA Published: 01:05, 21 July 2026 | Updated: 01:25, 21 July 2026 Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has admitted he made mistakes on border protection more than a decade ago.  Albanese claimed he has taken a tougher stance since learning his 'lesson' in an interview on ABC's program Kitchen Cabinet.  The Prime Minister distanced himself from his left-wing roots, which saw him rail against tough border policies and even turn on former Labor leader Bill Shorten. In 2015, Albanese led a frontbench rebellion against Shorten after he backed the Coalition's policy of turning back asylum seeker boats. At the time, Albanese labelled it a 'red line we cannot cross' and publicly claimed he had 'real concerns' about the policy. Albanese now embraces the strict border measures he had campaigned against in the 2000s.   'You learn, and you can change your position,' he told Kitchen Cabinet host Annabel Crabb. 'On border protection, for example, we said, that we would keep the mechanisms in place and indeed we've expanded a range of them, because people feel like they have to be in control of their borders. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has admitted he got some things wrong about border protection more than a decade ago 'If you want to run a migration system that's respectful of the contribution that migrants make, it has to be orderly. 'And that's the lesson that the British Labor government is dealing with at the moment.  'It's a lesson that the US Democrats should have learnt but didn't. And it's something that we have.'  Crabb asked the Prime Minister whether a younger version of himself would think that his future-self had become a 'sell-out'.  'We would have been having a disagreement,' Albanese said. 'No question about that. But the other thing that we haven't done though is we're respectful. 'We haven't used people like, during Children Overboard. You know, it was just an attempt to divide people by saying things that were not true. 'So, we have engaged respectfully, we have an orderly migration program, a good refugee program.  The Prime Minister distanced himself from his left-wing roots, which saw him rail against tough border policies and even turn on former Labor leader Bill Shorten (pictured, asylum seekers at a compound on Manus Island) In 2015, Albanese led a frontbench rebellion against Bill Shorten after he backed the Coalition's policy of turning back asylum seeker boats 'You won't hear from me a distinction between Australians and migrants, like we heard from Angus Taylor in his budget reply.' In June, new data showed the number of immigrants arriving in Australia has outpaced the number of homes being built in every state since Labor came to power. Australian Bureau of Statistics figures analysed by The Daily Telegraph show net overseas migration surpassed 1.4million over the past three and a half years. NSW has carried the heaviest load, taking in close to 450,000 migrants while delivering just 149,000 new homes over the same period. Most new arrivals have settled in Sydney, intensifying demand in an already tight market. SQM Research data shows Sydney's vacancy rate edged up to 1.5 per cent in May from 1.3 per cent in April, with 10,820 properties available. Despite the rise, vacancy levels remain historically low. Rents slipped 0.1 per cent over the month but remain 7.6 per cent higher than a year ago, with average house rents at $1,154.51 per week. Vacancies remain broadly in line with last year, with the modest increase reflecting a typical seasonal lift as the market moves into the cooler months.