‘I should’ve done the elbow bump’: Plibersek and Albanese brush off awkward greeting at Labor election campaign launch

Tanya Plibersek and Anthony Albanese have brushed off an awkward moment at Sunday’s Labor federal election campaign launch when the prime minister appeared to block a hug from the environment minister, insisting that the pair are good friends.

The interaction took place as Albanese greeted members of his frontbench in the audience, with Jim Chalmers giving him a backslap and the former PM Julia Gillard shaking his hand, before Albanese held her arm up in the air.

But Plibersek went in for a hug and a kiss, at which point Albanese grabbed both her hands and blocked her from getting any closer.

Plibersek was asked about the moment on breakfast television on Monday morning and suggested that Albanese may have avoided the hug to protect himself from infection.

“I reckon we should still all be elbow bumping,” she told Sunrise. “During an election campaign, the last thing you want is to catch a cold from someone – so that’s on me. I should’ve done the elbow bump, I reckon.”

Asked if she and prime minister still got on, she responded: “Yeah, of course!” Asked if they were “buddies” she replied: “Yep … yeah, I said of course,” after a pause and some ribbing.

Later on Monday Albanese was asked about the same moment and whether he would keep Plibersek in the environment portfolio for three more years.

“You know what … Tanya Plibersek has been a friend of mine for a long period of time,” he said. “We live in neighbouring seats. We’re good mates, and she’s doing a fantastic job.”

The pair have had more than one awkward moment of late, most notably when Albanese helped to tank a deal Plibersek had struck with the Greens and the independent senator David Pocock to pass Labor’s legislation for a new environmental protection agency. The prime minister has since promised that, if Labor gets in again, he’ll put a new EPA on the table.

He also sidestepped his environment minister when he introduced legislation to protect Tasmania’s salmon farming industry in Macquarie Harbour. Plibersek was reviewing whether the industry’s licences were properly approved. Environmental organisations said the legislation would undermine that process.

The minister and prime minister both sit in Labor’s left faction in New South Wales, and have been considered leadership rivals.

Plibersek was the deputy leader to Bill Shorten until 2019. She reportedly told the journalist Margaret Simons that, had she contested for the leadership against Albanese, she “would have won” but she had stepped back due to family responsibilities.