OH REALLY Albo’s Joy Division t-shirt stunt goes from bad to worse
BY: Kartya Vucetic
On Friday last week, footage emerged of Prime Minister Anthony Albanese disembarking a plane in Canberra in a Joy Division t-shirt.
On the surface the image looked like a casual moment in politics. A leader opting for a band tee rather than a suit. Many of us brushed it off, Peter Overton described him as a “rockstar”, and admittedly, even we thought the seeming nonchalance of it all was kind of funny.
We were wrong.
Learning the origins of ‘Joy Division’…
As it turns out, the origins of the band’s name have since been revealed, and are steeped in one of history’s darkest episodes. Coined by Holocaust survivor Ka-Tzetnik in his novella House of Dolls, ‘Joy Division’ actually referred to the divisions of Jewish women forced into sexual slavery in Nazi concentration camps.
Ka-Tzetnik’s ‘House of Dolls’ coined the original term | Image: Wikipedia
Not so funnily enough, this historical context has already been raised with Albo previously. In a 2022 appearance on the podcast Five of My Life, host Nigel Marsh explained the band’s connection to Nazi camps. Albanese’s reply? “That’s very dark”.
What’s the problem here?
The problem isn’t about casual optics, or breaking dress codes. It’s that the Prime Minister of Australia, returning from an official visit to Washington, walked down the steps of a jet wearing a shirt whose name directly references a Nazi concentration camp division.
A phrase rooted in sexual violence and genocide should never appear on a sitting leader, full stop. However, it’s an even bigger blunder in light of a national antisemitism crisis that Albanese himself has promised to address.
How has Parliament responded?
Deputy Opposition Leader Sussan Ley yesterday called the move “deeply inappropriate,” and that it “fails the basic test of judgment”, urging him to apologise to the Jewish community. Other senators including Bridget McKenzie and Matt Canavan noted their belief that there are bigger issues than clothing choices to be dealt with.
At the time of publication, the Prime Minister’s office has not issued a response.
Jeez not only did you write this, someone must have reviewed it and thought it was worth publishing. Embarrassed for you.