Anthony Albanese, the knock-about politician who lists his life-shaping faiths as the Catholic Church, the South Sydney Rabbitohs and the Labor Party - not necessarily in that order - has no time for those who might judge the worth of a family by the number or gender of the parents in it.

He was raised by a single mother at a time - the 1960s - when a woman who had a child out of wedlock was socially unacceptable in Australia.

The memory of his mother's sacrifice and her unconditional love has led Albanese to scorn those who would denigrate a family because it has only one parent, or two fathers, or two mothers.

Love is all that's needed, he says.