Anthony Albanese reveals one of his closest friends has tragically died

By NICHOLAS COMINO, POLITICAL REPORTER, AUSTRALIA and DUNCAN MURRAY FOR AAP Published: 01:04, 30 July 2026 | Updated: 01:29, 30 July 2026 Anthony Albanese has revealed one of his closest friends has died after a battle with dementia.   Speaking to ABC Breakfast host Emma Rebellato, the Prime Minister reflected on the loss of his longtime friend Chris Raper. 'I lost a good friend of mine who passed away on Monday,' Albanese said. 'Chris Raper, who was a union official in the Miscellaneous Workers Union and a dear friend. He was severely affected, as so many Australians are, by dementia.' Raper was a Labor heavyweight, serving as state secretary of the Liquor, Hospitality and Miscellaneous Workers' Union before going on to hold senior roles in the governments of former NSW premiers Bob Carr and Morris Iemma.  Albanese spoke about Raper's death as Health Minister Mark Butler prepared to open the Asia Pacific Centre for Excellence on Alzheimer's Disease in Sydney's east on Thursday, where researchers hope a groundbreaking blood test will transform how the disease is diagnosed.  Highlighting the importance of the new facility, the Prime Minister said advances in early detection research had the potential to change lives.  'This could be a massive breakthrough, essentially a blood test for early detection,' Albanese said. Anthony Albanese (pictured) revealed that his friend Chris Raper had died on Monday  Raper was a Labor heavyweight, serving as state secretary of the Liquor, Hospitality and Miscellaneous Workers' Union before going on to hold senior roles in the governments of former NSW premiers Bob Carr and Morris Iemma  'This is a tragedy that can hit so many families, and this breakthrough today is really important and provides hope at a time where I think the world needs more hope and less fear as we go forward.' The new blood tests allows doctors to detect the disease's key markers decades before symptoms appear.  The Therapeutic Goods Administration-approved test will undergo further clinical trials at the new dementia centre. The test works by detecting the two proteins associated with Alzheimer's disease, amyloid and tau, which begin to accumulate in the brain decades before a person develops symptoms.  Until now, Alzheimer's has typically been diagnosed using either a lumbar puncture or an expensive brain scan that is not widely available. For people in the early stages of Alzheimer's, the simple, non-invasive blood test could provide an opportunity to plan for the future and, if they choose, begin preventative therapies. 'Earlier is definitely better for people who have symptoms,' Associate Professor Emma Devenney, a NeuRA neurologist said. 'It's really important for people to plan while they still can, to give them time to do the things that they want to do.' If all goes well, the test will be available through specialist referral across Australia by the end of the year before eventually becoming accessible through Medicare. While a major development, it would initially only be available to those already showing symptoms, said Prof Devenney, who will oversee the centre. This is because while the test can detect the precursors to Alzheimer's, it cannot yet give a time frame as to when, or even necessarily if, the disease will appear. "It doesn't tell you that you have the disease; it tells you that you have the changes in your brain - the abnormal proteins - that are associated with the disease," Prof Devenney said. A person who gets tested at the age of 60 and is positive, for example, may not experience symptoms until decades later, if at all. Ultimately, Prof Devenney and her colleagues are hopeful with further developments the test will be able to give physicians more certainty as to when symptoms will begin to appear.