How Prime Minister Albanese saved Dolly Parton’s Down Under tour - and earned a cuddle in the process

As the world grieves one of the best country music stars to ever grace the stage, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has reminisced on how he helped save the legend’s Australian tour 15 years ago.

In January 2011, adored actress and songstress Dolly Parton sent fans into a tizzy after announcing her 10th world tour The Better Day World Tour would be heading to Australia — marking her first trip Down Under since 1987.

Tickets to 12 concerts across six Australian cities sold out just mere minutes after going on sale.

While more than 100,000 Aussie ticketholders were thrilled at the chance to forget the monotony of their 9 to 5 and dance the night away to Parton’s catalogue of Grammy-winning hits, the tour was soon thrown in jeopardy by governmental red tape.

While the then 65-year-old was happy to fly from her hometown of Nashville to Australia, she had insisted on travelling between cities with her entourage inside her luxury tour bus

Customs officials denied the superstar’s request, saying that her massive 14.5m black bus violated Australian road regulations.

With Parton’s representatives warning the nation that “no bus means no tour”, all 12 of her Down Under shows were at risk of cancellation — until one politician stepped in.

As then transport minister under Julia Gillard, Mr Albanese had been on the receiving end of an appeal from Parton’s Australian promoters about the bus saga.

He liasied with Customs and bureaucrats on State and Federal levels to organise approval for Parton’s bus.

“This was a practical example of what happens when you have different sets of rules across eight different states and territories,” the future prime minister said at the time.

“Rules are there for a reason — but commonsense tells you Dolly Parton touring here is good for her fans and the economy.”

In a later interview about the scandal, Mr Albanese revealed that cancelling the 2011 tour would have cost the Australian economy “in excess of $30m”.

After two months of negotiations and edicts, Mr Albanese finally won his fight against the red tape — with the bus officially cleared for landing in Australia.

While fans were thrilled at the turn of events, no one was more happy about Mr Albanese’s involvement than the Queen of Country herself.