Rachel Anderson was the 29th Prime Minister of Australia, leading the incumbent coalition government to a narrow victory in the 2019 election. She is shown to be a crafty insider who is somewhat aware of public perception and cares about minimising chaos and division to bridge divides and wishes to pass meaningful legislation for the country- admitting as much to colleagues including Alex Irving who she recruits after seeing her viral video.
The far less flattering truth soon became apparent for Alex the more the senator became acquainted to politics, that being Anderson cared solely for her own career and winning re-election at any cost, even if it meant lying, keeping party members from leaving during important votes even when there were family emergencies, and even if it meant covering up indigenous child death in custody. Soon it would become obvious that she only recruited Alex in a cynical ploy to arrest the indigenous vote and get ahead in opinion polls.
After 12 months of losing her Prime Ministership, Irving had announced that she would stand for reelection as an independent for her seat of Freeman after her brief stint as a Labor recruit. This inspired the former pm (who is also being pressured out of her own party in the preselection process by Bauer) to follow suit and launch a third party alliance of independents, which would appeal to the growing presence of disillusioned voters on either side. With her cultivated network of allies, campaign staff and donors, Rachel would begin her work in cheating political death and resurrecting her career alongside a hesitant Alex- finding real power in being part of a cross bench where leaders from both political parties would have to earn their support through capitulation and compromise.
Throughout the series, Anderson is seen as a complex yet disciplined, tough operator who is pragmatic, picks her battles, plays it safe and demands the same standards from everyone else under her, along with undying loyalty. She is performative, doesn't always mean what she says, can switch on her emotions at whim to manipulate perception and is second to none at spinning a positive narrative out of various political crises she faces. She is however a career politician and remains at her core duplicitous and self serving even after relinquishing coalition ties. As Alex Irving gets politically more astute, Anderson's mask of civility around her begins to slip as she recognises a rival player.
