Who is Anthony Albanese, Australia's prime minister seeking re-election?

SYDNEY, March 28 (Reuters) - Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, seeking re-election in a tight race, is a pragmatic leader who pledged to end divisions but was set back by the failure of a referendum on Indigenous people and the headwinds of global inflation.

His centre-left Labor government pulled Australia closer to major security ally the United States, committing A$368 billion ($232 billion) to their AUKUS nuclear submarine partnership with Britain.

He also restarted dialogue with China after a diplomatic freeze, saying stabilising ties with Australia's biggest customer was in the national interest.

That effort secured the removal of an unofficial boycott of A$20 billion of Australian commodities and the release of a journalist jailed for three years.

Those who know Albanese, 62, say he is genuinely motivated by a mix of pragmatism and concern for social justice gained from childhood struggles, when he was brought up in public housing by a single mother on a disability pension.

"There is a lovely softness to him. I have seen him cry," said Labor parliamentarian Linda Burney, a long-time neighbour in inner Sydney, who attributed her entry into politics to encouragement from the prime minister.

"He has just been a rock in my life," added Burney, who became the first Indigenous person elected to the parliament of New South Wales in 2003, before going on to be Minister for Indigenous Australians in federal parliament.

Polling shows Australians are likely to elect a hung parliament, leaving either Labor or the opposition Liberal-National coalition to strike deals with independents to form a minority government.

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