Election 2016: Bill Shorten borrows ‘People First’ slogan from Bill Clinton’s 1992 US presidential campaign

ONE Bill has borrowed from another, in the second case of an Australian leader ­taking ­inspiration from their US political counterparts this year.

3/6/1992 - USA politician Governor of Arkansas Bill Clinton (later President) playing saxophone on Arsenio Hall's late-night TV show in Los Angeles.

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ONE Bill has borrowed from another, in the second case of an Australian leader ­taking ­inspiration from their US political counterparts this year.

But at least Opposition Leader Bill Shorten took his “people first” slogan from a real politician and his more ­famous namesake Bill Clinton.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull famously took his “continuity and change” ­slogan from US TV’s political satire show Veep, which its creators called the “most meaningless election slogan we could think of”.

Opposition Leader Bill Shorten yesterday / Picture: John Appleyard

Mr Turnbull and senior ministers rolled out the three-word slogan to ­respond to claims by ­former prime minister Tony Abbott that Mr Turnbull would campaign on the record of the Abbott government.

The show’s star Julia Louis-Dreyfus, who played fictional President Selina Meyer, tweeted that she was “dumbstruck” over the Australian government’s use of the phrase.

Veep producer Simon Blackwell said they came up with the slogan as “we needed it to be hollow and oxymoronic, to say absolutely nothing but seem to have depth and meaning’’.

Mr Shorten launched his campaign under the “people first” banner, which was first used by Mr Clinton in his 1992 election campaign. Since March Mr Shorten has used “people first” 15 times, and first used it at the NSW Labor conference in Sydney in January.

Mr Shorten defended the slogan yesterday, arguing it encapsulates the Opposition’s policy position ahead of the July 2 election.

Our Bill ... Mr Shorten.

Their Bill / US President Clinton.

“Every positive plan Labor has is about putting people first,” Mr Shorten said.

“Our plans to increase funding for schools is about putting students first. Our plans for better jobs is about putting workers first. Our plans to protect Medicare is about putting families first.

“This election will be a contest between Labor putting people first and a Liberal Party looking after vested interests and the big banks.”

But Social Services Minister Christian Porter said the slogan was a “new low” for political sloganeering.

“Politics is riddled with meaningless catchphrases but ‘people first’ is a new low. As a new catchphrase it isn’t catchy, it’s barely a phrase and it definitely­ isn’t new — Bill Clinton used ‘putting people first’ as a campaign slogan in 1992,” Mr Porter said.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull mobbed by schoolchildren at Parliament House in Canberra / Picture: Mick Tsikas

Mr Clinton, currently supporting his wife Hillary’s bid to become the 2016 Democratic nominee, also went with ­another slogan “Fighting for the Forgotten Middle Class” in his successful 1992 bid. An online leaflet boasted how his campaign was “Putting People First” before going on to explain: “That is the core of our national economic strategy for America. And that will be the fundamental idea that guides every day of our administration.”

While Mr Shorten will likely be banking on the slogan taking him on a similar ride to the top as the man who later became known as “Slick Willy”, he probably wouldn’t be keen to take the same trajectory once there.