Ex-ALP leader’s spray at ‘financial behemoths’ who lost him the election
As the new ALP leadership team was unveiled, Bill Shorten claimed ‘powerful vested interests’ for his election loss. PLUS minimum wage-earners get a boost, and why car-markers love the PM.
After presiding over Labor’s biggest election debacle in history, Bill Shorten was yesterday still refusing to acknowledge his role in his party’s downfall.
Instead the former Labor leader blamed “financial behemoths” and the media for his shock loss, as recriminations within Labor reignited over the new shadow frontbench under Anthony Albanese.
Mr Shorten, who will remain on Labor’s frontbench, told the Opposition party room yesterday there were “lessons from defeat” but urged the party to “take our time to reflect”.
“But obviously we were up against corporate leviathans, a financial behemoth, spending an unprecedented hundreds of millions of dollars advertising, telling lies, spreading fear.
“They got what they wanted,” Mr Shorten said.
“Powerful vested interests campaigned against us, through sections of the media itself. And they got what they wanted.”
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It comes as several Labor MPs were privately fuming at Mr Albanese for forcing two shadow ministers to stand aside for former NSW premier Kristina Keneally.
The new leader defended his decision to back Ms Keneally for the shadow ministry and deputy senate leadership, saying it meant Labor had two men and two women in leadership roles.
Don Farrell stepped aside as Senate deputy leader and NSW MP Ed Husic ceded a frontbench position to make way for Ms Keneally.
The move came despite Ms Keneally not having the support of her own faction — the NSW Right — for the position.
The shock decision of Mr Farrell to exit for Ms Keneally came hours after rumours swept the caucus that she was planning on standing for the deputy leadership in the full caucus meeting if she failed to win the endorsement of the national Right.
“Don’s filthy at his treatment,” one MP said.
Another supporter said the treatment of Mr Farrell was disappointing.
“It was not good. Don has so much experience and has been a strong voice in those leadership roles,” the MP said. “It left a bad taste in people’s mouths.”
Mr Albanese, formally elected as Labor leader yesterday, said both Mr Farrell and Mr Husic volunteered to step aside. But he also conceded it was his preference to have the leadership team split evenly between men and women.
Mr Albanese will now allocate portfolios among the team, which includes 16 members from the Right and 14 from the Left.
Victorian MP Richard Marles was yesterday elected to the deputy leader position unopposed, while Penny Wong will remain as Senate leader.
Mr Albanese has pledged to put factions and frictions in the party’s past as he denied doing any deals to become ALP leader. “I did no deals to achieve the leadership of the Labor Party,” he said in Canberra.
Mr Albanese reiterated his intention to work constructively with Prime Minister Scott Morrison where possible.
“I want to be known as the Labor leader, not the Opposition Leader,” he said.
“Chifley, of course, spoke about the light on the hill. We need to power that up so that every Australian in every corner of this vast continent can see the light that we offer.”
GRIN REAPER HAUNTS SHORTEN
One has the look of a fresh new leader buoyed and ready for the fray and the other looks, well, like he lost.
Anthony Albanese officially took on the job of Labor leader yesterday and received an awkward handshake from the man who was defeated in the supposedly unlosable election, his predecessor Bill Shorten.
Mr Albanese grinned and said he took his share of responsibility “as a senior shadow minister in the show” that lost to Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s Coalition. By contrast Mr Shorten pasted on something that just about passed for a smile — although it never once touched his eyes — as he blamed “powerful vested interests (that) campaigned against us” for his humiliating defeat.
And Mr Albanese was quick to show the common touch that critics argued Mr Shorten never had. He tackled the loss of support Labor suffered in Queensland head on and said his party needs to do better.
Already this week Mr Albanese has told Queenslanders he loves them “except for three nights a year”. “One of those is next Wednesday,” he said of the impending State of Origin clash. “We'll suspend the relationship for that 80 minutes of play.”
However, he is not suspending the relationship with Mr Shorten, who has been confirmed as a frontbencher in his shadow ministry.
Yesterday’s awkward photographs show exactly what that means — and as Al Pacino’s character Michael Corleone said in The Godfather: “Keep your friends close but your enemies closer.”
FAIR WORK IS WAGING WAR OVER POOR PAY
The lowest-paid workers in the country will walk away with an extra $1123 every year after the Fair Work Commission on Thursday raised the minimum wage by 3 per cent.
Commission president Justice Iain Ross said the figure — an extra $21.60 a week — would be viable for the business community due to predictions the economy will grow at its “potential rate” and that “the proportion of the working-age population that is in employment is at record levels”.
“Despite the recent fall in GDP growth, the Australian economy has performed moderately well and the relevant data are all indicative of a strong labour market,” Justice Ross wrote.
“Although business conditions have declined from the high levels recorded in the first half of 2018, they remain consistent with trend growth in the economy and the labour market has performed strongly.
“As the RBA has recently observed, although GDP growth has moderated, employment has continued to expand by enough to reduce spare capacity in the labour market over the past year. The Australian government expects the economy to grow at its potential rate and to support future increases in employment.”
Australia already has one of the world’s highest minimum wages and came in third behind Luxembourg and The Netherlands when the last OECD comparative report was released in 2017.
The new minimum wage — $19.49 an hour — was a compromise, with the unions calling for 6 per cent while business groups wanted 2 per cent.
The changes will come into effect on July 1.
CAR MARKET PICKING UP SPEED AFTER POLL RESULT
The struggling car industry has hailed Scott Morrison’s election win as “the best result possible”, reporting the strongest buyer interest in months.
Customer inquiries at Land Rover increased significantly following the election, while executives at BMW, Mazda and Nissan all say the Coalition win is good for business.
Rising confidence in the car industry comes on the back of record auction clearance rates last week, which CoreLogic reported as the highest since September 2018.
Jaguar Land Rover Australia managing director Mark Cameron said “confidence may be returning” to a car market in which sales have fallen by more than $1 billion this year. He said his brands recorded the “highest level of inquiries we’ve seen all year” in the week after the election.
“It was the best result that we could have hoped for — which is the current government remaining in power,” Mr Cameron said.
“In the last seven days we had the highest level of inquiries we’ve seen all year, in one week. So that’s an immediate barometer of a little bit of confidence returning.
“People may have been holding off and seeing what government was going to be in power and what taxation effect that might have on their own personal income. I think it’s a good indication of that.”
Vikram Pawah, chief executive of BMW Australia, said his brand has seen “some uplift” going into June’s traditionally strong sales period.
“Any kind of stability in government and continuity of policy does help,” Mr Pawah said. Mazda Australia marketing director Alastair Doak agreed that the end of election uncertainty was good news for the motoring industry.
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