It’s not fair to just blame Bill Shorten for Labor’s election loss

It didn’t take long for once-loyal Labor MPs to blame Bill Shorten. Despite his run of poor personal polls, very few of his colleagues were game to admit that their leader could hold them back — until now, Annika Smethurst writes.

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It didn’t take long for once-loyal Labor MPs to blame Bill Shorten.

Despite his run of poor personal polls, very few of his colleagues were game to admit that their leader could hold them back — until now.

With the luxury of hindsight, Labor MPs now point to two moments in the past 12 months when they knew his unpopularity could hinder their chances.

The first was during the by-elections in July last year, when leaked Liberal polling showed Shorten was on the nose with voters in Braddon and Longman, two key seats.

A week out from polling day, ­Anthony Albanese gave a speech outlining his own vision, which rejected Labor’s anti-business stance. The speech may have been sent to Shorten’s office as a courtesy but, make no mistake, it was designed to inflict damage while Shorten was at his weakest.

Bill Shorten making his concession speech, with wife Chloe, on election night. Picture: Stuart McEvoy

When Labor held every seat it was fighting, Shorten’s critics backed off. They now believe their July success was in spite of Shorten, not because of him.

“The difference is, they weren’t electing him as prime minister back then,” one Labor MP said.

Within weeks, Malcolm Turnbull was dumped and any Labor MPs who still doubted Shorten had to admit that Labor couldn’t lose, even with an unpopular leader.

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A second moment of realisation occurred only weeks after the spill, when Scott Morrison overtook Shorten as preferred PM.

“After two weeks the bloke who was basically the Liberal Party’s fourth choice was coming back,” another colleague said.

“I thought, ‘f**k, this feeling towards Bill is entrenched’.”

Anthony Albanese stepped up as soon as Bill Shorten stood down. Picture: Mark Metcalfe/Getty

While his unpopularity cannot be dismissed, there were other factors.

Labor figures had warned the campaign was successful at pitching to the base but it offered little for the aspirational voter.

An overly ambitious reform agenda also scared people.

Shorten’s role cannot be ignored, but assuming a different leader could have won with the same agenda is naive.

Simply blaming Shorten will only boost the Coalition’s chances of winning the next election.