Federal election 2019: Battered Bill Shorten’s lifelong ambition derailed
Early on Saturday, Shorten’s political future seemed set. By Saturday night, the election prospects for this destiny’s child were instead dashed by unexpected loss.
Federal Election
Don't miss out on the headlines from Federal Election. Followed categories will be added to My News.
Bill Shorten had wanted to be prime minister since he was 16, when he was a high school debater and talked politics each night around the kitchen table. Back then, with alarming clarity, he decided he wanted to be prime minister.
And he believed, too, in 2013 after the ALP axed Julia Gillard and the electorate slew Kevin Rudd, that a new leader of a broken party could rise to be something more than a “numbers man”.
He sounded grander than that in his speech to the faithful late last night. It hadn’t gone as he hoped. He and his party were hurting.
“I know that you are hurting, and I am too,” he said. “I wish Scott Morrison good fortune and good courage in the interest of the nation.”
He wasn’t the smart-mouthed kid who had anointed himself as a future prime minister 36 years ago, when Bob Hawke was tinkering with the economy and the national mindset.
Last night was supposed to fulfil his destiny. Even Hawkie had helped by bathing Shorten in a melancholic halo.
But it wouldn’t go the way it was meant to. At Shorten’s election night party, at Hyatt Place in Essendon, the $9 beers flowed early.
Battleship red lighting was set off by red balloons and a faithful party man strolled in boasting a velvet smoking jacket — red, naturally.
The first whoop arose just before 7pm; the second, far louder, with an early announcement of Tony Abbott’s political demise. But those watching the screens were subdued.
Onlookers asked their neighbours to decipher unfolding events. This was no early bloodbath and it didn’t make sense.
By 7.30pm, after 10 per cent of votes were counted, the position was looking decidedly less clear. The wider swing of the vote counting contradicted the lock-step results of opinion and exit polls.
As Father Bob Maguire and Anthony Pratt stood arm in arm, party officials were wondering whether the party — and Shorten — was too big a campaign target.
Queensland and Tasmania had not turned as it had been said they would. Dirty words were being uttered: hung parliament. Party officials wondered if too much policy had been out to be shot down. The hand-wringing had already begun.
It would be a late night for Shorten, after a very early morning. Australia’s prospective first blended-family prime minister started on Saturday with his regular run. “Vote 1 Chloe Shorten’s Husband”, his T-shirt read.
By the Yarra river he ran, past Flinders St Station, as if the clocks were set to: “It’s Time.” An observer called it a victory lap.
After voting at a local primary school while eating the obligatory sausage, Shorten said: “Tastes like a mood for change.”
He didn’t pitch the safe line common to most Australian political contests. He was aiming higher.
Every opinion poll had reiterated his life mission. He would not play the underdog. His rhetoric has soared in recent weeks.
The pragmatist and back-room negotiator had reached for the ideals of an American president — or Hawkie. Shorten wanted reconciliation and recognition. He hoped for consensus politics.
Nothing would be too hard or too big, whether it was climate action or — in harking back to one-time party luminary Billy Hughes — our place in the world. Shorten has had 36 years to think about this moment.
His unconcealed ambition tells us that he has thought about it a lot.
A student of history (and voice coaching), he bowed to his ALP predecessors. He wanted to be Curtin and Chifley, and the best bits of Gillard and Rudd. He strived for Hawke’s love of country that he wore so unashamedly.
MORE: HOW SHORTEN HAS LOST A LANDSLIDE
KEY VICTORIAN SEATS REMAIN ON KNIFE’S EDGE
Early on Saturday, Shorten’s political future seemed set.
On Saturday night, the election prospects for this destiny’s child were instead dashed by unexpected loss.
Shorten was gracious in giving up his lifelong dream: “I wish we could have done it for Bob.”
Warning on Aussie leader in Trump era
Jim Chalmers has dished out a scathing assessment of one Aussie leader’s ability to navigate Australia’s “complex relationships” in the wake of the US election.
Albo drops big election date hint
Anthony Albanese has revealed when Australians can expect to cast their ballots next year.