Penny Wong tells Labor colleagues to stay humble ahead of national conference in Adelaide

Labor’s most senior figure in South Australia says the party, raging hot favourite heading into next year’s election, must not get ahead of itself.

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Labor’s most senior figure in South Australia says the party, raging hot favourite heading into next year’s election, must not get ahead of itself.

On the eve of the party’s first national conference in Adelaide in almost four decades, Senator Penny Wong spoke to The Advertiser, saying she and her colleagues must approach the next few months with humility, despite polls predicting a potential landslide against the Coalition.

“We will approach this election with determination but also humility,” she said.

“We recognise it’s very hard to win an election from opposition. Labor has only done that three times since World War II.”

Senior Coalition figures have told The Advertiser Labor is expecting to “simply walk into office” but Senator Wong said there was no such complacency, nor cockiness.

Asked if some Labor MPs had become a overconfident ahead of next year’s election, Senator Wong had a simple message.

“Well, if they have, they’re wrong to be,” she said. “There’s a long way to go and we have an obligation to win the trust of the Australian people.”

Leader of the Opposition Bill Shorten with Senator Penny Wong.

The razor-sharp Senator also would remember 2001 when the party led by Kim Beazley snatched defeat from the jaws of victory, despite months preparing for electoral glory. Senator Wong also said she had given her full support to the party’s border protection policy.

Senator Wong, a member of the party’s Left faction, this week joined senior Labor frontbenchers Tanya Plibersek and Anthony Albanese in publicly reaffirming their changed their positions on turnbacks.

All three — who were part of the Cabinet that introduced sending all people who arrived by boat to offshore detention — voted to ban boat turnbacks at Labor’s 2015 national conference.

But a Labor source told The Advertiser their position changed once the policy evolved, which happened after the last election.

Ms Plibersek said boat turnbacks, where it was “safe to do so”, were clearly part of Labor’s policy — after the ban was defeated at the last conference. Labor’s stance on border protection is also underpinned by mandatory detention, offshore processing and no right to enter Australia.

However, the party maintains it will speed up resettlement and properly handle medical treatment.

Senator Wong said she supports federal Labor’s border protection policies and will vote in support of these policies at the conference.

“Labor has developed a comprehensive set of asylum seeker policies which I support,” she said.

“These policies achieve the right balance by preventing the resumption of people smuggling and further loss of life at sea, while ensuring people receive appropriate care, and we do not see detention centres turn into punitive places of indefinite detention.”

But activist group Labor for Refugees has signalled it will push against the policy.

Senator Wong said the key focus for South Australians over the course of conference included the River Murray, defence industries, cleaner energy with reliable power and lower prices, and climate change.

Originally published as Penny Wong tells Labor colleagues to stay humble ahead of national conference in Adelaide