Who is Bill Shorten? Inside look at potential PM
Bill Shorten has managed to last as Labor leader longer than most in recent history. Is he on the cusp of an even bigger win in May?
If the polls are to be believed, Bill Shorten is the man most likely to be the 31st prime minister of Australia after the May election.
However, the man who’s giving ScoMo a run for his money isn’t exactly Mr Popular. His tight face-off with Anthony Albanese in the race for Labor leadership back in 2013 proved that.
Despite that, the polls — where Labor remains ahead — suggest he’s on track to lead the country after the election.
Here’s everything you need to know about Bill Shorten.
HOW LONG HAS HE BEEN OPPOSITION LEADER?
Mr Shorten became the federal opposition leader on October 13, 2013.
HOW DID HE BECOME LABOR’S LEADER?
Mr Shorten was elected Labor leader over Anthony Albanese over five years ago.
While Mr Albanese was popular with the party’s rank and file members, Mr Shorten had the backing of parliamentary Labor and secured the role of Opposition Leader.
He stepped into the role just as Labor had been bundled out of office — thanks to the Rudd-Gillard-Rudd debacle where the party recorded its lowest primary vote in a federal election since 1931.
With the odds seemingly stacked against them, Labor’s turnaround has been dramatic. And Mr Shorten made it clear that leadership disunity in his party was a thing of the past.
“There is no doubt that Labor’s been through some difficult times while it was in government,” he said at the time.
“But what people have with me is someone who will always try and work out what is the best interests of the nation first, and then the best interests of Labor, and that’s how I approach my decisions.”
THE FACELESS MAN
Bill Shorten played an integral role in the knifing of two prime ministers during the tumult of the Rudd-Gillard-Rudd government.
He was one of the key powerbrokers — dubbed the “faceless men” — who engineered the late-night coup that saw Julia Gillard replace Kevin Rudd as prime minister in 2010.
As tensions continued under Ms Gillard’s prime ministership, Mr Shorten reluctantly switched his allegiance back to Mr Rudd during the 2013 leadership contest.
Labor would go on to a crushing defeat in the subsequent general election.
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WHEN DID HE ENTER PARLIAMENT?
Mr Shorten was elected to federal parliament in 2007 as the member for the Melbourne seat of Maribyrnong.
WHAT’S HIS PROFESSIONAL BACKGROUND?
Prior to making waves in parliament, Mr Shorten’s career was spent rising through the union ranks to become national secretary of the Australian Workers’ Union in 2001.
His public profile skyrocketed during the Beaconsfield mining disaster, which dominated headlines for the two weeks that miners Brant Webb and Todd Russell spent trapped underground.
As secretary of the union, Mr Shorten served as spokesman for the families and the community.
After entering federal parliament the next year, Mr Shorten wasted no time on the backbench.
As Kevin Rudd’s parliamentary secretary for disabilities and children’s services, he was a driving force behind the National Disability Insurance Scheme.
He was soon promoted into the Labor ministry as assistant treasurer in 2010, before entering Cabinet in 2011 as workplace relations minister. He then took on the role of eduction minister after Kevin Rudd’s comeback as PM in 2013.
WHAT IS HIS PERSONAL BACKGROUND?
Throughout his career, Bill Shorten has defined himself by referring to his mother’s grit and determination.
Ann Shorten gave birth to twin boys, Bill and Robert, in May 1967. Raising her boys in Melbourne, Ann Shorten insisted the boys be educated at Xavier College and returned to work as a teacher to pay the fees at the posh Jesuit school.
The Labor leader credits his mother as the driving force behind his work ethic and education. Speaking at her funeral in 2014, Bill Shorten told the crowd his mother believed in merit.
“She taught me that merit is a legitimate human condition. That people should not be deified because of some ill-defined birthright or the wealth of an individual,” he said.
Mr Shorten says watching his mother’s struggle has shaped his policies today.
“When mum passed away — I remembered how hard she worked for me to have the best education. I want the same for my kids — and everyone else’s too,” he said.
Mr Shorten grew apart from his father, Englishman Bill Shorten, after Bill snr and Ann divorced in 1988, but Mr Shorten credits his old man for his people skills.
On accepting the role of Labor leader, Mr Shorten made it clear the party would still strive to help the workers, the battlers, the ones striving to get ahead (just like his mother).
He also made it clear the party would have a new focus on catering to the “increasing diversity of families”, much like his own.
Mr Shorten met his first wife Deborah Beale in 1999 while they were both studying for their MBAs — and quickly married.
Ms Beale, whose father is a wealthy Melbourne investor and former Liberal MP, proved to be a powerful political ally for Mr Shorten.
The pair quickly established themselves as a sort of political power couple.
“Ms Beale was well regarded by the Labor Party and well-connected in corporate areas,’’ a source toldThe Daily Telegraph.
“Everyone thought they were the Princess Diana and the Prince of the party.’’
News of their separation in August 2008 came as a shock to many.
WHO IS HIS WIFE?
Bill Shorten and Chloe Bryce, the daughter of former governor-general Quentice Bryce, first met in a professional setting in 2007.
The pair made their romance public in 2009, and a few months later announced they were expecting a child.
The couple married in November 2009, tying the knot in a low-key ceremony at their Melbourne home before welcoming their daughter the following January.
A decade on, Mr and Ms Shorten (née Bryce) have openly spoken about the ups and downs of making their blended family work.
Not only did they commit to family counselling every two weeks, Ms Shorten said it often involved significant compromise.
“We put a lot of store in eating together whenever we can,” she said, “even if sometimes we have to change hours or times for Bill, who often works at night. So he will come home to have dinner and then go back out and work again after that.”
Chloe Shorten is frequently seen by her husband’s side while he’s campaigning and during rallies, and she’s even inspired the (joke) campaign “Vote #1 Chloe Shorten …’s husband”.
Two of Australia's brightest PR minds have a secret weapon that will change the game for @billshortenmp's 2019 election strategy #ChloeShortensHusband pic.twitter.com/U4I6AQnZFP
— The Feed SBS (@TheFeedSBS) February 21, 2019
HOW MANY CHILDREN DO THEY HAVE?
Though Mr Shorten and his first wife didn’t have children together, almost overnight, “I went from zero to three”, he said in an interview.
He’s now a stepfather to Ms Shorten’s son, Rupert, 17, and daughter Georgette, 16, as well as father to his and Chloe’s nine-year-old girl, Clementine.
“For the older two, they call me Bill,” he revealed in an interview.
“But the little one goes from calling you ‘Daddy’ to ‘Bill’ and she naturally started doing that,” his wife added.
WHAT ARE HIS KEY POLICIES?
Building his entire campaign on traditional Labor values, Mr Shorten vows that a Labor win in the upcoming election will be a win for middle and working class families across Australia.
His “fair go action plan” has a five-point approach focused on fixing schools and hospitals, standing up for workers, relieving pressure on family budgets, ensuring a strong economy and investing in cleaner energy.
“The reason I want to be prime minister is because I want Australia to hand on a better deal to the next generation than the one we received from our parents,” he said in an address. “This to me is the essence of the fair go.”
Slamming the Opposition’s claims, PM Scott Morrison said simply, “I’ll tell you what Bill Shorten’s five-point plan is: more tax, more tax, more tax, more tax, more tax.
“More tax doesn’t grow the economy. More tax, when you don’t grow the economy, doesn’t guarantee Medicare or hospitals or schools. All it means is more tax dragging the economy down. Taking more of what Australians earn.”
WHAT WAS HIS FINEST MOMENT?
Bill Shorten dances (kind of) like no one is watching …
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