Bill Shorten denies Anthony Albanese challenge, but slams ‘no policy approach’

Former Labor leader says his party must ‘stand for something’ and ‘learn the lessons of the past’ if it’s to win the next election.

Illustration: Johannes Leak

Bill Shorten has ruled out a challenge to Anthony Albanese’s Labor leadership in the run-up to the next election, but has refused to back down from criticism of the party’s policy agenda.

Launching The Write Stuff in St Kilda on Sunday, a collection of essays by Labor Right MPs and factional figures, Mr Shorten set out an alternative approach for the Labor Party and called for an opposition “that stands for something”.

“We must be a party of Labor that stands for the real world concerns of working men and women,” he said.

“We need to get oxygen to talk about issues of work, workers, families, and economic advancement.”

“I wonder how working-class voters feel about our priorities when environmental issues claim a near-monopoly of our time in the media and squeeze out industrial issues.”

Anthony Albanese (right) speaks to Bill Shorten during Question Time in the House of Representatives at Parliament House in Canberra. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Gary Ramage

Mr Shorten’s thinly-veiled swipe at Mr Albanese’s platform came as the Opposition Leader refused to confirm major policies, including whether Labor would take a medium-term emissions reduction target or negative gearing reforms to the poll, which could take place as early as August.

Speaking to the ABC this morning, Mr Shorten denied he was firming up his leadership credentials ahead of a possible challenge to Mr Albanese but called on Labor to be a party that “stands for something”.

“I think I share with every member of the caucus a desire to win the next election,” he said.

“I don’t think we have a tiny policy agenda but I do think it’s important we learn the lessons of the past but we don’t want to learn the wrong lessons.

“Having a no-policy approach would be a mistake.”

Labor MP Joel Fitzgibbon this morning told Sky News that he hoped internal criticism of Mr Albanese’s leadership would drive the Labor party towards unity and victory at the next election.

However, he acknowledged that he believed Mr Shorten had learnt from the mistakes he made as leader.

Mr Fitzgibbon — who quit shadow cabinet late last year amid a battle to shift Labor towards a smaller emissions reduction target policy — said Mr Shorten was “expressing a frustration that we (Labor) are not now doing better”.

“He was launching a book in which most of the authors were either expressing concern about the party’s performance or reminding the party not to walk away from its traditional base,” Mr Fitzgibbon said.

“I hope it drives us towards a point of unity and agreement on things that will matter so much when the next election comes around.”

Seizing on Mr Shorten’s speech, Treasurer Josh Frydenberg declared the “drums are beating very loudly” on Mr Albanese’s leadership and the “game of (leadership) musical chairs” had begun.

However, a senior Labor Left MP hit back at Mr Shorten, saying his “lecture” to Mr Albanese was “pretty rich given he could never sell a coherent policy message and took us to one of our worst (election) results in history”.

“It’s also incredible that Shorten has destabilised every (Labor) leader since entering parliament in 2007 and this time in the ­middle of a global pandemic,” the MP, who asked to remain anonymous, said.

Facing leadership chatter and colleagues concerned the party is on track to lose the election, Mr Albanese on Sunday vowed that Labor would reveal its full policy agenda “well before polling day”.

The Opposition Leader reaffirmed Labor’s commitment to a net zero by 2050 emissions target but refused to say whether the party would adopt medium-term emissions reduction targets for 2030 and 2035.

“The honest answer is that we’ll determine our policy based upon announcing it once, not announcing it and changing it. If we’d announced a policy early on, then we would have had to have changed it. Because circumstances change in terms of the international debate,” Mr Albanese told Sky News, pointing to the recent inauguration of President Joe Biden.

Opposition climate change and energy spokesman Mark Butler refused to criticise Prime Minister Scott Morrison for ruling out taking a more ambitious 2030 emissions reduction target or 2035 target to the UN climate conference in Glasgow later this year, as revealed in The Weekend Australian.

While Mr Albanese has confirmed Labor’s controversial franking credits policy would be scrapped, he failed to outline if negative gearing reforms would be part of the ALP’s agenda at the next election.