Bill Shorten blames media, ‘corporate leviathans’ for poll loss

Bill Shorten has blamed “corporate leviathans” and a “financial behemoth” for Labor’s historic election defeat.

Newly endorsed Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese, with former Labor leader Bill Shorten and deputy opposition leader Richard Marles yesterday. Picture: AAP

Bill Shorten has blamed “corporate leviathans” and a “financial behemoth” for Labor’s historic election defeat, attributing the loss to a media-fuelled fear campaign and shunning responsibility for the people’s rejection of his high taxing, class warfare agenda.

In a rebuke of his successor’s attempt to soften Labor’s rhetoric against business, Mr Shorten also failed to endorse Anthony Albanese’s view that divisive policies and the ALP’s campaign against the “big end of town” were key factors behind the May 18 election loss.

Mr Shorten, who was handed the right to speak at yesterday’s Labor caucus meeting, lashed out at mining magnate Clive Palmer’s advertising campaign for “telling lies” and “spreading fear” about his policies, and sounded the alarm on “powerful vested interests” that had targeted Labor in sections of the media.

“They got what they wanted,” Mr Shorten said. “I understand that neither of these challenges disappeared on election night. They’re still out there for us to face.”

The attack from Mr Shorten — who will stay on the frontbench — was at odds with the message promoted by the newly installed Opposition Leader, who identified the plan to scrap cash refunds for excess franking credits and the alienation of small business owners as key factors in the election result.

Mr Albanese, who emerged as the 21st leader of the Labor Party, yesterday said he would re-engage with rural Australia after the party suffered major swings against it in the regions and flagged a frontbench listening tour across the nation to help the party understand the reasons why it lost.

“It is time for us to use this period to listen to what people are saying to us about how we can improve our performance,” Mr Albanese said.

Labor’s new-look leadership team was also confirmed. Senior Victorian MP Richard Marles became Labor’s deputy leader — replacing Tanya Plibersek — while Penny Wong will stay on as Senate leader. Former NSW premier Kristina Keneally succeeded powerbroker Don Farrell as Labor’s deputy Senate leader and, in the process, nudged western Sydney MP Ed Husic off the frontbench, arguing that both men exemplified Labor’s commitment to policies that “lift women in this community up”.

Mr Albanese will announce the Labor frontbench by Sunday and flagged the first shadow ministry meeting would be held next week.

Mr Husic — who quit the frontbench to make way for Senator Keneally — said there were many aspirational people in his western Sydney seat of Chifley.

“A lot of people are saying, ‘Labor needs to think about aspirational voters and needs to give something for those voters’.”

Mr Husic, who suffered a 6.5 per cent swing in his western Sydney seat, said he lost touch with the needs of his electorate. “I didn’t pay enough attention to listening to traditional heartland areas within my seat. And I do need to reconnect with that,” he told Sky News. “I know that within Australian politics you are never supposed to admit error or wrong, but frankly that is not the way we are going to improve. We need to listen carefully to what people have said and learn, think and act.”

He also backed Chris Bowen’s call for Labor to reach out to people of faith.

Council of Small Business of Australia chief executive Peter Strong yesterday said Mr Shorten’s comments to the Labor caucus “show that he doesn’t know what actually happened in the election”.

“The small business community, which is a big community, were terrified of what might happen if Labor were to win,” Mr Strong told The Australian.

“The union movement and GetUp — with their false information — lost the election because every time a small business person heard ‘jobs crisis’ and ‘living wage’ their employees saw someone who was scared.

“In our opinion, Anthony Albanese is right to acknowledge the importance of small business and the need to engage with them because, in the 2007 election, 53 per cent of the small business community voted Labor.

“If Bill Shorten were to become a shadow small business minister — we have had very good relations with him — but we would need to have a long, hard talk.”

Mr Albanese yesterday said the language used by Labor before the election alienated small business people. He told an anecdote about a small-business owner he met who employed 25 people in the marginal Queensland electorate of Longman, which was lost by Labor on May 18.

“He felt as though he was alienated from us. That is the truth. He felt like our approach to him was that he was rich. He said he had a lot of assets, he didn’t have much cash in the bank. I want to appeal to people who are successful as well as lifting people up who aren’t as successful as that particular gentleman,” Mr Albanese said.

He said his “entire team” would be seen as pro-business as well as pro-worker, as he talked up his history of being a consensus figure.

“I believe that is exactly where Labor is and where we need to be,” Mr Albanese said.

“I speak about the need to engage people constructively. I speak about the fact that business and unions have common interests.”

Mr Albanese also said the plan to axe cash refunds for franking credits made people who “weren’t wealthy” feel they were not being respected.