Like a family at Christmas, the Labor tribe was on its best behaviour for Bill Shorten’s election campaign launch in Brisbane.
Any lingering tensions between Kevin Rudd and Julia Gillard — given full expression in their respective memoirs — were well hidden. Paul Keating’s caustic assessments of his successors was also forgotten.
When the gaggle of ex-PMs was introduced by Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk, the crowd roared with approval. The true believers like it when everyone gets along. There were claps and cheers and wide smiles.
Rudd and Gillard walked side by side while Keating followed behind and waved to the crowd and gave a thumbs up. Keating is the one they love the most.
Shorten deserves credit for bringing his party together but the hypocrisy is writ large. Frankly, Rudd and Gillard can’t stand each other and they have had sharp differences with Shorten. Time may heal the wounds but the bitterness Rudd and Gillard felt towards each other, and towards Shorten, can hardly be forgotten.
Rudd wrote in his memoir that Shorten thought he deserved a more important job than parliamentary secretary for disabilities and children’s services in 2007.
He also trashed Tony Burke, Jason Clare, Jim Chalmers, Wayne Swan and Gillard. Many Labor MPs can’t stand Rudd. In Gillard’s memoir, she argued Rudd was not up to the job of prime minister. She revealed he was not “coping” mentally or physically with being prime minister and led a chaotic and dysfunctional government.
In other words, it was an act of mercy to topple him. The presence of former Labor PMs was designed to show that Shorten leads a united team. It was extraordinary to see Rudd and Gillard sitting next to one another. The destructive feuds and animosities of the past have been subsumed by a desire to win the election. It was powerful imagery. Labor always unites when government is in sight.
A note of apology from Bob Hawke and an acknowledgment of Bill Hayden were also warmly received yesterday. This has been a Shorten project. He gifted national life membership of the party to Keating, Rudd and Gillard at the national conference last year. Only Rudd, who never misses an opportunity to be in the limelight, turned up to accept it.
Labor’s generational unity is in sharp contrast to the Liberal Party. Malcolm Turnbull is in New York. Tony Abbott is fighting for his political life in Warringah. John Howard is their only modern-day hero. If Malcolm Fraser was alive, he would not attend Scott Morrison’s campaign launch.
When the man of the moment arrived, the Labor faithful and former leaders leapt to their feet. Rudd shook Shorten’s hand. Gillard kissed him on the cheek. Keating gave him a pat on the back. Shorten’s homage to his predecessors is genuine, reinforcing the theme of six years of Labor harmony. Standing against a red backdrop emblazoned with “A Fair Go For Australia”, Shorten said Labor was ready to govern. A key test has been met: uniting his party. Blood feuds of the past have been buried in pursuit of power.
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