Josh Bornstein: Chris Bowen is a ‘muppet’

Would-be ALP senator Josh Bornstein has attacked potential future colleague Chris Bowen.

Melbourne lawyer Josh Bornstein. Picture: Twitter

Would-be Labor senator Josh Bornstein attacked ALP frontbencher Chris Bowen as a “muppet” and lampooned the MP’s book on reforming the Labor Party.

In a series of tweets, Mr Bornstein focused on Mr Bowen, accusing him and other senior Labor figures of going soft on Coalition MPs facing criticism over taxpayer-funded trips to weddings.

Labor powerbrokers are considering backing Mr Bornstein for the Senate to replace Kim Carr, who has for decades been at the forefront of the Victorian Socialist Left faction.

Mr Bornstein’s prolific activity on Twitter, where he has posted nearly 28,000 times, has raised deep concern within Labor about what will emerge next from the ­social media platform.

The Australian revealed on Wednesday that Mr Bornstein had apologised for likening a senior female unionist to a dog, locking horns in 2016 with two senior women unionists.

He also suggested that Labor’s leader in the Senate, Penny Wong, would make “a very fine Morticia”, a reference to a character in the The Addams Family comedy.

 

Senator Wong responded on Wednesday: “Anyone seeking Labor preselection should understand they need to respect women in both word and deed.”

Mr Bornstein tweeted extensively in 2013 about Mr Bowen, honing in on the MP’s book Hearts and Minds, a blueprint for modern Labor, which included backing a carbon tax and an agenda for radical reform of the party.

He described Mr Bowen as a “muppet”, apparently after the ­latter was highlighted on the ABC defending former prime minister Kevin Rudd against claims of undermining Julia Gillard and Labor. “Bowen: muppet #insiders,” Mr Bornstein tweeted on Oct­ober 6, 2013.

He also launched a Twitter competition to name the book, settling with Stop the votes, a reference to Tony Abbott’s Stop the boats campaign slogan.

Former race discrimination commissioner Tim Soutphommasane wrote: “Who would have thought there were so many silent intellectual heavyweights in the ALP caucus just dying to publish their tomes?”

Mr Bornstein responded: “I assume #bowen is rushing his book into print b4 the election by only writing after hours and thereby eschewing taxpayer funding.”

Penny Wong and Chris Bowen at Parliament House in Canberra. Picture: Kym Smith

Some Labor powerbrokers have backed Mr Bornstein for the Senate position but the support is qualified, one senior figure saying: “I don’t think he is dead yet. We want to see what else comes out.”

Mr Bornstein, who was relatively quiet on Twitter on Wednesday, did not respond to questions from The Australian about Mr Bowen and Senator Wong. Mr Bowen did not respond.

Senator Carr is adamant he wants to remain in parliament and a supporter said of the push to ele­vate Mr Bornstein: “This is not renewal. It’s a vanity project.”

Mr Bornstein apologised to former senior unionist Linda White after suggesting she was a dog who had misplaced her chew toy. In his 2016 tweet attacking her, he wrote Ms White had behaved like “a poodle snapping at my heels”.

This week he wrote: “Linda and I have had many discussions over the years but in a Twitter exchange with Linda some years ago, I used a poor choice of words. I regret doing so.”

To win preselection for the Senate position, assuming Senator Carr were forced out, Mr Bornstein would have to get backing of the Victorian Left unions and then the effective rubber stamp of the ALP national executive.

His history as a strident critic of senior Labor figures, including Mr Rudd and Mr Bowen, will weigh on the minds of powerbrokers.

Senior party figures said they would not make a decision on who would be promoted under a new stability deal for weeks, possibly months, although preselections would need to be finalised ahead of the next federal election.

In other tweets seen by The Australian, Mr Bornstein has been dismissive of other senior Labor figures, including frontbencher Tanya Plibersek.