No federal implications, but NSW vote a wake-up call: Shorten

Opposition leader moves to dismiss federal implications from NSW Labor’s electoral defeat, but says there were some lessons.

Opposition Leader Bill Shorten speaks to the media at the road upgrades announcement for Melbourne’s southeast on Sunday.

Federal ALP leader Bill Shorten has moved to dismiss concerns that the NSW election result presented a blow for own campaign to become prime minister, but conceded that the rise of micro party and independent candidates was a wake-up call.

“I think it would be fair to say there weren’t many federal implications [but] rarely is there an election you can’t learn something from,” said Mr Shorten.

“The rise of some of these smaller parties and independents show that no major party can take the voter for granted.

“Every election is a wake up call.

“The challenge or the lesson for me out of yesterday is to keep putting forward a long-term view of the nation and keep putting forward a vision.

“It’s not enough to rely on the fact that you’re not the other party, you’ve got to offer a plan.”

However Mr Shorten, in the Melbourne suburb of Cranbourne with Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews this morning to announce a $1.7 billion infrastructure spending blitz, declined to comment on the likelihood of Mark Latham’s return to politics after a 14-year hiatus. Mr Latham, the controversial former federal Labor leader, appears poised to secure an upper house seat for One Nation.

“He brings his fed parliamentary pension but ... I don’t know,” said Mr Shorten. “I find talking about Mark Latham gets us nowhere.”

Mr Shorten revealed that he had spoken to NSW Labor leader Michael Daley about his widely condemned comments about Asian immigration, which were revealed last week in the lead up to the election.

“He is the first to acknowledge his comments are wrong and I have certainly said that to him,” he said.

“I think he paid a price for that.”

Mr Shorten said the controversy highlighted the importance of the mainstream parties “putting the extremists last” on the voting cards: “Again I say to Mr Morrison put the country first and put One Nation and like-minded parties last”.

Mr Daley was soundly beaten by Liberal Premier Gladys Berejiklian on Saturday, with the state Coalition winning 46 seats out of 93 available and expecting to claim up to three more.

The result has buoyed the spirits of federal counterparts ahead of the national poll expected to be called for May.

Attorney-General Christian Porter said polls had not been favourable towards the Morrison government but it had always considered it can win the election. Seeing the NSW government re-elected has firmed up that belief as the federal government is similarly focused on delivering a stronger economy and using that to invest in services and infrastructure, he said.

“This proves, if you like, the underlying confidence we’ve had. We believe this shows that the next election is absolutely winnable,” he told reporters in Perth on Sunday.

Nationals MP Darren Chester is also taking heart from the result - despite the NSW branch of his party losing at least one seat to the Shooters, Fishers and Farmers Party.

“The message out of NSW was, for the federal government in particular, for our election in six weeks … was don’t write us off,” he told ABC TV.

Federal Labor MP Michelle Rowland has put NSW Labor’s defeat down to Mr Daley’s poor performance in the last week of his campaign.

Mr Daley’s final week included stumbling through a leadership debate and being forced to apologise over comments about Asian immigration caught on video at a pub forum last year.

“It’s a salient lesson in politics that a week is a very long time,” Ms Rowland, a Sydney-based MP, told Sky News on Sunday.

- with AAP