Anthony Albanese: I accept my share of blame for election defeat

Anthony Albanese officially takes over as Labor leader as frontbench announced.

Anthony Albanese with Bill Shorten on their way to the caucus meeting. Picture: Kym Smith.

Anthony Albanese says he takes responsibility for Labor’s shock election loss as he officially becomes Opposition Leader and begins to rebuild a divided ALP parliamentary team.

Mr Albanese has been officially anointed Labor’s 21st leader by MPs in Canberra today, having started the day dealing with factional tussles over shadow cabinet spots.

“I accept my share as a senior shadow minister in the show, for the fact we weren’t successful,” he said in Canberra today.

Newly endorsed Australian Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese addresses th Labor party Caucus meeting/ Picture: AAP

“I think the senior members, all of us, have to accept responsibility, that those many millions of Australians who rely upon us and the tens of thousands of people who have worked on our campaigns, need us to do better next time. And today we resolve to do just that.

“I understand the great responsibility that I have. I love this party. I love our supporters. But I also love the nation. And I have a responsibility to them”.

The new Opposition Leader will be joined in his leadership team by new deputy Richard Marles, senate leader Penny Wong and new senate deputy Kristina Keneally.

MORE: Shorten blames “corporate leviathans” for loss

Senator Keneally replaces SA senator Don Farrell who stood aside today — despite having the numbers — so Labor can have a 50/50 gender balance in the leadership group.

Labor's federal leadership team
Leader - Anthony Albanese, NSW, Left
Deputy - Richard Marles, VIC, Right
Senate Leader - Penny Wong, SA, Left
Senate Deputy - Kristina Keneally, NSW, Right

— Alice Workman (@workmanalice) May 30, 2019

Mr Albanese told his parliamentary colleagues today that Labor had to do more to win back Australian voters who deserted them for Scott Morrison’s government.

“The fact is that at the last election, we are in circumstances whereby one in four Australians didn’t vote for either of the major political parties. We received the support of one in three Australians, as their first preference. In Queensland, that figure was one in four,” he said.

“We need to do better if we’re going to have the first caucus meeting of the next Parliament just down the corridor.”

However in his speech to Caucus, former leader Bill Shorten said “corporate leviathans” and sections of the media were to blame for Labor’s election loss. “We were up against corporate leviathans, financial behemoths, spending hundreds of millions of dollars telling lies, spreading fear,’’ Mr Shorten said. “Powerful vested interests campaigned against us. Through sections of the media itself, and they got what they wanted.’’

Shorten confirmed on frontbench

Bill Shorten has been confirmed as a frontbencher in Anthony Albanese’s shadow ministry, after he was supported in a meeting of the Labor Right this morning.

The former Labor leader is one of 16 Labor Right MPs on the frontbench, with WA MP Matt Keogh and NSW senator Kristina Keneally the new faces. The Left is meeting to vote on its 14 frontbenchers.

The Australian revealed on Monday Mr Shorten had received the support of the Labor Right to sit on the frontbench. Mr Albanese will choose the portfolio of his former rival, which will be announced by Monday.

NSW MP Ed Husic made way for Senator Keneally, allowing Queensland MP Shayne Neumann to retain a portfolio.

In the Labor Left, meanwhile, there will be four new faces in the ministry, with former ACT chief minister Katy Gallagher expected to receive a senior role in the shadow ministry.

Victorian MP Andrew Giles, NSW MP Pat Conroy and Queensland senator Murray Watt are also expected to join the frontbench, after receiving the support from the Left this morning.

The full caucus will meet at midday.

Labor MP Andrew Leigh talked up his record as a Labor frontbencher, after being dumped from the shadow ministry.

Mr Leigh said he will continue to serve as a Labor MP for the next three years.

“My warmest congratulations to those chosen for the Labor frontbench today. Our party can be proud that we have so many talented people to serve in the shadow ministry,” Mr Leigh said in a statement.

“I am privileged to have had the chance to serve for the past six years as part of Labor’s frontbench economic team.

“As shadow assistant treasurer, I developed 19 policies to close multinational tax loopholes and tackle the scourge of tax havens.

“As shadow minister for competition, I worked with the small business sector and consumer groups on a dozen reforms to rein in monopolies, including passing Labor’s access to justice legislation from opposition earlier this year.”

Labor Right Frontbenchers:

Richard Marles (VIC)

Bill Shorten (VIC)

Clare O’Neill (VIC)

Mark Dreyfus (VIC)

Chris Bowen (NSW)

Jason Clare (NSW)

Joel Fitzgibbon (NSW)

Tony Burke (NSW)

Michelle Rowland (NSW)

Kristina Kenneally (NSW)

Jim Chalmers (QLD)

Shayne Neumann (QLD)

Don Farrell (SA)

Amanda Rishworth (SA)

Madeleine King (WA)

Matt Keogh (WA)

Likely Labor Left Frontbenches:

Anthony Albanese (NSW)

Tanya Plibersek (NSW)

Linda Burney (NSW)

Pat Conroy (NSW)

Stephen Jones (NSW)

Penny Wong (SA)

Mark Butler (SA)

Brendan O’Connor (VIC)

Catherine King (VIC)

Andrew Giles (VIC)

Julie Collins (TAS)

Murray Watt (QLD)

Terri Butler (QLD)

Katy Gallagher (ACT)

Farrell steps aside for Keneally

Labor powerbroker Don Farrell will stand down as the party’s deputy senate leader, making way for Kristina Keneally.

Senator Farrell had the numbers to stay as deputy senate leader but choose to stand aside after Anthony Albanese made it clear he wanted two women in Labor’s senate leadership, to balance out two men leading the party in Mr Albanese and incoming deputy Richard Marles.

“The deputy Senate leader came to my office and we had a discussion,” Mr Albanese said today in Canberra.

“He indicated to me that he was prepared, even though he had substantial support of Caucus colleagues, he was prepared to step aside as Labor’s Deputy Leader in the Senate on the basis that he understood that I had made it clear that my view was there be gender balance in Labor’s leadership.

“Don Farrell is well-liked by his colleagues. He is respected by me and by all of our team. That respect goes up even more today. I thank Don Farrell for putting aside his own personal interests for the interests of our great party, as he has always done.

“He will remain a valued member of my Shadow Cabinet and he will have a senior role and I will rely very much on Don Farrell’s advice on a day-to-day basis because I think he is someone who is very much in touch with average Australians.”

This is the second time Senator Keneally has advanced through Labor’s ranks in as many days because a colleague stood aside for her.

Her position on Labor’s frontbench after NSW Right MP Ed Husic made way for her, as her own faction was divided over whether to support her.

.@AlboMP: I’m confident in the team we put together. It will be far superior to those opposite, considering the drain on talent that has occurred with the Coalition. When you resort to putting @stuartrobertmp in the Cabinet, you’re in real trouble.

MORE: https://t.co/oJX2qQr0cz pic.twitter.com/AkHH6nLMi5

— Sky News Australia (@SkyNewsAust) May 30, 2019

New face from WA

West Australian Labor MP Matt Keogh will be among the new faces on Anthony Albanese’s shadow ministry, with the Labor Right choosing its representatives on the opposition frontbench.

Mr Keogh will be the second WA Right MP on the frontbench, along with Madeleine King.

The Labor Right has elected its 16 members that will serve on the 30 member frontbench, with the Left to take the remainder.

Labor caucus meets to choose team

This morning shell-shocked Labor MPs are returned to Canberra for the first time since their surprise election loss to anoint Anthony Albanese as their leader, and decide a shadow cabinet team set to include former leader Bill Shorten and ex-NSW premier Kristina Keneally.

Labor’s factions have spent the week fighting over who will get spots on the opposition frontbench with NSW Right MP Ed Husic standing aside for Senator Keneally as her own faction failed to back her, and Mr Shorten facing pushback over his wish to become health spokesman.

Queensland MP Jim Chalmers, expected to be named opposition treasury spokesman, said today the party was well set up by how quickly it united behind Mr Albanese’s unopposed leadership bid and that there was “too much talent” to fit in shadow cabinet.

“The Labor Party suffered a dispiriting loss only a couple of Saturdays ago and I think it augurs well for our Opposition for the next three years that we have been to able unite quickly and effectively behind a terrific new leader in Anthony Albanese,” he said in Canberra this morning.

“Ed Husic took a remarkably selfless decision … we have too much talent to fit into those 30 positions. There are people in our team who might not get a go today who would easily be more talented than the team that Scott Morrison announced earlier in the week.”

Outgoing Labor deputy leader Tanya Plibersek did not backtrack on Labor’s rejected election agenda when she returned to Canberra, and said she was sad for the “millions of Australians” who would have been better off under a Shorten Government.

“I feel that kids will miss out on better classrooms, better teaching in their schools … I feel sad for people who will miss out on (free) pensioner dental or free childcare,” she said outside parliament.

“I feel sad for the workers who won’t see a pay increase under this government.”

Ms Plibersek pulled out from the Labor leadership race despite support from Mr Shorten and former prime minister Julia Gillard, and will leave the deputy’s role as she is from the same faction as Mr Albanese.

Labor’s factions pick the members of the frontbench and Mr ­Albanese will then choose their port­folios, which he will announce by Monday.

Bill Shorten is unlikely to be ­offered his preferred portfolio of health, with sources speculating it would “make sense” for him to ­replace Victorian senator Kim Carr as industry spokesman.

“Bill Shorten has every right to make a contribution … he’s a former leader of substantial experience and I don’t believe we should discard people so easily,” Dr Chalmers said this morning.

The Australian revealed on Monday that Dr Chalmers was likely to replace Chris Bowen as Treasury spokesman.

Senator Keneally was last night attempting to gain the numbers to be elected deputy Senate leader, although powerbrokers believe South Australia’s Don Farrell was expected to retain the position.

This would mean men hold three of the party’s four leadership positions, with the exception being Penny Wong, who will be re-­elected as Senate leader.

Mr Albanese has urged colleagues to back Senator ­Keneally for the Senate position so there is a 50-50 representation of men and women in the four key positions.

The Australian has been told Labor Senator Pat Dodson will not ­replace Madeleine King as Western Australia’s right-wing representative on the Labor frontbench, despite being hailed by Mr Shorten as a ­future cabinet minister.

Other Left MPs in line for a frontbench spot are Victorian MP Andrew Giles and NSW MP Pat Conroy, while the Left’s NSW ­senator Jenny McAllister and Queensland senator Murray Watt were given an outside chance of winning a portfolio.