Bill Shorten accused of plagiarising Jeremy Corbyn

Mathias Cormann has accused Bill Shorten of plagiarising the ‘populist playbook’ of UK Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn.

Opposition Leader Bill Shorten. Picture: Kym Smith

Finance Minister Mathias Cormann has accused Bill Shorten of plagiarising the “socialist, populist playbook” of British Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, arguing his “anti-business” agenda would see Australia go backwards.

Senator Cormann yesterday attacked the Opposition Leader’s “left-behind society” speech ­delivered in Canberra on Tuesday, arguing he had adopted the same themes used by Mr Corbyn in the lead-up to last year’s British election. The government Senate leader said Mr Shorten was ­appealing to populism rather than creating policy that would ­improve the economy.

“Bill Shorten clearly thinks he can coast into the prime minister’s office on the back of cynical, lazy plagiarism of the socialist, populist playbook of Corbyn Labour in the UK,” Senator Cormann told The Australian.

“He knows that this politics of envy and his anti-business, anti-opportunity agenda, if imple­mented in government, would leave Australia worse off.”

A spokesman for Mr Shorten said the accusations were “hopelessly silly” and “a little bit sad”.

“Mathias is meant to be the sensible one,” he said.

The spokesman pointed to a quote from Senator Cormann in which he mistakenly used Mr Shorten’s name instead of Malcolm Turnbull’s during a press conference last year. “I’d also refer you to previous comments from Mathias Cormann about Mr Shorten: ‘Bill Shorten is very caring and very much in touch and Bill Shorten every single day is promoting our national economic plan for jobs and growth, which of course is ­exactly what Australia needs given the continued global economic headwinds’.”

GRAPHIC: Corbyn copy

Mr Shorten’s reference to “two societies” and a “left-behind ­society” at the National Press Club this week mimicked Mr Corbyn’s line that no one would be “left behind” if he won power in Britain.

Mr Shorten and Mr Corbyn have accused conservative opponents of colluding with business to undermine unions and workers’ rights and promised to take on “powerful interests”. They also voiced similar concerns that the public perception of politicians was that they were “only in it for themselves” and vowed to ­improve the perception of MPs.

Former Labor senator Sam Dastyari helped campaign for Mr Corbyn in the lead-up to last year’s British election, and left-wing senators Lisa Singh and Doug Cam­eron praised the far-left British Labour leader for his party’s strong performance in reducing Theresa May’s government to a minority.

“For the many, not the few,” Senator Cameron posted on Facebook after the British election.

“Progressive policies, a focus on tackling inequality and a commitment to fairness, underpinned this significant change to UK politics.”

Senator Cameron yesterday said Mr Shorten’s policies were not influenced by Mr Corbyn.

“This is basic Labor principles and Labor across the world are dealing with these issues,” Senator Cameron said. “So I don’t think he is copying Mr Corbyn. What he is doing is keeping with the Labor tradition in Australia, and that is you help people through the cracks, that you deal with inequality and you have to deal with market failure and the power of business.

“The positions that Labor in Australia is adopting is to deal with the issues of importance to ordinary Australians, and that is inequality, health, jobs and living standards.”

Labor frontbencher Anthony Albanese, a prominent member of the party’s left faction, yesterday deflected suggestions that Mr Shorten’s speech was reminiscent of Mr Corbyn’s campaign remarks. “It’s quite right that a Labor leader would talk about those living standards issues because they are having a real impact on people,” Mr Albanese said. “Labor will always stand up for working people and making sure that economic growth isn’t the end in itself.

“Economic growth is about making sure that we have living standards improved for people wherever they live.”

Mr Shorten on Tuesday ­attacked big business as he vowed to raise the minimum wage, drive down health insurance premiums and give more industrial relations bargaining power to workers. “Why are big companies keeping workers’ wages low? It’s the same reason that they are farming people out to labour-hire companies,” he said. “It’s the same reason they try to turn every job they can into a casual job. The same reason CEOs put up their own pay and up again. It is because they can.”

Senator Cormann said Mr Shorten was taking advantage of a portion of the public that had “forgotten the historical failures of socialism”. “It is all about him and not about what is good for working families around Australia,” Senator Cormann said.

“If Bill Shorten was able to implement in government what he has pushed around so far, our economy would be weaker, there would be less investment, fewer jobs and lower wages.”

Additional reporting: Andrew Burrell