Labor Party ‘white ad’ under fire

The peak union body joins chorus of condemnation of Bill Shorten and his “Australians First’’ ad.

ACTU secretary Sally McManus joins chorus of condemnation of Bill Shorten and his “Australians First’’ Labor Party ad for its lack of cultural diversity.

“I think it was a really silly and a wrong ad,’’ she told ABC radio. “It didn’t represent what Australia is and I think Bill has apologised for it and withdrawn the ad and that is a good thing.

“I honestly don’t know what they were thinking, I certainly know that from what I have heard and what I have read that Bill didn’t sign off on it and I am really glad they have withdrawn it.”

The controversial advertising campaign has exposed divisions at the top of the Labor Party, with former leadership rival Anthony Albanese attacking it as a “shocker” as the ALP withdrew the ad.

Mr Shorten was forced to backtrack after appearing in a Labor Party-funded ad, described as a “whitewash”, which was last night attacked by former ALP ­national president Warren Mundine and Diversity Council Australia chief executive Lisa Annese.

The ad, mostly featuring Anglo-Saxon tradies and professionals, promoted a Shorten Labor government building, buying and employing “Australians First”.

In a clear split between the left and right Labor factions, The Australian can reveal the party’s right-aligned MPs had prepared lines to defend the divisive ad, before ditching their support for it.

Mr Albanese — who unsuccessfully ran against Mr Shorten for the leadership in 2013 — ­described the ad as a “shocker”, and warned Labor headquarters it should never have been “produced” or “shown”. “It’s not the sort of ad that I want my party to be promoting,” the left-wing heavyweight said. “I think anyone who sees it will know exactly what’s wrong with it.”

Mr Albanese, who sits on the ALP national executive, confirmed he did not see the ad before it was leaked. Coalition MPs linked the ad with the ALP’s former White Australia policy, as Mr Mundine, an indigenous leader and former chairman of the Prime Minister’s advisory council on indigenous ­affairs, blamed Mr Shorten’s “dickhead” advisers.

The reviled White Australia policy, comprising a series of policies and backed by the unions, barred people of non-European descent from immigrating to Australia. It was infamously defended by Chifley government immigration minister Arthur Calwell when he quipped in 1947: “Two Wongs don’t make a white.”

“This just shows how pathetic politics has become. Shorten’s ­advisers are complete dickheads and if I was him I’d give them two minutes to get out the door,” Mr Mundine said.

“The Labor Party have been arguing over this diversity stuff for donkeys years and now they’ve been caught up in it themselves. Why didn’t anyone ask themselves: ‘Where are the black fellas? Where are the Chinese?’”

After attempting to defend the ad, Mr Shorten conceded the “lack of diversity” was a “bad oversight”. He opened Labor’s caucus meeting last night by promising ­improved oversight in advertising decisions in the future.

The ad was produced out of the ALP’s national office, fully funded by the party, and was due to run in Queensland “for a few days” when it was dropped to the Nine Network and put to air in a news story on Sunday night.

Anthony Albanese has criticised Labor’s ‘white ad’.

Diversity Council Australia chief executive Lisa Annese said it was a “terrible oversight” to try to represent the Australian community in a way that “wasn’t at all representative”. “I can’t imagine how you wouldn’t notice the lack of diversity in that group, but it demonstrates that if people see themselves, they just assume everyone else is like them,” she said.

Mr Shorten initially told a press conference it was “rubbish” to suggest it was racist or contained “too many white people”.

Some people have pointed out the lack of diversity in the ALP’s video about local jobs. Fair cop. A bad oversight that won’t happen again.

— Bill Shorten (@billshortenmp) May 8, 2017

Bill Shorten's latest TV ad, appealing to nativism and xenophobia, is disgusting, degrading and shows appalling judgment #auspol pic.twitter.com/ztLv8lHro3

— Troy Bramston (@TroyBramston) May 8, 2017

“I am not in the ad-making business. I make no apology for saying that there has been 130,000 apprenticeships cut under the Liberals, that we have too many rorts in our 457 visa system,” he said. “But I certainly think we need to encourage as much ­diversity as we can. I have had a look in the final production and I think should have more diversity and I will be speaking to the Labor Party about that.”

He later conceded in a tweet: “Some people have pointed out the lack of diversity in the ALP’s video about local jobs. Fair cop. A bad oversight that won’t happen again.”

Mr Shorten and Mr Albanese have clashed on issues before, with Mr Albanese taking days to declare that he would not be challenging the Opposition Leader for his job after last year’s election. During the election campaign Mr Shorten delivered a rebuke to Mr Albanese by backing the federal government’s commitment to the $15 billion WestConnex ­motorway, which the opposition transport spokesman and many voters in his inner-western Sydney electorate opposed.

The pair also clashed when Mr Albanese refused to endorse Mr Shorten’s friend and ally Kimberley Kitching to fill a Senate vacancy created when former Victorian senator Stephen Conroy resigned.

Multicultural Affairs Minister Zed Seselja accused Mr Shorten of “harking back to the ALP’s White Australia policy”, and said Mr ­Albanese had “clearly taken the opportunity to lay the boot into his leadership rival”.

Additional reporting: Rhian Deutrom, Rosie Lewis