Shorten tells GQ of his regrets: not promoting women, tackling sexism

Bill Shorten has revealed his biggest regret as a union leader was failing to promote more women.

Bill Shorten in a GQ photoshoot.

Bill Shorten has revealed his biggest regret as a union leader was failing to promote more women and he wishes he spent more time “educating blokes about casual sexism”.

The Opposition Leader has used a glossy profile piece in the March/April issue of men’s magazine GQto talk up his credentials as an everyday family man who does the shopping, takes out the trash and cleans up after his two bulldogs.

Highlighting his fitness regimen — he runs 2000km a year — Mr Shorten argued he was the best person to lead Labor, citing his ability to unify colleagues and his willingness to take risks.

He said he was “very prepared” to become prime minister but was not assuming a Labor victory at the next election, declaring that his time as Opposition Leader was an “excellent apprenticeship”.

“My vision for leadership is not Messianic,” he said. “To me, leadership is more like chairing a board, rather than being a captain-coach. My job is to enable and empower. I don’t think 2017 was the best year for Australian politics ... We got consumed into issues that the politicians thought were important, but don’t speak to the lives of people.”

With the government under pressure to investigate the leaked details of a sexual harassment claim against former deputy prime minister Barnaby Joyce, Mr Shorten argued Labor was on target to meet its target of a 50-50 gender split for MPs by 2025.

“I think we’ll get there before then,” he said. “But in hindsight, when I had the chance, I should have promoted more women ... The best thing I can do now is put as many women as possible in positions of power.”

The March/April issue of GQ.

He took aim at Malcolm Turnbull’s proposed corporate tax cuts, saying they were an attempt to “liberate the rich”, and used a strategically deployed profanity to question the benefit to local businesses of a free-trade pact ­between Pacific-rim nations following the withdrawal of the US under ­Donald Trump.

“The government wants to say that they’ve done a multilateral agreement without America, and somehow that’s caught Labor with their pants down? What the f..k?” he said. “They can’t even provide us with how the agreement benefits people. The sheer vacuousness of this current government is breathtaking.”

Defending his approach to politics, Mr Shorten rejected suggestions Labor was engaged in a negative political campaign and “short-termism”, instead arguing he was about the promotion of “long-term ideas”. “I’m better at positive than negative,” he said. “I see a difference between holding people to account and the politics of destruction.”

He cited his mentors as Paul Keating, Gareth Evans, Bob Hawke and former ACTU secretary Bill Kelty, and talked up his ability to relate to people.

“I’m most comfortable with working people,” he says.

“But I know you have to be able to talk to business people, if need be. I judge people as I find them, not by their titles.”

Mr Shorten defended Mr Turnbull’s negotiation of a deal for the US to take 1250 refugees from Australia and said he would not let “boats start again”, but took issue with the “inhumane and unfair treatment of asylum-seekers”.