Labor frontbench: are they really ‘on the same page’?

Bill Shorten in the House of Reps today. Picture: Kym Smith

Bill Shorten, while not denying there was a split in the Shadow Cabinet over the opposition to the increase in the Medicare levy to fund the NDIS, insisted from early this morning that the Labor frontbench is all “on the same page”.

But as the day has worn on, some of his senior colleagues have suggested that “same page” may be crowded with too many rubber stamps or carefully managed scripts in “pollie speak”.

The first real public signs of dissent within the Opposition frontbench over policy have begun to emerge since the Budget two weeks ago, as has a tendency for “unscripted” remarks which can be interpreted as being critical of the Opposition Leader’s judgment.

Quizzed about whether the Labor leader had overruled Chris Bowen as his Treasury spoken and stared down a majority of his Shadow Cabinet colleagues over opposition to the universal rise in the Medicare levy, Shorten responded: “We are all on the same page”.

Pushed on whether there had been conflict over the decision Shorten again responded: “I don’t accept your characterisation that we’re not all on the same page”.

He continued his standard line on Malcolm Turnbull helping millionaires and big business but didn’t deny there had been a difference.

Anthony Albanese, Shorten’s leadership competitor who spoke out publicly about a so-called “White Australia” campaign ad featuring Shorten and appeared at odds with his leader over the characterisation of the Budget, had a more straightforward reply about “pollie speak”.

On Adelaide 5AA radio Albanese was asked if he was after the Labor leadership “crown” and simply replied he was “doing my job”.

But he staunchly defended himself and pointed to his better qualities as a politician, such as speaking out about the offensive ad which had starred Shorten.

“On the ad, I called it as I’ve saw it,” he said, and then added that the reason he was regularly on the radio was that he didn’t indulge in “pollie-speak”.

“I think that’s a good thing,” he said.

“I think people are over people giving words that are managed to every single issue. And it is a pity; that’s one of the reasons why politicians speak off the script that they’re given from on high is that whenever you actually say what you think, people try and read other things into it,” he said.

Then Bowen was asked about the division within the ALP over the Medicare levy and refused to “go into that”.

But then observed: “I’ve been involved in difficult discussions, Shadow Cabinet discussions on all matters recently have been good willed.

“You wouldn’t expect the Shadow Cabinet to be an echo chamber, a rubber stamp. “You would expect proper discussions and we had those discussions,” he said.

So there was a split in Labor and they weren’t on the “same page”, pollie-speak is not a good thing, nor are scripts handed down from on high and Shadow Cabinet should not be expected to be an “echo chamber”. There’s a lot on that page.