Labor frontbencher says Shorten will remain at helm but leaves open the possibility of a challenge in future, saying no one remains leader indefinitely

This article is more than 4 years old

This article is more than 4 years old

Anthony Albanese has ruled out immediately challenging Bill Shorten for the Labor party leadership, saying now is not the time to change leaders when the results of the election are unknown.

He says Shorten will remain as leader even if Labor stays in opposition after the votes are counted, and he looks forward to being part of the team.

But he has left open the possibility of challenging for the leadership at some point in the future, saying no leader remains leader indefinitely.

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“This is like a footy-game that’s gone into extra time. You don’t even consider changing who the captain is during extra time,” he told the ABC’s 7.30 on Monday.

“We have had an extraordinary result on Saturday. I think the Labor party’s been very united. It will continue to be so.”

Albanese’s decision to bow out of contention for the Labor leadership follows a significant application of institutional pressure behind the scenes by powerbrokers close to Bill Shorten over the past couple of days.



In the closing week of the election campaign, key Labor figures in NSW were beginning to position for a leadership change in the event Labor lost the election.

To succeed in a ballot, Albanese would have required not only the support of his own left faction, but institutional support from the NSW right faction. There were signs the NSW right was flirting with the idea of backing Albanese post election.

Efforts have been made since Saturday night to unify the right faction behind Shorten’s leadership given Labor’s performance in Saturday’s election, and given Labor still remains in contention to form a minority government once counting resumes again on Tuesday.



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Leadership instability was regarded as counter-productive to Shorten’s discussions with crossbenchers, who will take into account stability as one of the factors in determining who to support in any future confidence vote.

Before the backroom positioning by figures from NSW spilled over into the public domain, colleagues close to Shorten, including the Victorian left’s Kim Carr and Jenny Macklin, made public interventions in support of the Labor leader in the final stages of the campaign, arguing he had performed strongly enough to retain the party leadership, regardless of the final result.

Other colleagues have rallied for Shorten subsequent to the election result, including Shorten’s deputy, Tanya Plibersek, Albanese’s factional colleague in NSW, and a person regarded internally as another potential leadership alternative for Labor.

Albanese says he looks forward to working with Shorten in the next period of government, whether Labor is in government or in opposition.

“I have a great deal of experience of course, having been leader of the house in the 2010 to 2013 period, and I want to help Bill as the leader, Tony Burke as the manager of opposition business or the leader of the house, in how to deal with that if those circumstances arrive,” he said.

“I’ve always been a team player ... and always put the party first before my own interests, and I certainly will be continuing to do that, as I always have.”