Opposition leader denies shift to anti-globalisation message but says Australia must learn from Donald Trump’s victory

More than 1m people come to Australia with temporary work visas that leave them vulnerable to exploitation and take jobs that could be filled by Australians, Bill Shorten has argued.

Shorten made the comment at a press conference on Sunday after a speech to the Victorian Labor state conference in which he said Labor needed to redouble its effort to appeal to the political centre after the US presidential election.

Despite the rhetorical appeal to the political centre, Shorten also highlighted Labor’s economic nationalist policies, promising to “buy Australian, build Australian, employ Australians”.

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Shorten said the election of Donald Trump as president shows “old certainties are shifting” and Australia needs to learn from it. The growing strength of the extreme left and right was not cause for alarm, he said.

“It is proof that Labor must redouble our efforts to appeal to the centre,” Shorten said. “Whilst we are a different country, some of the seeds of disquiet we see overseas are present and growing in this country.”

Shorten said he stood by his earlier comments about president-elect Trump, who he has described as “entirely unsuitable” to lead the free world. He said he would never support the disrespecting of women, the unemployed, migrants, veterans, or Muslims.

Shorten’s approach contrasts with that of the government. The prime minister, Malcolm Turnbull, has noted that Trump has struck a conciliatory tone since his election and refrained from criticising his policies or social attitudes.

In a press conference after his speech, Shorten reinforced that, while Australia was different to the US, the loss of local jobs and inequality needed to be challenged.

“We’re not in the same state as the United States but, having said that, there are worrying signs,” he said. “Living standards have fallen since the Liberals were elected, down 2%, most of the jobs that get created now are part-time jobs.



“Even more worryingly, most of the jobs getting lost are full-time jobs.”

Shorten questioned whether the immigration system and guest worker schemes had led to foreign workers being exploited and locals missing out on jobs.

“What’s happening is we’ve got people coming to work in Australia, nearly 1m people [or more] with temporary work rights and, in some cases, they’re getting ripped off and exploited, lowering wage outcomes and taking the jobs of nurses, motor mechanics, carpenters, auto-electricians,” he said.

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“These are the jobs which can be done by Australians and we make no apology for saying Labor’s approach to the Australian economy is buy Australian, build Australian, employ Australians.”

Asked if Labor was shifting its policy to oppose globalisation, Shorten said there was “nothing new” in what he had said and noted he had also advocated embracing Asia and the benefits of trade.

“But what I will never do is apologise for putting Australian jobs first,” he said. “I do not believe that we’re doing enough to prioritise local apprenticeships.”

Shorten said government infrastructure contracts did not do enough to prioritise Australian-made products such as steel.

The Coalition and Labor have been under pressure from a rising vote share from the Nick Xenophon Team and Pauline Hanson’s One Nation, two parties that support buy-Australian provisions and are sceptical of the benefits of free trade.

Asked about former Labor prime minister Paul Keating’s comments that Labor had lurched too far from the political centre under Shorten, the opposition leader said Australia was best governed from the centre.

But he said that Labor’s policies at the election, defending Medicare, opposing university fee deregulation and big business tax cuts, were a centrist and mainstream platform.

Labor’s two-day conference began on Saturday, with the Victorian premier, Daniel Andrews, using his speech to announce an independent registration and accreditation scheme for the state’s disability workforce.

• Australian Associated Press contributed to this report