Bill Shorten to retire from federal politics at next election
Amy Remeikis
Bill Shorten will retire from federal politics at the next election, it has been confirmed.
Labor sources said the former Labor leader had been speaking about leaving for some time. It was known to be happening before the next election, but the timing was not confirmed.
Anthony Albanese is expected to make the announcement at a press conference in the next 10 minutes.
Shorten is believed to be making the announcement now to give the party time to embed a new candidate in his Melbourne seat of Maribyrnong, which he has held since 2007.
More to come.
Key events
Dutton continues nuclear push despite latest report showing it ‘cannot make timely contribution’ to net zero
Peter Dutton was also speaking about energy policy. This comes after the Climate Change Authority released its report today, identifying six things Australia must do to get the country largely off fossil fuels and reach net zero emissions.
Adam Morton had all the details on this earlier in the blog, here.
Despite evidence that nuclear “cannot make a timely contribution” to replacing retiring coal-fired power stations or helping achieve net zero by 2050 (see earlier comments from Matt Kean), Dutton is continuing his nuclear push.
He told reporters:
We’ve looked at the top 20 economies in the world and in 19 of those, they are either adopting or have adopted nuclear power and Australia is the only country that has not…
He also claimed that the “overwhelming … majority of Australians” now support nuclear energy, and “they do it because they know that when the prime minister says that the wind is free and the sun is free, that is rubbish.”
Data from the Smart Energy Council, however, shows that the Coalition’s nuclear plan could cost taxpayers as much as $600bn while supplying just 3.7% of Australia’s energy mix by 2050.
Dutton claims that a vote for a teal independent is a vote for Labor
The opposition leader, Peter Dutton, has been speaking with reporters from Sydney. He has been taking aim at teal independents, and argued:
What we know about the teal’s is that the majority of them are actually Green teals. They made themselves out to be disaffected liberal voters that they are not…
We know the green teal’s vote consistently with the Greens are with the Labor Party in the Parliament, and if you are voting for a green teal know that you are voting for Anthony Albanese.
Andrew Messenger
Queensland public transport patronage soars after fares slashed
Public transport patronage has soared by up to 40.6% in Queensland, after the state government slashed fares to just 50 cents.
According to an update by the department of transport, all four transport modes have seen spikes compared with last year, and the number of trips overall have finally surpassed the pre-Covid peak.
According to the Department of Transport and Main Roads:
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Bus ridership is up 12.1%
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Rail ridership is up 16%
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Light rail ridership is up 18.6%
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Ferry ridership is up 40.6%
The number of trips overall is 2.4% higher than the pre-Covid average, and is 14.5% higher than a comparative period last year.About 30% to 40% more people are using public transport on weekends, compared with pre-Covid.
The state government slashed fares from among the country’s most expensive to by far the cheapest on August 5, as part of a six-month trial.
Queensland goes to the polls on October 26.
University of Canberra chancellor welcomes Bill Shorten after VC announcement
The chancellor of the University of Canberra, Lisa Paul, has issued a message after news the former Labor leader Bill Shorten would become vice-chancellor from February next year.
She said Shorten was unanimously chosen after an “exhaustive search and a rigorous merit-based selection process overseen by a selection committee of seven”.
In February, Shorten will leave the government and politics to take up the positions of vice-chancellor and president. Paul said:
Bill has made an enormous impact on Australia over his years in office. His advocacy for people with disability and for all who need support aligns perfectly with our university that has a firm commitment to reducing inequalities.
Bill is passionate about the transformative power of education in changing lives – this is a value that is also close to my heart. Like many universities across Australia, UC is going through a significant time of change and many opportunities and challenges lie ahead of us.
Bill’s wealth of experience will set us apart and situate UC to tackle the future from the strongest possible position.
Interim vice-chancellor Prof Lucy Johnston will continue in the role until Shorten starts next year, Paul said.
AEC abolishes Higgins electorate in Victoria and creates Bullwinkel in WA
The Australian Electoral Commission has officially abolished the Higgins electorate in Victoria and created the Bullwinkel electorate in Western Australia.
The new WA electorate is named after Lieutenant Colonel Vivian Bullwinkel, sole survivor of the 1942 Banka Island massacre.
In a statement, the AEC said there would be “a very small increase in the number of electors who will change their electoral division” in Victoria. The AEC wrote on X:
As the names [and] boundaries announced today are not considered to be significantly different from the initial proposal there will be no further public input.
The new [Victorian] names and boundaries will be formally determined on 17 October 2024 with overview maps also becoming available.
Competition watchdog give Optus and Vodafone network sharing nod
Josh Taylor
Optus and Vodafone have cleared a major hurdle in expanding their mobile network coverage through a network sharing arrangement, after the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission did not oppose the deal.
The $1.6bn deal announced in April between Optus and Vodafone parent company TPG will see Optus using TPG spectrum in regional areas while TPG will be allowed to use Optus mobile network equipment in regional areas leading to a boost of mobile coverage for both companies in regional Australia.
The ACCC said the agreement was unlikely to lessen competition in the mobile sector, and would allow better choice for consumers in regional locations.
Vodafone said the move will allow it to double its mobile coverage – from around 400,000 square kilometres to around 1,000,000 square kilometres – across Australia from 2025.
Kieren Cooney, Vodafone’s consumer executive director said:
This is a huge win for customers and regional Australia, with our award-winning mobile services soon to be available in thousands of holiday destinations and regional communities across the country.
Optus interim CEO Michael Venter said it would allow Optus to “press the fast forward button” on its 5G rollout in regional communities.
The deal came after the competition tribunal knocked back a proposed network sharing arrangement between Vodafone and the largest provider, Telstra, last year.
Bill Shorten says robodebt ‘should never have happened’
Taking his final question, Bill Shorten was asked about robodebt and whether he can reflect on the issue of accountability, what he says to victims and who will champion this inside government in future?
Shorten said that “every Labor member is a champion for people who experience disadvantage”. On robodebt, he said it “should never have happened” and continued:
The best thing I can say to victims is we invented the DeLorean and we can go back in time and make sure the law was never broken, but the DeLorean hasn’t been invented. What we can do is seek compensation for that, which we did in the class action, and we can hold the previous government to account, which we have.
There is Coalition ministers who forever in their Wikipedia entry will have ‘they were robodebt ministers’. Most importantly, the public service and ministers need to learn that we have to understand the implications of policies before we do it.
We will never again I hope see a chapter in Australia’s modern history we assume that people on welfare are cheats or second class. Access to our social service system is a human right backed by our commitment to United Nations conventions.
I’m confident with the modern Services Australia we are reducing the waiting times on the phone, we’re getting the payments out. There is a definite change in culture … but we have more improvements to make. But if we never forget robodebt, that is our best chance never to forget it.
A reporter asked for clarification on the date of the next election, and whether Bill Shorten had inadvertently “belled the cat” on a February election?
Anthony Albanese said he hadn’t, and this is just when the academic year starts. He said he wasn’t going to tell Shorten to wait to begin the role “sometime between May or whenever it is” next year.
Bill Shorten says his platform was ‘ambitious’ in 2019 election
Bill Shorten was asked whether his “manifesto” in the 2016 and 2019 “was so ambitious, it turned people off”?
In 2019, we did have an ambitious platform. The verdict came in, I accepted that. But I am proud that we put our propositions forward.
Shorten said that Labor is “at its best when we know what we stand for and we will fight for things”. He was also asked about his legacy and said:
I’m pleased that we brought the previous government justice over robodebt and I’m pleased also to have had the opportunity to lead Labor in 2013, and some of the years after. They were tough years but the whole team pulled together. It was never just me and each of my accomplishments, it’s not just me and I’ve been fortunate to have a lucky role in it.
Albanese says there may be a gap between Shorten retiring and new member being elected
A reporter asked Bill Shorten whether there is someone he has in mind to replace in in the seat of Maribyrnong? He responded:
There are a lot of great locals in Maribyrnong who could replace me. One thing is for sure that I will be replaced. The national executive nomination close next week and I know of a couple of good candidates but I think today is about this and let’s see what emerges in coming days.
The PM Anthony Albanese said a process would begin to select a candidate:
The election is due by next May. There is some precedent for there being a gap for a short period of time. Minister Shorten will continue to serve until February.
It is possible there will be a small gap where the electorate office continues to serve the interests of the people, but of course Bill had this opportunity come before him…
Shorten quotes Sinatra’s ‘My Way’ when asked about regrets
Bill Shorten was also asked on his role in the removal of Kevin Rudd in 2010 and Julia Gillard to a lesser extend in 2013.
How do you reflect on those now? Do you have regrets about that all they are necessary part of the process of politics?
Shorten responded by quoting My Way by Frank Sinatra:
Regrets… I might borrow from someone else. Regrets, I’ve had a few, but then again, too few to mention. I did what I had to do but much more than this, I did it my way.
Shorten says Australians weren’t ready for tax reforms he proposed in 2019
Our own Paul Karp asked the following question:
The 2019 election platform to reform franking credits, negative gearing and capital gains tax, it is full of ideas which now have support not just from the Greens but also the lower house and the Senate crossbench. Were these ideas before their time, and is that a road map for Labor to do more on housing affordability and inequality?
Bill Shorten said he was proud of taking policies to the 2019 election “where we were honest and upfront.”
Some of the ideas, and I’m not referring particularly to yours, were bold and audacious. But this government has been able to succeed because they got elected and implementing some of the threads of the hard work from climate change, to A Future Made in Australia, to training our apprentices.
In terms of the tax reform propositions, the reality is that the verdict of the people was that they were not ready for that and where we were going on focusing on supply, building more housing, I think is the sensible, realistic proposition which brings people together and we have got a very ambitious program which we are rolling out.
Q: Not everybody survives mentally when they lose leadership, or they lose power. What is your advice to fellow politicians on how to survive that?
Bill Shorten responded:
No one in my family was ever a politician. Some of my British relatives came to see me before the 2019 election and they knew my grandmother. She lived in public housing … She was an air raid warden in the second world war, she was a cleaner …
My English family said it would be unimaginable to my grandmother, the idea that her grandson had the opportunity to run in parliament and to indeed run for prime minister.
I don’t worry about what hasn’t been, I think I am really lucky. I have had the chance to help create, defend and improve the NDIS. I have had the very privileged position to lead Labor. I have had the chance to help the victims of robodebt.
Every day in this job and I’m sure every member of parliament agrees, is a privileged day and as I said earlier, despite the ups and downs, there is not a single day I would hand back in the 17 years.
Bill Shorten is now taking questions from reporters.
He said the council of the University of Canberra unanimously approved him yesterday at 4pm, and he will be moving to Canberra next year to complete the role of vice chancellor.
Bill Shorten to be vice-chancellor of University of Canberra
Bill Shorten said that like many people in their 50s, he has started to think about what comes next – whether to seek another term, or step into a new career while he is “relatively young enough to make that choice”.
From February next year, he will be vice-chancellor of the University of Canberra.
Education is the modern means of taking someone from disadvantage to advantage in a way that no other method can. Universities have a critical role to play …
I’m looking forward to joining university that had been rated number one in the world for reducing inequalities, where 40% of graduates of the first in family to obtain a degree.
That was my mother’s story, so for me this is the fair go in action.
Bill Shorten said there is “not a single day in the last 17 years” that he would hand back, amid “some extraordinary political highs … [and] let’s face it, some extraordinary political lows.”
Every day I know how lucky I have been to have the privilege to serve the Australian people …
Bill Shorten also sent a message to people with disability, their carers and people who love and work with them.
The NDIS minister said he helped create and prepare the scheme, and “will always defend it.”
I will use every minute left in this job to secure the future of the scheme and ensure it continues to empower with choice and control and give Australians with disability the chance to fulfil their potential, and the same goes for every Australian who relies on Services Australia.
Shorten on his time as Labor leader: ‘We didn’t win every battle but Labor never stopped trying’
Bill Shorten is now reflecting on his time as Labor leader, coming in after the 2013 election.
He said the party was reduced to 55 seats and had suffered its “worst result since 1996”.
We were up against an ascendant Abbott government with a fierce ideological agenda and the 2014 budget was the centre of that … They were walking away from renewable energy, turning our back on climate action. If you look back at the commentary at the time, there were many who said Labor should simply roll over … [and] there were some who argued it would be smart politics for us to let people feel the pain of these cuts but instead, a united team, we decided to back ourselves …
We look to Australians not just for their approval, we trusted in the instinct for fairness … Not every idea succeeded, I understand that. We didn’t win every battle but Labor never stopped trying.
Whether it was defending Medicare or real action on climate, marriage equality, advancing First Nations representation in our ranks, championing wages and conditions, setting a target of 50% women MPs by 2025, the banking royal commission or tax reform. These were hard fights or worth having.
Shorten says there is ‘plenty more work to be done’
Bill Shorten said that his career would not have been possible “without the tremendous love, patience, support from Chloe (his wife), Rupert, Georgette and Clementine.”
The sacrifices they have made. Chloe has been a tower of love and strength and I think she has shown more courage than I’d dream could exist.
I will thank others later, because today is not valedictory. There’s plenty more work to be done.
