Anthony Albanese, who is poised to take over the Labor leadership as soon as today, has vowed to return a traumatised party to a Hawke-era pro-growth economic policy model, reopen the door to business and abandon the class-war politics that threatened to divide the nation.
Mr Albanese yesterday emerged as the most likely successor to Bill Shorten after Treasury spokesman Chris Bowen pulled out of the race, having launched his bid less than 24 hours earlier.
Finance spokesman and Queensland MP Jim Chalmers — who has the backing of the Australian Workers Union — will today announce whether he will contest the leadership.
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In an exclusive interview, Mr Albanese, who narrowly lost to Mr Shorten in the 2013 leadership contest, flagged a review of all Labor’s tax policies in the face of a vulnerable global economy, and said he would move immediately to drop the party’s anti-business posture. “The language used was terrible … unions and employers have a common interest. Successful businesses are a precondition for employing more workers, and that is obvious,” the NSW left-wing powerbroker said in a blunt assessment of Labor’s failed campaign.
“There are common interests that are there … and if elected I would look for solutions, not arguments. We have to articulate a vision for how we increase wealth and not just share wealth.
“The core of Labor’s agenda has been job creation and we need to do that in the context of a global economy that is vulnerable and a changing domestic economy that is going through transition. We need to be able to explain how government can ensure change is in the interest of working people.”
Former AWU president and Labor kingmaker Bill Ludwig, a backer of Mr Chalmers and a mentor to Mr Shorten when he was a union leader, warned against Mr Albanese being elected, doubting he would appeal “to ordinary working mums and dads’’.
“I think we have lost the next election if Albo gets up,” Mr Ludwig told The Australian last night. “He is an old-Left spear-thrower. The public won’t go for him.”
Mr Albanese, 56, has the support of right-wing unions in NSW, which believe the Grayndler MP, despite his formal factional ties to the Left, would steer the party back to the centre. Defenders of Mr Shorten claim the Victorian Right factional powerbroker was forced to steer the party to the Left over the past six years in a constant process of dealmaking to ensure leadership stability.
In a swipe at Mr Shorten, Mr Albanese, who served as deputy prime minister in the second Rudd government, said that, if elected, he would come to the leadership without any factional deals and owing no favours to the union movement, unlike Mr Shorten.
However, there is an unwritten condition of support from the dominant NSW Labor Right faction that he would adopt a centre position across the policy spectrum if elected. This included a conservative economic policy position and less aggressive tax agenda, as well as holding the line on asylum-seeker policy, including boat turnbacks and offshore processing.
“All of our policies need to be looked at … but not our values,” Mr Albanese said.
Labor insiders estimate that Mr Albanese would have 75 per cent support of the Labor Party branches, as well as a clear majority of the caucus. The Australian understands Mr Albanese would support Mr Chalmers running as his deputy, with Left-faction powerbroker Penny Wong and Kristina Keneally, of the NSW Right, as possible leaders in the Senate.
There was pushback yesterday among Labor ranks over whether Senator Keneally should be promoted to the Senate deputy leader’s role. Senior figures of Mr Shorten’s Victorian Right faction, Centre Unity, are lining up behind Mr Albanese in a bid to block rival Victorian Right-faction figure Richard Marles from getting the deputy’s job.
Mr Bowen, a senior player in the NSW Right who prosecuted Labor’s economic agenda during the election campaign, pulled out of the race acknowledging that he wouldn’t get the support of the branches.
Mr Albanese said Mr Bowen would serve in a senior role if he were successful in his run for the leadership.
Mr Albanese yesterday received the backing of Senator Wong and long-time frontbencher Joel Fitzgibbon.
The ALP national executive last night initiated the process of electing the next Labor leader. National secretary Noah Carroll said nominations for the leader’s job would open today from 10am and close on Monday at 10am.
“In accordance with the caucus rules, a candidate for the position of leader must be nominated in writing by at least 20 per cent of members of the federal Labor caucus,” he said.
“In the event that there is more than one nomination, the leader will be elected through a combined ballot of the Labor Party membership and the federal Labor caucus.
“A postal ballot of all ALP members will open on Friday, May 31, and conclude on Thursday, June 27.”
Mr Carroll said following the conclusion of the postal ballot, the Labor caucus would vote on July 1.
Despite once famously describing his political mission in life as “fighting Tories”, Mr Albanese said his membership of the Left faction had no bearing on what direction he would take the party.
He gave an unequivocal commitment to steer the party back to the policy centre, which had provided the ballast for 13 years of Labor government under Bob Hawke and Paul Keating.
Mr Albanese would be the second member of the Left after Julia Gillard to lead the Labor Party since the pre-Whitlam era.
“I don’t think labels matter these days … I don’t hide from where I stand,” he said. “I’ve always brought a commonsense approach to my political engagement. There has been enormous unity in recent years … that is one of the things I can bring and continue. We have had stability and I would expect that unity to continue.”
He sought to promote pro-business credentials, citing the processes he established as infrastructure minister in the former Labor government to remove political obstacles to the second airport in western Sydney.
“(That) was the subject of political manoeuvring; I removed that by ensuring that there was bipartisan support for a project that would deliver substantial jobs and change economic structures in Sydney,” he said.
Victoria’s Industrial Left — which includes the CFMEU — had been leaning towards Mr Albanese, despite a long-held hostility in the faction to him, if Mr Bowen ran.
“Our position will probably be anyone but Albo, unless he runs against Bowen,” a source said.
Victorian Right powerbroker Adem Somyurek was pushing for Mr Chalmers to run for the leadership. His allies are so adamant on Mr Chalmers being in the leadership team that they were willing to back Mr Albanese if he secured Mr Chalmers the deputy’s job.
Queensland Right faction MPs Shayne Neumann, Milton Dick and Anthony Chisholm yesterday endorsed Mr Chalmers if he ran for the leadership.
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