Leadership hopefuls Bill Shorten and Anthony Albanese insist there is no `I’ in Labor and their civil showdown for the ALP’s top job is headed for a contest of personal experience and popularity.
Both candidates say the 30-day leadership campaign – which will see them jetting around the nation – will be a gentlemanly joust, putting the party first and moving away from Labor’s past division.
“Labor is drawing a line underneath the rancour of previous years,” Mr Shorten told reporters in Canberra on Friday.
“We will not seek to publicly disparage each other in our efforts.”
Separating them on policy will not be simple though.
Mr Albanese said both he and Mr Shorten support a price on carbon and would oppose the coalition government’s plans to scrap the carbon tax.
Victorian Labor right powerbroker Mr Shorten agreed they had a lot of values in common.
But Mr Albanese, from the party’s left, believes his parliamentary longevity gives him an edge.
“I come here as someone (with) 17 years in public office,” he said.
“I think one of the things I would bring to the leadership is that I have had time in opposition, I know what it’s like, I know what has to be done … that experience I think does count.”
Mr Shorten, a former Australian Workers Union national secretary, has just won his third parliamentary term and hopes his history as a “builder and a campaigner” combined with his energy and enthusiasm makes him leadership material.
But he added: “This ballot in the Labor party will not be the contest of personalities, it will be the contest of ideas”.
Both men indicated they would happily work with the other should their leadership aspirations fail.
They both gave their sales pitches to a caucus meeting on Friday where outgoing leader Kevin Rudd accepted responsibility for Labor’s election loss and said the party was well placed to win the next election no matter who led the party.
The party room was told Labor had to become more unified to move forward.
“Whoever it was who was tweeting out of the caucus today, it’s got to stop,” Mr Albanese said later.
“It’s not helpful for people to be sitting in a caucus room to be tweeting out to members of the press gallery.”
Outgoing Treasurer Chris Bowen has been given the interim party reins while the leader is chosen, in what he called the nation’s most democratic election process.
“They will have been elected by the whole Labor party, by every eligible rank and file member, as well as by the parliamentary caucus,” Mr Bowen said.
While now it’s only a two-horse race, there could be another candidate. Nominations for leadership remain open for seven days, before ballot papers are sent to Labor members.
Caucus will cast their votes last but will not know the grass-roots ballot result when they do.
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