Former trade minister Richard Marles has called on Bill Shorten to put his hand up for the Labor leadership, saying it’s in the interests of the party he do so.
His comments came as former health minister Tanya Plibersek urged her Labor colleagues not to rush into choosing their next leader, saying whoever is picked must be in it for the long haul.
The Labor leadership contest narrowed on Monday after former treasurer Chris Bowen announced he wouldn’t have a tilt.
Mr Shorten, a former Labor minister and past head of the Australian Workers Union, or outgoing deputy prime minister Anthony Albanese, are the likely frontrunners for the top job.
Mr Marles said Mr Albanese was a strong parliamentary performer and would without question make a great Labor leader.
But Mr Shorten’s leadership was crucial at this time for the Labor Party, he said.
“I actually think that it’s in the interests of the Labor Party for Bill to put his hand up at this time,” he told ABC’s Lateline program on Monday.
If both Mr Albanese and Mr Shorten had a run at the leadership, Labor would be faced with a “difficult choice but also a wonderful choice”.
If there is only one candidate, only the Labor caucus will be involved in endorsing the new leader.
If there are two or more, a new party rule means the leadership for the first time will be decided in a ballot weighted 50 per cent to the caucus and 50 per cent to grassroots members of the ALP.
Ms Plibersek said it would be “perfectly fine” to hold a ballot, and the rules allowed for “quite a long period” between the first caucus meeting and the time for choosing a leader.
The final caucus hadn’t been determined yet, and prime minister-elect Tony Abbott had previously implied parliament wouldn’t resume until November.
“I don’t see that anybody should be in any real hurry,” she told ABC’s Q&A program on Monday.
“We need to choose someone who can take us to the next election and potentially win and be prime minister, but also someone who would be around for two terms of longer if that was our fate.”
Mr Marles said it was important the new Labor guard learned from the past and “maturely” selected a leader without creating “baggage” and divisions within the party.
YOUR COMMENT