2019 Australian Labor Party leadership contest

[brucejoel99]

Following the Opposition's shock election loss, incumbent Bill Shorten has announced that he won't be recontesting the Labor leadership after 6 years at the helm.

Replacing Shorten is likely to be a lengthy process because of the rules that govern leadership elections. Former PM Kevin Rudd changed the way the party elected its leader in 2013 following the instability of the Rudd-Gillard years. Contenders must win support of both party members & the Labor party room. The process took about 5 weeks in 2013.

Among the likely contenders are:

• Anthony Albanese, a Labor frontbencher who ran for the party's leadership against Shorten in 2013. (It's already an open secret that he's going to run for the leadership again.)
• Tanya Plibersek, who has been the deputy leader for 6 years & held the foreign affairs &, more recently, education portfolios. (She has said that she's considering a run.)
• Chris Bowen, shadow treasurer (He has said that he'll think about running.)
• Tony Burke, environment spokesman & Labor's chief tactician in the House of Reps.
• Jim Chalmers, Queensland MP (There's speculation that he could also put his hand up.)

Albanese & Plibersek are in Labor's left faction, while the latter three potential candidates are in Labor's right faction.

Albanese & Plibersek look like they're the candidates to beat, though Bowen & (to a lesser extent) Burke have both had the baton in the knapsack for some time. Chalmers is apparently a rising star in the caucus too.

It'll be interesting to see how all this plays out as to who'll replace Shorten, as well as run for prime minister in 2022 (after the Coalition's third term, no less).

[brucejoel99]

Apparently Richard Marles, the shadow defence minister, is also a potential candidate, per the Sydney Morning Herald.

[urutzizu]

Anthony Albanese is in.

His pitch for the party leadership was that he was a known quantity with Australian voters and would take the political fight up to Morrison in a “vigorous fashion”. But he said also he was prepared to look for common ground with his opponents in an effort to “bring the nation together”.

Albanese said Labor needed to pursue “a fairer agenda, a more inclusive agenda, an agenda that brings the nation together on economic, social and environmental policies so that we can meet the challenges of the future”.

Albanese said Labor needed to articulate an agenda for economic growth, not just talk about how it was prepared to redistribute wealth – an implicit criticism of Shorten and Bowen’s campaign agenda.

So Albanese is criticising the Labor campaign from both the left and right.

[CumbrianLefty]

Anthony Albanese is in.

His pitch for the party leadership was that he was a known quantity with Australian voters and would take the political fight up to Morrison in a “vigorous fashion”. But he said also he was prepared to look for common ground with his opponents in an effort to “bring the nation together”.

Albanese said Labor needed to pursue “a fairer agenda, a more inclusive agenda, an agenda that brings the nation together on economic, social and environmental policies so that we can meet the challenges of the future”.

Albanese said Labor needed to articulate an agenda for economic growth, not just talk about how it was prepared to redistribute wealth – an implicit criticism of Shorten and Bowen’s campaign agenda.

So Albanese is criticising the Labor campaign from both the left and right.

It was the sort of campaign that lends itself to such criticism tbf......

[brucejoel99]

Tanya Plibersek is out.

Reading between the lines, it looks like she doesn't have the numbers & isn't going to enter a race she knows she'll lose. "More time with my family" in this context likely means "The left are locked in behind Albo."

The question now is whether the right faction enters the field & on what terms. Something tells me that there'll be a deal that Albanese will be the leader & either Bowen or Chalmers will be deputy, in which case there'll be no ballot.

[LoneStarDem]

In other words, this means......

[International Brotherhood of Bernard]

Chris Bowen is in: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-05-21/chris-bowen-to-run-for-labor-leader/11132928

[brucejoel99]

Chris Bowen is in: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-05-21/chris-bowen-to-run-for-labor-leader/11132928

Withdrew yesterday, citing his lack of support among the party membership.

Looks like Albo has this (all but) in the bag... unless Chalmers still decides to jump in, of course, but even then, Albo's the heavy favorite considering his cross-faction & membership support.