Face of Nation : Bill Shorten was quick to blame others in the wake of his shock election defeat. He cast Labor as the victim of corporate interests, lies from the government and an “unprecedented” scare campaign.
“Obviously we were up against corporate leviathans, a financial behemoth, spending an unprecedented hundreds of millions of dollars advertising, telling lies, spreading fear. They got what they wanted,” Mr Shorten told his colleagues on May 30, the day Anthony Albanese was formally endorsed as his replacement.
“Powerful vested interests campaigned against us, through sections of the media itself. And they got what they wanted. “I understand that neither of these challenges disappeared on election night. They’re still out there for us to face. It is important we face them with courage and honesty, with principle, and with unity.”
According to this interpretation of Labor’s loss, Mr Shorten had the right policies, but fell victim to a dishonest, negative campaign from the government. Think of the Opposition’s proposed changes to franking credits, which Scott Morrison labelled a “retiree tax” to devastating effect.
The Prime Minister also hammered Mr Shorten on the unspecified cost of his emissions reduction policies and his plans to raise taxes on wealthier Australians.
Mr Keating’s interview sparked a backlash from some commentators, who wondered why he had not spoken out before the election. In fact, he and Bob Hawke both signed a letter 10 days before the polls opened fulsomely praising Mr Shorten’s agenda.
“While we are proud of the achievements of our governments, the baton of reform is being grasped by the next generation of Labor leaders,” the pair wrote.
“Bill Shorten’s Labor Party represents the most comprehensive and well thought through agenda any opposition has provided to the Australian people.” “Hang on. So all the policies were wrong. They were going in the wrong direction from the economy we built. But during the election campaign, both Hawke and Keating signed a letter saying, ‘Tickety boo, all great, this is exactly what you should be doing,’” Murray said.
“And despite the fact that all of those policies were known and in the market, he turns up to the Labor Party launch, he high fives, he made sure that he was front and centre in advocacy for the election of Shorten as prime minister.
