Shorten will stand for Labor leadership

BILL Shorten will stand for the Labor leadership, saying he wants to lead the rebuilding of the party and take the fight up to the coalition.

Mr Shorten said he was running because he believed Labor could win the next election.

Mr Shorten told reporters in Melbourne on Thursday he wanted to help protect the people who will be hurt most by the policies of Tony Abbott's government.

He said Labor must stand up and fight for what it believed in and not automatically assume the road back to government should be long.

"I believe that Labor can win the battle of ideas and put our party back into serious contention for the next election," he said.

Mr Shorten said it was devastating to have lost the election and he was under no illusion about the task ahead.

Labor needed to learn the lessons of the defeat.

"We cannot afford to sit back and bide our time in opposition," Mr Shorten said.

"Labor cannot afford it, but, more importantly, Australia can't afford for Labor to sit back and assume we can't win the next election."

Taking a dig at the leadership instability of the past three years, Mr Shorten said Labor could win next time "if we are the party of ideas, not just personalities".

"I shall submit myself to caucus colleagues and to thousands of Labor party members across Australia and I welcome this ballot and the opportunity to start the momentum so that Labor can win the next election," he said.

Mr Shorten said he wanted to grow Labor's membership and the party needed to reach out beyond its usual constituencies.

"To do this Labor must reignite the passion of our base," he said.

"We must fight as hard as we can to protect those who the Abbott government's policies will hurt the most.

He said it was healthy to have a ballot of the members but once their verdict was in the members should accept it.

Mr Shorten said if former Labor deputy prime minister Anthony Albanese stood for the leadership he would be an "excellent candidate".

"If he was successful I would certainly work with him and accept the verdict of the members," he said.

"The Labor party would be very well served."

He said any ballot must be conducted with a new civility.

"People want to hear Labor talk about ideas," he said.

"They don't want to hear us talk about ourselves."

Asked who would be his deputy, Mr Shorten said while there had not been any nominations, it would be a positive move if outgoing health minister Tanya Plibersek put her hand up.

"I think she would be a very strong part of the leadership proposition which would interest the Australian electorate," he said.

Mr Shorten said he would leave it to others to announce if they were running.

Ultimately caucus would decide matters of policy such as whether it would oppose moves to repeal the carbon tax, he said.

"I do not believe it is good politics or indeed a good vision for Australia to defer to the next generation dealing with the problems of this generation," he said.

"And Labor has a mandate for its views on carbon pricing pollution."

Mr Shorten said the ballot process could unite the party and its purpose.

"I will not sit idly by and watch the wrecker of Australian politics tear down the accomplishments of the last six years," Mr Shorten said.

These included the NBN, the disability insurance scheme, better schools, a fairer go at work and the price on carbon.

Mr Shorten said he did not believe Labor's disunity cost it the election, although the perception of disunity stopped people listening to it on other matters.

Anda sedang membaca artikel tentang

Shorten will stand for Labor leadership

Dengan url

http://tantanganbarusan.blogspot.com/2013/09/shorten-will-stand-for-labor-leadership.html

Anda boleh menyebar luaskannya atau mengcopy paste-nya

Shorten will stand for Labor leadership

namun jangan lupa untuk meletakkan link

Shorten will stand for Labor leadership

sebagai sumbernya