Bill Shorten | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Minister for Government Services | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Assumed office 1 June 2022 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Prime Minister | Anthony Albanese | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Preceded by | Linda Reynolds | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Minister for the National Disability Insurance Scheme | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Assumed office 1 June 2022 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Prime Minister | Anthony Albanese | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Preceded by | Linda Reynolds | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
20th Leader of the Labor Party | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
In office 13 October 2013 –30 May 2019 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Deputy | Tanya Plibersek | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Preceded by | Kevin Rudd | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Succeeded by | Anthony Albanese | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Leader of the Opposition | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
In office 13 October 2013 –30 May 2019 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Prime Minister | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Deputy | Tanya Plibersek | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Preceded by | Chris Bowen (Interim) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Succeeded by | Anthony Albanese | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Member of the Australian Parliament for Maribyrnong | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Assumed office 24 November 2007 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Preceded by | Bob Sercombe | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Personal details | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Born | Fitzroy,Victoria,Australia | 12 May 1967||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Political party | Labor | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Spouses | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Children | 1 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Relatives |
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Education | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Occupation | Politician | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Profession | Trade unionist | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Signature | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Website | www | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Military service | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Allegiance | Australia | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Branch/service | Australian Army Reserve | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Years of service | 1985–1986 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
William Richard Shorten (born 12 May 1967) is an Australian politician and former trade unionist serving as the current Minister for Government Services and Minister for the National Disability Insurance Scheme since 2022. Previously, Shorten was leader of the opposition and leader of the Labor Party (ALP) from 2013 to 2019. A member of parliament (MP) for the division of Maribyrnong since 2007, Shorten also held several ministerial portfolios in the Gillard and Rudd governments from 2010 to 2013.
Born in Melbourne, Shorten studied law at Monash University. He worked in politics and in law before becoming an organiser with the Australian Workers' Union (AWU) in 1994. He was elected state secretary of the Victorian Branch of the AWU in 1998 before becoming AWU national secretary in 2001. In this role, Shorten played a prominent role as a negotiator following the Beaconsfield Mine collapse in 2006, which first brought him to national prominence.
Shorten was elected to the House of Representatives at the 2007 federal election, winning the seat of Maribyrnong, before being immediately appointed a Parliamentary Secretary. Following the 2010 election, he was promoted to the cabinet, serving first as Assistant Treasurer, then as Minister for Financial Services and Superannuation and Minister for Workplace Relations in Julia Gillard's government. After Kevin Rudd replaced Gillard as prime minister in June 2013, Shorten was briefly Minister for Education until the Labor Party's defeat at the 2013 election.
After Rudd retired from politics, Shorten won a leadership election in October 2013 against Anthony Albanese, and became leader of the Labor Party. He led Labor to a narrow loss at the 2016 election and then led Labor to an unexpected defeat at the 2019 election, after which he announced his resignation as leader, with Albanese being elected unopposed to replace him. [1] [2] Following Labor's victory at the 2022 election, Shorten was appointed as the Minister for Government Services and the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS). Shorten is a senior figure within the Labor Right. [3]
In September 2024 Shorten announced his pending retirement from politics to become the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Canberra from February 2025. [4]
Shorten was born on 12 May 1967 at St Vincent's Hospital, Melbourne, the son of Ann Rosemary (née McGrath) and William Robert Shorten. [5] [6] He has a twin brother, Robert. According to a statement given during the 2017–18 dual citizenship scandal, Shorten held British citizenship by descent until 2006, when he renounced it in order to run for parliament. [7] [8]
Shorten's mother was a university academic and lawyer who completed a doctorate at Monash University and ended her career there as a senior lecturer in education. She completed a law degree later in life and practised as a barrister for six years. [9] She was originally from Ballarat, descended from "a long line of Irish Australians" who arrived during the Victorian gold rush. [10] Shorten's father was a marine engineer born in Tyneside, England. After settling in Australia he worked as a manager at the Duke and Orr Dry Docks on Melbourne's Yarra River, where he was frequently in contact with union leaders. [11] Shorten's parents divorced in 1988 and his father remarried a few years later. He subsequently became estranged from his father, who died in 2000. [12]
Shorten grew up in Melbourne's south-east, living in Hughesdale. [note 1] He attended St Mary's Catholic Primary School in Malvern East. [16] He and his brother were offered scholarships to De La Salle College, but their mother instead chose to send them to Xavier College, Kew. They began attending Kostka Hall, the college's junior campus, in 1977. Shorten was chosen for the state debating team in 1984, his final year at the school. [17] He excelled at fencing and was the state under-15 champion in the sabre division. [18]
In 1985, Shorten began studying at Monash University, [19] graduating with a Bachelor of Arts in 1989 and a Bachelor of Laws in 1992. [20] He was active in student politics, both in the university's ALP Club and in Young Labor. He helped establish Network, a Labor Right-aligned faction of Young Labor; in 1986 it "took control of Young Labor from the Left for the first time". [21] Shorten briefly worked in a butcher's shop during his first years at university, [22] and was also a member of the Australian Army Reserve from 1985 to 1986, holding the rank of private. [23] He volunteered in Senator Gareth Evans' office, [22] and then after the 1988 Victorian state election was employed as a youth affairs adviser to Neil Pope, a Victorian government minister. He took a gap year in 1990, travelling overseas for the first time and backpacking through Central Europe. He was subsequently involved in Network's abortive attempt to take over the state branch of the Australian Theatrical and Amusement Employees' Association. [24] [25]
After graduating, Shorten worked for twenty months as a lawyer for Maurice Blackburn Cashman. [26] In 1994, he began his union career as a trainee organiser under the ACTU's Organising Works program at the Australian Workers' Union (AWU), before being elected Victorian state secretary in 1998. [27] His time as secretary was marked by a reform of the union's structures.
Shorten was elected as the AWU's national secretary in 2001 and was re-elected in 2005. He resigned as Victorian state secretary of the AWU in August 2007. He was an active member of the Labor Party and was a member of the party's national executive until 2011, as well as the administrative committee of the Victorian branch. He was also director of the Superannuation Trust of Australia (now Australian Super) and the Victorian Funds Management Corporation. From December 2005 until May 2008 he was the Victorian state president of the Labor Party. He was also a member of the Australian Council of Trade Unions executive. [28] Until early 2006, he was a board member of GetUp.org.au. [29]
During his time as AWU national secretary, Shorten was the interim chief executive of the Australian Netball Players Association (ANPA), following an alliance between the AWU and ANPA in 2005. [30] Shorten also served on the advisory board of the Australian Cricketers' Association. [31]
Prior to the 1996 federal election, aged 28, Shorten contested Labor preselection for the Division of Maribyrnong. He was defeated by Bob Sercombe, who went on to retain the seat for Labor at the election. [32] In February 1998, Shorten won preselection for the safe Labor seat of Melton at the 1999 state election. He was not a resident of the electorate, located on the rural–urban fringe to Melbourne's north-west. He subsequently resigned as a candidate in order to become state secretary of the AWU. [33]
In 2005, Shorten announced that he would again seek preselection for the Division of Maribyrnong, challenging Bob Sercombe (the sitting member and a member of the Beazley shadow ministry). Justifying his challenge to an incumbent Labor MP, Shorten said, "...we haven't won a federal election since 1993. When your footy team loses four consecutive grand finals, you renew the team." [34]
On 28 February 2006, Sercombe announced that he was withdrawing his candidacy for re-selection, a few days before the vote of local members in which Shorten was expected to poll very strongly. As a result, Shorten was selected unopposed to contest the seat. [35] Later in 2006, during the Beaconsfield Mine collapse, Shorten, as National Secretary of the AWU, played a role as a negotiator and commentator on developments in the immediate aftermath and the ensuing rescue operations. The mine rescue operations drew mass national media coverage, and raised Shorten's political profile ahead of the 2007 election. [36] [37]
At the 2007 federal election, Shorten was elected to the House of Representatives as the Labor MP for Maribyrnong. It was speculated that with his high public profile and general popularity within the Labor Party, he might immediately be given a front-bench portfolio; however, when asked about the possibility, new Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said that he believed parliamentary experience was essential when designating front-bench portfolios. Instead, Rudd announced that Shorten would become Parliamentary Secretary for Disabilities and Children's Services. [38] As Parliamentary Secretary, Shorten pushed hard for the National Disability Insurance Scheme, something which was later to become a key policy of the Labor government. [39]
Shorten would later become one of the main factional leaders involved in the replacement of Kevin Rudd as Prime Minister and Leader of the Labor Party with Julia Gillard in the 2010 leadership challenge. [40]
Following the 2010 federal election, there was speculation that Shorten might seek to oust Prime Minister Julia Gillard from her position within the year; former Labor Prime Minister Bob Hawke and former Labor Opposition Leader Kim Beazley had both previously endorsed Shorten as a potential future Labor Leader. [41] Shorten denied this speculation, and was promoted to the Cabinet as Minister for Financial Services and Superannuation. [42] In 2011, he was also given the position of Minister for Workplace Relations. [43] [44]
Following a period of persistent leadership tensions, Shorten announced immediately before a June 2013 leadership ballot took place that he would back Rudd against Gillard, and would resign from the Cabinet should she win. [45] Rudd subsequently won the ballot and became Prime Minister for a second time, appointing Shorten as Minister for Education, with particular responsibility for implementing the Gonski school funding reforms. [46]
Shorten is considered a moderate member of the Labor Party. [47] [48] As with recent Labor leaders, Shorten supports an Australian republic. [49]
Following the defeat of the Labor government at the 2013 federal election, Kevin Rudd announced that he would stand down as Leader of the Labor Party. Shorten subsequently announced his candidacy to be his successor, in a contest with Anthony Albanese that would be the first time party members would be eligible to vote. [50] [51] Shorten subsequently gained 63.9% of the party caucus vote and 40.8% of the rank-and-file members' vote, which when weighted equally gave Shorten a 52.02% victory over Albanese. [52] [53]
His first speech acknowledged the role of women in his election success. He distanced himself from Tony Abbott's social conservatism, saying "I reject the assumption that merit is more located in the brains of men than women" and highlighting the proportion of women in Labor's leadership, with Tanya Plibersek as Deputy Leader and Penny Wong as Senate Opposition Leader. [54] [55]
Shorten had been consistently polling better than Abbott and Labor better than the Abbott Coalition government from the July 2014 Australian federal budget until the September 2015 Liberal leadership ballot when Malcolm Turnbull succeeded Abbott as Prime Minister. Turnbull's honeymoon polling soared above Shorten with the Turnbull Coalition government taking the lead over Labor. Brendan Nelson holds the record for lowest Newspoll "Better Prime Minister" rating of 7% (29 February-2 March 2008). Three leaders including Shorten hold the combined second-lowest rating of 14% – Simon Crean (28–30 November 2003), Malcolm Turnbull (27–29 November 2009) and Shorten (4–6 December 2015). The December 2015 Newspoll saw a continued 53-47 two-party vote to the government, however Turnbull's personal ratings were significantly lessened, with personal approval down eight to 52% and personal disapproval up eight to 30%. [56] Some media outlets opined Turnbull's honeymoon to be over. [57] [58] [59]
In early 2015, leading up to Australia Day, Shorten called for a new push for Australia to become a republic. [60] Former ARM chair Malcolm Turnbull said upon his appointment as Prime Minister in September of the same year he would not pursue "his dream" of Australia becoming a republic until after the end of the Queen's reign, instead focusing his efforts toward the economy. [61] In July 2017, Shorten revealed that should the Labor Party be elected to government at the 2019 federal election, they would legislate for a compulsory plebiscite on the issue. Should that plebiscite be supported by a majority of Australians, a referendum would be held, asking the public for their support for a specific model of government. [62]
In 2015, Shorten said that the voting age should be lowered to 16. [63] In February 2016, Shorten called Cory Bernardi a "homophobe". [64] In March 2016, Shorten committed that the party would oppose any effort to extend discrimination law exemptions to allow people who object to same-sex marriage to deny goods and services to same-sex couples. [65]
This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (September 2024) |
In 2016, Shorten led Labor to gain 14 seats at the federal election when Malcolm Turnbull and the Liberal-National Coalition retained majority government by a single seat. [66] The result was the closest since the 1961 federal election.
Shorten led Labor into the Australian federal election in 2019. Labor had led most polls for the better part of two years, and every major opinion poll projected a Labor victory. [67] [68] [69]
However, a number of factors, including third-party preferences in Queensland, allowed the Coalition–then led by Scott Morrison–to a surprise election victory, and regain its parliamentary majority. [70] [71] Shorten conceded defeat on election night and subsequently announced he would step down as the leader of the Labor Party. [1] In a post-election review commissioned by the Labor Party in November 2019, the loss was partially attributed to Shorten's personal unpopularity. [72] A separate study by the Australian National University found Shorten to be the least popular Labor leader since modern polling began, with his popularity representing "a historic low for any major party leader in recent times". [73]
Shorten announced his resignation as Leader of the Labor Party on 18 May 2019, following Labor's defeat in the 2019 election. [74] [75] Anthony Albanese succeeded him as leader on 30 May, with Richard Marles as his deputy. [76]
After Albanese assumed the leadership, Shorten was appointed as part of the shadow cabinet, as shadow minister for the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) and for Government Services. [77]
This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (September 2024) |
Following Labor's victory at the 2022 federal election, [78] Shorten was sworn in as the Minister for the NDIS and Government Services on 1 June. [79] [80]
On 5 September 2024, Shorten announced his retirement from politics at the next federal election. [4] On that date, Shorten also announced his appointment as Vice-Chancellor of the University of Canberra, commencing in February 2025. [81]
In March 2000, Shorten married Debbie Beale, daughter of businessman and former Liberal MP Julian Beale. [82] They divorced in 2008. [83] In 2009, Shorten married Chloe Bryce, daughter of then Governor-General Quentin Bryce. [84] [85] [86]
The Shortens live in Moonee Ponds, Victoria with their daughter, [87] as well as Chloe Shorten's other two children from her previous marriage to Brisbane architect Roger Parkin, who shares their parental responsibility. [88]
Shorten was raised Catholic, but converted to Anglicanism before his second marriage – as well as it being his wife's religion, he "had come to disagree with the [Catholic] Church on a number of issues". [89] [90]
In 2014, Shorten publicly identified himself as the senior ALP figure at the centre of a 2013 allegation of rape, said to have occurred in 1986. Shorten strongly denied the allegations in a statement, which was made after Victoria Police were advised from the Office of Public Prosecutions that there was no reasonable prospect of conviction. [91] When in 2021, Liberal cabinet minister Christian Porter was the subject of a similar allegation, commentators (and even Porter himself) drew attention to the very different media treatment Porter received, although there were differences in the cases. [92]
Julia Eileen Gillard is an Australian former politician who served as the 27th prime minister of Australia and the leader of the Labor Party (ALP) from 2010 to 2013. She was the member of parliament (MP) for the Victorian division of Lalor from 1998 to 2013. She previously served as the 13th deputy prime minister of Australia from 2007 to 2010, under Kevin Rudd. She is the first and only woman to hold either office in Australian history.
Anthony Norman Albanese is an Australian politician serving as the 31st and current prime minister of Australia since 2022. He has been the leader of the Labor Party (ALP) since 2019 and the member of parliament (MP) for the New South Wales division of Grayndler since 1996. Albanese previously served as the 15th deputy prime minister under the second Rudd government in 2013. He held various ministerial positions from 2007 to 2013 in the governments of Kevin Rudd and Julia Gillard.
Brendan Patrick O'Connor is an Australian politician who served as Minister for Skills and Training from 2022 to 2024 in the Albanese ministry after having served in the same portfolio in 2013 in the Second Rudd ministry. He is a member of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) and has served in the House of Representatives since 2001. He held ministerial office in the governments of Kevin Rudd and Julia Gillard from 2007 to 2013, including as a member of cabinet from 2012 to 2013. He was a member of the shadow cabinet from 2013 to 2022.
Tanya Joan Plibersek is an Australian politician who served as Deputy Leader of the Labor Party and Deputy Leader of the Opposition from 2013 to 2019. She has served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Sydney since 1998. A member of the Labor Party, Plibersek served as a Cabinet Minister in the Rudd, Gillard and Albanese governments. She is currently the Minister for the Environment and Water in the Albanese ministry since 2022, having previously served as the Shadow Minister for Education and Shadow Minister for Women between 2019 and 2022.
Kim John Carr is an Australian former politician who served as a Senator for Victoria between 1993 and 2022. Representing the Labor Party, he was a minister in the Rudd and Gillard governments.
Christopher Eyles Guy Bowen is an Australian politician who has been Minister for Climate Change and Energy in the Albanese government since June 2022. He is a member of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) and was first elected to parliament at the 2004 federal election. He held ministerial office in the Rudd and Gillard governments from 2007 to 2013.
Anthony Stephen Burke is an Australian politician serving as Leader of the House, Minister for Home Affairs and Minister for the Arts. He is a member of the Australian Labor Party (ALP), and has served as member of parliament (MP) for Watson since 2004. He held cabinet positions in the governments of Kevin Rudd and Julia Gillard from 2007 to 2013.
Richard Donald Marles is an Australian politician and lawyer serving as the 19th and current deputy prime minister of Australia and the Minister for Defence since May 2022. He has been the deputy leader of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) since 2019, having served as the member of Parliament (MP) for the division of Corio since 2007.
Jason Dean Clare is an Australian politician serving as Minister for Education since 1 June 2022. He is a member of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) and has represented the Division of Blaxland in Western Sydney since 2007.
Mark Christopher Butler is an Australian politician. He is a member of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) and has served in the House of Representatives since 2007. He was a minister in the Gillard and Rudd governments and also served as national president of the ALP from 2015 to 2018.
Julie Maree Collins is an Australian politician. She is a member of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) and has represented the Tasmanian seat of Franklin since the 2007 federal election. She held ministerial positions in the Gillard and Rudd governments, and is Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry and Minister for Small Business in the Albanese ministry.
A leadership spill occurred in the Australian Labor Party on 24 June 2010. Kevin Rudd, the prime minister of Australia, was challenged by Julia Gillard, the deputy prime minister of Australia, for the leadership of the Australian Labor Party. Gillard won the election unopposed after Rudd declined to contest, choosing instead to resign. Gillard was duly sworn in as prime minister by Quentin Bryce, the Governor-General, on 24 June 2010 at Government House, becoming Australia's first female prime minister.
The Gillard government was the Government of Australia led by the 27th prime minister of Australia, Julia Gillard, of the Australian Labor Party. The Gillard government succeeded the first Rudd government by way of the Labor Party leadership spill, and began on 24 June 2010, with Gillard sworn in as prime minister by the governor-general of Australia, Quentin Bryce. The Gillard government ended when Kevin Rudd won back the leadership of the Australian Labor Party on 26 June 2013 and commenced the second Rudd government.
A leadership spill in the Australian Labor Party, the party of government in the Parliament of Australia, was held on 27 February 2012 at 10 am AEDT, followed by a ballot. The Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, announced the spill at a press conference on 23 February 2012, following the resignation of the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Kevin Rudd, from his cabinet position after months of speculation that he intended to challenge Gillard for the leadership. Rudd announced his intention to seek the leadership at a press conference on 24 February.
The 2016 Australian federal election was a double dissolution election held on Saturday 2 July to elect all 226 members of the 45th Parliament of Australia, after an extended eight-week official campaign period. It was the first double dissolution election since the 1987 election and the first under a new voting system for the Senate that replaced group voting tickets with optional preferential voting.
A leadership spill in the Australian Labor Party, the party then forming the Government of Australia, took place on 26 June 2013 at 7:00pm AEST. Prime Minister Julia Gillard called a ballot for Leader and Deputy Leader of the Labor Party live on Sky News Australia at 4:00pm, following persistent leadership tensions. She stated that she would retire from politics if she lost the vote, while calling on any would-be challengers to pledge to do the same if they lost. In a press conference held shortly after Gillard's announcement, backbencher and former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd announced that he would challenge Gillard, whilst also pledging to step down if he did not win the vote. At the ALP caucus meeting, Rudd was elected Leader of the Labor Party, with the caucus voting 57–45 in his favour.
The second Rudd government was the federal executive Government of Australia led by Prime Minister Kevin Rudd of the Australian Labor Party. It commenced on 27 June 2013 and ceased on 18 September 2013. Rudd had previously served a term as Prime Minister from 2007 to 2010 and been replaced by his deputy Julia Gillard, following an internal party spill. Rudd regained the Labor Party leadership by successfully re-challenging Gillard in a June 2013 party spill. On 5 August, Rudd called an election for 7 September 2013, which resulted in the defeat of his government by the Liberal/National Coalition led by Opposition Leader Tony Abbott.
A leadership election was held in October 2013 to select Kevin Rudd's replacement as leader of the Australian Labor Party and Leader of the Opposition. Bill Shorten was elected party leader, and Tanya Plibersek was later confirmed as deputy leader.
James Edward Chalmers is an Australian politician. He has been Treasurer of Australia in the Albanese government since May 2022. He is a member of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) and has served as a member of parliament for the division of Rankin since 2013.
A leadership election was held in May 2019 to determine the successor to Bill Shorten as leader of the Australian Labor Party and Leader of the Opposition. Shorten announced his pending resignation on 18 May, following Labor's surprise defeat in the 2019 federal election. The leadership was confirmed unopposed; Anthony Albanese was elected as Leader, with Richard Marles elected Deputy Leader.
From February next year, he will be vice-chancellor of the University of Canberra.
He met Deborah Beale in his MBA class at Melbourne University. ... A few weeks before their wedding in March 2000, she persuaded Shorten to reconcile with ...
One such friendship was with Labor MP Bill Shorten, former AustralianWorkers Union chief and ... Even when Bill and Debbie divorced in 2008 and Shorten ...