Labor looks set to decide between longtime transport and infrastructure spokesperson Anthony Albanese and shadow treasurer Chris Bowen for its next leader, after Bill Shorten stepped down following a shock election defeat on Saturday night.
Bowen joined the race for Labor leadership on Tuesday, after Albanese formally announced his bid on Sunday. Tanya Plibersek, deputy leader under Shorten, said on Monday she would not contest for the role due to family commitments.
Albanese, 56, told a media gathering in Balmain in Sydney’s inner-west that he was the best option for the party going forward.
“[Leadership is] not something, growing up very close to here in public housing in Camperdown, that you aspire to,” he said. “It is, however, something that I believe I have a responsibility to put myself forward, because I believe I’m the best person to lead Labor back into Government.
“We’ve lost three elections in a row. That has an impact on those Australians who rely upon us to improve their education, to look after their healthcare, to build public transport infrastructure, to look after their interests. And I believe, therefore, that I’ve got a responsibility to put myself forward.”
Albanese, from Labor’s Left faction, served as transport and infrastructure minister under the Rudd-Gillard-Rudd Government, and has advocated for increased spending on public transport across the country, along with nation-building rail projects like Inland Rail and a proposed high speed rail line to connect cities in Australia’s east.
Bowen, a 46-year-old former union official from Labor’s Right, said he owed it to the Labor Party to offer an alternative to the frontrunning Albanese.
“I think the party does deserve a contest, I think the party deserves a choice,” Bowen told the media in front of his childhood home in Western Sydney. “I think it would be wrong of me not to provide that choice to the party.”
Bowen said he was a better candidate than Albanese due to his suburban background – a factor he said would help the party regain some of the ground it has lost in the nation’s suburbs.
“I’m of the suburbs, I spend all my time in the suburbs,” he said. “I understand what happens in the suburbs. I think Albo can reconnect as well; I just think I have a sharper way of doing it. [Prime Minister Scott] Morrison has the Shire thing going for him, I have the Western Sydney thing going for me.”
Bowen held on to his safe Labor seat of McMahon despite a 5.4 per cent swing towards Liberal candidate Vivek Singha. Albanese grew his share of the first preference voting by 5.8 per cent, and enjoyed a 1.6 per cent swing towards Labor after preferences, in his home seat of Grayndler.
Key Labor figure and Senator Penny Wong – who has dismissed suggestions she should move to the Lower House to make her own run at party leader – backed Albanese for the role on Wednesday.
“[Albanese] is an outstanding parliamentarian of our generation,” Wong said. “He’s shown that in his previous capacity as leader in the House and he’s shown that he can work with people across the parliament to achieve the outcomes that benefit working people.
“I think he is the best person to lead us and he is the best person to take up the fight to Scott Morrison and the Coalition. He’s also the best person to unify our party, which is so important after this loss.”
Wong also addressed reports Bill Shorten is stirring up support among Labor MPs for Bowen’s candidacy.
“I’d be surprised if that’s happening,” Wong said. “It wouldn’t be consistent with the role of a former leader or current interim leader and it would undermine the unity that Bill has been such an important part in rebuilding.”
Shorten defeated Albanese in Labor’s leadership vote in 2013.