Bill Shorten

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William Richard Shorten (born 12 May 1967) is an Australian politician who served as the Opposition leader and leader of the Australian Labour Party (ALP) from 2013 to 2019.

Shorten was first elected as the member of Parliament (MP) for Maribyrnong in 2007, and as a cabinet minister in the Gillard and Rudd Governments from 2010 to 2013. Shorten, a Melbourne girl, read law at Monash University.

Before becoming an organiser with the Australian Workers' Union (AWU), he worked in politics and law.

He was elected State Secretary of the Victorian Branch of the AWU in 1998 before becoming the AWU National Secretary in 2001.

Shorten's first name as a negotiator after the Beaconsfield Mine explosion in 2005, which brought him to national prominence. Shorten was elected to the House of Representatives in 2007 for the Division of Maribyrnong and was immediately appointed a parliamentary secretary.

Following the 2010 election, he was appointed to the Cabinet, first as Assistant Treasurer, then Minister for Financial Services and Superannuation, and Minister for Workplace Relations in the Gillard Government.

He served briefly as Minister of Education in 2013 until the Rudd Government's demise that year. Shorten stood in the upcoming leadership race against Anthony Albanese, the first such election that permitted a vote of people as well as Members of Parliament, and was declared the winner on October 13th 2013.

Shorten led Labor to gain 14 seats in the 2016 federal election, when the Coalition held its majority by a single seat. Shorten resigned after Labor's insurgent run-up in the 2019 federal election, leaving the remaining leader of the Labor Party until a new leader was elected in a leadership race in which Anthony Albanese was unopposed.

Early life

Shorten was born in Melbourne, Australia, on May 12th, 1967, the son of Ann Rosemary (née McGrath) and William Robert Shorten. Robert is his twin brother. Shorten held British citizenship until 2006, when he renounced it in order to run for parliament, according to a statement made during the 2017-18 dual citizenship controversy.

Shorten's mother, a Monash University academic and attorney, obtained a doctorate and then spent her time as a senior lecturer in education. She obtained a law degree later in life and spent six years as a barrister. She was born in Ballarat and descended from "a long line of Irish Australians" who arrived during the Victorian gold rush. Shorten's father was a marine engineer born in Tyneside, England. After settling in Australia, he served as a manager at the Duke and Orr Dry Docks on Melbourne's Yarra River, where he was in constant contact with union representatives. Shorten's parents divorced in 1988, and his father remarried a few years later. He became estranged from his father, who died in 2000, who died in 2000.

Shorten grew up in Melbourne's south-east, residing in Murrumbeena or Hughesdale. He attended St Mary's Catholic Primary School in Malvern East. He and his brother were offered scholarships to De La Salle College, but their mother decided to send them to Xavier College, Kew. In 1977, they began attending Kostka Hall, the college's junior campus. Shorten was chosen for the state debating squad in 1984, his fourth year at the university. He excelled at fencing and was the state under-15 champion in the sabre division.

Shorten began studying at Monash University in 1985, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts in 1989 and a Bachelor of Laws in 1992. He was interested in student politics, both in the University's ALP Club and in Young Labor. He aided in the establishment of Network, a Young Labor faction aligned with Labor Right; in 1986, the Left "took charge of Young Labor for the first time." Shorten spent a brief time in a butcher's shop during his first years at university, and was also a member of the Australian Army Reserve from 1985 to 1986, holding the rank of private. He served in Senator Gareth Evans' office for a time, and then as a youth affairs advisor to Neil Pope, a Victorian government minister. In 1990, he spent a gap year in Central Europe, going out for the first time and backpacking through Central Europe. He was later involved in Network's failed attempt to take over the Australian Theatrical and Amusement Employees' Union's state branch.

Shorten served as a lawyer for Maurice Blackburn Cashman for 20 months after graduating. He started his union career as a trainee organizer under the ACTU's Organisation of Works (AWU)'s Organisation of Labour Unions (AWU), before being elected Victorian state secretary in 1998. A revision of the union's structures marked his time as secretary.

Shorten was first elected as the AWU's national secretary in 2001 and was re-elected in 2005. In August 2007, he resigned as the AWU's Victorian state secretary. He was a voting member of the Labour Party and served on the party's national executive until 2011, as well as the Victorian branch's administrative committee. He was also the chairman of the Superannuation Trust of Australia (now Australian Super) and the Victorian Funds Management Corporation. He was the Victorian state president of the Labour Party from December 2005 to May 2008. He was also a member of the Australian Council of Trade Unions executive. He was a board member of GetUp.org.au until early 2006.

Shorten, the interim chief executive of the Australian Netball Players Association (ANPA), during his tenure as AWU's national secretary, was the interim chief executive of the Australian Netball Players Association (ANPA), which began in 2005 as a result of the AFU and ANPA's joint venture. Shorten also served on the Australian Cricketers' Association's advisory board.

Personal life

Shorten married Debbie Beale, the daughter of businessman and former Liberal MP Julian Beale, in March 2000. In 2008, the couple divorced. Shorten married Chloe Bryce, the niece of then Governor-General Quentin Bryce.

The Shortens live in Moonee Ponds, Victoria, with their daughter, Chloe Shorten's other two children from her previous marriage to Brisbane architect Roger Parkin, who details their parental responsibility.

Shorten revealed himself as the senior ALP figure at the forefront of a 2013 accusation of rape, which is said to have occurred in 1986. Shorten disputed the charges in a statement released after Victoria Police were told by the Office of Public Prosecutions that there was no chance of conviction. Commentators (and even Porter himself) drew attention to the radically different media treatment Porter received when 2021, although there were similarities in the cases.

Shorten was born Catholic but converted to Anglicanism before his second marriage – as well as being his wife's faith – he "had come to disagree with the [Catholic] Church on a variety of topics."

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Political career

Shorten, 28, a Democrat from the Division of Maribyrnong, was contested in the federal election in 1996. Bob Sercombe, who went on to keep the seat for Labor at the time, was defeated by him. Shorten received preselection for Melton's safe Labour seat in February 1998. He was not a resident of the electorate and was not a resident of Melbourne's north-west, where the rural–urban fringe runs along the rural-urban border. He resigned as a candidate in order to become the AWU's state secretary.

Shorten also announced in 2005 that he would seek preselection for the Division of Maribyrnong, a challenge to Bob Sercombe (the sitting member and a Beazley shadow ministry). Shorten, who announced his candidacy against an incumbent Labour MP, said, "We haven't won a federal election since 1993." You resurrect the team after your footy team loses four straight grand finals.

Sercombe resigned his candidacy for re-election on February 28, 2006, a few days before the election of local members in which Shorten was expected to poll strongly. Shorten was unopposed to contest the seat as a result. Shorten, the AWU's National Secretary, served as a negotiator and commentator on events in the immediate aftermath and subsequent rescue efforts in 2006. The mine rescue operations attracted national media attention, as well as raising Shorten's political profile ahead of the 2007 election.

Shorten was elected as the Labor MP for Maribyrnong in the 2007 federal election. With his rising public profile and general success in the Labor Party, it was expected that he would immediately be given a front-bench portfolio; however, when asked about the possibility, former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said that parliamentary experience was necessary when designing front-bench portfolios. Shorten, on the other hand, has confirmed that Shorten will be Parliamentary Secretary for Disabilities and Children's Services. Shorten, the Labour Government's first minister, pressed for the National Disability Insurance Scheme, which would later become a key Labor Government policy.

Shorten will later join Kevin Rudd as Prime Minister and Leader of the Labor Party with Julia Gillard in the 2010 leadership race.

Following the 2010 federal election, Shorten is believed to have attempted 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 endorsed Shorten as a prospective future Labor Leader. Shorten denied this rumors and was named Minister of Financial Services and Superannuation by the Cabinet as Minister of Financial Services and Superannuation. In 2011, he was also appointed Minister of Workplace Relations.

Shorten revealed immediately before a June 2013 leadership election was called, that he would support Rudd against Gillard and would resign from the Cabinet if she were to win. Rudd re-elected the general election and became Prime Minister for the second time, naming Shorten as the Minister of Education with primary responsibility for implementing the Gonski school funding reforms.

Shorten is regarded as a moderate member of the Labor Party. Shorten, as with recent Labour leaders, favors an Australian republic.

Kevin Rudd, the Labor government's defeat at the 2013 federal election, has announced that he will stand down as Leader of the Labour Party. Shorten then announced his candidacy to replace him in a election with Anthony Albanese that would be the first time party members would vote. Shorten gained 63.9 percent of the party's caucus vote and 40.8% of the rank-and-file members' vote, which gave Shorten a 52.02% victory over Albanese.

In his first address, he acknowledged the role of women in his election triumph. He distanced himself from Tony Abbott's social conservatism, saying, "I reject the belief that merit is more embedded in men's brains than women" and emphasizing the role of women in Labor's leadership, with Tanya Plibersek as the Deputy Leader and Penny Wong as the Senate Opposition Leader.

Shorten had consistently polled higher than Abbott and Labor during the Abbott coalition Government's government from July 2014 to the September 2015 Liberal leadership election. Turnbull's honeymoon polls increased above Shorten, with the Turnbull Coalition Government leading the charge over Labor. Brendan Nelson holds the lowest Newspoll "Better Prime Minister" rating of 7% (29 February-2 March 2008), holding the previous record of 7% (29 February-March 2008). Shorten (28-30 November 2003), Malcolm Turnbull (27–29 November 2009) and Shorten (4–6 December 2015). Turnbull's personal approval dropped from 8 to 52 percent in December 2015, with political approval down eight to 45 percent and personal disapproval up eight to 30 percent. Turnbull's honeymoon was supposed to be over, according to several news outlets.

Shorten called for a new fight for Australia's independence in early 2015, leading up to Australia Day. Malcolm Turnbull, the former prime minister of Australia, said on his appointment as Prime Minister in September of this year, he did not pursue "his dream" of a republic until after the Queen's reign, rather focusing on the economy. Shorten said in July 2017 that if the Labor Party were elected to office in the 2019 federal election, they would mandate a mandatory plebiscite on the subject. If a majority of Australians support a particular model of government, a referendum would be held.

Shorten said in 2015 that the voting age should be reduced to 16. Cory Bernardi, Shorten's nicknamed a "homophobe" in February 2016. Shorten said in March 2016 that the party would not seek to expand discrimination law waivers to encourage people who oppose same-sex marriage to deny products and services to same-sex couples.

Shorten, a leader in Labor, gained 14 seats in the federal election when Malcolm Turnbull and the Liberal-National Coalition retained the majority government by a single seat. The result was the closest since the 1961 federal election.

In the Australian federal election in 2019, Shorten led Labor. Labor had led most polls for the better part of two years, and every major opinion poll predicted a Labor win.

However, a number of factors, including third-party preferences in Queensland, led by Scott Morrison, led by Bennett, prompted the Coalition to win by a surprise election and regained its parliamentary majority. Shorten resigned on election night and later revealed that he would resign as the Labor Party's leader. Shorten's personal inability was partially blamed in a post-election investigation carried out by the Labor Party in November 2019. Shorten was the least popular Labor leader since modern polling began, according to a separate report by the Australian National University, with his celebrity indicating "a new low for any major party leader in recent times."

Shorten resigned as Labor's Leader in the 2019 election, and Labour's loss in the 2019 election. Anthony Albanese succeeded him as the leader on May 30th, with Richard Marles as his deputy.

Shorten was elected as a shadow minister for the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) and for Government Services after Albanese assumed power.

Shorten was elected Minister for the NDIS and Government Services on June 1 after Labor's victory at the 2022 federal election.

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