EDITORIAL: Failures won’t erase Bill Shorten’s significant legacy

As a political assassin, Bill Shorten did not miss.

But when his own chance finally came around, he wasted his shot.

Having played a central role in deposing two Labor prime ministers in Kevin Rudd and Julia Gillard, Shorten then spent five long years slogging it out as opposition leader. There, he saw off two conservative prime ministers too.

He came agonisingly close to that ultimate prize himself, but in the end, he fell victim to the same brutal factional politics in which he was a key figure for decades.

His success as a leader was frustrated by his inability to contain the party’s domineering left wing which controlled Labor’s agenda in the lead-up to the “unloseable” 2019 election.

The result was a confused campaign in which Labor tried to do too much, having gravely misread the public’s appetite for its radical redistributive policies. His inability to lead with strength led to his demise.

The defeat meant Shorten was out as leader.

Anthony Albanese was in.

The elevation of his long time foe spelled doom for Shorten’s career, shunted off to the side as NDIS Minister.

The role came with the impossible task of untangling what had become a hopelessly bloated and corruption-riven behemoth. It was meant as a punishment, but you wouldn’t know it to listen to Shorten, who managed to maintain until the very end his enthusiasm for rescuing the scheme he had helped birth. Convincing someone else in the ministry to take on the poisoned chalice, even after Shorten has put in the hard yards through the NDIS review, will be a difficult task.

It says a lot about Albanese that the Prime Minister has allowed his desire for revenge to prevent him from making the most of the talent available to him in Cabinet. Shorten is one example. Tanya Plibersek, sidelined in the environment portfolio, is another.

Shorten’s departure in February, before the 2025 election, says a lot also.

It speaks to the fact that one of the party’s wisest and most experienced heads has little confidence in Labor’s ability to win a second term with a majority.

He’d rather go out on his own terms now, rather than suffer through the indignity of a hung parliament.

And although to many true believers Shorten is a reminder of one of the party’s worst disappointments, he leaves a strong legacy.

His failures as a leader do not erase the fact he has been one of Australia’s most significant figures in recent decades, first as a union leader and then as a politician.

Shorten reaped what he sowed. After making a career out of lopping off leaders’ heads, he had no answer when dark forces inside his own party came for him.

He has no one to blame but himself for his unrealised potential. Not that he is trying to anyway.

In his final press conference, he quoted a one-time enemy of the Australian union movement, Frank Sinatra.

“Regrets, I’ve had a few. But then again, too few to mention. I did what I had to do, but much more than this — I did it my way.”

With that, the curtain falls on the last of the Labor greats.