Bill's bold legacy
In the end, it wasn’t Anthony Albanese who was desperate to get his longtime leadership rival Bill Shorten out of parliament — it was factional rivals much closer to home, who now stand to lose out.
Bill Shorten channelled Frank Sinatra when asked yesterday about his role in removing Kevin Rudd and Julia Gillard from the prime ministership, saying he had a few regrets but that he did it his way.
It was telling that things he did more than a decade ago — long before he became leader himself — was a major topic at his retirement press conference.
The toppling of Rudd and Gillard plagued Shorten's six-year term as opposition leader, with voters always having a question around trust. And many current members of the Labor caucus who were around then have never been able to move on.
It’s a shame, because with the National Disability and Insurance Scheme (NDIS) and the royal commission into ‘robo-debt’, Shorten can boast something few prime ministers, let alone ministers, can: a quantifiable legacy of policy achievements.
