New Australian opposition leader denies predecessor threat: Observers
Canberra, May 31 (Xinhua) The new leader of the opposition Australian Labor Party (ALP) has denied that his predecessor poses a threat to his leadership.
Anthony Albanese on Friday dismissed Fairfax Media reports that Bill Shorten, who stepped down as leader of the ALP after losing the general election on May 18, harbor ambitions of once again leading the party.
"We will be a united team. I've been elected unanimously by the Labor Party to lead," he said in an appearance on nine network television.
Responding to the reports on social media, Shorten said that they were "wrong."
"I have and will work hard every day to keep our party united and make the case for Labor under Albo's leadership at the next election."
Albanese, a member of Labor's left-wing faction from New South Wales (NSW), was on Monday elected unopposed to lead the ALP after his fellow contenders all dropped out of the race.
He convened a meeting of Labor's Members of Parliament (MPs) on Thursday. Addressing the meeting, Shorten blamed the loss on "vested interests" and on opponents lying about his policies.
Albanese on Friday agreed with his predecessor's assessment but also shifted some of the blame to the policies Labor took to the election.
"There is no doubt that vested interests did play a role," he said.
"But we also have to accept our responsibility that some of the policies that we put forward clearly didn't connect with enough people."
The incumbent Liberal-National party coalition (LNP) won a third term in government in the election despite opinion polls predicting a Labor victory.
While the LNP has celebrated the unlikely victory, the ALP has been left to contemplate where it went wrong.
Albanese on Thursday promised to re-engage with rural Australia after the party suffered major swings against it outside of major cities.
Labor's new leadership team was also confirmed at the meeting. Richard Marles, a Labor right member from Victoria, was elected unopposed as deputy leader.
Penny Wong, a Malaysian-born Labor left member, will continue to serve as the party's leader in the Senate with Kristina Keneally, a former premier of NSW, as the deputy.
Albanese will announce his full frontbench of shadow ministers in recent time and hold his first shadow ministry meeting later.
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