'My mum is the smartest woman I've ever known': Emotional Bill Shorten breaks down in tears as he defends his mother after he was accused of omitting a vital fact about her during Q&A speech
- Labor leader has delivered a tearful media conference talking about his mother
- Bill Shorten was criticised for leaving out details of Ann Shorten's career on Q&A
- He had told a live ABC audience how she wasn't bitter about being a teacher
- Opposition Leader emotional on Wednesday hailing late mum's achievements
- This time, he tearfully paid tribute to his mother's august legal career later in life
- He also launched a spirited attack on a newspaper for questioning his character
Bill Shorten has broken down in tears in an emotional defence of his late mother after he was accused of hiding the truth about her esteemed career to score political points.
With his voice wavering at times, the Labor leader said his mother Ann was the 'smartest woman I've ever known' as he detailed her life's ambitions and struggles and took aim at his critics which he accused of a grubby 'political hit'.
Mr Shorten was caught omitting one vital fact from his sob story on Q&A about his late mother's dream to be a lawyer on Monday night - that she actually became a successful one.
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An emotional Bill Shorten broke down in tears as he defended his mother after he faced claims he hid the truth about her career
The Opposition Leader praised his beloved mother Ann, who died of breast cancer aged 79 five years ago, during the final minutes of the ABC show on Monday night.
He failed, however, to mention how she progressed from being a school teacher during a broadcast at Melbourne's Monash University, which he and his mother both attended.
The Daily Telegraph newspaper in Sydney used that omission to launch a character attack on Mr Shorten, sparking a spirited attack on News Corp Australia.
'So I'd say to whoever thought they'd organised a political hit on me in the election, to cast some doubt, I can hear my mum now say, "Don't worry about that rubbish",' he told reporters on Wednesday morning.
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'But she might tell, whoever's pulling down a six-figure sum at The Daily Telegraph, "Look it up".'
After being slammed on the front page, with a Mother of Invention headline, Mr Shorten also slammed News Corp Australia on Twitter late last night.
'In a new low, The Daily Telegraph has decided to use my mum's life as a political attack on me, and her memory,' he tweeted.
'They think they know more about my Mum than I do.'
With his voice wavering at times, the Labor leader said his mother Ann was the 'smartest woman I've ever known' as he detailed her life's ambitions and struggles and took aim at his critics which he accused of a grubby 'political hit'
Mr Shorten launched spirited attack on News Corp Australia, after The Daily Telegraph used his Q&A answer about his mother to accuse him of hiding details of his personal life
Two days after omitting to mention her esteemed legal career later in life, Mr Shorten told of how his mother came from a working-class background and was the first in her family to go to university.
'My mum would want me to say to older women in Australia, just because you've got grey hair, just because you didn't go to a special private school, just because you don't go to the right clubs, just because you're not part of some back-slapping boys' club, doesn't mean you should give up,' he tearfully said on the New South Wales South Coast.
'My mum is the smartest woman I have ever known. It has never occurred to me women are not the equal of men.'
Ann Shorten had dreams of being a lawyer but became a teacher instead so she could look after her younger siblings, Mr Shorten had said on Monday night.
The aspiring prime minister's address on Wednesday, to remedy that, was hailed as an election-winning moment after he was slammed for leaving out an important detail.
Ann Shorten graduated with a law degree from Monash University in 1985 with first-class honours, and practised at the Victorian Bar for six years, as she raised Mr Shorten and his non-identical twin brother Robert
After being slammed on the front page, with a Mother of Invention headline, Mr Shorten slammed News Corp Australia on Twitter late last night
Mrs Shorten actually did follow her dreams and became a barrister later in life when she was in her late 50s.
She graduated with a law degree from Monash University in 1985 with first-class honours, and practised at the Victorian Bar for six years, as she raised Mr Shorten and his non-identical twin brother Robert.
Ann Shorten had earned her PhD at Monash in 1976 and rose to the career-grade rank of senior lecturer.
She was also the founder of the Australian and New Zealand Education Law Association in 1991.
Mrs Shorten also paid to send her twin boys to Melbourne's exclusive Xavier College, which has annual fees of more than $28,000.
On Monday night, in a bid to woo an ABC studio audience, Mr Shorten told Q&Ahow his late mother Ann was stuck being a teacher, without mentioning how she later became a senior law lecturer at Monash University
'My parents sent me to a rich school. But we were not rich,' Mr Shorten said.
'We were not poor. We were not rich. We were like hundreds of thousands of other families.
'My family spent all their spare cash educating Robert and I.
'We had three holidays when we were kids. Who cares? I got a quality education.'
On Monday night, in a bid to woo an ABC audience, Mr Shorten told Q&A how his late mother Ann was stuck being a teacher, without mentioning how she later became a barrister and a senior law lecturer at Monash University.
'She became a teacher, but she wanted to be a lawyer, but she was the eldest in the family, so needed to take the teacher scholarship to look after the rest of the kids,' Mr Shorten said on Monday night.
'My mum was a brilliant woman. She wasn't bitter. She worked here for 35 years. But I also know that if she had had other opportunities, she could have done anything.'
Mr Shorten was campaigning on Wednesday in the marginal Liberal-held electorate of Gilmore, south of Sydney, where former Labor national president Warren Mundine is running as the Liberal candidate.
