'Albo can get stuffed': Why Bill Shorten is backing Tanya Plibersek to replace him as leader over Anthony Albanese – amid fears she could become the 'next Julie Bishop' and be overlooked for a man
- Defeated Labor leader Bill Shorten is backing his loyal deputy Tanya Plibersek
- It comes as his former leadership rival Anthony Albanese declares candidacy
- Ms Plibersek could face same fate as former Liberal deputy leader Julie Bishop
- Ms Bishop was defeated in August 2018 ballot despite being deputy for 11 years
Defeated Labor leader Bill Shorten has thrown his support behind his loyal deputy Tanya Plibersek as she faces a messy battle with Anthony Albanese for the party leadership.
However Ms Plibersek could face the same fate as former foreign minister Julie Bishop, who was humiliated in August last year in a Liberal Party leadership ballot despite being the party's deputy leader for 11 years, under three male leaders and four leadership changes.
For the second time in just nine months, a talented woman could again be overlooked in favour of a man, despite being a loyal political lieutenant, with a senior Labor insider revealing Mr Albanese had undermined Mr Shorten for six years.
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Tanya Plibersek (left with husband Michael Coutts-Trotter) could face the same fate as former foreign minister Julie Bishop (right with boyfriend David Panton), who was humiliated in August last year in a Liberal Party leadership ballot despite being the party's deputy leader for 11 years, under three male leaders and four leadership changes
In 2013, Mr Albanese destroyed the standing of Australia's first female prime minister Julia Gillard so Kevin Rudd could return to the leadership.
The Labor insider is furious he could now destroy the prospects of a deserving would-be female leader.
'Tanya deserves a go. She's been a loyal deputy,' he told Daily Mail Australia on Sunday night.
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'She's been a loyal deputy, done the hard yards, done the hard work.
'Albo has just been sitting there hoping Bill gets run over by a bus the whole way through.
'All he's ever done is back stab, undermine and s*** stir. Albo can get stuffed.'
A senior Labor insider is furious Anthony Albanese could now destroy the prospects of a deserving would-be female leader (pictured is Tanya Plibersek at a Labor rally this week)
On Saturday night and again on Sunday, Mr Albanese insisted he had always put the party before himself and declared his support for Mr Shorten.
'He's someone who has my respect,' he told reporters at Balmain in Sydney's inner west on Sunday afternoon.
The man hoping to become the next Labor leader declined to address the assertions made by a senior Labor insider on Sunday night.
'Mate, you can't ring me direct at 10 o'clock at night on a Sunday,' he told Daily Mail Australia. 'I've got a policy, mate.'
Labor's upcoming leadership race is shaping up as a battle between two Left faction frontbenchers from trendy, inner-city Sydney.
They will be tasked with trying to win back support for a party that was belted in the outer suburbs of Brisbane and Sydney and the provincial towns of Queensland and Tasmania.
Mr Albanese, who holds the Sydney inner-west seat of Grayndler, and Ms Plibersek, the member for Sydney, both hail from the New South Wales Left faction, whose members favour an end to offshore processing of asylum seekers
The senior Labor source said Mr Shorten was throwing his support behind Ms Plibersek and accused Mr Albanese of undermining his leadership.
'He's never been loyal, he doesn't do the hard work and he's passed it.'
While Ms Plibersek is considering her options, Mr Shorten is supporting her as Labor's finance spokesman Jim Chalmers, from the Right, firms as a possible deputy.
Griffith University politics lecturer Dr Paul Williams said Mr Albanese was more likely to win the support of Labor's rank-and-file, as he did in an October 2013 leadership battle with Mr Shorten.
Mr Albanese, the 56-year-old member for Grayndler, on Sunday launched his leadership pitch by pointing out how he was raised by his late single mother Maryanne, an invalid pensioner, in housing commission.
Dr Williams said the life story of the man, known as 'Albo', would be more appealing to Labor Party branch members hoping for a leader who can connect with blue-collar workers who abandoned the ALP at the weekend election.
Defeated Labor leader Bill Shorten (pictured with wife Chloe) has thrown his support behind his loyal deputy Tanya Plibersek as she faces a messy battle with Anthony Albanese for the party leadership
'Plibersek clearly wouldn't have won over the blue collar vote that's walked away from Labor in Queensland whereas Albanese could bring them back,' he told Daily Mail Australia on Sunday night.
'We're getting back to that where blue collar voters don't want anything to do with the Labor-Green identity and Labor must get some of them back if it has any chance of governing.'
Mr Albanese, who holds the Sydney inner-west seat of Grayndler, and Ms Plibersek, the member for the neighbouring electorate of Sydney, both hail from the New South Wales Left faction, whose members favour an end to offshore processing of asylum seekers.
To become leader, they will need to win the support of rank-and-file party members and a majority of the federal Labor caucus in Parliament, with both groups given a 50:50 weighting.
Ms Plibersek, who has been Mr Shorten's deputy since 2013, has signalled her intent for a run at the party's top job on Sunday morning during an interview on the ABC Insiders program
Mr Albanese, who is separated from former NSW deputy premier Carmel Tebbutt, is running for the leadership, six years after losing to Mr Shorten despite being the choice of Labor Party branch members.
Either candidate would be Labor's first left-faction leader since Ms Gillard, who was supported by the Right faction in June 2010 as the party caucus ousted Mr Rudd as a first-term prime minister.
Ms Plibersek, 49, who has been Mr Shorten's deputy since 2013, has signalled her intent for a run at the party's top job on Sunday morning during an interview on the ABC Insiders program.
'I'll talk to my colleagues today but of course I'm considering it,' she told the program's host Barrie Cassidy, a former Labor press secretary.
'My determination is to ensure we are in the best place to win in three years time and that we continue to offer Australians real options.'
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