Bill Shorten has outlined the major failings of his 2019 election campaign and detailed how his “keen sense” of fair and unfair may have come across as “arrogant” to the Australian electorate.
Mr Shorten led the Labor Party from 2013 to 2019 when he lost the election after being touted as undefeatable.
He told Sky News host Peta Credlin his team needed to “emphasise the jobs part of our policies” and admitted that too many policy announcements and messages “cluttered the space”.
“Whilst I’ve got a very keen sense of fair and unfair, sometimes that can make you arrogant to the point where, because you think something’s fair or unfair, you sort of assume other people should agree with you,” Mr Shorten said.
“If the universe were to grant re-runs, I just think perhaps I’d temper some of my enthusiasm for what I think is fair and unfair with a bit of humility about other people having equally solid positions from different perspectives.
“We need to practice the politics of disagreement but not the politics of destruction.”