E&OE TRANSCRIPT
SUBJECTS: Bill Shorten resignation
MICHAEL ROWLAND, HOST: Let's head back to Canberra now because the NDIS Minister, former Labor Leader Bill Shorten, man of the political moment, joins us now. Bill, very good morning to you.
SHORTEN: Good morning, Michael.
ROWLAND: You've obviously been talking with family and friends about this decision for some time. Are you relieved now you've actually made the announcement?
SHORTEN: Yes, I'm looking forward to completing the tasks I've got. I'm looking forward to new challenges using the same values they have about helping people fulfil their potential. I've been quite overwhelmed by the tsunami of messages. Some people saying, don't go, a few people saying you should have never started, but just a general amount of good wishes, but I really feel just incredibly lucky to have been here. There have been some really great days and there's been some really bad days, but there's not a single day that I'd hand back and to serve the people of Australia, to meet the people of Australia, to learn from them. I was lucky in my union job. I got to meet amazing workers and go to really amazing workplaces. In parliament, you get to meet my constituents, Avondale Heights and East Keel, or Moonee Ponds and Ascot Vale and places and the small businesses and now I've had the chance in two different opportunities to work with people with disability, to help set up and then defend the NDIS. You know, I'm very – and also, I've been seeing our ADF overseas. I'm just incredibly lucky. I think it's, you know, I owe everyone else so much.
ROWLAND: We've known each other since your union days back in Melbourne. You've always, Bill, been intensely ambitious. You've been upfront about that. You've hungered for the job of Prime Minister of Australia. You had two goes at it, of course, failed on both occasions. Now, leaving parliament, you will never be in the frame to be a potential Prime Minister of Australia. Are you at peace with that?
SHORTEN: When you say intensely ambitious, I just want to put one qualification. I've always believed in power for purpose. My mum was the smartest woman I ever knew, but because she came from a poor family, she never got the opportunity. Same with my dad, grew up in a depression. And so I really believe that there's merit in all people, regardless of their circumstances. So, I've always been driven by this view, not a capitalism or socialism, but this view that if you lift the underdog up and you let people have a chance to compete on merit, that's when, that's when the best things happen. So, not winning the election was incredibly disappointing, but what's ironic is not many people get a chance to try for their dream and I now see a government in place, so I'm really happy with that. And you learn from defeat as well as victory, so I am at peace with it. I understand the mistakes I made. I also understand some of the external factors I couldn't control. But since then, I had the chance to help organise the Robodebt Royal Commission. I've had a chance to decrease the waiting times at Centrelink for payments and phone calls. I've had the chance since then to work with a whole lot of really great people to try and fix up the NDIS, get rid of the crooks, make it work better. So, whatever job in the nation can you get a chance to make a difference? And that's what I'm hoping in my next thing, I can make a difference to young people who want to fulfil their potential to researchers who want to help the countries.
ROWLAND: You were asked at the media conference yesterday whether you had any regrets about your role in toppling Kevin Rudd and Julia Gillard and you quoted lyrics from Frank Sinatra's My Way. You should have sang them. To be honest, I thought that would have sounded better, but when people talk about this and they potentially associate you with another Sinatra song, and that's Mack the Knife, do you ever have moments of quiet reflection where you do have regrets about your role in the helping knife to Labor leaders?
SHORTEN: You guys love to go to that. Mick, you're a very good interviewer, you're allowed to ask what questions you want, but I meant what I said yesterday. Regrets, I've got a few, but not too many to mention. I think that political parties need unity. You're describing a time where there was a lot of disunity. One of the things that I'm proudest of, which doesn't necessarily get put up in lights, is that after 2013, we united the Labor party. And sure, we came close in 2016, we came close again in 2019. Anthony finally sealed the deal with the electorate in 2022. But none of that can happen unless the party's united, and I, um, yeah, I think that's a good thing.
ROWLAND: No regrets at all?
SHORTEN: I might have a few regrets, but that would make it all about me and what your viewers should understand about me, at the end of the day, it's never about the politician, it's about what you can do with the opportunities you get, and I never lose sight that we're only here because people vote for us. We're only here because our parties support us. We're only here because our families make tremendous sacrifices – Chloe, Rupert, Gigi, Clementine. So, whatever we accomplish here, we're incredibly lucky, and none of us accomplish anything without a whole lot of people supporting us.
ROWLAND: Finally, our colleague friend Shaun Micallef has been in touch this morning. He wants me to tell you he's going to miss the zingers.
SHORTEN: Well, you know, that is, you just talked about regrets. I regret that I never got a credit on his show for writing his scripts.
ROWLAND: I'll pass that on.
SHORTEN: He’s a good fella.
ROWLAND: Bill Shorten, I appreciate your time. Thank you so much for joining us.
SHORTEN: Talk soon. Bye bye.
