MY POLICY NOT WHY ALP LOST: BOWEN
CHRIS Bowen has tried to paint himself as a workingclass hero in a bid to win the ALP leadership as he stares down broad attacks as the architect of the tax grabs behind the party’s loss on Saturday.
In a bid to cast himself as a man of the working class, Mr Bowen announced his leadership tilt in front of the humble fibro home in Smithfield where he grew up, despite now living in a fourbedroom house in the same suburb and having a holiday home at Bawley Point.
Smithfield, along with all of Western Sydney, almost uniformly turned its back on Labor on Saturday with clear swings towards the Liberal party.
The shadow treasurer’s own seat of McMahon recorded a 5.71 per cent swing to the Liberals and the booths in his home suburb sending an even harsher message with swings of 7.52 per cent in Smithfield East, 6.27 per cent in Smithfield West and 4.25 per cent in Smithfield.
Mr Bowen’s candidacy, which has stunned some Labor MPs who blame Mr Bowen’s policies for the party’s loss on Saturday, sets up a fierce contest with popular left warrior Anthony Albanese for support from both the rank and file, and caucus.
Mr Bowen did not accept that his franking credits policy was the reason “in entirety” that Labor lost the election.
“It’s true, it was my policy. I designed it. I designed it to invest more in schools and hospitals and give Labor a good program of investment,” he said, saying he believed a scare campaign on death taxes had been more damaging.