The Power List: Bill Shorten loyalists shown the door as Anthony Albanese builds new team

The Power List: Bill Shorten loyalists shown
    the door as Anthony Albanese builds new team

   GEOFF CHAMBERS
    FEDERAL POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT
    @Chambersgc

    SIMON BENSON
    NATIONAL AFFAIRS EDITOR

   2 HOURS AGO DECEMBER 11, 2019
   287 COMMENTS

    Anthony Albanese has sidelined Bill Shorten’s union powerbase, turned to his old
    left-wing network and recruited experienced campaign strategists to put Labor
    back in the game ahead of the 2022 election.

    In the final instalment of The Power List, The Australian reveals the Opposition
    Leader has moved quickly to clean out Shorten loyalists and install new blood in
    his inner sanctum, including a shrewd digital media team to combat the Coalition’s
    election dominance.

At the centre of the team Albanese has built around him is new chief of staff Tim
Gartrell, the “Kevin 07” mastermind, former ALP national secretary and director
of the successful “Yes” marriage equality campaign.

Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese. Picture: AAP

“Tim knows how to win elections. It’s as simple as that. He was critical to the
successful campaign that got Kevin elected,” a senior Labor source said.

Gartrell and other senior recruits, including deputy chief of staff Sabina Husic, join
a team of long-time Albanese lieutenants, including communications director
Matthew Franklin and Jeff Singleton.

Sources told The Australian that Albanese keeps in contact with Rudd, whom he
remained loyal to, and long-time friend and ally from the NSW Left, former
senator John Faulkner.

Albanese’s confidantes also include Jenny Macklin, Wayne Swan and business
heavyweights Rod Eddington and Kerry Schott. Left-wing rabble rouser and
former NSW upper house president Meredith Burgmann is also believed to remain
a confidante. On indigenous affairs, he primarily takes advice from Linda Burney,
who he regards as a close friend.

Anthony Albanese’s Chief of Staff, Tim Gartrell, is a long-time Albo lieutenant.
Picture: James Croucher

ALP national secretary Paul Erickson is a close confidant of Anthony Albanese.
Picture: @PaulEErickson/Twitter

Paul Erickson, the new ALP national secretary who took the reins following the
disastrous May 18 election campaign, is said to have quickly formed a close
relationship with the Labor leader and has been handed the task of rebuilding
towards the ALP national conference in Canberra next year.

Albanese has also broken the mould of Shorten’s office, which was dominated by
“spin doctors”. He has brought in former senior Labor advisers in the key areas of
engagement and research.

Sabina Husic, Anthony Albanese’s Deputy Chief of Staff.

ACTU secretary Sally McManus. Picture: Jane Dempster.

Husic — sister of NSW Right Labor MP Ed Husic — is highly regarded as a result
of her digital and social media campaigning work under Victorian Premier Daniel

Andrews. She had most recently been employed by Liberal Party powerbroker
Michael Photios at his PremierState lobbying firm.

A key component of the damning ALP election review focused on how Labor’s
digital, advertising and ground game was trounced by the Coalition. Gartrell,
Erickson and Husic have been drafted in to lead Labor’s resurgence.

The new power circle in caucus includes Mark Butler, a left-wing faction leader
and political enemy of Shorten, Penny Wong, Richard Marles, Tony Burke and Jim
Chalmers. Right-wing faction powerbroker Don Farrell is also considered a key
adviser.

Mark Butler. Picture: AAP

Penny Wong. Picture: Kym Smith

Chalmers, a right-faction member with ambitions to be leader, has been brought
into the circle of trust by Albanese.

Eamonn Fitzpatrick, a director of Labor-aligned lobby firm Hawker Britton, also
acts as a sounding board, having worked on successful state ALP campaigns,
including Annastacia Palaszczuk’s in 2015.

The Australian understands Palaszczuk, Andrews and WA Premier Mark
McGowan are in close contact with Albanese, with Queensland, Western Australia
and Victoria looming as crucial 2022 election battlegrounds.

Union figures who have emerged as powerbrokers under Albanese include veteran
militant maritime union leader Paddy Crumlin and ACTU heads Sally McManus
and Michele O’Neil.

Insiders said Albanese was a “rare leader in modern times. He’s as consultative as
you can get. He listens, takes advice and can shift where he needs to. But he’s also
a do-er. If he believes in something he will pursue it relentlessly.”