A leadership election was held in May 2019 to determine the successor to

Bill Shorten William Richard Shorten (born 12 May 1967) is an Australian former politician and trade unionist. He was the leader of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) and Leader of the Opposition (Australia), Leader of the Opposition from 2013 to 2019. He also ...

leader Leadership, is defined as the ability of an individual, group, or organization to "", influence, or guide other individuals, teams, or organizations. "Leadership" is a contested term. Specialist literature debates various viewpoints on the co ...

of the

Australian Labor Party The Australian Labor Party (ALP), also known as the Labor Party or simply Labor, is the major Centre-left politics, centre-left List of political parties in Australia, political party in Australia and one of two Major party, major parties in Po ...

and

Leader of the Opposition The Leader of the Opposition is a title traditionally held by the leader of the Opposition (parliamentary), largest political party not in government, typical in countries utilizing the parliamentary system form of government. The leader of the ...

. Shorten announced his pending resignation on 18 May, following Labor's surprise defeat in the 2019 federal election. The leadership was confirmed unopposed;

Anthony Albanese Anthony Norman Albanese ( or ; born 2 March 1963) is an Australian politician serving as the 31st and current prime minister of Australia since 2022. He has been the Leaders of the Australian Labor Party#Leader, leader of the Labor Party si ...

was elected as Leader, with Richard Marles elected Deputy Leader. The day after the general election, Albanese, a member of the party's left-faction, announced his candidacy for the leadership. He had run for the role in the party's previous leadership election in 2013 but was defeated by Bill Shorten. On 21 May Chris Bowen announced he would also contest the ballot; however the next day he announced his withdrawal, citing lack of support among the party membership. Several other Labor MPs such as

Tanya Plibersek Tanya Joan Plibersek (born 2 December 1969) is an Australian politician who has been Minister for Social Services in the Albanese government since 2025. She was previously the Minister for the Environment and Water from 2022 to 2025. She was ...

and

Jim Chalmers James Edward Chalmers (born 2 March 1978) is an Australian politician and economist who has been serving as the treasurer of Australia in the Albanese government since May 2022. A member of the Labor Party (ALP), he has been the member of p ...

considered nominating for the leadership, but decided not to stand. Albanese was the only person to have declared his candidacy at the time when nominations closed on 27 May 2019. Consequently, he was formally appointed to the role when the Labor Party

caucus A caucus is a group or meeting of supporters or members of a specific political party or movement. The exact definition varies between different countries and political cultures. The term originated in the United States, where it can refer to ...

met later on 30 May; at which point Shorten's leadership expired and Albanese's term commenced.

Process

Under party rules implemented by then-Prime Minister

Kevin Rudd Kevin Michael Rudd (born 21 September 1957) is an Australian diplomat and former politician who served as the 26th prime minister of Australia from 2007 to 2010 and June to September 2013. He held office as the Leaders of the Australian Labo ...

after the June 2013 leadership spill, candidates had one week after the formal declaration to nominate themselves for the election. In cases where the election is held as a result of vacancy, candidates were required to receive the support of 20% of the federal Labor caucus to be eligible for nomination. If two or more candidates are successfully nominated, ballot papers are issued to party members who have two weeks to return them, at which point Labor MPs and Senators cast their votes for the position. According to the party's rules the two voting blocs are weighted equally, with the parliamentary caucus and the party members each representing 50%. As Albanese was the only candidate to have declared when nominations closed at 10:00am on Monday, 27 May, he was formally elected to the leadership alongside deputy leader Richard Marles later that week when the party caucus met to confirm the new Shadow Ministry. Victorian MP

Clare O'Neil Clare Ellen O'Neil (born 12 September 1980) is an Australian politician who is the Minister for Housing and Minister for Homelessness since July 2024, Minister for Cities since May 2025 and was the Minister for Home Affairs and Minister f ...

considered running for the deputy leadership in competition with Marles, though later announced she would not run for the position.

Candidates

Declared

Withdrew

Declined

Tony Burke Anthony Stephen Burke (born 4 November 1969) is an Australian politician serving as Leader of the House, Minister for Home Affairs and Minister for the Arts. He is a member of the Australian Labor Party (ALP), and has served as member of ...

, Manager of Opposition Business in the House (2013–2022) (''endorsed Albanese'') *

, Shadow Minister for Finance (2016–2019) (''endorsed Albanese'') * Joel Fitzgibbon, Shadow Minister for Agriculture (2013–2022) (''endorsed Albanese'') * Richard Marles, Shadow Minister for Defence (2016–2022) ''(elected Deputy Leader)'' *

, Deputy Leader of the Opposition (2013–2019) * Penny Wong, Leader of the Opposition in the Senate (2013–2022) (''endorsed Albanese'')

References

{{Leadership spills in Australia Australian Labor Party leadership spills

Labor Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...