Shorten courts climate change election

In March, Labor’s leading member of the Left – Mr Shorten’s deputy and the ALP foreign affairs spokeswoman Tanya Plibersek – said boat turn-backs had damaged Australia’s relationship with Indonesia.

The adoption of boat turn-backs – long-flagged by Mr Shorten and his immigration spokesman Richard Marles – is far more contentious.

“What I am saying today is that for a future Labor government to rule out this policy now would be a gross mistake because we cannot see a reopening of this journey putting people smugglers back in business with the inevitable outcome we will see lives lost at sea”.

The policy reversal, after years of opposing turn-backs as unsafe and counterproductive, will be vigorously opposed on the floor of the Labor Party’s national conference in Melbourne over the weekend.

She said a genuine regional processing centre was the answer to stop people smugglers, not turning back boats, which would be risky for asylum seekers and the Australian navy. “They know that the nurses, the teachers, the miners, the construction workers, they shouldn’t be paying all the tax while the millionaires simply are able to minimise theirs”, he said.

Both he and Mr Shorten flagged that Labor would increase Australia’s humanitarian refugee intake – now 13,750 a year – to appease opponents of a tougher approach to asylum seekers arriving by boat.

Shadow treasurer Chris Bowen will lay out Labor’s broad economic plan and lead a policy debate later on Friday morning.

“There is an absolutely clear cut choice between Labor and the Liberals when it comes to renewable energy”, Mr Shorten said.

“The coalition’s record on border protection and turn backs is proven. This latest position on turn-backs is a dodgy deal stitched up with union mates desperate to keep Bill Shorten as leader”.

The conference was notable for having no former prime ministers in the audience, however state Labor leaders were present.

At least one Left faction powerbroker predicted Mr Shorten would carry the day on the issue.

The Federal Opposition has moved to deny there’s deep seated opposition within Labor ranks on the party’s backflip on turning back asylum seeker boats.

In an opinion piece, Shorten has warned that a binding vote on same-sex marriage would place “a handful of Labor MPs” in a very hard position.

In his speech opening the Labor conference, the party leader said it was time to end the era of “divisive politics”, urging delegates to work to make the Abbott administration a one-term government, as voters had done in Victoria and Queensland when they threw out the governments of Denis Napthine and Campbell Newman.

“Imposing higher costs than necessary would be wasteful and would detract from the economy’s ability to grow and provide the well-paid jobs of the future which are needed if we are to continue to lift domestic living standards”, AIG chief executive Innes Willox said.