Fairfax’s Mark Kenny has reported today the Opposition leader Bill Shorten has appointed respected political strategist, Andrew Thomas, as his new chief of staff as he seeks to make high-tempo campaigning a permanent feature of this electoral term:
Fairfax Media understands the appointment is part of a new high-energy approach to the opposition role, with Mr Shorten telling colleagues to be prepared to fight another election within 12 months…
The prospect of continuous campaigning suggests talk of greater cooperation between the Coalition and Labor in the 45th Parliament may be optimistic and that the Shorten opposition has its eye firmly on the margin of political advantage.
Andrew Thomas was my direct manager in 2004 when I worked in the International Economy Division of the Australian Treasury. He is an energetic guy, a clear communicator, and has a good policy brain. In short, I was a fan.
In the lead-up to the recent election, Labor led on the policy front, rolling-out policies on negative gearing, capital gains taxes, superannuation, and tobacco taxes well in advance of the election, which provided Labor with a credible economic narrative.
Had Labor instead run a traditional “small target” approach, they wouldn’t have stood a chance at the election. But because they released sensible policy ahead of time, and showed they had a plan for the nation, the electorate rewarded them to such an extent that they only narrowly lost what seemed to be a unwinnable election only nine months ago.
Hopefully Thomas can bring with him a continued focus on good policy development. With clever minds like Chris Bowen and Andrew Leigh as wingmen, there is no reason why they shouldn’t.
