Shorten's end

The undeniable fact is that the voters never ever fell in love with him, while his Shadow Treasurer, Chris Bowen, came over as a real cold fish. They did not present an attractive image.

He also scared the daylights out of too many voters with too many policies that they could not understand and were frightened of.

In addition, many felt (incorrectly I might add) that Trade Unions controlled him.

In the end, he did not lose by all that much. It was far from a landslide, but it was enough.

He has since sent me a message to say that he wants to stay in Parliament and serve as a Minister in a future Labor Government.

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I think he feels that one day he will stage a Lazarus type resurrection similar to John Howard who regained the leadership of the Liberals eight years after Bob Hawke had crushed him in a general election. He then tipped Paul Keating out of the Prime Minister's Lodge.

Will that happen?

I don't think so as the ALP has too many young hopefuls in its ranks who want their shot at the top and they reckon that Bill has already had two shots at it.

But, I hope he can serve Australia in a meaningful way. He has had enormous experience of public life that should not be wasted.

Perhaps he can teach young Australians never to run away from their dreams. Always have a shot at the top prize. If you lose, you still know that you gave it your best shot. This is better than spending your life wondering what might have been.

But, for the moment, my good wishes go not only to him, but to Scott Morrison, even though I am not a fan.

I believe in democracy. He won the election and is entitled to a fair go.