The opposition leader, Bill Shorten, has made his first public comments on the shock resignation of Labor’s deputy Senate leader, Stephen Conroy, telling reporters in Washington that Conroy informed him he was going to resign via text message.
Conroy, who held the communications portfolio, was one of Shorten’s most valuable factional allies and also served under the former prime ministers Kevin Rudd and Julia Gillard.
Shorten is in Washington to meet with US officials following a meeting last week with Canadian leader Justin Trudeau in Montreal. On Saturday he told reporters that Conroy had attempted to contact him by text before tabling his resignation.
“Senator Conroy endeavoured to contact me, by text, different time zones in Canada,” Shorten said.
“He then made his statement.”
Shorten he said he had no criticisms of his colleague, saying the senator had chosen to put his family first.
“I am not going to criticise him for that,” Shorten said.
“Stephen Conroy has served the Australian Senate and the Labor party and the Australian people with fearless energy and great passion for 20 years. I only wish him, his wife and daughter the very best in the future.
“He has chosen to prioritise his family over a future engagement in politics after two decades, he steps down with the best wishes and the blessings of the Labor party.”
He said the party was still in the process of finding a replacement, with the government confirming it intends to grant Labor a pair until Conroy can be replaced.
During the news conference, Shorten was again asked whether he would tell the Labor caucus to block the same-sex marriage plebiscite. He has said he believes a plebiscite would be divisive and a waste of public funding. The Greens have already vowed to reject the plebiscite after reading the proposed legislation, and want a parliamentary vote held on the issue.
“Now the legislation has been tabled, we’ll have a discussion at our next caucus meeting,” Shorten said.
However, he labelled the prime minister, Malcolm Turnbull, as “weak” for relying on a plebiscite rather than putting the vote to parliament, adding, “if he needs us to be strong for him we will”.
Meanwhile, Turnbull is in New York for the annual United Nations General Assembly ministerial week. Next week, he and the foreign affairs minister, Julie Bishop, and the immigration minister, Peter Dutton, will attend the UN summit on refugees and migrants, hosted by the US president, Barack Obama.
Obama is expected to urge world leaders to increase their refugee intake, boost education options for resettled refugees and to increase funding for humanitarian aid.
