During his time as a minister, Shorten was instrumental in the creation of National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS).

After Rudd retired from politics, Shorten won a leadership election in October 2013 against Anthony Albanese, and became leader of the Labor Party.

[6] Shorten retired from politics in January 2025 in order to take up an appointment as vice-chancellor of the University of Canberra from February 2025.

[12] She was originally from Ballarat, descended from "a long line of Irish Australians" who arrived during the Victorian gold rush.

After settling in Australia he worked as a manager at the Duke and Orr Dry Docks on Melbourne's Yarra River, where he was frequently in contact with union leaders.

[21] In 1985, Shorten began studying at Monash University[22] and also joined the Australian Army Reserve as a private, a position he held until 1986.

[citation needed] He took a gap year in 1990, travelling overseas for the first time and backpacking through Central Europe.

[citation needed] He was subsequently involved in Network's abortive attempt to take over the state branch of the Australian Theatrical and Amusement Employees' Association.

He was also director of the Superannuation Trust of Australia (now Australian Super) and the Victorian Funds Management Corporation.

[36] In 2005, Shorten announced that he would again seek preselection for the Division of Maribyrnong, challenging Sercombe (who was now a member of the Beazley shadow ministry).

"[37] On 28 February 2006, Sercombe announced that he was withdrawing his candidacy for re-selection, a few days before the vote of local members in which Shorten was expected to poll very strongly.

[38] Later in 2006, during the Beaconsfield Mine collapse, Shorten, as National Secretary of the AWU, played a role as a negotiator and commentator on developments in the immediate aftermath and the ensuing rescue operations.

The mine rescue operations drew mass national media coverage, and raised Shorten's political profile ahead of the 2007 election.

[41] As Parliamentary Secretary, Shorten pushed hard for the National Disability Insurance Scheme, something which was later to become a key policy of the Labor government.

Shorten subsequently announced his candidacy to be his successor, in a contest with Anthony Albanese that would be the first time party members would be eligible to vote.

He distanced himself from Tony Abbott's social conservatism, saying "I reject the assumption that merit is more located in the brains of men than women" and highlighting the proportion of women in Labor's leadership, with Tanya Plibersek as Deputy Leader and Penny Wong as Senate Opposition Leader.

[60] Former ARM chair Malcolm Turnbull said upon his appointment as Prime Minister in September of the same year he would not pursue "his dream" of Australia becoming a republic until after the end of the Queen's reign, instead focusing his efforts toward the economy.

[67][68][69] However, a number of factors, including third-party preferences in Queensland, allowed the Coalition–then led by Scott Morrison–to a surprise election victory, and regain its parliamentary majority.

[70][71] Shorten conceded defeat on election night and subsequently announced he would step down as the leader of the Labor Party.

[1] In a post-election review commissioned by the Labor Party in November 2019, the loss was partially attributed to Shorten's personal unpopularity.

[77] Following Labor's victory at the 2022 federal election,[78] Shorten was sworn in as the Minister for the NDIS and Government Services on 1 June.

[81] In August 2024, Shorten introduced legislation designed to cap the growth of the NDIS and bring in sweeping powers to investigate fraud, which Parliament passed with bipartisan support.

[83] He also repeatedly lobbied for the names of the people who had been referred to other agencies for criminal or civil penalties to be made public, having been kept anonymous in the commission's final report.

Shorten strongly denied the allegations in a statement, which was made after Victoria Police were advised from the Office of Public Prosecutions that there was no reasonable prospect of conviction.