Australian Labor party elects new leader Bill Shorten in wake of poll defeat

Australia's Labor party elected Bill Shorten its new leader after Kevin Rudd resigned in the wake of its September 7 election defeat.

Shorten won 52 per cent of a combined vote, the party announced in Canberra yesterday. It was the first time rank and file members of the nation's oldest political party had a direct say in the leadership choice, with their vote being given equal weighting to the parliamentary caucus under new rules introduced by Rudd in July.

Shorten defeated former deputy prime minister Anthony Albanese with 64 per cent of the caucus vote and 40 per cent of the ordinary membership vote, the party said. He becomes Labor's third leader in five months and has the task of reuniting a party riven by three years of infighting between Rudd and Julia Gillard, the nation's first woman prime minister.

The former unionist and party power broker has said he can drive Labor to victory against the Liberal-National coalition government of Prime Minister Tony Abbott in three years, when the next election is due.

"This ballot provides for the first time in a very long time not only a break with some of the past disunity, but indeed a very solid platform for the leadership of Labor and for the Labor parliamentary party to be able to offer a united alternative to the coalition," Shorten said at a news conference in Canberra.

The 46-year-old supported Gillard when she ousted Rudd in a party coup three years ago. He switched allegiance in June, publicly backing Rudd minutes before a party vote that restored him to the leadership.