Catherine King has given her support to Anthony Albanese in the Labor Party leadership contest following Bill Shorten's resignation at the weekend.
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The Federal Member for Ballarat, who ruled herself out of any leadership aspirations on the day after the election, gave public backing for Mr Albanese just before lunchtime today (Wednesday May 22).
She described Mr Albanese as "a good friend, loyal colleague and someone who understands regional Australia. He always steps up no matter how tough the fight."
Mr Albanese briefly served as deputy prime minister of Australia under the second Kevin Rudd government in 2013.
He also served as Minister for Infrastructure and Transport from 2007 to 2013, as well as Minister for Regional Development and Local Government.
The other federal member in the leadership contest is Chris Bowen, the member for McMahon and the current shadow treasurer. He was briefly the interim leader of the Labor Party after its defeat in the federal election of 2013.
Mr Albanese is broadly considered on the left of the party, while Mr Bowen is viewed as a more to the right.
Ms King, who retained the seat of Ballarat with an increased majority following last Saturday's election, joins other senior figures in the Labor Party in backing Mr Albanese, including senator Penny Wong.
Mr Shorten, however, has reportedly been lobbying his parliamentary colleagues to support Mr Bowen's bid for the leadership role.
At the moment the contest is shaping up to be a two-horse race, although there is time for other candidates to put themselves forward.
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