CANBERRA, May 23 (Xinhua) -- The likely next leader of the Opposition Australian Labor Party (ALP) has promised to abandon the "class war" politics that proved costly in the general election.

Anthony Albanese, a member of the Labor's left-wing faction, is expected to be chosen as the leader of the ALP after his two biggest rivals for the job, fellow left member Tanya Plibersek and the right faction's Chris Bowen, announced they were pulling out of the ballot.

Speaking to News Corp Australia on Thursday, Albanese promised that under his leadership the party would return to a pro-growth economic policy and drop its anti-business rhetoric.

It comes only five days after the ALP lost a third consecutive general election despite leading the governing Liberal-National Party (LNP) coalition in every opinion poll.

Outgoing ALP leader Bill Shorten's class warfare tactics have been identified as a key reason that the party lost the election, according to the former Liberal Prime Minister John Howard.

"The language used was terrible ... unions and employers have a common interest. Successful businesses are a precondition for employing more workers, and that is obvious," Albanese said.

"The core of Labor's agenda has been job creation and we need to do that in the context of a global economy that is vulnerable and a changing domestic economy that is going through transition. We need to be able to explain how government can ensure change is in the interest of working people."