ANALYSIS: You might not like Shorten, but in the end it may not matter
Witness the transformation of John Howard on the GST from Mr Never Ever to steely advocate after he had finally won office but found himself without an agenda, and under pressure from the business community.If he wins, his relationships within his own government, and party, will change.
He has been an inordinately lucky politician in that he now benefits from a change in leadership protocols, formed in the wake of the leadership carnage of which he was a part, that make it hard to unseat him.He is also exceptionally lucky in the quality of his colleagues which old Labor hands regularly tout as the most talented frontbench since the early days of the Hawke-Keating government.
Mr Shorten has notably managed to keep his parliamentary party united, despite at least two people, Mark Butler and Anthony Albanese, wanting his job at various times. He has not shunned them but instead given Mr Butler one of the most politically important portfolios, climate change, and Mr Albanese the crucial infrastructure job.He chairs civilised and inclusive cabinet meetings.
This now comprises the parliamentary leaders: Mr Shorten, Tanya Plibersek, Penny Wong and Don Farrell, along with shadow treasurer Chris Bowen, House Leader Tony Burke and workplace shadow Brendan O'Connor. Nothing much goes to shadow cabinet that hasn't already been through the leadership group, and there have been a number of widely noted occasions when shadow cabinet has been stopped so that the leadership group could go off and decide where the discussion would land.
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