Q&A recap: Bill Shorten on Labor’s plan, Malcolm Turnbull, Tony Abbott and TURC

AFTER a night of wall-to-wall Malcolm Turnbull coverage, Opposition Leader Bill Shorten’s appearance on Q&A had a bit to live up to.

AFTER a night of back-to-back-to-back Malcolm Turnbull on the ABC, it was always going to be hard for Opposition Leader Bill Shorten to shine.

But by the end of Q&A, he did manage some sparkle. Yep, Mr Shorten actually managed to say something interesting.

Ever since Malcolm Turnbull ousted Tony Abbott as Liberal Party leader and prime minister, the opinion polls have shown Mr Shorten’s popularity dropping. A Newspoll out this morning has Mr Turnbull leading 55-21 as preferred prime minister, the Australian reports.

Labor knows now that it has its work cut out for it to win the next election.

Sensing the change in tide, Mr Shorten tried to capitalise on the national mood by saying what the opinions polls have indicated for some time: most Australians are tired of politics.

When asked if he thought his job was now made harder with Mr Turnbull as PM, Mr Shorten replied: “I think it’s a good thing for this country that Tony Abbott is no longer Prime Minister of Australia.

“Of course I would have liked to have been the one to have replaced Tony Abbott because whoever did replace Tony Abbott was going to get a boost in the polls as they say.

“But what I am looking forward to is a change not in the personalities of who the Liberal leaders are, but a change in the way we do politics in this country.”

His response was met with rapturous applause.

But then he faced a barrage of questions that sent some people on Twitter to sleep.

Initially Mr Shorten was forced to defend his own role in the Rudd-Gillard-Rudd coups and whether he felt his integrity had been damaged.

He then faced a series of “unanswered” questions about the Trade Union Royal Commission and his specific role over a 2004 workplace agreement with employer Clean Event.

Allegations were made that Mr Shorten appeared to negotiate below-Award payments for low-paid cleaners and a cut in conditions compared to an earlier agreement.

When pressed by host Tony Jones if a “deal had been struck” Mr Shorten replied no.

The barrage of questions continued for roughly half an hour, prompting Mr Shorten to deliver his long practised answers.

The monologues also prompted this reaction on Twitter.

How long before Shorten sends audience to sleep with his monologues? #qanda

— Kwazi (@kwazikat) September 21, 2015

Bill Shorten to put Bill Shortern to sleep #qanda

— Will Spence (@willspence_) September 21, 2015

Some were also calling out for some of his trademark “zingers”.

Disappointed not to see the word 'zinger' on screen behind Bill Shorten, but he hasn't had any good ones yet! #qanda

— Matt Akersten (@MattAkersten) September 21, 2015

Bill Shorten has gone all ZINGER-free #qanda

— d.b. valentine (@dbvalentine) September 21, 2015

There was also this earlier.

The audience are clapping because @billshortenmp finished his answer. #qanda

— ABC News Intern (@ABCnewsIntern) September 21, 2015

But by the end of the night the Labor leader managed to win some of the public back when he launched into his party’s vision for the future.

He was able to deliver Labor’s message much clearer than the Prime Minister, who mostly waffled during his appearance on 7.30 earlier.

He told the audience that there should be safeguards for worker under the proposed China/Australia Free Trade Agreement, that Labor wanted to restore funding to TAFE, that his party was committed to addressing domestic violence and ensuring equality for women.

He also said Labor wanted to pump money back into infrastructure programs in the states and territories, restore funding to universities to prevent them from raising fees and commit three pre cent of GDP to science and research.

“I also believe that we need to be a science-based nation,” he told the audience. “In my Budget reply speech, I said that as a nation that we should commit to three per cent of our GDP being spent on science and research.

“Science, education and infrastructure. I also believe fundamentally in fairness.

“Let’s talk about inequality, it doesn’t always get the coverage it should.

“Australian statistics show that we are at the most (inequal) we have been in 75 years.”

He said the ways Labor would deal with inequality would be to ensure a proper healthcare system, to aim for half of all MPs by 2025 be women and to tackle domestic violence.

.@billshortenmp lists 5 things that should change to take advantage of the opportunities in the new economy #QandA http://t.co/M24nT2AhKM

— ABC Q&A (@QandA) September 21, 2015