By Kimberley Ramplin Monday 13 October 2014

Photo: No Labor leader has enjoyed the comfort Bill Shorten has. (AAP: Alan Porritt)

One year after Bill Shorten took over the Labor leadership, there is little consistency in the message from his team, and when they do spout the same line, it's drivel, writes Kimberley Ramplin.

Bill Shorten's first year as Leader of the Opposition has been a success, apparently. The polls have the ALP consistently ahead of the Government since Joe Hockey unleashed a raft of Budget measures so wholly unappealing to the electorate that there's something for everyone to hate.

But polls are about as useful a measure of Shorten's impact this year as the Wallabies' KPIs are to their recent on field performances. While Shorten is electable two goes away, can he really claim to have laid a glove on the Government?

If anything, the Coalition give themselves an uppercut almost daily, floating stupid ideas and surrounded by state Coalition governments mirroring the popularity of unlamented wall-to-wall Labor governments.

In an exclusive interview with Fairfax's Mark Kenny, Shorten won praise for the unity he has extracted from his parliamentary team over the past 12 months. But for the most part, this unity was delivered thanks to the rule changes Kevin Rudd ushered through in anticipation of the crushing loss Labor faced.

Shorten is basically 'Araldited' to squaring off against the Prime Minister at the dispatch box. No Labor leader has enjoyed the comfort Shorten has, knowing that it would be near impossible to roll them.

The other reform - allowing rank-and-file members (well, those who met financial and time requirements) to have a say in a leadership ballot - is a double-edged sword for Shorten, who didn't win the popular vote. Of course the parliamentary party is behind him. They're responsible for getting Bill over the line, and would look supremely stupid if they raised their hands within a year to admit a G.O.B-style huge mistake.

Perhaps the most disappointing aspect of Shorten's tenure to date is the absence of thoughtful analysis and policy positioning. My Facebook timeline is filled with MP 'friends' who love sharing an info graphic or eight daily, all seemingly off their own bat. There is little consistency in messaging, and when they do spout the same line, as some did last week, it's drivel.

No, I'm not going to send in my suggestions about what the ALP should do about the cost of living. You're head of a political party. Lead. You come up with the ideas and offer them to the voters.

It's also counter-intuitive to the strategy being used to clock Joe Hockey over the head. Soaring costs of living imply that something is wrong with the economy; that something must be done. Something-must-be-done-ism is the Government's shtick (unless that something relates to climate change).

Apparently we'll see the policy detail this year, but if Bill's best is the bastard child of 'Grocery Watch' as determined by six out of 10 people in a focus group, forget it.

This is a by-product of the unity so prized and praised. Caucus hums along to Shorten's tune, and it's either an instant no to Government policy or a mealy-mouthed yes.

Fremantle's Melissa Parke has spoken against the new orthodoxy, particularly on the odious national security legislation on which Shorten was quick to march in lock step with the Government. Now, all eyes are on He Who Would Have Been Opposition Leader, Anthony Albanese, his epiphany on national security following a drone strike on his inner-city Sydney electorate by Greens bearing pamphlets.

Parke and Albo aside, the dissenting opinion has all but disappeared from the public arena, which is not good for the party or its leader. There is nothing wrong with debate; a few rumblings about what the ALP stands for is not going to send the media or voters into a spin when village idiots like Jacqui Lambie and Cory Bernardi are there to do the job.

Albo's got everyone's knickers in a twist because it's the first time a shadow cabinet member has gone against the grain. Spare me. What's Shorten going to do? Sack him? Why bother. It not only runs contra to the unity narrative.

Albanese's playing a dangerous game of his own making. One of Albo's most endearing and useful qualities is authenticity. He failed to give voice to his misgivings when it mattered. Conviction politics works when you have a dose of backbone, not one you discover after the event.

Kimberley Ramplin is a freelance writer and strategic communications consultant. A former NSW ALP staffer, she is no longer affiliated with any political party. View her full profile here.

Shorten can't land a punch on a stumbling opponent - The Drum (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)