Labor leader Bill Shorten is criss-crossing the country trying to impress voters and present himself as a credible, viable alternative Prime Minister. After the first few weeks of the campaign, Shorten has announced a few well-received policies, been lauded as giving a pretty good performance in the first head-to-head forum with Malcolm Turnbull, and generally just made it hard for the government to land a decent punch on him so far.
Shorten has also installed himself as Daggy Dad In Chief, after a series of fun moments on the campaign trail where he found himself face-to-face with "the youth."
Out in Western Sydney last week, Shorten's cool credibility ticked up a few points after:
- a) knowing a little bit of lingo, and
- b) knowing how to do a cool guy handshake
If you missed it, here it is:
Shorten was also snapped keeping it real with another young hoodie-wearing guy on the street, telling him it was "nice to see you, bro," as he gave up another hip-hop-style handshake:
On Saturday, continuing his tour of Sydney's western suburbs, he visited Drummoyne where a helpful group of millennials gave him a lesson in the art of "dabbing," a cult dance move popularised by American hip-hop identities and sporting stars:
Of course, Shorten is not the first political candidate to try out the dab in 2016:
On Monday, Shorten was back at it again, this time in Melbourne. Chatting with some young people in Moonee Ponds, he was talking about education costs, and finished up with a "sweet, good on ya."
While Shorten himself seems to be having heaps of fun out on the trail -- and, at least, if nothing else, learning a bit about the youth of today -- he's copped a bit of flak too. Here, the Young Greens team (in very 2016 fashion) line him up with a powerful meme response: