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Did You Know Bill Shorten Has A Twin Brother?

'Of all the categories of twin, I think "secret" is the most unsettling.'
Bill Shorten and his brother, Robert, in 2013.
Twitter/Bill Shorten
Bill Shorten and his brother, Robert, in 2013.

You may not know this, but Labor leader Bill Shorten has a twin brother.

Bear with us.

On Sunday, I received a message from a well-placed source (my dad). He wanted to alert me to something he'd just discovered.

Facebook

I already knew this, but filed it away as a potential story idea for the future.

Then on Monday night, writer and broadcaster Marieke Hardy shared the same revelation.

And it freaked people out

@mariekehardy I had to google to see it was true and.... pic.twitter.com/nWzNZcpXZL

— Marko Milinkovic (@AusLoafer) May 30, 2016

But it's true. Bill Shorten has a twin brother, Robert. Bill and Bob, the Shorten twins. But, contrary to my dad's conspiracy theory about body doubles, the brothers are not identical, but rather fraternal (i.e. non-identical) twins.

To be fair, he's not exactly a "secret" twin. Information about Robert Shorten is somewhat scarce, compared to his Opposition Leader brother, but he has garnered fleeting mentions in reports on Bill over the years.

"The twins were named after their late father, William Robert Shorten," reported a Sydney Morning Herald profile in 2009. He was said to be a financial consultant, while Fairfax Media said Robert "doesn't live a politician's hard life, looks a little older, as well as being taller and darker" than his brother.

Robert founded his own corporate advisory firm in Melbourne in 2006.

"During his career, Rob has advised on more than 30 transactions with an aggregate value exceeding A$16 billion," the profile on his website states.

But the million dollar question is, what does Bill Shorten's twin brother look like? Robert keeps a low profile, but here's one Bill himself posted on Twitter in 2013:

That's Rob right behind the boy in the jacket and tie, next to the girl in red.

Twitter/Bill Shorten

We also managed to find another one, from the profile page on the website of his firm. Here's the side-by-side comparison:

Orion Corporate Advisory Services/Australian Labor Party

So, there you are. Bill Shorten has a twin brother. Although some aren't convinced:

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