Bill Shorten has long been touted as a future leader by former Labor leaders such as Bob Hawke, Simon Crean and Kim Beazley.
When first elected opposition leader, he made it clear at a debate in Sydney he had a vision for the future as leader of the nation.
After becoming involved in the Labor Party at university, Mr Shorten worked as a lawyer at the firm Maurice Blackburn Cashman after finishing his studies.
He joined the union movement in 1994 when he began work at the Australian Workers Union as an organiser.
Mr Shorten rose through the ranks to become national secretary of the union from 2001 to 2007.
His public profile was boosted during the 2006 Beaconsfield mine disaster, when two miners were trapped a kilometre underground for two weeks.
Bill Shorten, as secretary of the union, became the unofficial spokesman for the families and the community.
The following year, he entered federal parliament, winning the safe Labor seat of Maribyrnong, (MAIR-ih-bihr-nong) in outer Melbourne.
He says he entered parliament because he understands the pressure many ordinary Australians are under and what they need for a successful, happy life.
Mr Shorten's political life is steeped in the backroom of the Labor factions.
He has been instrumental in the removal of two sitting Australian prime ministers.
He was one of the main powerbrokers behind the ousting of Prime Minister Kevin Rudd in 2010.
Three years later, he abandoned Prime Minister Julia Gillard to back Mr Rudd just before the 2013 election, explaining himself this way:
But as in all election campaigns, it appears the issue most critical to Australia's more than 12 million voters is the economy.
Both major parties have announced their intention to bring the budget back to the positive side of the ledger while expanding the economy.
The Opposition has unveiled more than 6 billion dollars in budget spending cuts.
It has also announced it would adopt some of the Coalition's proposed changes in higher-education funding and student-loan repayments if it wins power.
And it is those decisions that have caused some grief for the Opposition Leader.
The double-dissolution election was called because Labor promised never to accept many of those cuts.
The Independent senators, too, refused to support the measures, causing the Government to declare the parliament unworkable.
Bill Shorten says Labor has been forced to make difficult policy decisions, including changing its mind about the Coalition's cuts.
Many analysts believe Labor has little chance of picking up the 19 seats from the Coalition it needs to win on July the 2nd.
But the polls are tightening, and some believe there is a real possibility of Australia facing another hung parliament.*
However Labor, like the Coalition, has ruled out a power-sharing deal with the Greens or minor parties.
In such an eventuality, that could mean election-weary Australians facing another election almost as soon as the first one ends.
