Kill off the scripted robots: Shorten

Campaigning at a barbecue with party members in Hobart on a windy Saturday, MrShorten was taken to task for the "tightly scripted song sheets" and increasingly"presidential style" of the major political parties.

A Tasmanian man urged Mr Shorten to let shadow ministers and backbenchers speak their mind, even if that contradicts the party line, in order to broaden the party's appeal with the public.

Mr Shorten hinted at a potential shake-up of MPs' media management and communication strategies if he becomes opposition leader.

The party doesn't need robots, Australians want more authenticity, sincerity and optimism, Mr Shorten said.

"A team of individuals will always beat a team of robots, I get that," Mr Shorten said.

"We don't need scripted round-the-world lines, our Labor representatives should know what our general policy is and they should of course have a heart full of Labor values."

He said scripting everyone reduces the party to the "lowest common denominator."

"The truth always beats the nonsense," Mr Shorten said.

Mr Shorten said he was keen to encourage an ideas agenda.

Tasmanian Labor MPs should allowed to pursue a Tasmanian agenda, he said.

During his address Mr Shorten likened the Labor leadership to that of a coaching role.

Asked what three qualities he possessed that would make him a good coach Mr Shorten singled out his refusal to "take no for an answer," ability to "get people working on the same page" and his skills in vision creation.

Fellow leadership hopeful Anthony Albanese was in Hobart overnight wooing rank and file members at a pub event.

He returned to Sydney on Saturday and has no public events scheduled.

His spokesman said he was having a quiet long weekend and hitting the phones to talk to ALP members one-on-one.

The Labor leadership caucus and rank and file ballots will be finalised next week.

A result will be known on Sunday October 13.