Labor sees policy work as key to poll wins

Labor says the result in the Bennelong by-election shows there are enough people willing to switch their votes that it has a chance at the next federal poll.

Labor and Bill Shorten have taken heart from Kristina Keneally's by-election performance. (AAP)

Labor is hopeful the lesson from Bennelong's by-election is that if it sticks to its hard work on policy it can convince enough Liberal voters to switch their allegiance at the next general election.

Senior opposition frontbencher Tony Burke says the next general election is hard but he's buoyed by the fact one in eight people who voted Liberal in Bennelong a year ago switched to Labor on Saturday.

"Certainly there are enough people willing to change their votes that with the right work and the right policy, we can get there," he told ABC TV on Sunday.