Bill Shorten has wrangled a baby saltwater crocodile on a visit to a remote Northern Territory community.
Sporting an Akubra hat, the opposition leader made a campaign pit stop in Maningrida, in west Arnhem Land, 500km east of Darwin.
Posing for photos, he joked about accidentally dropping the scaly critter on the accompanying media pack.
"The only problem is if I let go of a big one and threw it on to you guys I think people might not conclude it was an accident," he said.
His croc was about 20cm long but will grow to up to 4m on a diet of buffalo meat.
Mr Shorten patted the reptile gently on the back and swiftly ruled out taking it home as a pet for his children.
He described meeting local indigenous rangers as one of the highlights of his election campaign.
Among their key roles is managing the crocodile population and collecting eggs for hatching to supply more crocs to NT farms.
"The whole country needs to know what you're doing," Mr Shorten told the rangers.
Labor, if it wins the election, plans to double the number of indigenous rangers to 1550 nationally at a cost of $200 million over five years.
The rangers also carry out bushfire management, weed and feral animal eradication, monitor illegal fishing and rescue wildlife caught up in "ghost fishing nets" from Indonesia. Some protect sacred cultural sites.
Rangers from nearby Crocodile Island keep an eye on the coral reef for signs of bleaching from climate change.
There's also a separate crew of female rangers who test water quality, conduct bio-security work and turtle and bird monitoring.
Senior Ranger Dean Yibarbuk told AAP it was one of the best jobs in the community.
"Having a job on country makes them very proud," he said.
Ricky Archer who manages the program in Maningrida said the work helped the rangers fulfil cultural obligations to protect the land, sea, animals and plants.
"It's not just a job, it's their whole lives," he said.
Ivan Namarnyilk has been a ranger for 10 years and says it's an excellent way to learn new skills.
"I love this job, caring for country," he told AAP.
Communities who have a ranger program say it helps to keep people healthy, reduces crime and prison rates and lifts people out of poverty.
Mr Shorten said while the election often focused on city-centric issues, Australia was much bigger and the voice of indigenous people needed to be heard.
He lamented that much indigenous affairs coverage was negative, but the ranger program was a proud success story.
"On country you are the best custodians of our national estate," he said.
"You might not see yourselves as role models but you are."
The Labor leader stopped in at the Maningrida arts and culture centre and bought a hand-woven yellow basket for his wife Chloe after chatting to some artists.
"I had to buy something to explain to the family why I've been away," he said.
Maningrida falls within the NT marginal seat of Lingiari held on a knife-edge margin of less than 1 per cent by Labor's Warren Snowdon.
Mr Shorten was to fly to Melbourne later on Friday.
