Opposition Leader Bill Shorten briefly suspended his election campaign to focus on what he reckons Australians would rather hear about after the devastating storms.
The rescue efforts of the State Emergency Services.
Mr Shorten cut short a campaign trip to Adelaide on Tuesday, choosing instead to fly to Sydney to inspect damage at the iconic Coogee Bay Surf Life Saving Club.
The club fell victim to Sydney's storm during which king tides ripped through its walls and left a tangled mess of twisted metal that was once a gym.
Four people were killed and three remain missing after storms and floods ravaged the ACT, NSW and Tasmania.
Mr Shorten pledged to stand behind the club as it rebuilds, while paying tribute to families who have lost loved ones.
"We've seen the terrible damage done," he told reporters in Coogee on Tuesday.
"In the worst of times, we see the best of Australians."
Coogee Surf Life Saving Club manager Tass Karozis said club members knew to abandon the building when windows started blowing in on Sunday.
"That was everyone's cue to leave," he told AAP.
Waves were crashing through windows up to the second level, he said.
"There's absolutely nothing you can do at that point."
The Labor leadership team were later briefed by NSW SES workers at the western Sydney regional headquarters.
Acting deputy commissioner Mark Morrow said there had been 10,500 calls for help since Saturday and 300 flood rescues - including 49 in a half-hour period on Sunday evening.
"At some point this is where you have to exercise commonsense," Mr Shorten said, after earlier warning Australians not to take risks around flooded waterways.
The opposition leader told the SES a lot of Australians were grateful for their service - most of which is volunteer.
"We all know there's an election on but in moments like this Australians, rightly, want to see support for what you're doing," Mr Shorten said.
But unlike his counterpart Malcolm Turnbull, the opposition leader did get in one campaign announcement before heading to damaged regions.
Mr Shorten started the day in South Australia, pledging to boost apprenticeships by ensuring one in 10 workers on federally-funded projects be training spots.
It comes with little new money, but Labor is expected to reveal more apprentice policies.
Mr Shorten toured Tafe SA, meeting apprentices and reassuring them Labor would back them in.
One of those, third-year apprentice Andrew Brinkworth, drives 160 kilometres every day to get to his workplace.
"It's just what you've got to do," he says.
"Apprenticeships are hard to get."
It took him nine months to find another apprenticeship after his first employer ran into financial troubles.
Mr Shorten will head to Brisbane where he'll hold a people's forum on Wednesday evening, despite Mr Turnbull declining the invitation.
