He described the embattled Mr Shorten’s leadership role as “safe as houses”.

Dr Jennings said the recent Labor conference clearly demonstrated that.

“Bill Shorten’s profile is growing slowly but surely,” he said.

Dr Jennings said Bill Shorten had taken on the toughest job in politics.

He said having a lot of different opinions of Mr Shorten’s leadership put forward at the conference was a very good thing. 

“Having an entire party saying there is only one way to view an issue is a bad thing,” Dr Jennings said. “Labor is about looking after the majority of people it serves so having robust debate is a good thing.”

Speaking about some of the issues that were focused on during the conference, Dr Jennings said at the end of the day Labor was more or less approving of marriage equality.

“The ball is in the Coalition’s court,” Dr Jennings said. “However, if Tony Abbott had wanted it, he would have done it by now.”

Another issue that received a lot of media attention during the conference was the ALP’s immigration stance.

Dr Jennings said there was one major point of difference regarding this issue.

“Very clearly Labor has never and will never demonise refugees for political gain, which is what the government is trying to do,” he said.

“We made a decision regarding a humane and safe strategy. We also made a commitment to double the refugee intake which is a big part of that difference. In the end it was an extremely difficult decision. 

“How would you feel if people were drowning under a policy you implemented. You would feel personally responsible.”

Dr Jennings said Labor’s renewable energy targets were fantastic and he was looking forward to Australia joining the rest of the world in terms of renewable energy under Labor.

He added there would be benefits to Calare such as the development of Flyer’s Creek Wind Farm which will bring plenty of employment opportunities.

“They have zero confidence to proceed with their wind farm under the Abbott government.”