A Newspoll published in The Australian newspaper yesterday showed just 15 per cent of respondents favoured Mr Shorten as prime minister, compared with 64 per cent for Malcolm Turnbull.

The slump put Mr Shorten precariously close to the 14 per cent figure that signalled the end of former opposition leader Simon Crean’s time as head of the Labor Party in 2004, and inevitably raises questions about who should lead the party to the next election, due in 2016.

The reality, though, is that changing leaders at this stage is only likely to impact on the final margin at the election with Mr Turnbull in a seemingly unassailable position.

And it might be easier said than done to find a new leader – say, Anthony Albanese or Chris Bowen – willing to cop a hiding in 2016 with the hope of recording a better result a further three years down the track.

But local Labor supporters must also be worried about the impact of such damning polls on Calare voters.

Despite plenty of criticism of his performance leading into the 2013 poll, incumbent National John Cobb actually increased his margin over the Labor Party, represented by Bathurst councillor Jess Jennings.

At the time, the result was blamed on the public’s dissatisfaction with the Rudd-Gillard-Rudd government but, more than two years on, federal Labor seems to be doing little to win back that support.

It would be a disaster for Labor in Calare if the party’s woes at a federal level again saw them lose more ground locally at the next election.

If that happens, then Labor can probably write off its chances of winning this seat for the next 20 years, at least, given the ground they would have to make up. Just a decade ago that would have been inconceivable.