Faction Man

<h2><span style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(51 51 51 1)>The top job is within Bill Shorten's grasp. But who is he? How did he rise to become Labor leader? And does he have what it takes to beat Malcolm Turnbull and lead the country?</span></h2><p></p><p><span style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(51 51 51 1)>In this dramatic essay David Marr traces the hidden career of a Labor warrior. He shows how a brilliant recruiter and formidable campaigner mastered first the unions and then the party. Marr presents a man willing to deal with his enemies and shift his allegiances whose ambition to lead has been fixed since childhood.</span></p><p></p><p><span style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(51 51 51 1)>But does he stand for anything? Is Shorten a defender of Labor values in today's Australia or a shape-shifter driven entirely by politics? How does the union world he comes from shape the prime minister he might be? Marr reveals a man we hardly know: a virtuoso with numbers and a strategist of skill who Labor hopes will return the party to power.</span></p><p></p><p><span style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(51 51 51 1)>Australians distrust Shorten almost as much as they distrust Abbott. That's why this election will be fought on trust. It's going to be dirty. At the heart of the contest will be Shorten's character. All the way to polling day Australians will be invited to rake over every detail of his short life and hidden career. </span><strong style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(51 51 51 1)>David Marr <em>Faction Man</em></strong></p><p></p><p><span style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(51 51 51 1)>This issue contains correspondence relating to</span><em style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(51 51 51 1)> Blood Year</em><span style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(51 51 51 1)> by David Kilcullen from Hugh White Jim Molan Waleed Aly Paul McGeough Audrey Kurth Cronin Martin Chulov James Brown Clive Kessler and David Kilcullen.</span></p>