A “lion” of the Australian labour movement, “the man who should have been prime minister” or “an absolute prick” – however you feel about him, there is no denying Bill Shorten’s massive impact on modern Australian politics.
Those epitaphs, from friends and foes, were offered to the Guardian following the news that after almost two decades as the member for Maribyrnong, Shorten would be exiting federal politics to take up the role of vice-chancellor at the University of Canberra in February.
