Four months out from a likely election day, the Australian Labor Party is sitting pretty. The polls have Labor commandingly ahead of the Coalition, and even Bill Shorten’s great unpopularity isn’t lead in Labor’s saddlebags.

The opposition leader is confident of victory, hubristically so. Having built his policy platform over two terms, Mr Shorten is taking to the election the biggest opposition manifesto since John Hewson lost the unlosable election in 1993.