Bill Shorten's ambition to be the next Labor prime minister requires the honouring of the last. It is the mark of our age that such a ritual has been awkward for quite some years now.

The last Labor PM, you might recall, was Kevin Rudd. How does a leader like Shorten – who played such a part in bringing down Rudd in 2010, and then in resurrecting him in 2013, only to see him take Labor to defeat within weeks – honour the fellow at his own big moment, the launch of Labor's 2016 official election campaign?

Malcolm Turnbull, you'd imagine, might have paid close attention. Turnbull, who will address his own official campaign launch next week, will be required to do some form of honour to his predecessor, Tony Abbott, who is a more recent PM than Kevin Rudd. Could Shorten show the way?