But in Townsville on Saturday, Mr Shorten sought to reframe the Brexit result as a reason to punt a divided Coalition. Opposition Leader Bill Shorten during a morning run with Labor supporters in Townsville on Saturday. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen "I've seen first-hand what disunity can do to a government, and I know that Australians should not take the risk of re-electing a Liberal government," he said. "The lesson for me in Brexit is you have a disunited, divided, conservative government, you will get uncertain economic outcomes. "David Cameron never wanted to have this referendum. But he couldn't even lead his own party to that conclusion. What we saw there was David Cameron hostage to the right wing of his political party, compromising his own beliefs, providing weak leadership - sounds familiar, doesn't it?"

Mr Shorten's renewed focus on Liberal disunity came as Fairfax Media revealed a secret push in the Coalition party room to hobble any positive public vote in favour of same-sex marriage by allowing conservative MPs and senators to vote against the reform if their individual electorates had voted in a majority for "no". Opposition Leader Bill Shorten says Malcolm Turnbull is a weak man beholden to the right wing of his party. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen Mr Shorten sharpened his personal attack on Mr Turnbull, describing him as "weak" and vulnerable to post-election disunity by forces loyal to former prime minister Tony Abbott. "He is a weak man beholden to the right wing of his party. I think the major lesson of the Brexit outcome in the UK is the need to elect a government that can deliver stability and deliver unity," he said. "One thing we can be sure about is that the temporary suspension of hostilities between the Abbott wing and the Turnbull wing of the Liberal Party will be back out on full display in the days after July 3."

Mr Shorten rejected suggestions that he had lost the argument over corporate tax cuts because they would provide much-needed economic stimulus during the current instability across global markets. He also said Labor can win next Saturday's election, citing Medicare, company tax relief and the NBN as issues that were "biting" in the electorate in favour of the ALP. Shortly after Mr Turnbull left the Townsville Convention Centre with Herbert candidate Cathy O'Toole, the current Herbert MP Ewen Jones, a Liberal, arrived. He rejected Mr Shorten's assessment of the dynamics within the Liberals. "We're 100 per cent behind Malcolm Turnbull, I think one thing Malcolm has been able to do is find that fantastic centre space. What you do in politics and what you do when you're trying to bring a community together is you govern from the centre," he said.

He accused Mr Shorten of damaging the political process through his "lies" about Coalition plans to privatise Medicare. "That's how you end up with an American political system. A system that is so far Right, that is so far Left that it isn't funny." Follow us on Twitter