Some Labor MPs are mystified by what motivated a speech given by senior frontbencher Anthony Albanese which appeared to take aim at his leader Bill Shorten.

Key points: One Labor MP says Anthony Albanese's contribution is "utterly confusing"

One Labor MP says Anthony Albanese's contribution is "utterly confusing" Bill Shorten said he had "a very good chat with Anthony yesterday"

Bill Shorten said he had "a very good chat with Anthony yesterday" Most Labor MPs the ABC has spoken to agree Mr Shorten is doing a good job

On Thursday, Mr Albanese told a gathering of the Transport Workers' Union (TWU) in Fremantle the Turnbull Government's budget was an "overwhelming victory for the Australian Labor Party" and called on his colleagues to celebrate it.

What appeared to be relatively benign comments were widely interpreted in media reports as designed to create a contrast with his leader Mr Shorten, who declared the budget unfair and "devoid of values altogether".

One Labor MP said Mr Albanese's contribution was "utterly confusing".

But when asked about Mr Albanese's speech in Tasmania on Friday, Mr Shorten told reporters he had "a very good chat with Anthony yesterday" and both agreed the media stories were an "absolute exaggeration".

"Let's be candid, Labor four years ago was a bit of a mess, we've got our act together and I just want to put on record today my gratitude to all of my team," Mr Shorten said.

Mr Albanese went further, labelling the reports "fake news" and said his speech to the TWU had even been approved by his leader's office.

"It was perfectly consistent with what Bill said in his budget reply," he told Channel Nine.

However, Mr Albanese's speech, and the way it was handled, has raised some eyebrows, particularly given it was delivered a fortnight after he openly slammed an ALP video featuring a picture of Mr Shorten standing next to a group of mostly white Australians.

Mr Albanese, who lost the Labor leadership to Mr Shorten in 2013, consistently denies rumours he is agitating for the top job but the media stories keep coming.

'Compared to past, this is a dream'

One Labor source dismissed the latest rumblings, telling the ABC that until Mr Albanese "stops using water pistols — who cares?".

That same MP pointed out under the new Labor leadership rules, it would be almost impossible for anyone to get the required numbers to mount a challenge against Mr Shorten.

Ultimately, any challenge would need a trigger point — like a catastrophic event or a dramatic slide in opinion polls — and neither of those have so far eventuated.

Most Labor MPs the ABC spoke to agreed Mr Shorten is doing a good job and most predicted he will lead Labor to victory at the next election.

"Why would we want to change anything when Malcolm Turnbull and the Coalition Government are performing so abysmally?" one MP asked.

Another MP insisted Labor was a "very united caucus" and "compared to what it was like in the past, this is a dream".