In a message to colleagues, Mr Shorten said his new chief of staff had the runs on the board to take on the job. Mr Milner has worked on 30 federal, state and local election campaigns over 25 years. "As state secretary from 2000-2004, Cameron oversaw the two biggest election victories ever for Labor in Queensland," Mr Shorten said. "Cameron is determined to help deliver a Shorten Labor government at the next election, which will be in less than 12 months." Mr Milner will be based in Canberra and begin within the next fortnight.

Labor sources said he consulted widely before his appointment with opposition MPs including prominent members of the Queensland Right Wayne Swan and Jim Chalmers, with whom he recently fell out with over a Senate preselection. One insider told Fairfax Media Mr Milner "made it clear he plans on making consultation with caucus and the shadow cabinet a key focus". The Labor source said his experience in the business community would also be crucial in contributing to the work shadow treasurer Chris Bowen has been doing in restoring links with that sector. Mr Milner's decades of campaign experience and consultative style pits in him direct contrast with Prime Minister Tony Abbott's chief of staff Peta Credlin, who is widely known within the Coalition for her authoritarian style. "We want a chief of staff who will keep an open door to Labor MPs and isn't someone you see in the news shots and the Financial Review's top 100 influential people list," one Labor MP said.

While Labor commands a solid lead in the polls, there is a view amongst politics watchers that Mr Shorten is benefiting from Mr Abbott's unpopularity. One figure said Mr Milner's track record would bring significant clout to the opposition's strategy as it gears up for election. Mr Milner served as state secretary in Queensland between 2000 and 2004. More recently he directed his lobby firm Milner Strategic Services & Next Level Holdings, which is co-owned by former Liberal staffer David Moore and is providing advice on the controversial Adani Carmichael coal project. A spokesman for Adani said they would continue working with Mr Milner's business partner. "Cameron Milner, together with his former business partner David Moore who remains our consultant, has consistently shown he instinctively understands complex regulatory issues and broader challenges faced by large businesses in Queensland and in Australia as they seek to bring job creating, export-generating projects to completion," the spokesman said. "We wish him well in his new role."