Shorten swoops on voters in Magpies scarf

Bill Shorten slung a black and white scarf around his neck and disappeared into a sea of football fans.

There is no more polarising fashion statement on Anzac Day at the MCG.

Essendon diehards were not particularly thrilled with the opposition leader's choice of Collingwood Football Club colours.

Shorten had little choice but to grin and bear it as he ran the gauntlet from his car to the entrance gate.

And while he copped dozens of sledges for his monochrome kit, it didn't stop Bombers faithful shaking his hand or stopping for selfies.

The Labor leader will be hoping for a similar reception come May 18, when the Magpies fan offers Australian voters a suite of polarising taxation plans.

He spent most of the week in fairly safe election campaign territory, spruiking various wages policies at work sites across regional Queensland.

But his willingness to wear unpopular plans on his sleeve came slightly unstuck after his chat to a coal miner earning $250,000.

Shorten told the Gladstone bloke he would look at tax cuts for people pocketing that much coin.

His later explanation that he would consider such tax relief in a few years - maybe - didn't quite cut it.

In a week dominated by visits to wharves and factory floors, Shorten's day out to Luna Park presented some off-kilter hazards.

He dutifully avoided the dodgem cars, aware of how pictures of him hooning around crashing into children would look on the nightly news.

But taking a turn on the carousel quickly came back to bite.

Watching with glee from afar, a grinning prime minister accused his opposite number of being stuck on a cost merry-go round.

As the school holidays end and the rollercoaster election kicks back into gear, high visibility gear and a Collingwood scarf seem to be the safer option than fairground rides.