Federal election 2016: Bill Shorten's speech to the National Press Club

Okay, that's it for me and Alex Ellinghausen.

I will see you on Thursday - this time accompanied by Andrew Meares - for Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull's speech to the National Press Club.

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Until then - only four sleeps to go!

Mr Shorten finished by saying he wanted to reject the accepted political wisdom that parties should use a small target strategy and offer no vision for the country.

"We want to break from the past and that is why we have been such a strong opposition."

"We will be a government for all Australians."

Not surprisingly Mr Shorten says "there is a world of difference between and Mr Turnbull".

Just because Mr Turnbull failed on the question of a republic "doesn't mean we have to".

He says that the unrest within the Liberal Party over the same-sex marriage plebiscite is the beginning of the party's civil war.

Mr Shorten is asked about the Medicare campaign.

He says he knows "some people are over us talking about Medicare".

"But the fact of the matter is if we don't defend Medicare, no one will."

Mr Shorten is asked about the rise in popularity of Nick Xenophon's party.

He can be "all things to all people because he'll never form government", Mr Shorten says.

"He's got that luxury of not having to keep his promises."

We turn to superannuation and the question of whether or not Labor would bank the savings from the Coalition's measures without confirming its support for the policy.

"Mr Turnbull brought down that policy on May 3 and we've been in a perpetual campaign ever since," Mr Shorten says when pressed.

He promised to talk to people about superannuation but says the changes should not be retrospective.

Mr Shorten is asked about trade agreements in a post Brexit world.

Mr Shorten says "a divided government cannot deliver certainty".

Mr Shorten says he agrees with trade agreements if "they benefit the many and not the few".

Mr Shorten is asked about hospital funding.

He does not answer it exactly but it gives him a chance to flick the switch to Medicare.

"I'm confident our four year agreement will deliver benefits," he says of Labor's health policy.

Mr Shorten finishes his speech and takes questions.

Mr Shorten says growing right wing sentiment around the world is a warning that "we must not leave people behind".

Australia must not be "a place where the strong do what they can and the weak suffer as they must".

"If we want to transition the economy we must take people with us."

"The best inoculation against division is inclusion."

Mr Shorten says Mr Turnbull's "mask has slipped" in reference to comments made earlier today that political parties often say one thing and do another.

(Mr Turnbull said earlier today: "What political parties say they will support and oppose at one time is not necessarily ultimately what they will do.")

Mr Shorten says the Coalition's promise of stability is a "fraud" because families will lose out.

"The worse thing we can do to the national budget is smash the family budget," he says.

People have stopped him in the street to say "don't give an inch" when it comes to Medicare, Mr Shorten says.

He moves on to Brexit saying it was a move neither he nor Mr Turnbull would have advocated but that, "on its own" it is no cause for alarm.

Mr Shorten says the policies offered by the Coalition would create the kind of social discontent that led to Britons voting to leave the European Union.

Mr Shorten says the first piece of legislation he would introduce into Parliament would be marriage equality legislation.

"No hateful, hurtful government funded advertising for us," he says.

Mr Shorten says he has always been attracted to consensus politics which is why he would "negotiate with the Parliament" on his policies if he wins.

"As Prime Minister I will not seek to manufacture a crisis where one does not exist," Mr Shorten says.

He adds that he would work with the opposition because he believes people want to see politicians working together.

"Australians aren't waiting on government," Mr Shorten says.

"People are already organising their lives for the future."

"We are setting our markers for the Australia of 2030."

Mr Shorten says he tries to treat everyone as "smart, engaged".

Now that he's a father he says he appreciates the concerns of parents in a way he didn't before.

He thanks his wife Chloe for the work she has done schooling him in understanding family violence.

Mr Shorten harks back to the "thousand public meetings" he has held since becoming leader back in 2013.

"Whatever the case, in the Labor Party and the labour movement we have always valued turning up and putting your piece," he says.

"When someone puts their hand up, you deal with them straight. You respect the effort to be there."

He segues into a nod to the media for its coverage of the campaign and "the breadth of your hindsight".

"I've learned a lot these past 1000 days," Mr Shorten says before reminding everyone that the eight week campaign "wasn't my idea".

And Mr Shorten is beginning his speech with an acknowledgement of the traditional owners and then a promise to deal seriously with Indigenous issues.