Labor Leader Bill Shorten has been praised for wowing voters with a 'genuine' performance on ABC's Q&A on Monday night.
The Opposition Leader has been slipping in recent polls, with his likability called into question on live television twice in two days, but his heartfelt responses to the audience during the show appeared to turn the tide for the would-be PM.
Mr Shorten discussed interest rates, childcare and a potential increase to the Newstart allowance, but perhaps his most gripping moment came when he was asked about his leadership style.
The Labor leader talked about his mum, who was the first in her family to attend university, and who had to give up her dreams of being a lawyer to take a teaching scholarship so she could care for her family.
He said his mother was 'brilliant' and never bitter about the lot she had been dealt in life.
'She worked here [Melbourne's Monash University] for 35 years. But I know if she had other opportunities, she could have done anything,' he said.
'I can't make it right for my mum. And she wouldn't want me to.
'But my point is this, what motivates me, if you really want to know who Bill Shorten is, I can't make it right for my mum but I can make it right for everyone else.'
When a young man named John asked Mr Shorten for a 'frank and candid answer' as to why he was so unpopular, he took the opportunity to show how Labor had learned from its mistakes with Kevin Rudd and Julia Gillard and become united.
'They said when I was the Opposition Leader against Abbott that he was unbeatable,' he said.
'I remember the headlines. Tony Abbott was going to be there for three terms. I outlasted him.
And Malcolm Turnbull, the Sun King... he's probably watching
