The opposition leader Bill Shorten is set to appear in a photographic spread in the April edition of The Australian Women’s Weekly out this Thursday. Shorten appears with his wife Chloe and three children all in casual attire, Fairfax has reported.

Hopefully, this shoot will go down a little better than when Shorten’s predecessor, the then Prime Minister Julia Gillard, appeared in the magazine knitting to a hail of criticism.

And Shorten’s Weekly appearance couldn’t come out at better time. His party may be neck and neck in the polls, however his own popularity is on the wane. Numerous polls have shown voters far prefer Malcolm Turnbull as PM and even Labor voters would prefer Tanya Plibersek as leader.

It’s clear party bosses want to distance Shorten from his high-vis wearing union man roots and transform him to family man and leader of the nation.

For its Women’s Weekly shoot, the entire family appear dressed in affordable casual clothes – Bill himself in jeans and blue shirt. Labor power brokers clearly not wanting a repeat of last year’s election fiasco where it was revealed Shorten had paid $60,000 for styling advice.