Diners served gold flakes on dessert at Bill Shorten’s inequality luncheon, by Jason Murphy.

SOMETIMES the irony of a situation is too much to bear. As Bill Shorten delivered a rousing speech on inequality at a luncheon on Friday, the assembled audience were being delivered desserts topped with gold.

The Opposition Leader’s speech, delivered in a ballroom in the Grand Hyatt Hotel to mostly well-off academics, public servants and media, marked a shift in emphasis for the Labor party – ranking the rich and poor equal first. The assembled crowd listened attentively as they spooned up the chocolate tart with salty caramel mousse and toasted hazelnuts, accompanied by gold leaf.

Bill Shorten made it clear the Labor party he leads will prioritse inequality before the next federal election.

“The system as it stands is accelerating inequality rather than addressing it. It is entrenching unfairness rather than alleviating it. A belligerent defence of trickle down economics is no kind of plan for Australia’s future,” Mr Shorten said.

Inequality is up by many measures. … The share of incomes going to workers has fallen sharply [in the past two decades]. …

(For the record, it’s not clear if Bill Shorten himself ate any of the cake with gold.)

hat-tip Philip Barton