Final pitch mail-out for Labor leadership ENVELOPES bursting with claims of empowerment, experience and unity will start popping through the post boxes of Labor members across Australia as it comes to crunch time to decide the party's parliamentary leader. Grassroots ALP members will be sent ballot papers on Tuesday, accompanied by statements from the two candidates Bill Shorten and Anthony Albanese. "I've devoted my life to serve the Labor party and the nation," Mr Albanese writes in his statement, citing his lengthy political experience and time in both government and opposition. Mr Albanese, the party's most recent deputy leader, acknowledges his friend and opponent. But there is no such gesture by Mr Shorten, who instead said if successful he will support Sydney MP Tanya Plibersek as his second in charge. In the latest of some 20 community events across the nation where he's been spruiking his value as leader, former union boss Mr Shorten said he wants to lead Labor to victory at the next election and go on to be remembered as an empowering prime minister. I do not need to be the smartest person in the room. I do not need to have the loudest voice or have been in parliament the longest or be the best parliamentary debater," Mr Shorten told a gathering at the Australian National University on Monday. I want to be a leader, who through my actions, helps with the Labor team and movement unlock the innate potential that exists within every Australian. In his statement he writes that he has energy and optimism and will "be around for the long haul." Raised by a single mother in Sydney, Mr Albanese credits Labor initiatives for enabling his access to education and wants to continue delivering the big reforms for which Labor has become known. The two men will square off at a leaders' debate in Sydney on Tuesday, with a similar event planned in Melbourne on Friday. More than 43,000 Labor members across Australia are eligible to vote in the leadership ballot, which will be equally weighted with a poll of federal caucus members on October 10.