A campaign lesson for progressive leadership in Australia

De Blasio said he wanted the city, not the state, to set the local minimum wage and to raise it from $7.25 an hour. While Lhota wouldn't saying it would hurt business.

De Blasio wanted to expand coverage of paid sick days for workers. Lhota, mindful of business community opposition, would not.

After winning the election in a landslide de Blasio stated: "Make no mistake, the people of this city have chosen a progressive path." He has already stuck to his word on most of the policies above.

De Blasio exudes empathy for those who struggle to pay the rent or put their children through college. He came from a broken family - his father walked out on his mother and later shot himself rather than die of cancer.

Since coming into power it hasn't been any easy ride. He and his allies have been attacked. However, instead of distancing himself from political allies like we have witnessed time and again by leaders of the left in Australia. De Blasio has not. For example, political ally and leading civil rights leader in the U.S Al Sharpton is often the center of hate-filled criticism in the media. De Blasio recently made his support clear: "Al Sharpton has been a blessing for this city. The more people criticize him, the more I want to hang out with him."

De Blasio doesn't distance his association from unions either. 60 percentof the 350,000 New York City employees that former mayor Michael Bloomberg left to work under expired contract deals between their unions and the city reached new agreements, thanks to successful negotiations between the de Blasio administration and seven labor unions. All within six months of taking office. The deals have been praised by independent monitors like the city and state comptrollers' offices(the respective governments' Chief Financial Officers), the fiscally conservative Citizens Budget Commission and several bond rating agencies.

Union chief Michael Mulgrew who couldn't get a contract signed for his members for the five years during the previous mayor's time – stood next to de Blasio in announcing a new contract and said he couldn't "thank the mayor enough."

This doesn't mean he hasn't stood up when he believed the time called for it. This has been evident during his public battles with the powerful police union.

The mayor has inspired others. A host of progressives are now following the mayor. Their agenda: Seeking to increase the minimum wage, enact fairer campaign financing laws, and legislate a Women's Equality Act to ensure women get paid the same as men.

They have been inspired by de Blasio's success and have a unified message: The playing field has been geared for the rich to succeed at the expense of everyone else.

The lesson for progressive leaders in Australia: when you target the unfair wealth of the top 1% it resonates powerfully with the other 99%. When a leader in Australia on the left with support from a major party, who has intelligence, conviction and the guts to say what the rest of us are thinking - a landslide is there for the taking.