It was a strategy pioneered by Kevin Rudd, who took passive-aggressive delight in calling John Howard a "clever politician".

"Ms Hanson, you've been in politics now for 20 years and you know exactly what you're doing and the language you use and the power of your language," the Labor senator said. "It is the politics of fear and division and, Ms Hanson, you're incredibly good at it."

Then Dastyari made it personal. Did Hanson know that under her policies he would have been banned from migrating to Australia from Iran as a five-year-old?

A stunned Hanson responded by repeatedly asking Dastyari whether he was a Muslim.

"The mood turned tense and electric", fellow panellist Nick Xenophon says. "You could tell Sam was genuinely upset."

Dastyari says the encounter "blew me away".

"In all my time in politics I had never seen someone's view of me change instantly just because of my background."

Dastyari later clarified that he considers himself a "non-practising Muslim" (a fact included on the briefing notes sent out to panellists by Q&A before the program went to air). His parents were secular pro-democracy activists who fled Iran after being expelled from university.

"Faith is a personal and complicated matter," he says when asked why he didn't tell Hanson he was not a practising Muslim. "And I wanted the focus to be on her policies."

Dastyari is just 32 years old and has been in Parliament for only three years. Portfolios don't come any more junior than his – Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for School Education and Youth – yet he has become one of Labor's highest-profile politicians.

Monday night's Q&A was just his latest stroll into the spotlight.

From quoting Taylor Swift in speeches to the Senate, to steering the "Bill Bus" for seven weeks during the election campaign, to making videos on how to cook a Halal snack pack, Dastyari is everywhere.

His attention-seeking ways have led some colleagues to express concern he would "cut their grass" in their portfolio.

On the charge of being a shameless self promoter, he pleads guilty. "People say I'm a show pony who tries to get in the media. You bet!

"I don't shy away from the fact I'm putting on a show, I embrace it."

Dastyari, who some friends say has undiagnosed ADHD, has always lived life in fast forward.

He joined the Labor Party at 16, took over his first branch at 17 and was general secretary of the NSW Labor Party by 27.

Since coming to Canberra, Dastyari has defied the stereotype of the former machine man obsessed only with internal party machinations. As chair of the Senate economics committee, he has helped force multinational tax avoidance and poor behaviour by the banks into the centre of political debate.

"A lot of people see what he does as frivolous and gimmicky," says a frontbench colleague, "but he shouldn't be underestimated."

"The Senate has extraordinary powers but they had largely only ever been used for the public service," Dastyari says.

"What we did which was different was to use the powers to compel corporate interests – the chief executives of the big banks, mining companies, technology companies – to appear.

"That ruffled some sections of the business community who thought it was inappropriate."

Like a good scriptwriter or novelist, Dastyari knows the power of a plotline with victims, villains and heroes.

"Multinational tax can be dense and boring. But if you can get the CEO of Apple to explain he's never been to Ireland – where his company is supposedly based – that makes sense to people."

Jeff Morris, the Commonwealth Bank whistleblower, says: "It's risky to take on the banks.

"A lot of people had no idea how the banking issue would play out politically and he took the plunge.

"In a sense, he has taken the whole Labor party with him with the policy to have a royal commission into the banks."

Former NSW powerbroker Graham Richardson and Dastyari mentor says: "He's a star – he's done brilliantly.

"He's also young and has made mistakes."

Dastyari was slammed as "pathetic" and "pitiful" by one Labor colleague for agreeing to re-enact scenes from Labor's leadership wars for an ABC documentary. And Treasurer Joe Hockey accused him of leaking a draft copy of a Senate committee report into tax avoidance, saying it was a "very serious issue that goes to the heart of the integrity of the entire Senate".

"Sam needs to learn to control his energy levels," says one Labor frontbencher. "But he has a capacity to get noticed and in opposition you have to get noticed."

In the next term of Parliament Dastyari will have even more prominence, with Shorten expected to appoint him as Manager of Opposition Business in the Senate. This will see him take a lead role negotiating with the Senate crossbench – including Xenophon, Hanson, Jacqui Lambie and Derryn Hinch – over contentious legislation such as superannuation changes, family payment cuts and a plebiscite on same-sex marriage.

Richardson says he could see Dastyari transferring to the House of Representatives one day to take on an even more senior role.

"This guy can do big things," he says.

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