Nighty night
Well folks it’s been great but it’s also enough for now. If you are hanging on every word of the campaign, don’t forget to watch Bill Shorten on the 7.30 Report tonight. Our own Mike Bowers is also on Kitchen Cabinet on the ABC later on this evening.
Let’s assess the sum of today’s parts.
- It was a blergh muck day: leaflets, scares and counter scares, bucket jobs – every variety of low road got an outing at some point today, the day perhaps reaching its zenith when the justice minister Michael Keenan bucketed a Labor candidate but refused to speak to said candidate when she rung in to one of his radio interviews bucketing her seeking a right of reply.
- Malcolm Turnbull concentrated his efforts on Victoria, specifically Corangamite, before tracking further south. Bill Shorten concentrated his efforts on Adelaide and harvesting some of the protest vote currently flowing Nick Xenophon’s way before flying north. The current mantra is leave no stone unturned.
Helen Davidson will be back early tomorrow morning, and I’ll be joining you after I’ve been on the Radio National politics panel with Fran Kelly after 8am. Til we meet again, go well.
Peta Credlin says Tony Abbott has caused Malcolm Turnbull not one scintilla of grief in this campaign
A couple of other pieces to bring to your attention from colleagues. Calla Wahlquist looks at the contest in Tasmania. “Ten days out from the 2 July poll, the Coalition is predicted to lose anywhere between one and three of the three northern Tasmanian seats it won with a 9.4% statewide swing in 2013.”
My colleague Paul Karp looks at the looming marriage equality plebiscite, in the event the Coalition is returned on July 2. Leadership is required to prevent the people’s vote descending into something more ugly, Paul says. “That’s what we need now. Not hope that the plebiscite campaign will be civil, in the face of obvious evidence to the contrary. But leadership to condemn homophobia wherever it rears its head, not just around one’s own dinner table but in one’s own political party and around the country.”
While I’m posting, Tony Abbott’s former chief of staff, Peta Credlin is on Sky News saying her former boss has been much kinder to Malcolm Turnbull in this campaign than he ever was to Abbott. Credlin says Abbott has caused Turnbull not one scintilla of grief in this campaign. Peace, love, and harmony.
More leaflets. A contributed report from Lucy Johnson. Flyers accusing the Greens and Labor of promoting “extreme sex education” by backing the Safe Schools initiative aimed at reducing homophobic bullying have been distributed by a conservative activist to homes across Victoria’s marginal electorates. Patrick Shea, an Inverloch resident, has claimed responsibility for authorising the flyer’s distribution and said he stands by its claims. “I have been involved with Australian Family Association and [conservative Christian lobby group] National Civic Council for a long time. We have people who do research and lobbying and so forth and they put the flyer together and made sure it was accurate so I was happy to sign off on it,” Shea said.
Live blogging in a time of flux
As well as my job here at Guardian Australia, I also contribute a quarterly piece to Meanjin, which is one of my favourite Australian publications. An essay I contributed about reporting this election campaign has just escaped the pay wall this afternoon. It’s a piece about this project, Politics Live, and how I approach it, and it’s also about election campaigns being linear events in my life, and it’s about this election campaign being the first break with the old certainties. This is the first campaign I can remember where I have no certainty about what journalism will be like by the time the next one rolls around.
Here’s my conclusion.
Structural change has stolen these temporal certainties. We’ve entered a state of constant flux, and we’ve cleaved into camps. Some of us are powered by nostalgia, eking out what’s left of the glory days of industrial journalism crouching from the wind, in some protected zone, holed up in some cosseted folly, belching faux gravitas. Others are possessed by a foraging instinct—pushing out full tilt into the gale, shapeshifters and entrepreneurs and iconoclasts, improvising madly.
As this election rolls round, I’m conscious of a new experience. I really can’t predict what journalism will be like three years from now. I don’t know when the next signpost rolls around, whether I’ll be fighting still, whether my current fight and the good fight going on in newsrooms around the world will take us any closer, collectively, to a place of safety and flourishing, or whether this will be a burst of activity signifying not very much, a fireworks display honouring a dying ritual.
But for now, I know this much. When we step up to cover a campaign, integrity is the only certainty we have. And it remains the only thing that matters.
If you’d like to read the whole piece, you can find it here.
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Back to Michael Keenan and Anne Aly: just a self-evident statement – things must be bad for the government in the west to launch such a sortie. What’s the textbook definition of low rent? Unleash the hounds, and then lack the conviction to actually go toe to toe.
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Two international developments are slightly distracting today. I’ve been transfixed by a bunch of Democrats staging a sit-in in the US to try and force a vote on guns, and the polls have just opened in the United Kingdom for the Brexit deliberations. Could be a wild 24 hours. Who knows, we’ll just have to wait and see.
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Over on my Facebook forum reader Nick Storr has chimed in on the subject of the Nationals registering Rob Oakeshott’s domain name – the development my colleague Amanda Meade brought to our attention a couple of posts back.
Take it away Nick Storr:
Just skimming the liveblog and noticed your post about the Nats registering roboakeshott.com.au. IIRC that’s against the rules set out by the regulatory body for .au domains, which state: “2. Domain names in the com.au 2LD must be:
a) an exact match, abbreviation or acronym of the registrant’s name or trademark; or
b) otherwise closely and substantially connected to the registrant, in accordance with the categories of “close and substantial connection” set out in the Guidelines on the Interpretation of Policy Rules for the Open 2LDs”
https://www.auda.org.au/.../index-of.../2012/2012-04/
As far as I’m aware there’s no penalty applicable (beyond the risk having the domain licence revoked), so it’ll cause no real harm to the National party. But it is interesting to note they’re happy to break rules for cheap political shenanigans.
Talk to the hand, Anne Aly
There’s been a theme today of fear and smear both at the national level and locally. I’ve dropped in a couple of times on a fight in the WA seat of Cowan today – the justice minister Michael Keenan making claims about Labor’s candidate in Cowan, the anti-radicalisation expert Anne Aly.
Here’s an exchange from a radio interview Keenan has done in Perth today. The Labor candidate called in to ask for a right of reply. Keenan wouldn’t speak to her. Fair to say this didn’t go very well.
Here’s the relevant section of the interview.
Q: Dr Anne Aly is on the other line would you be interested in discussing this with her on air? Because you weren’t keen to do so before.
KEENAN: Well look I’m very happy to debate my opposition counterpart who is David Feeney and I’ve been trying to debate him…
Q: But not the person to whom you’ve made this allegation.
KEENAN: Well look it’s very unusual for a government minister to debate a Labor candidate Geoff as you’re well aware. I’m very happy to…
Q: What do you mean by that? What do you mean by that?
KEENAN: I’m very happy to debate David Feeney who is my opposite number within the opposition about this and if you could facilitate that I would be very happy to do that
Q: But Michael you also know that this is the allegation you’re making against Dr Aly, she wants to defend it and you won’t debate her on it. It does rather look as if you’re seeking to control the nature of the discussion and I just wondered whether people weren’t entitled to be aware of that.
KEENAN: Well it doesn’t Geoff as you’re well aware it would be very unusual for a government minister to debate a Labor candidate…
Q: She’s here and waiting you can talk to her now…
KEENAN: …I’m, I’m very happy to debate my opposite number who happens to be David Feeney in fact we were due to have a debate in Canberra today but he cancelled. Now if you would like to facilitate that I would be very interested to know, for example, whether Mr Feeney supports the thoughts of the views of their candidate for Cowan.
Q: There is one thing that I would like to ask you before we finish up and that is, you would also be aware that Dr Aly has been targeted in an anti-Islam social media campaigning, nothing to do with your party or the government, but I’ve got a post in front of me which depicts Dr Aly’s face on to a picture of a gun-toting, Quran waving, ISIS fighter saying she’s not the best choice for Cowan so vote for someone else, I’m just wondering: as the federal justice minister and the minister assisting the prime minister for counter-terrorism, is this, is this a slightly dangerous game to be playing?
KEENAN: Well I don’t think it’s dangerous to point out the fact that the Labor party has candidates that don’t support their stated position on national security laws. That would actually be a very standard thing for political parties to do during an election. Um, the question is whether the Labor party’s candidates supports the sorts of things the Labor Party says that they support, now clearly in the case of their candidate for Cowan, that is not the case.
Q: But would you also acknowledge too that your government has provided considerable support for Dr Anne Aly and the work that she does?
KEENAN: But as I said Geoff we funded an organisation that she has something to do with, to run an early intervention program we certainly have not funded her to provide letters of support for known hate preachers and for people who are convicted criminals.
Q: This is the end of our discussion. I’m sorry you can’t continue it with Dr Anne Aly but for now, thank you for your time.
KEENAN: Well as I said Geoff I’m very happy to debate my opposite number any time you can get him on the program…
Q: I really don’t think that is particularly relevant at this time, with respect Michael Keenan is the federal justice minister, Dr Anne Aly is Labor’s Cowan candidate. Dr Aly, good morning to you….
ALY: Good morning Geoff.
Q: What do you make of what you’ve just heard?
ALY: Oh well I think it’s all a bit bizarre that a government that has supported my program, has supported a non-government organisation that I more than just a little something to do with, I was the founding chair of that organisation, a government that has in parliament, there in Hansard, applauded the work that I do, their minister applauding the work that I do, a government where I have worked with backbencher and frontbencher, MP, on the work that I do, and that suddenly now at the pointy end of an election the minister for justice turns around and tried this pretty despicable smear campaign. I think it debases the whole election and I think it debases his role as the minister.
A couple of Instagram views of the campaign from photographers out on the hustings today.
Speaking as we were of political independents, let’s glance down to Indi to see how Cathy McGowan is presenting herself in election advertising.
When imitation is not the most sincere form of flattery
A bit of news from the world of political independents.
When Rob Oakeshott decided to run for the seat of Cowper he investigated possible domains to promote his campaign. Unfortunately www.roboakeshott.com had been left idle by the former independent MP who has been working for the UN in recent years and had been snapped up by a penis pump company. No, really.
But now Oakeshott’s team has discovered another possible domain www.roboakeshott.com.au is also unavailable. And who would want a website called Rob Oakeshott? The website was registered by the National Party of Australia this week.
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Better late than never, let's take stock
Let’s work through today, thus far. This selection of pictures gives you the tempo of the day very effectively. Malcolm Turnbull has been zapped with a cattle prod. Bouncy bouncy.
Bill Shorten is less bouncy bouncy. But then his tempo isn’t hugely variable out on the hustings. He’s upped the ante since last Friday but he’s been loping at a steady but quick tempo since day one.
To the sum of the parts. We are into scares, sand bagging, and shoring up at this point of the campaign.
Let’s keep this simple. Malcolm Turnbull is throwing everything but the kitchen sink at Corangamite in Victoria, dragging the CFA dispute back into proceedings both as a local tactic and a national one: wicked Bill Shorten owned by the unions. Oh, and boats. Labor is very bad on boats.
Bill Shorten is trying to peel back votes from the NXT in South Australia before moving on to the next marginal seat, up north, in the territory. In the national conversation, it’s still Medicare. Wicked Coalition, up to no good.
The Greens leader, Richard Di Natale, wants to clean up politics with more donations and disclosure reform and a federal Icac that he may or may not insist on as part of any hypothetical minority government conversation that may or may not happen after 2 July.
Ho, ho, here we go.
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'You are voting for a rag tag militia of candidates'
One more before a summary. I mentioned in the coverage earlier today that Labor is trying to claw back ground in South Australia because the opposition is not performing strongly enough. Interesting in this context to see Bill Shorten going after the NXT on penalty rates.
We are not like Senator Xenophon’s candidate ... you are voting for a rag tag militia of candidates.
.@billshortenmp launches attack against @Nick_Xenophon and candidate @Stirling_G in #ADL #ausvotes @australian pic.twitter.com/J9dF38iJza
— Rosie Lewis (@rosieslewis) June 23, 2016
Medicare, today's developments
I did promise I would work through Labor’s latest effort on the Medicare anti-privatisation campaign. Let’s do that now.
Today the dispute has been over the school vaccination register. As my colleague Paul Karp reports, from 2017 the national cervical cancer vaccination register will be expanded to become the Australian school vaccination register, which will capture all adolescent vaccinations given through school programs. The register is currently run by the Victorian Cytology Service, a not-for-profit health organisation.
The government has issued a tender for organisations to bid to run the register, which Labor has warned “could mean that, for the first time, the vaccination details of school children could be in for-profit hands”. A Coalition spokeswoman has told Guardian Australia the government does not have to pay to access information on the register, and this will not change when a tender contract is ultimately awarded.
More generally, I’ve said earlier this week that Labor’s offensive on Medicare is clear over reach. Outsourcing the payments system does not equate to privatisation. It really doesn’t. Again today, this micro sortie on the register feels like a stretch.
Basically Labor is trying to pull the government over into a discussion of issues that favour Labor electorally. The backroom judgment is if Malcolm Turnbull is sounding defensive on health, you can score that day to Labor. Health really resonates with voters, and the Coalition has known throughout the campaign that it is not on strong political ground if the conversation veers to health. Quite apart from that issue, Shorten had to punch through and create some combat in this closing stage of the campaign to counter the government’s efforts to lull voters into sticking with the incumbents.
We see it with the Coalition’s over-egging on boats and Labor’s over-egging on Medicare: facts are for wimps.
A bit more on fear and smear in Cowan
Murph drew your attention earlier today to the federal justice minister, Michael Keenan, criticising Labor’s candidate in Cowan for writing a “letter of support” last year for Junaid Thorne, a self-styled Muslim preacher who was appealing against a jail sentence for flying under a false name.
Anne Aly, the Labor candidate, is an expert in violent extremism who has received federal government funding for her work. Guardian Australia has obtained a copy of the letter in question. It deals primarily with Thorne’s co-conspirator, Mostafa Shiddiquzzaman, who was aged 19 when the pair flew to Sydney from Perth using false names. Here are the references to Thorne, which Aly made after meeting both men in Sydney:
“During the meeting [with the pair] I advised both clients that they should pursue re-entry into higher education and offered assistance to help them re-enrol in university courses in Sydney and/or Perth.
“I also advised the clients that they should access mentoring and counselling services and offered to provide these support services to them in Perth.”
She encouraged Thorne “to develop his family attachments with his mother and siblings in Perth”.
“I have also discussed the possibility of Mr Thorne making regular monthly visits to Perth to meet with me as part of a mentoring program designed to facilitate his reintegration and assist him in pursuing his studies and developing positive attachments,” she said.
Thorne’s sentence was reduced by one month on appeal, the judge making reference to Aly’s letter in his reasoning.
Keenan’s use of it on Thursday has angered Lydia Shelly, the solicitor who engaged Aly’s services in the case. “Shiddiquzzaman has followed her recommendations. He’s gone back to Perth, disassociated his radical links, returned to university and reunited with his family,” she says.
“Anne has essentially given back a family their son. She has saved that young person and put him back on the right track.
“I’m very disappointed the justice minister would use this to score cheap political points,” she says.
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That’s over and out now at the press club. I’ll do a quick whip around and catch up before posting a summary.
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The Greens leader is asked about the same-sex marriage plebiscite: would the Greens oppose it if it involved taxpayer funding for the no case? Di Natale says the Greens don’t support the plebiscite: “We share [Labor’s] belief that it will unleash hateful views.” He says parliament should do its job and the partyroom will wait for the detail before making a final decision.
Richard Di Natale:
But our starting point is we don’t support a plebiscite.
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Next question is: do the Greens want to impose proportional representation in the lower house? Yes, is the broad answer. It is more democratic, and would see a lot more Greens in the House of Representatives, Di Natale says.
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Next question is how hard the Greens would push on offshore detention in the event of a minority government negotiation. Richard Di Natale says he’ll have more to say in coming days, but he makes no apology for wanting the camps closed. He says moral clarity has been lost in this debate.
Richard Di Natale:
For us, this is just a line you don’t cross. You don’t take innocent people ... and brutalise them.
He’s also asked if Labor’s scare campaign on Medicare is valid. Di Natale says the truth is scary enough, he doesn’t know why Labor is over-reaching.
Question three is how serious the Greens are about donations reform and Icac. Would the Greens refuse to pass legislation from a new government until the transparency wishlist has been fulfilled? He says the Greens will fight very hard to achieve its policy goals in the next parliament, but ...
Richard Di Natale:
The answer is no. I think it’s very dangerous not to support legislation that’s in the national interest.
The Greens leader is pressed on whether he means then that donations and Icac are really conditional for supporting a major party in minority government. Di Natale says it is a negotiation.
Richard Di Natale:
We will make sure that it is one of the key issues that we bring to the negotiating table, but it is a negotiation ...
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Into questions now. First question is whether the Greens would support troops going back into Afghanistan? Richard Di Natale hedges. There’s no case at the moment for doing that, he says, but won’t rule it out in the future as part of a UN-sanctioned mission.
Second question is about Greens candidates standing while they are still public servants. Di Natale says the party’s advice is the candidates would be OK if they were elected but he says the current constitutional barriers need to be overhauled. “I think it is something we need to look at.” There was an additional question: would he hazard a guess about the post-election Senate makeup? “I think we will see a broader range of views in the Australian Senate. Completely unpredictable, it is up to the voters.”
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Richard Di Natale has worked through the Greens policies and priorities. Then he addressed representation this election, Greens standing everywhere, all round the country, in Labor-held seats and Coalition-held seats. He says multi-party government will get more common in the future.
We are here to stay – get used to it.
He says the Greens are a known quantity, voters know the party’s values.
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Now a section in the speech on vested interests. The power of lobbyists doing the bidding of big business.
Richard Di Natale:
Most politicians don’t have the courage to stand up to them. We have to break this business-as-usual model of politics and put power back into the hands of voters.
The Greens leader says – as he flagged this morning on radio – that the Greens will make donations reform and the establishment of a federal anti-corruption watchdog a condition in any minority government negotiation.
This is a good development in my view. It’s a great pity that the Greens didn’t take the same approach when they voted for the Senate voting reform legislation earlier this year. The Greens voted down an amendment from Labor that would have lowered the reporting threshold for political donations. I said it at the time, that decision by the Greens was completely indefensible, given they are very good on issues of disclosure and transparency, and they had a shot at changing the system, a concrete vote, a practical opportunity, and they didn’t take it.
With that frustration vented, they wouldn’t have got a federal anti-corruption watchdog. Neither major party supports that. Not Labor. Not the Coalition.
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Richard Di Natale gets stuck into the major party duopoly, the hostility to new ideas. Democracy needs renewal. The Greens are the political disruptors, the Greens are the political ideas boom.
Di Natale references the Coalition’s attacks about Green/Labor minority government, the caravan of chaos. The Greens leader says incredible, this lecture, from a party that couldn’t get through one term without replacing a prime minister.
We won’t be lectured about chaos by this mob.
Greens leader addresses the National Press Club
Richard Di Natale is the first party leader to address the NPC this campaign. He’ll be followed next week by Malcolm Turnbull and Bill Shorten. The Greens leader starts by saying voters are tuned out for this campaign.
Richard Di Natale:
Overall there’s been a lack of courage, a lack of imagination and a lack of vision.
I’ll post a summary on the other side of Richard Di Natale’s speech.
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'Nobody can give you that'
Just a quick update from up north before Murph takes you to the press club. Barnaby Joyce has defended the live export assurance system, amid allegations that the agriculture department sacked one of its own vets for reporting inhumane treatment of cattle.
The ABC reported Dr Lynn Simpson revealed photographic evidence of animal cruelty on board live export ships, showing animals suffering in overcrowded pens and in some cases drowning in their own faeces. Simpson told the 7.30 Report she provided an honest report to a government steering committee, which was reviewing Australian standards.
The report, which was supposed to be confidential, was inadvertently published on the department’s website. Weeks afterwards, she was removed from her position. “That did happen under the previous Labor government,” Joyce said.
Asked if he was a fit person to be a regulator for live exports, the agriculture minister said: “Yes we are, and we are taking the live export industry ahead in leaps and bounds.”
He said of the 100 nations that export live cattle, Australia was the only one which had an exporter supply chain assurance system (Escas). “There is only one nation on Earth that has an Escas system, and if we are not the exporter of live cattle there will just be other nations that do it.”
Asked if he could guarantee that Australian cattle are not still drowning in their own faeces on ships, he said: “I can assure you in the last audit we did, we were 99% compliant. It’s like saying can you assure me there will never be another accident on the road. No I can’t.
“Can you assure me you will do your very best to keep things in a humane form? Yes I can. But if you want an assurance that nothing will ever go wrong again, I can’t give you that. Nobody can give you that.”
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I will come back to Medicare, but can’t deconstruct Labor’s foray today right now, there’s not enough time. The Shorten press conference is over now. The Greens leader Richard Di Natale will be up shortly at the National Press Club.
I also haven’t had a chance to tell you yet that three Australians and one New Zealander are among a group of mine workers kidnapped by gunmen in Nigeria. Both the prime minister and the foreign minister have been asked about the kidnapping out on the hustings today, and have confirmed the kidnappings have occurred.
Bill Shorten gets a question about fear and smear in Cowan with the Labor candidate, Anne Aly. Shorten says Aly is a renowned terrorism expert, who the US president, Barack Obama, invited to the White House to discuss deradicalisation. He doesn’t believe Michael Keenan has ever been to the White House to discuss deradicalisation. He thinks the Liberal party needs to call off the attack dogs on Anne Aly.
Another question about campaign finance reform. Shorten says he doesn’t know why the Liberals always sail so close to the wind on donations.
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Q: Do you and your candidates in SA feel as though you are fighting two forces?
Bill Shorten:
No, we are standing up for penalty rates. I know exactly who I am fighting for. I am fighting for workers and penalty rates.
Malcolm Turnbull’s characterisation from earlier today, that Bill Shorten is owned by the unions and will run the country like a union boss, is put to the Labor leader. What influence will unions have? Shorten says his style is bringing people to the table. “I don’t believe in having the old-fashioned idea of employee versus employer. That is not the future for Australia.”
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Q: Would you consider a new code of conduct for Labor-affiliated unions that takes into account the issues raised in the royal commission whereby senior officials who breach the guidelines would put at risk that union losing their affiliation status?
Bill Shorten says bad conduct is bad conduct, wherever it happens. He says how about the Liberal party and Parakeelia? Are the Liberals going to do anything about campaign finance reform?
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First question is about the marriage equality plebiscite: will he vote for or against a plebiscite, and if you vote against marriage equality are you a homophobe?
Bill Shorten says not everyone who opposes marriage equality is a homophobe, but it’s important to lead. Malcolm Turnbull “will surrender that to the right wing of his party. That is not leadership. That is weak.”
He’s asked about bikies in Queensland, whether there is coordination with the CFMEU to unseat Peter Dutton. No, rubbish, Bill Shorten says.
Shorten is asked about Medicare. How can Labor be concerned about the outsourcing of the students’ vaccination register (which is today’s Medicare issue, I’ll get to it) when Labor allowed the cervical cancer virus register to be delivered privately?
Bill Shorten:
We are putting a stake in the ground.
Shorten is asked whether Labor would intervene in a public tender for the vaccination register. It depends how far the tender is along, Shorten says.
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Bill Shorten wants to go now to Malcolm Turnbull’s credibility. The first issue is the prime minister says one thing about his conversations with Cory Bernardi and Bernardi says another. The second is the Coalition’s new ad guaranteeing health and education funding. That couldn’t be further from the truth.
Bill Shorten:
The prime minister has serious questions about his credibility.
Bill Shorten addresses reporters in Adelaide
The Labor leader is holding his daily press conference now in Adelaide flanked by a number of South Australian colleagues. He’s rebadging Labor’s previously announced policies for South Australia in a new booklet, Labor’s plans for South Australia. As I mentioned before, there’s a feeling the ALP is under performing in South Australia. At the moment Bill Shorten is talking about penalty rates – Labor supports their retention, the Coalition and Nick Xenophon don’t.
I referenced the nasty fight in the WA seat of Cowan a couple of posts ago with the justice minister’s Michael Keenan’s attack on Anne Aly, Labor’s candidate for the seat. Bit weird this, given Aly is a deradicalisation expert who is funded by the federal Coalition government. As she points out in the West Australian piece: “This smear campaign by minister Keenan and the Liberals is odd, considering his government has seen fit to provide me with federal funding for my work.” Basically logic seems to go out the window when there’s a supreme mud wrestle on for seats.
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The Labor leader is meeting and greeting in Adelaide today. Labor is not doing as well in South Australia as it wants to, hence this push.
Bill Shorten meets workers at South Australian rail yards wearing in his BYO high-viz #ausvotes pic.twitter.com/cfGFh3Oaug
— Primrose Riordan (@primroseriordan) June 23, 2016
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Boats: a couple of quick points
Just a bit of cut-through on the boats. To be clear about the facts, over the past two days Peter Dutton and Malcolm Turnbull have been pointing to differences between Labor’s policies on border protection and the Coalition’s as part of the *look, there’s a people smuggler armada to our north* offensive.
There are distinct differences between the major parties’ policies on border protection, that is entirely true. But there’s also been a completely confected fight about the differences on turnbacks in the past 48 hours.
The immigration minister, Peter Dutton, overshot quite substantially yesterday by arguing Labor had a caveat on turnbacks that meant the party was weak. As my colleague Ben Doherty reports, two caveats exist for boat turnbacks: boats are only turned back “where it is safe to do so”; and Australia must also ensure, under the non-refoulement obligations of international law, that it does not return anybody to a place where their “life or freedom would be threatened”.
They are the caveats and insofar as we know the major parties observe them. Dutton, by criticising the caveat, in essence put a question mark over the government’s policy. Was he really saying the Coalition would turn back boats when it wasn’t safe to do so, and the Coalition cared nothing at all about international law? He cleaned up his overstep later in the afternoon, and now the working formulation is Labor lacks the resolve to proceed with turnbacks because Labor says they’ll be used when necessary. You know they don’t really mean that. Nudge, wink, Bob’s your uncle.
I’m also, myself, quite confused by the Coalition declaring that only this government can stop the boats when the boats haven’t stopped. As Malcolm Turnbull said this morning, 28 have arrived and been repelled. Most confusing of all are these press conferences called to announce a boat has been turned back successfully in order to underscore the fact that only the Coalition can stop the boats.
I am a bear of simple brain but that seems contradictory, in and of itself.
Let’s keep rolling.
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The prime minister only allowed a handful of questions and has now powered on.
To our north, a Labor insurgency at Barnaby Joyce’s campaign event.
Akira Boardman,
— Gabrielle Chan (@gabriellechan) June 23, 2016
Sophie Johnston, turn up to hear @Barnaby_Joyce w @JanelleSaffin1 pamphlets @murpharoo pic.twitter.com/Ix57cYbnsy
There was also a question about the CFA dispute in Victoria, which allowed the prime minster to declare Bill Shorten is owned by trade unions.
Speaking of fear and smear, the prime minister was asked a question during that press conference about tactics on the ground in the West Australian seat of Cowan. The question relates to a report in the West Australian this morning from Nick Butterly. Here’s a taste of that.
Federal justice minister Michael Keenan has launched an extraordinary attack on Anne Aly, Labor’s candidate for the hotly fought WA seat of Cowan, suggesting she intervened in the trial of radical preacher Junaid Thorne to have his jail term reduced. But Dr Aly, a deradicalisation expert, fired back furiously, accusing the government of a despicable smear and saying her work countering Islamic terrorism had already put her on an extremist ‘kill list’.
The prime minister says he’s not across the substance of this story, so won’t comment.
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Questions about the scare campaigns: Labor’s Medicare campaign and one about the Coalition’s sortie on boats.
The prime minister is asked what it’s like to run a scare campaign on boats when he is a Liberal moderate. Malcolm Turnbull says what the government is saying on boats is true. Labor does not have the same policy on border protection as the Coalition. Labor will weaken the border protection regime. People smugglers, he says, are evil criminals, but they are clever with social media.
Malcolm Turnbull:
We have turned back 28 boats and [people smugglers] know what our policy is. What do you think they’ll do to Labor?
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You're dreaming, Tony
Q: Tony Abbott overnight has said that he is ready to serve and essentially his future is in your hands?
Malcolm Turnbull:
Mark, I can only say what I said before. I have a very capable ministry. It is a younger ministry, it is a relatively new ministry in many respects and the ministry that I will lead after the election, if we win, will be the same as I lead today.
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Brexit, if that's what happens, will be a shock
A question on corporate tax cuts and whether they will get through the Senate. Malcolm Turnbull says that’s hypothetical given we don’t know who is in the Senate or in the house, for that matter.
A question about Brexit. It will be a shock if the UK leaves the EU, Turnbull says. And this is a reminder, as Margaret Thatcher once said, to expect the unexpected. And that underscores the need for a plan.
Malcolm Turnbull:
That is why the economy is front and centre of everything we are talking about.
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The government’s positive plan has been quickly superseded by Labor’s secret plan to help the people smugglers.
Malcolm Turnbull:
The truth is Labor does not have the same policy on border protection.
Malcolm Turnbull addresses reporters in Geelong
The prime minister is evidently over his cold and is back to high energy. It looks like someone has given him a jolt of electricity. He’s having a shout during the preamble at this morning’s press conference, and the hand pump is ... pumping.
Malcolm Turnbull is back to stability and chaos.
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Just a couple more pictures from this morning’s hustings in Geelong.
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You can see successful transitions here.
The PM touring an advanced manufacturing facility in Geelong pic.twitter.com/gW7CGttfmx
— joe kelly (@joekellyoz) June 23, 2016
The prime minister is speaking now about the great examples of enterprise at Quickstep Technologies, an advanced manufacturing business focusing on defence equipment. Lots of fist pumping.
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I mentioned a bit earlier on this morning a leaflet authorised by Liberal senator Mitch Fifield about the CFA dispute which is winging its way around Victoria. My colleague Lenore Taylor has come across another leaflet, this time from the IPA.
Lenore:
The Coalition has used a contentious and highly qualified ‘independent’ analysis from the Institute of Public Affairs to back an election flyer that claims “over 31,000 jobs will be lost in Victoria under Labor ... Will yours be one of them?”
The conservative thinktank has labelled its own calculations of ‘low to medium’ reliability and says in the analysis ‘it is important to note that the estimates of Victorian jobs forgone or at risk, should major federal opposition policies be introduced, are highly conjectural by their nature and cannot be interpreted as definitive’.
The flyer, being distributed in Victorian marginal seats, says the job losses ‘will’ be caused by ‘a new electricity tax’, ‘higher taxes for small to medium businesses’, the failure to restore the Australian Building and Construction Commission and scrapping major projects like the East West link.
The flyer, authorised by Victorian senator and Turnbull government minister senator Scott Ryan, cites in small print an IPA analysis as the basis for its job loss claims.
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While we are on the subject of the CFMEU, the union has produced a riposte to the Liberal party’s #faketradie advertisement.
What #realtradies (at least ones prepared to front attack ads in an election campaign) think about the Coalition’s policies.
There was a conversation about bikies on Hadley, which I didn’t quite follow, because I’ve evidently missed another conversation on this subject this morning. AAP can help us all though, fortunately.
Cabinet minister Peter Dutton is refusing to be intimidated by outlaw motorcycle gang members campaigning against him in his Brisbane seat. The immigration minister has cancelled the visas of more than 90 foreign national bikie gang members who have served time in Australian prisons. ‘I’m not going to be intimidated by these people,’ he told Sky News on Thursday. Dutton accused the CFMEU and Labor party of being in cahoots with the bikies. ‘They are out waving the many scare campaign placards and corflutes,’ he said. ‘This is obviously a coordinated campaign.’Dutton revealed he had been subject to personal threats, but said that was an issue for the federal police.
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Ray Hadley asks Peter Dutton to tell him a positive story from Western Australia. Dutton, who has doubtless asked Hadley for the high lob, then recounts a story of visiting an abattoir in Western Australia. Most of the workforce in the meat works are migrant workers because Australians, for whatever reason, won’t work in abattoirs, Dutton notes. There are Muslims there, and they are peaceful. This is the great story of migration in this country.
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The treasurer, Scott Morrison, is speaking to reporters in Cairns, and he’s declared this election will decide whether the boats come back or whether the boats stay stopped.
The immigration minister, Peter Dutton, is speaking to Ray Hadley. At the moment the focal point of the conversation is the evils of the CFMEU, and CFMEU influence on the Labor party.
Peter Dutton:
There’s been a takeover, by some of these unions.
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Ricky Muir is asked whether he supports corporate tax cuts. Possibly. How about Labor’s negative gearing policy? He supports changes to negative gearing but he’s not sure he supports Labor’s specific policy reform options. He would support the vote enabling a plebiscite for marriage equality if there was no prospect of a parliamentary vote. He’d prefer a parliamentary vote. The plebiscite would unleash very emotive campaigns, he thinks.
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Ricky Muir wants to change the gun laws
On radio in Melbourne, Ricky Muir is talking to Jon Faine about motoring enthusiasms. Faine is deeply unimpressed with motoring enthusiasms. That’s hardly the basis for running the country is my point.
Q: You’re for guns aren’t you?
Ricky Muir:
I’m an outside enthusiast.
Faine asks him does he want to change the gun laws? Muir says the laws as they stand are pretty good but there’s a couple of things he’d change. He wants to legalise silencers, for one thing.
Ricky Muir:
There are some areas I would look at.
Up north, the deputy prime minister is meeting a dung beetle.
The prime minister has been out and about in Geelong this morning, campaigning on the Country Fire Authority dispute in Victoria.
Can I say to you that, from the bottom of my heart, I thank you. [You are the] best of Australia. Your selflessness. Your courage. Your volunteerism is the very best of us. And you’re right, Andrew, when you talk about volunteerism across Australia. The CFA, firefighters across Australia volunteer, we all understand that’s the very best of the Australian spirit.
And the idea that your government, your state Labor government, would try to crush that. And doing the bidding of a militant union, of militant union bosses, it is extraordinary. It’s an assault, not just on safety of Victorians, not just putting at risk the lives and property of Victorians, it’s an assault on what is the very best in our Australian spirit.
Now, every election is a choice ...
If you live outside Victoria and have no idea why Malcolm Turnbull keeps talking about firefighters, it’s pretty simple really. This dispute has been bad for Labor’s vote in Victoria, and good for the Coalition’s prospects of holding seats such as Corangamite. The Liberals have been leafleting the state. A reader from rural Victoria got in touch with me yesterday saying he’d got a leaflet about the dispute authorised by the Liberal senator Mitch Fifield.
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When winning could be your worst case scenario
Thanks Helen. Good morning everyone and welcome to Thursday. It’s delightful to be back with you.
I want to start this morning by thinking about various scenarios currently before the prime minister.
We tend to think about election campaigns in binary terms. Someone wins, someone loses. Recent history tells us that election contests are not that simple. In this one, if the national polls are to be believed, as well as the win/loss option we have the prospect of a hung parliament. There’s been considerable discussion about the Labor/Green alliance, that particular hung parliament scenario, but far less focus on a minority parliament with the Coalition in command, because by and large the prime minister has been able to hide successfully behind his slogan (and that’s all it is) that only the Coalition will deliver stable government. Imagine if you will Malcolm Turnbull governing with support from a couple of new MPs from the NXT, for example. Just let that scenario settle on your person for a minute or two.
But that’s not really where I want to touch down, at least not today. I want to consider, just for mind-warming-up purposes, a scenario where Malcolm Turnbull is returned to government, but with a significantly reduced majority. Let’s step through that. Turnbull has gone to the polls this time with the intent of seeking a mandate not only for the Coalition for a second term, but for himself as prime minister. On day one of this campaign Turnbull told voters “I” am seeking a mandate.
That wasn’t of course an accident. He needs a personal affirmation to be able to assert leadership in the Liberal party, not to implement the small “l” Liberal agenda he personally favours. I think if we’ve learned anything over recent times it’s this: Malcolm Turnbull, unlike his previous period in the party leadership, will prioritise remaining prime minister ahead of his personal views on a range of fronts. I mean he needs affirmation in order to buy himself a period where internal enemies will not, openly, come after him.
The Coalition would be content with victory however it comes – reduced majority? *So what, we are still on the government benches*. But for Malcolm Turnbull, winning by a whisker is worst case scenario. Over the past week or so, conservatives have been positioning for the post-election environment. When this first started, when Peter Dutton said a week or so ago that some people would want Tony Abbott to return to the frontbench post election, I thought this was a reflection of bit of ill-disciplined hubris, a kind of barometer of the confidence the Coalition feels about 2 July.
But Abbott’s appearance on the Bolt program on Sky News suggests to me that conservatives are positioning for a number of win/loss/draw scenarios. Abbott is charting a way back, as he noted to his good friend Andrew, “All sorts of things might happen in the future.” The strength of the conservative faction’s position post-election relates directly to the outcome on 2 July, which brings me back to where I started with this thought exercise: if it is to be a Coalition victory, then the size of the victory matters to Malcolm Turnbull.
One more point before we move into the day. On Q&A earlier this week, Malcolm Turnbull, again anticipating any number of scenarios, was at pains to say he was not a “dictator” but first among equals at the cabinet table.
Some colleagues have been distinctly nonplussed by the campaign focus on Turnbull at the expense of the party as a whole – all the presidential branding, the focus on the attributes of the candidate rather than the strength of the party as an institution, and Turnbull, for all his discipline over the past seven weeks, has displayed a couple of Pure Malcolm moments: agreeing the colonisation of Australia was an invasion, moving out of polite neutrality on the plebiscite on same-sex marriage (that was not my idea, it was what I inherited, but in any case, I’ll be voting yes and speaking for the yes case). The plebiscite really exposes the irreconcilable differences between liberals and conservatives in the Coalition, which haven’t gone away, and will roll on into the new term. The comments on Q&A suggest the prime minister is acutely aware of the eddying disquiet behind the scenes. As Turnbull himself would say, we live in exciting times. What a time to be alive!
Let’s crack on. A reminder today’s comments thread is open for your business. If the thread’s too bracing for you, Mike Bowers and I are up and about on the twits – he’s @mpbowers and I’m @murpharoo. If you only speak Facebook you can join my daily forum here. And if you want a behind-the-scenes look at the day and the campaign as a whole, give Mike a follow on Instagram. You can find him here.
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Greetings from an overcast seat of Page.
Barnaby Joyce flew in after his press club speech yesterday. At the Lismore Bowling Club he gave a stump speech to the National party faithful on the night of the second state of origin game.
It was his regular speech, trying to enliven party volunteers to work hard to the end for the National MP Kevin Hogan, who holds the seat on a margin of 3.1%. There was a lot of talk about the Labor Greens Independent alliance. There was a lot of talk about infrastructure provided to the electorate. The seat has more old wooden bridges than any other and the members wanted to see them upgraded. This is the stuff of local campaigns, won on the delivery or not of a road or a bridge. Coal seam gas was THE issue until the NSW government cancelled the licences.
Hogan is in the fight of his life with the former Labor MP Janelle Saffin. Her former incumbency gives her a better than average candidacy but Bill Shorten has been in the seat only once, just before the campaign started.
This morning Joyce will open Primex, an agricultural field day. If you can imagine the Royal Easter show crossed with a tractor machinery yard, you have the picture. Joyce is under maximum pressure in this, his first election as leader and one in which he is facing a challenge from Tony Windsor in his seat of New England.
The #National party drinks in the seat of Page. #ausvotes Archetypal country bar. pic.twitter.com/NxcyZxGrxI
— Gabrielle Chan (@gabriellechan) June 22, 2016
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I’ll hand over the blog to Katharine Murphy shortly, but first, a quick look at the front pages around the country.
Beginning with the Herald Sun, splashing on the CFA fight for Turnbull’s visit.
The Herald Sun front page. Thursday 23 June 2016. @theheraldsun #ausvotes #election2016 #auspol pic.twitter.com/sW5P4s0MbO
— Dave Earley (@earleyedition) June 22, 2016
Guardian Australia front page. Thursday 23 June 2016. @GuardianAus #ausvotes #origin #QLDER #uptheblues pic.twitter.com/taWDRU5PXo
— Dave Earley (@earleyedition) June 22, 2016
Financial Review front page. Thursday 23 June 2016. @FinancialReview #ausvotes #election2016 #auspol pic.twitter.com/WNEY3bixA9
— Dave Earley (@earleyedition) June 22, 2016
ABC News front page. Thursday 23 June 2016. @abcnews #ausvotes #election2016 #auspol pic.twitter.com/2srmxjDfkw
— Dave Earley (@earleyedition) June 22, 2016
The Age front page. Thursday 23 June 2016. @theage #ausvotes #election2016 #auspol pic.twitter.com/ZOm6TKCYQi
— Dave Earley (@earleyedition) June 22, 2016
The Canberra Times front page. Thursday 23 June 2016. @canberratimes #ausvotes #Origin #QLDER #UpTheBlues pic.twitter.com/vrLiA6ABlo
— Dave Earley (@earleyedition) June 22, 2016
Malcolm Turnbull is addressing the firefighter volunteers in Corangamite.
“You embody the very best of Australians – your selflessness, your courage, your volunteerism,” he says, making note of other firefighters, SES volunteers and lifesavers.
“This is what we all understand as the very best of the Australian spirit, and the idea that your government, your state Labor government, would try to crush that and do the bidding of militant union bosses is extraordinary. It’s an assault, not just on the safety of Victorians, not just putting at risk the lives and property of Victorians, it’s an assault on what is the very best in our Australian spirit.”
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Labor’s campaign spokeswoman, Penny Wong, has been asked how a Labor opposition would vote on a Coalition bill to hold a plebiscite.
“My focus, as you would probably expect, is working to elect a Labor government who will deliver marriage equality,” she says. “I’m on the record about why I think a plebiscite is the wrong way to go.”
Wong says the election serves as a plebiscite on marriage equality.
The conservatives in the Coalition “will never support marriage equality and will do everything they can to oppose it”, she says.
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Malcolm Turnbull has arrived in Corangamite to meet with Country Fire Authority volunteers. The firies are in the midst of an industrial dispute which is set to have a impact on Labor in the election, even though it’s a state issue.
The ABC has put together an explanation of the dispute here, but essentially it is over a new enterprise bargaining agreement and fears it will marginalise volunteer firefighters.
PM arrives to a meeting with CFA volunteers in the marginal Victorian seat of Corangamite #ausvotes #TenNews pic.twitter.com/Txt9q7uLRo
— Catalina Florez (@florezcata) June 22, 2016
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Peter Dutton says he has had personal threats from bikies as a result of his decisions as minister.
“Yes, but that’s an issue for the federal police and they deal with that in a very competent way,” he says.
It’s off the back of news that bikie gang members might have been part of an anti-Liberal National party rolling campaign outside Dutton’s office in Queensland.
“They are obviously in concert with the CFMEU and the Labor party, because they’re out there waving the Medicare campaign placards and corflutes and this is obviously a coordinated campaign,” he says.
“This is a real test of [Bill Shorten’s] leadership. Does he condone the bikies in the ALP campaign here in Dickson and elsewhere around the country?”
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Back to Peter Dutton on Sky News for a moment.
“This is not a scare campaign. This is an actual factual statement,” he begins.
“The fact is if Labor doesn’t adhere to the policy of Operation Sovereign Borders if they win government, the boats will restart, the deaths will recommence and the kids will go back in detention.”
Nope, not a scare campaign at all.
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The prospect of a power-sharing government would be good for the country, says Richard Di Natale.
“Reading the tea leaves” he thinks it’s a possibility and needs thinking about.
“He pulls votes from right across the political spectrum,” he says of the threat of Nick Xenophon and his candidates.
He says politics is approaching “lowest common denominator” levels, taking aim at both Labor and the Liberals.
The talk about asylum seekers and boat arrivals by the Coalition was “a grubby little scare campaign”.
“How disappointing, I have to say, from a prime minister who promised more.”
And Medicare is “already scary enough”, he says of Labor’s campaign.
“To treat these serious issues … in the way that they have really fails us. What we should be doing is recognising that these are complex issues we need to respond to in a mature way.”
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The Greens leader, Richard Di Natale, is on Radio National. He’s calling for a change of rules around political donations and says it would be front and centre for the Greens in a hung parliament, along with a federal corruption body.
“We want to ensure the rules are changed for everybody. We want to make sure we end the corrosive nature of these donations,” and move to a system of public funding with transparency, he says.
He cites Parakeelia and state government scandals.
“One has to question the massive role of those political donations,” he says.
He suspects the Greens have had “very few” donations from unions, when asked by Fran Kelly.
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The immigration minister, Peter Dutton, has dismissed accusations of electioneering with a press conference (yesterday) on an attempted asylum seeker boat arrival (about three weeks ago).
He’s on Sky News. Does the government pick and choose when it uses operation matters to make or not make statements?
“No. As you know, I’ve done standups and media conferences in Canberra on a number of occasions when we’ve dealt with a boat at sea. Once the matter has been finalised, once the people have been returned back to their country of origin and we are satisfied the operation matters are no longer sensitive, we release those details.”
If a couple of boats get through “you’ll see a flotilla beyond that”, continues Dutton.
Keeping borders secure keeps Australians safer, he says.
He was also asked about Tony Abbott. Dutton has in the past predicted the conservative side of the Coalition would push for his return to cabinet.
He said the main takeaway from Abbott’s appearance on The Bolt Report was that he “wants all Australians to vote for Malcolm Turnbull”.
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Shorten will be in Adelaide this morning.
“A Shorten Labor government will put the Australian people first by protecting Medicare and creating jobs,” a campaign spokesman said.
According to AAP, the South Australian commitment will include:
- Infrastructure projects including $500m towards the AdeLINK tram project, creating 2,000 local jobs over four years;
- Shipbuilding investment through the construction of nine frigates (2,000 shipbuilding jobs), 12 offshore patrol vessels from 2018 and 12 submarines (2,800 jobs);
- $100m for targeted investment in steelmaking at Arrium, which will secure more than 3,500 jobs;
- More than 200 new apprenticeships;
- Increased funding for hospitals over the next four years – about $140m more than under the Liberals;
- $355m more in targeted, needs-based funding for South Australian schools in 2018 and 2019.
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Some more detail on Labor’s new Medicare tack, claiming a Turnbull government will hand children’s vaccination records to private companies. This from AAP:
Labor points to a request for tender, published on the government’s AusTender website in November, for the establishment and ongoing operation of the Australian School Vaccination Register.
The register will record adolescent vaccination details for all vaccines given through school programs and is to be operational in time for the 2017 school year.
Opposition health spokeswoman Catherine King has called on Turnbull to rule out privatising the register.
“Handing this sensitive data over to a for-profit company would be just another example of the Liberals’ approach to health and putting profit over patients,” she said.
Labor is continuing with its scare campaign over Medicare, despite coming under fire from doctors and the Greens for over-reaching on claims the coalition has a secret plan to privatise the system.
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Good morning everyone. Helen Davidson here to steer you through the morning until Katharine Murphy takes the helm at 8.30.
Welcome to Thursday. I never could get the hang of Thursdays, but let’s dive in and see how we go.
Everything’s fine, we’re all good, says Tony Abbott about Malcolm Turnbull.
Abbott appeared on The Bolt Report last night and maintained his comments of late that he’s content where he is and is not gunning for his old job. He and Turnbull have had constructive conversations, he said, delivering definitely-not-threatening reassurances.
“Let us suppose that someone has done the wrong thing, for argument’s sake. Do you want to hurt the country to punish them?” he asked Andrew Bolt. “You never want to try to get even with an individual if that means hurting the country, and I say that as a general principle.”
Abbott said the “general advice” should appeal to “decent, patriotic, conservative Australians”.
He also shared advice he’s given to other parliamentarians.
“All sorts of things might happen in the future but right now you’ve got to be content with serving your electorate and with serving the country as a member for whatever seat or a senator for whatever state it might be.”
And just for kicks, Abbott was also asked if he thinks “Australia was invaded by whites”.
“I would certainly describe it as a settlement, maybe even an occupation. But I certainly wouldn’t use the word invasion because I think that connotes the primacy of armed force.”
.@TonyAbbottMHR disagrees with @TurnbullMalcolm in labeling British settlement as an 'invasion' #ausvotes https://t.co/rUCKrZTiKr
— Sky News Australia (@SkyNewsAust) June 22, 2016
Just about every question Andrew Bolt has asked @TonyAbbottMHR has been an invitation to whack @TurnbullMalcolm. Admirable consistency
— James Massola (@jamesmassola) June 22, 2016
The big picture
Labor is changing it up a little on Medicare, moving to accusations the Coalition would privatise school children’s vaccination records.
The ABC reports Labor’s spokeswoman for health, Catherine King, will today call on Turnbull to “guarantee” he won’t privatise the confidential vaccination records.
Bill Shorten is also expected to announce his plan for jobs in South Australia today, including commonwealth support for apprentices.
We’re also sticking with boats. Labor’s Medicare campaign is reportedly working, so the Coalition is likely to keep up its own tried-and-true.
Mathias Cormann told Sky News last night the Coalition has a “clear policy framework” with temporary protection visas, regional processing and boat turnbacks “where it is safe to do so”.
The Labor MP Andrew Leigh said his party “would pursue the same set of policies the Coalition would in terms of deterring people coming to Australia”.
“But we don’t believe that it is necessary to have people locked up in punitive conditions in Manus and Nauru in order to achieve that.”
The New South Wales Liberal Democratic senator David Leyonhjelm and colleagues have negotiated with a Labor “preferences whisperer”, the Australian’s David Crowe reports.
In return for Labor helping them in the Senate, the Liberal Democrats would reportedly preference Labor ahead of Liberal in at least 10 seats.
The seats include Macquarie, La Trobe, Dunkley, Petrie, Brisbane, Herbert, Dickson, Braddon and Cowan, the Oz reports. All are held on small margins by Coalition MPs, except for Dickson where Peter Dutton has a healthy 6.7% margin.
A plebiscite on same-sex marriage may not even get through the next parliament, with the raft of new independent senators expected to fill the upper house, writes Fleur Anderson at the Australian Financial Review.
The spotlight is again on political fundraising, after the Liberal party was forced to apologise to Lucy Turnbull for headlining one of her job titles at a fundraiser without her consent.
Invitations to the fundraiser cited Turnbull as the chief commissioner of the Greater Sydney Commission, when she was under the impression her appearance was as the prime minister’s spouse. The Liberal party has apologised and donated all funds raised to charity.
Was yesterday ridiculous enough for you? No? You’re in luck. Enter halal food. A Liberal candidate in western Sydney stands accused of forcing “complete Islamisation” of Liverpool. “One halal sausage at a time,” writes the Daily Telegraph.
Councillor Peter Ristevski, whom the Tele describes as a “longtime council enemy”, has cited an apparent ban on pork sausages at a council event as evidence against candidate Ned Mannoun. “What else would you call this other than complete Islamisation,” Ristevski told the Daily Telegraph.
Mannoun said the claims were “ridiculous”.
Tony Windsor has apologised for disparaging comments he made about a former school friend, who is a Vietnam veteran. The pair had fallen out after Windsor backed the Labor party in 2010, and Windsor had told ABC radio “the Vietnam war does funny things to people”.
“They were an unfortunate choice of words and I apologise for that unreservedly,” Windsor said.
Now to tax: “For every $1 of cost to the government budget, the company tax cut provides a gross benefit to consumers of $2.39 in the long run,” says economist Chris Murphy in the Australian Financial Review.
Hold your horses, says Janine Dixon, an economist at Victoria University’s Centre of Policy Studies.
“The logic is that if the company tax rate is lower, companies won’t put as much effort into avoiding it,” she replies in the head-to-head article. “Although tax avoidance may be reduced somewhat, with a domestic tax rate of 25% compared to tax havens charging little or no tax, incentives to dodge tax will remain in place.”
The founding NBN Co chief executive, Mike Quigley, has hit out at the Coalition’s national broadband plan as a shortsighted “colossal mistake”, writes Jennifer Dudley-Nicholson for News Corp.
Quigley appeared at the University of Melbourne last night and criticised the Coalition’s plan to use old technologies such as copper and pay-TV cable. Australia would suffer the “consequences of those decisions for years to come in higher costs and poorer performance”, he said.
On the campaign trail
Malcolm Turnbull is in Geelong this morning in the marginal seat of Corangamite, held by the Liberals with 3.9%, where he is expected to commit to a jobs boost for the region. The area has been affected by the milk crisis and impending closure of the Ford factory.
Bill Shorten is in South Australia, where he will announce Labor’s plan for jobs in the region, including extra manufacturing jobs and commonwealth support for apprentices.
The campaign you should be watching
In the Liberal electorate of Barker in South Australia, things are not looking good for the incumbent MP, Tony Pasin.
According to a ReachTel poll commissioned by the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union, the Nick Xenophon Team candidate, James Stacey, has a solid chance.
According to the poll, 85% of Labor, Family First and Greens voters would preference Stacey over Pasin, giving him 52% to Pasin’s 48%.
Barker was a very safe seat, held by Pasin with 16.5%, so he probably didn’t see this coming.
In a safe Liberal electorate like Barker, I can hardly believe I've written this. #ausvotes https://t.co/izv1Xb1Xfn
— Peri Strathearn (@PeriStrathearn) June 22, 2016
And another thing
My colleague Michael Slezak attended a small vigil for the slain UK MP Jo Cox last night, on what would have been her 42nd birthday:
Although the mood was sombre, there was also a sense of hope, as the attendees expressed a desire to ensure that following Cox’s death, the positive principles she lived by would be adopted and lived by.
The group stood in a circle by candlelight and listened to readings, including sections of her maiden speech. After that, attendees shared their thoughts and feelings about Cox’s life and death.
The organiser of the Sydney event, Neva Frecheville, said she had felt the need to bring together people who knew Cox or who were moved by her.
“When it happened it was just something that I feel like has the potential to make us all feel really isolated and full of despair and without hope,” she said. “But actually there’s an opportunity for us to come together around everything that Jo stood for in her life, and the values that she lived her life by. I think it’s time for more of us to start living those as well.”
One of the people who attended the event was Nic Seton. He said he knew Cox from when he lived on a boat in east London in 2010, right next door to the boat Cox lived on.
“We just by chance happened to pull up next door to their home – their boat,” he said. “We’d invite them over, and we went over to their place. We had a lot of barbecues and a really good time.”
Like Frecheville, Seton wanted to see the good that could come out of what he said was a devastating tragedy. “I feel like the silver lining really is that people have recognised that the values that she had and are really seeking to fulfil it themselves,” he said.
Jane McAdam, a law professor at the University of New South Wales, said she knew Cox’s husband, Brendan Cox, and attended partly because of that connection. “But I think more broadly it was what Jo devoted her life to in upholding the principles that she thought were so important in trying to create a society that was connected and not divided,” she said.
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