Farewell for now, see you about 9pm
Unanswered questions notwithstanding, I’m going to have a brief rest now between today’s efforts and tonight. I will be back, live, this evening, to cover Malcolm Turnbull’s appearance on the Q&A program. Tonight’s special edition will kick off about 9pm eastern.
Here’s Monday in two pictures.
A simple summation. On Monday, the Coalition battened down the hatches on Medicare privatisation to try and head off Labor’s final campaign push over the closing fortnight. Labor ignored the battening of the hatches and pushed forward offensively with Medicare, arguing the Coalition’s various assurances could not be believed. Why? Well, the record, in essence, of saying one thing before and election and another thing after it.
Thanks for your company. Enjoy your evening. I look forward to gathering again for a red hot shout at the television later on tonight.
Meanwhile.
Labor's @billshortenmp has cancelled a scheduled interview with Eddie McGuire on @TripleMMelb tomorrow - would be "inappropriate" #ausvotes
— Rob Harris (@rharris334) June 20, 2016
I’ve had a couple of conversations with the prime minister’s office over the last little bit in an effort to get an answer about the apparent contradiction between Malcolm Turnbull saying this morning the outsourcing of the Medicare payments system had not been to cabinet and a journalist having his request for documents rejected on the basis they were cabinet in confidence. No clear answer at this time.
Some nice pictures (which I’ve only just had time to get to) of the prime minister’s visit with the paralympians earlier today.
Sorry for the lulling here. I’m trying to make some calls to get an answer to various questions so far without much success. Thanks to AAP for this update of the foreign minister Julie Bishop at the Lowy Institute earlier today, on the Brexit. We all need to brace ourselves for the Brexit, if that’s how it goes, later this week. It will be ugly, not to put too fine a point on it.
It would be in Australia’s best interests for the UK to remain in the European Union, foreign minister Julie Bishop believes.
Britons go to the polls on Thursday to vote for a “Brexit” or a “Bremain”. Bishop expects considerable economic volatility if the UK votes to leave the bloc, but acknowledges it is a decision for the British people.
Australia and Britain had a deep economic, strategic and historic relationship with important intelligence and security ties, she said. “To have a like-minded partner within the European Union would be in Australia’s interest,” Bishop told a Lowy Institute lunch on Monday.
The EU was a top trading bloc for Australia, so increased instability within the organisation could have some fallout here, she said.
Are you sure this never went to Cabinet, Malcolm?
Just while I’m listening to Shorten, Sean Parnell, who is a long time health reporter at The Australian newspaper, raises a salient point on Medicare and how advanced the government’s plans were to outsource the payments system.
This morning, I reported Malcolm Turnbull arguing that work inside the government on the outsourcing was not advanced enough to come to Cabinet. His purpose was to create the impression that this was a very low level thing.
Later in the morning, I pointed out that the payments outsourcing project had a $5m budget and an interdepartmental task force with twenty public servants. This is obviously a significant project. Not just a thought bubble.
But Sean takes it a step further, pointing out that he has been denied documents under freedom of information about the payment system outsourcing on the basis of cabinet confidentiality. There clearly was a cabinet submission drafted on this issue, unless someone is telling porkies in the FOI process.
So which is it? Cabinet, or no?
If #Medicare project never went to Cabinet, why was Cabinet #FOI exemption used to protect this PM letter? #ausvotes pic.twitter.com/NOwpWVcDGM
— Sean Parnell (@seanparnell) June 20, 2016
Updated
Right now, the Labor leader is speaking to a Catholic education conference in Perth. Bill Shorten has spoken about his own experiences in Catholic education (he’s Jesuit educated), he’s welcomed the end of sectarianism in Australian society and education, and he’s emphasised the importance of needs based funding. And there’s a big pat on the back for teachers and the work they do. That gets applause from the audience.
Let's take stock
The campaign is continuing to thunder around me, but let’s pause for a moment to assess the sum of the parts.
Labor’s campaign on Medicare privatisation has forced the Coalition into hasty retreat. Malcolm Turnbull has ruled out outsourcing the payments system, and says Medicare will remain in public hands. This morning he’s launched his cities policy and also stopped by a function for paralympians. I have no idea how he’ll get through a solo outing on the Q&A program this evening, given he can hardly speak at the moment, but there is an enduring rule: campaign will find a way.
Bill Shorten has run at Monday trying to capture a sense of momentum from the Labor campaign launch on Sunday, and from the government retreat on Medicare.
Labor is out of policy mode and into full tilt politics mode. Shorten is persisting with the Medicare assault despite the Coalition retreat. He says several things: one, the government took a serious look at outsourcing the payments system, so that proves intention. Two, the government has made a bunch of cuts to universal health care, GPs rebates, pathology rebates and the like. All these things undermine universality. Three, the Coalition’s record and Malcolm Turnbull’s record provides ample room for doubt when it comes to promises pre-election, and actions after it. The Coalition ruled out a bunch of things in 2013 before the election and then proceeded to break promises in the budget of 2014 and beyond; and Malcolm Turnbull has had to roll over the right on a bunch of things: climate change, marriage equality. Bottom line? You can’t take these people at their word.
That’s the central contest today. Separately Labor has lost a candidate to a controversy, the opposition is facing questions about whether Labor would support the enabling legislation for the marriage equality plebiscite, the major parties innovation spokespeople have traded blows at the National Press Club about policy and campaign politics. There’s also the question of whether the #faketradie in the Liberal party’s new campaign ads is, actually a #realtradie afterall.
Breathe deeply. Onwards, upwards.
It’s a wrap now at the press club. The prime minister is really quite unwell today. I’ll do the summary next.
PM Turnbull coughs during a press conference in Sydney #auspol #ausvotes #ausvotes2016 pic.twitter.com/7YaZ0AixHe
— Lukas Coch (@cochl) June 20, 2016
'I have got no reason to believe he won’t continue in that role, whatever happens after the election.'
Q: I know that Labor don’t want to be asked this question, but I will anyway. Will Bill Shorten be the opposition leader if he loses this election and if so, why?
I don’t know why you’d bowl up the question to Kim Carr in that way, given he will absolutely want to answer it. Some background. Kim Carr, a leading figure in the Victorian left, is a key backer of Bill Shorten’s. In fact, the stability pact between Carr and Stephen Conroy of the Victorian right, is the bedrock in a factional power sense, that sits underneath Shorten’s leadership. Carr will have a very strong, pro-Shorten view, that will not be shared in all quarters of the party, like, say NSW, where future challengers to Shorten will emerge in due season from both the right (Chris Bowen) and the left (Anthony Albanese and Tanya Plibersek). So this is opportunity for Carr, and he takes it up with alacrity.
Kim Carr:
Let me just say I am a very strong supporter of Bill Shorten. I think he’s performed incredibly well since taking over as leader and many of you were unkind enough to suggest that we had no hope, but I don’t think you are able to sustain that view. The election is there to be won. I have every confidence that we will win that election. We are seeing, even today’s polls, the Labor party is neck and neck with the government. With all of the benefits in incumbency, we are still very much in this race. I take the view that Bill Shorten has been an extraordinarily effective leader of the Labor party and I have got no reason to believe he won’t continue in that role, whatever happens after the election.
(Take that, NSW.)
'Well, I am not a cynical person, you see, Eliza'
Christopher Pyne is asked the cynical person’s question: isn’t all this defence spending all about saving your electoral fortunes in Sturt?
Christopher Pyne:
Well, I am not a cynical person, you see, Eliza. That is where you and I are different. We chose different paths in life. You chose journalism and I chose public service.
Kim Carr falls about laughing. Pyne shares a beatific smile.
A question about businesses being annoyed by “crappy” internet. Christopher Pyne declares Malcolm Turnbull has “fixed” the NBN. (Politics tragics will remember that Christopher Pyne previously fixed the higher education sector, which, thus far, remains unfixed.) Kim Carr says the government says that somehow or another copper is better than fibre.
Kim Carr:
I don’t know anyone, anyone, that will tell you that is correct. We have got a fundamental problem with the government trying to do the NBN on the cheap and failing dismally.
Both get a question about why Australia hasn’t been more successful at generating the big companies, one way or another, who drive the innovative process. Christopher Pyne says that’s unnecessarily pessimistic. Kim Carr thinks the value of the Australian dollar has been very difficult for Australian manufacturers.
Q: To both of you, do you concede there has been missteps within your party’s time in government over the last decade within the industry portfolio that has driven the Nick Xenophon vote up – and can you maybe identify the most regrettable misstep?
Kim Carr:
Since I’ve had charge of this industry and innovation policy for some time I am not likely to quickly agree with that proposition. The fact remains there is a deep concern within this country about what is occurring within the economy. We have not had a real wage increase for some time. We, of course, have had numbers of people now that are very anxious about their futures.
So this talk about agility and innovation and the new economy in some quarters is actually quite worrying for people. There has been far too little attention paid to actually bring bringing the community with us in terms of changing the culture in regard to innovative businesses. Now, this is a pattern expressed around the world. That is why Trump does so well in the US. He’s actually responding to these deep fears within the American society.
I don’t want to see that happen here. That is why I think, in terms of innovation policy, we have got to have a much sharper focus on the fact that less than 50% of our businesses are actually innovation active and ... so many of our people are so anxious about the change that is coming. That is why we can’t just talk about one tiny section of the start-ups, we have got to talk about transforming businesses to open up economic opportunities and bring prosperity to the whole country.
Christopher Pyne:
I have only been in the portfolio for nine months and it is exciting. I am economically pragmatic and politically pragmatic and my view is if we have a leaver we can pull that supports Australian industry, then we should pull it.
That is why I was pleased to be part of the NSC and capital decisions around building our submarines, future frigates and offshore Pacific patrol vessels. We have in the last three years in this government, particularly in the last few months, we have committed to 54 surface vessels for our Australian Navy.
In Labor’s six years there were none. No surface vessels or submarines.
I will keep you posted on the tradie in the event particulars come to hand. Back to the press club.
Q: Mr Pyne you started off by saying ideas are the new currency yet the campaign has committed eleven times more money to sporting grounds around the nation than start-ups. Are you sure you have got the right focus on the jobs of the future?
Christopher Pyne:
Absolutely. I mean, that is an extraordinary question.
Kim Carr:
I know there is a connection the between sporting fields and electoral behaviour. I am sure this is a matter that hasn’t passed people’s attention in the past, but this is what is driving the government’s attention here – electoral fear, preoccupation with the polls and not the substance about building the infrastructure we need for a scientific community.
#faketradie is REAL, Liberal HQ says
I need to break out of this momentarily because I’ve asked the Liberal campaign to settle this point once and for all – is the tradie in the #faketradie advertisement a real tradie or a fake tradie.
A Coalition campaign spokesman says #faketradie is a #realtradie. This is the statement I’ve been given, which you’ll note contains a reverse zinger.
A spokesman for Liberal CHQ.
We are very pleased that people are talking about this ad which highlights the risks of Bill Shorten’s war on business. The tradie is real, unlike Mr Shorten’s claims about Medicare.
I have asked for further particulars on the tradie: his name and his trade.
The two ministers have made their opening pitches. Christopher Pyne’s pitch is the Coalition is doing lots on innovation and it’s all good.
Kim Carr’s pitch can be summarised this way.
Now, in the Turnbull rhetoric, innovation talk is an attempt to persuade people that there has been some change in the policy of this government, that is meant to have changed again from Tony Abbott to Malcolm Turnbull, but the reality is there has been no change.
I won’t get to a summary until I’m on the other side of the National Press Club debate, which, today, is on innovation. Christopher Pyne versus Kim Carr. That’s underway now.
'Australians can spot a fake when they see one.'
The final question is on the new Liberal party ad. Is the Labor leader worried that wealthy tradies don’t like Labor?
Bill Shorten:
The problem with the Liberal ad is exactly the same problem with Mr Turnbull - Australians can spot a fake when they see one.
Updated
Bill Shorten’s delivery is aggressive this morning. “When you attack bulk billing you are attacking Medicare. The Liberals want to Americanise health care.” Then the line from yesterday’s campaign launch. He thinks its fair to give foreign aid to foreign companies but the prime minister won’t defend universal health care from cuts.
He’s then asked about Christian Kunde – the candidate who has now vanished. Shorten says as soon as he comprehended the issues he took action.
Shorten is asked if he can guarantee Labor won’t flog off bits of Medicare? Bill Shorten says “I can absolutely guarantee we are not going to sell off chunks of the Medicare system.” He says everyone knows Mr Turnbull is a weak leader who will say whatever he needs to get through the next interview. Labor, by contrast, has a 40 year record on Medicare.
Will he rule out privatising elements of human services? “The Liberal party are damaging Medicare irrevocably here. We will rescue Medicare from the government.”
Shorten is then asked about the same sex marriage plebiscite, is this something Labor would block?
The Labor leader doesn’t answer the question directly.
Bill Shorten:
I intend to win the election. I intend to put forward legislation within the first 100 days.
Bill Shorten addresses the media in Perth
The Labor leader has bobbed up now on the hustings. Bill Shorten says the prime minister has a problem. No-one believes him when he says he won’t privatise Medicare.
Q: The government says you are lying about the Medicare privatisation? What’s your response?
Bill Shorten:
Well we’ve seen this film before haven’t we? When the Liberals tell you ‘never ever’, get very nervous indeed.
Mr Turnbull’s cuts contradict his words.
Ray Hadley's nightmares
2GB should do a series, they could podcast it. Nightmares, with Ray Hadley. This is from this morning. Would go off, I reckon.
Q: Do you sometimes find yourself waking up in the middle of the night in a muck lather and sort of shake your head from that nightmare that you are sitting in Parliament and listening to Rob Oakeshott or Tony Windsor discuss what they will do in a hung Parliament – is that some nightmare that you relive occasionally?
Scott Morrison:
Well, I remember it too well from when they were there and that whole caravan of chaos with Labor, the Greens and the Independents with Oakeshott and Windsor. Look, I heard what you said earlier about the polling up in Cowper. Look, this is a very real prospect. The choice at this election is fairly clear; the Coalition can form a stable government and govern in its own right – that is one choice. The other choice, and I don’t think there is anyone suggesting any differently, if Labor were to form a government on the other side of July 2 it would be with Independents and the Greens. In particular, with where Oakeshott is said to be polling, well, we could have Rob Oakeshott back in the Parliament and Tony Windsor, the whole gang. It’s just chaos. That is the alternative.
A new record for rapid response?
New signage? Pretty quick on the Medicare draw @LiberalAus? #ausvotes pic.twitter.com/CXsIKYiVPM
— Katharine Murphy (@murpharoo) June 20, 2016
Melbourne, come, see us
It might be time to get Mr Bowers off the campaign trail.
6 weeks into the campaign and @mpbowers starting to look a little thin pic.twitter.com/1DLfYnUKQm
— ellinghausen (@ellinghausen) June 20, 2016
Fortunately we are peeling Mike off the hustings for a night this week so he can be part of our Guardian Live election event in Melbourne tomorrow night. Mike will be showcasing his great photojournalism from this campaign.
Just a reminder, tomorrow, June 21, our Melbourne discussion, presented with the Coopers Malthouse Theatre, will focus on the economy. Lenore Taylor and I will be joined by author and journalist George Megalogenis, Christian Porter, social services minister and former WA treasuer and Jenny Macklin, the shadow families minister. It won’t be just us chatting, there’ll be a chance for audience Q&A and there’ll be some fun segments as well.
It will be a fun night, and I look forward to seeing people afterwards. If you’d like to book a ticket, best be quick. All the details are here.
Just slightly off hustings today, it’s running very prominently on our website so I can’t imagine you’ve missed it but in the event you have missed it my colleagues Ben Doherty and David Marr have published a significant piece on Australia’s offshore immigration detention regime. Here’s s short excerpt.
Paul Stevenson has had a life in trauma. The psychologist and traumatologist has spent 40 years helping people make sense of their lives in the aftermath of disaster, of terrorist attacks, bombings and mass murders, of landslides, fires and tsunamis.
He’s written a book about his experiences, Postcards from Ground Zero, and for his efforts in assisting the victims of the Bali Bombings, the Australian government pinned an Order of Australia Medal to his chest.
Now, he says, it is the Australian government deliberately inflicting upon people the worst trauma he has ever seen.
You can read the full piece here.
. @TurnbullMalcolm says Rio Paralympic team is an inspiration to all #ausvotes #afronthetrail pic.twitter.com/t6MufKup6g
— Joanna Mather (@JoannaMather) June 20, 2016
Speaking of the prime minister, he’s speaking now at a Paralympic Committee event in Sydney.
Malcolm Turnbull:
We are with you, we are with you all the way, we back you all the way, all the way to Rio. Thank you and congratulations on your extraordinary example of courage, of determination, of the human spirit triumphing over adversity.
You inspire every one of us.
Just coming back to Medicare for a bit, Malcolm Turnbull this morning was at pains to say that the government’s plans for outsourcing the payments system were highly preliminary. Nothing had ever come to Cabinet. This is, doubtless, true. But the preparatory work wasn’t nothing either. Officials gave evidence in Senate estimates that a taskforce had been established to investigate the options, with a budget of $5m for six months work. The staffing plan for the task force was 20 people from various departments. This evidence was given on February 10 of this year. The description for the taskforce was looking at the commercial possibilities around the payment system around Medicare.
This was the shadow health minister Catherine King on Christian Kunde. We can summarise it as don’t let the door hit your butt on the way out.
Catherine King:
Well, he’s obviously not been honest during the pre-selection process and he is right to resign. He should have been honest in that pre-selection process. I understand he’s now gone and that is exactly the right thing for him to have done. You are supposed to disclose all matters before you go for pre-selection. He hasn’t done that and he’s now gone.
'We should not be ashamed of our morality'
Earlier today Helen mentioned Labor’s candidate for Farrer had resigned over comments defending Uthman Badar, the spokesman for extreme Islamic group Hizb ut-Tahrir. Christian Kunde, who befriended Badar before he joined Hizb ut-Tahrir, praised him as “a husband, father, [and] trusted friend” who he would trust with the guardianship of his own child. “He is also a deeply religious Muslim,” Kunde said.
Kunde also delivered a lecture at Sydney University in which he said gay marriage was not permitted under Islam.
Kunde resigned on Sunday as candidate for Farrer after reports in News Corp papers that leader Bill Shorten was furious about Kunde’s links to the Hizb ut-Tahrir figure. Senior Labor figures today have said the candidate has done the right thing in quitting the contest.
Kunde has told me today in an interview he had argued for consideration of “the actual humanity of the person in the way they’re presented” and called for media to attack people’s views rather than “hound them”.
“The struggle [Badar] was going through was distressing. I had some insight into that then, and I now have profound insight,” he said, noting it was “the same media outlets that were attacking Uthman” who had reported their friendship.
Kunde said he personally supported marriage equality, and his comments about the Islamic view on same-sex marriage were in the context of discussing religious views, including Roman Catholic opposition in the United Kingdom and Christian Democrat opposition in Australia.
Q: What was the controversy over your comments in the lecture - you told the ABC those were not your views?
Christian Kunde:
I was speaking about the Islamic view of same sex marriage, yes. I actually quoted the Roman Catholic church in Britain too, this was around about the time the government over there was doing community consultation, I don’t agree with their views either. I quoted various statements from Christian Democrats here [in Australia]. I presented a religious view which is not my own personal view. Anyone who bothered to ask me “do I support same-sex marriage” - yes, of course I do, otherwise I would not have stood for a party that has as one of its platforms.
In any case, he’s gone.
Here is a YouTube of the same sex marriage lecture so you can make your own judgments.
It certainly sounds like he’s endorsing the Islamic view of same sex marriage in this clip.
There aren’t caveats. “We should not be ashamed of our morality.”
The treasurer Scott Morrison is speaking now to reporters in Sydney.
Q: The prime minister has promised Medicare operations won’t be outsourced. What if the Productivity Commission that comes in after the election does recommend outsourcing, will the government reconsider its position?
Scott Morrison:
The prime minister has made it crystal clear. The report to which you refer is principally looking at state and territory government recommendations. That was the recommendation of the Harper report. That was the Productivity Commission terms of reference developed and supported by the states and territories. This is a process we are working through with COAG.
This was another lame attempt by the Labor party to try and trump up some big lie they’re running in this campaign about Medicare. What’s next? He is going to chain himself to the Opera House or say we will sell the Harbour Bridge?
This is how ridiculous and pathetic Labor’s campaign has become. They are desperate, shouty, panicked and have no economic plan.
(I’d say something about pots and kettles, but that might seem churlish).
'Have you seen the bill?'
Another moving part in the campaign news cycle this morning is whether or not Labor is toughening its stance against the same-sex marriage plebiscite – whether it might block the enabling bill.
Penny Wong gets a few questions about this, which she attempts to deflect by saying no one has seen the plebiscite bill.
Penny Wong:
A plebiscite was proposed because the Liberal party decided they couldn’t progress this issue because members of the hard right of the Liberal party were too angry about it and Malcolm Turnbull tapped the mat. After saying to everybody he didn’t support a plebiscite, he’s tapped the mat and given in to [Eric] Abetz, [Cory] Bernardi and [George] Christensen.
Q: Will Labor block legislation in the Senate setting one up?
Penny Wong:
I have seen the Liberal party trying to make this the focus. If marriage equality is your focus, vote Labor because what we are saying to people is we will do what needs to be done. A Labor prime minister, Mr Bill Shorten, will present a bill to the House of Representatives to make marriage equality law.
Q: Will you block or pass -
Penny Wong:
Have you seen the bill?
No one has seen the bill. No one has seen the bill. This has been a proposition that the Liberal party have been trying to use to take attention off Malcolm Turnbull’s capitulation to the right, his capitulation on this important issue. LGBTI Australians everywhere are so disappointed he has capitulated on this issue because we understand what it means. They are trying to get attention away from his capitulation by trying to talk about what happens after the election on a bill they haven’t even drafted.
This has been Liberal party policy from prior to the time Mr Turnbull knocked off Mr Abbott, it dates back to Mr Abbott’s prime ministership. No bill yet somehow they want to talk about what happens after the election. This election will be about Medicare, it will be a referendum on Medicare, on schools, on hospitals, on universities and it will be a people’s vote on marriage equality. If you elect a Labor government, we will deliver it.
Updated
One of Labor’s campaign spokespeople, Penny Wong is in the Mural Hall.
One of the groups who have expressed an interest in the privatisation of [Medicare] payments are the big banks. I guess I want to ask this of Mr Turnbull: Mr Turnbull, which aspect of the Medicare payment system did your government look at giving to the big banks?
The best guide to future behaviour is past behaviour. Under the Liberal party, there will be $4bn - they’ve made decisions to take $4bn out of Medicare and medicines over the budget period. That’s what Mr Turnbull’s plan for Medicare is. Privatisation and $4bn taken out of Medicare over the forward estimates period.
What we have seen is an attack on Medicare step by step. Now they want Australians to believe it’s all over. It doesn’t wash.
Meanwhile, in Perth, the jog has turned into a sprint. Mike Bowers says he hired a bike this morning to keep up with the opposition leader.
Mathias Cormann again, this time on the ABC.
Q: The opposition leader has cited as evidence for his claim [about Medicare privatisation] that Productivity Commission inquiry launched by the treasurer Scott Morrison earlier this year exploring ways to more efficiently deliver all human services including health and education. What can we expect from that?
Mathias Cormann:
And Chris Bowen when he was the human services minister went out and said that he was looking at delivering government services in a better, more efficient way. Governments of course will always look at how government services can be delivered in a better, more user-friendly way. But let me be very clear again. There is no truth at all to the dishonest and desperate Labor scare campaign that a Coalition government would privatise Medicare. We will not privatise Medicare. We will not privatise any aspect of Medicare. Medicare will remain in public hands, but of course we will continue to ensure that the services provided by Medicare are the best possible, most user-friendly services for patients around Australia taking advantage of digital technology in the best possible way.
Q: There’s leaked internal polling showing, with the help of preferences, Rob Oakeshott is actually in with a chance to secure Cowper. Do you consider him an actual threat? What do you make of remarks that he’s only just back in the game to raise money?
Cue clear plans versus caravans of chaos.
Malcolm Turnbull:
The clear choice on 2 July, or indeed the clear choice right up to 2 July because people are voting now, is between my government, a stable Coalition government with a clear national economic plan that will deliver stronger growth and more and better jobs. We have that clear plan ..
'This is the biggest lie of the campaign'
Q: Can you explain for us in a policy sense what is wrong with outsourcing the Medicare payment system? Do you apologise to the private operators who thought you were going down that path before you reversed that decision?
Malcolm Turnbull:
Can I make this clear: What the Labor Party has done is run an extraordinarily dishonest scare campaign. They have been ringing older Australians in the evening frightening them and saying Medicare is going to be sold off, Medicare will be privatised. This is the biggest lie of the campaign. It is extraordinary. It’s not the only one of Mr Shorten’s lies, I must say but it is the most outrageous and the way they have sought to frighten people, particularly older Australians, is really shameful. I want to be very clear. Medicare will never ever be privatised. Medicare will never be sold. Every element of Medicare services that is currently being delivered by government will continue to be delivered by government full stop.
Q: Was that a captain’s call by you to abandon the work on the outsourcing or did that decision go to Cabinet? When was it made?
Malcolm Turnbull:
Can I say to you there has been no decision taken to outsource any part of Medicare. Some work has been done by the department, so I gather, but it has never been a decision of the government to outsource any part of Medicare services. It’s never come to the Cabinet to be considered to outsource any part of Medicare services. I know Chris Bowen spoke glowingly of doing something like this in the past but I can tell you this is the fact, this is the case: Medicare will never ever be privatised. It is a core government service. It will never be sold. Every element of Medicare’s services that is currently being delivered by government will continue to be delivered by government. Full stop.
Q: Tony Abbott made an adamant statement on health funding before the last election and then reneged on it. Why should voters trust you when they couldn’t trust your predecessor?
Malcolm Turnbull:
This is absolutely clear. This is a question of whether services of Medicare continue to be delivered by government, entirely by government, or not. I am making a solemn commitment, an unequivocal commitment, that ... Medicare’s services will continue to be delivered by government. Full stop. We will use the digital transformation office and all of the talents at our disposal to make those services more user-friendly, to enable people to transact with Medicare better through their smartphones, to enable doctors to transact more effectively. We’ll do all of that but it will all be done within government. I want to be very clear about this. This is a shocking scare campaign. It shows the desperation of the Labor Party that they would tell such a shocking falsehood as this. Every element of Medicare that is being delivered by government will continue to be delivered by government. Medicare never ever be privatised.
Questions now.
Q: A question on something Bill Shorten said yesterday about the same-sex plebiscite. He is hardening his language against holding a plebiscite. There is no indication from Labor on whether they would vote for one in parliament in the event you win the election. What’s your message to Labor about whether they should vote for that plebiscite? Will there be a mandate for holding a plebiscite if you win the election? Would you be willing to consider a conscience vote in parliament if Labor absolutely refuses to vote for a plebiscite?
Malcolm Turnbull:
I’m not going to deal in hypotheticals. We have a very clear policy which is that everyAustralian will get a vote on the subject. Everyone knows about that. Of course, if we are successful on July 2nd, then I have every expectation that the parliament will swiftly legislate for a plebiscite and a plebiscite will be held shortly after parliament resumes, which I would assume to be in August, so I would hope that the plebiscite could be held before the end of the year.
Angus Taylor, who assists the prime minister on cities notes there is a sustainable cities investment fund which will be administered by the CEFC. “There are great opportunities as we’ve seen right here in Oran Park for more sustainable cities and suburbs.”
Boy, the CEFC has been handy for the Coalition this election. Just as well the government didn’t succeed in abolishing it.
Malcolm Turnbull is on a roll with liveable cities.
They are vital economic assets. Believe me. Sometimes people talk about these issues of liveability and environment as though it’s just a touchy-feely thing. Well, it is touchy-feely, too, it’s where you live but, above all else, it is a vital economic asset. Liveable cities. Cities which you can get around with good mass transit, good recognition, clean air, green spaces.
'The reason housing has been unaffordable ..'
Malcolm Turnbull addresses the subject of housing affordability.
More housing, more affordable housing, housing affordability is a huge issue but the answer is more housing. The answer is supply. The reason housing has been unaffordable or ... less affordable in Sydney than it should be, is because we have not been building enough houses.
On 2GB, Scott Morrison is wondering whether Bill Shorten is going to chain himself to the Opera House to stop the government privatising it.
Malcolm Turnbull addresses reporters
The prime minister is holding his daily press conference, and he sounds dreadful. The voice is really struggling. And he’s got to get through Q&A tonight. Malcolm Turnbull is talking about the thirty minute city.
Today we are announcing with Mike Baird a city deal for western Sydney. This will see for the first time systematic coordination between the federal government, the state government, local governments, coordinating with stakeholders, developers such as here at Oran Park, but also the University of Western Sydney, for example.
The treasurer Scott Morrison is coming up on the Ray Hadley program and we expect the prime minister to address reporters in Oran Park very shortly.
'The prime minister has not ruled out improving the service delivery'
Coalition campaign spokesman Mathias Cormann has been on Sky News.
Q: First of all on the issue of Medicare. It was the focus of Labor’s campaign launch yesterday and already it’s forced a retreat from the Government in terms of outsourcing the processing of payments.
Mathias Cormann:
That whole campaign by Bill Shorten is based on a lie. There never was a plan to privatise Medicare. Bill Shorten knows that. He is seeking to deceive the Australian people in the same way that he’s deceived Bob Hawke.
Q: But you’d outsource, you had planned to look at outsourcing the processing of payments. That’s been shelved because of that scare campaign.
Mathias Cormann:
What we have planned to look at and what we continue to look at is how we can improve the service delivery in relation to Medicare and other parts of government ...
Q: The prime minister has ruled that out now.
Mathias Cormann:
The prime minister has not ruled out improving the service delivery and making service delivery more user friendly. What the prime minister has ruled out and what all of us have ruled out is the privatisation of Medicare. What we have ruled out is contracting out services provided by Medicare. And that most certainly will not happen. But what the government will continue to do is to ensure that patients around Australia get the best possible service in a way that is as user friendly as possible.
'Look at their record'
Labor’s deputy leader Tanya Plibersek has been on ABC television.
Q: The PM over the weekend said in his words a re-elected Coalition would never ever privatise Medicare. That sort of kills Labor’s claims stone-dead, doesn’t it?
Tanya Plibersek:
That’s like they said before the election that there would be no cuts to health and no cuts to education and no change to pensions and no new taxes and no cuts to the ABC. They broke all those promises.
For 40 years Labor has been fighting to establish and protect Medicare and since coming to government, the Abbott/Turnbull government have tried to introduce a GP copayment, they’ve cut tens of billions of dollars of hospitals, they’ve slashed Medicare so that doctors can’t bulk-bill anymore. They’ve cut support for diagnostic imaging and pathology, hundreds of millions of dollars again. They’ve cut funding for preventative health.
If you look at their record rather than what the PM’s saying 12 days out from an election, people understand that it’s only Labor that will protect Medicare. If you want to keep Medicare, you have to vote Labor.
Q: We had the Newspoll out today showing both parties, both major parties neck and neck, 50% each on a two-party preferred basis, what does that say to you about where the electorate is at at the moment?
Tanya Plibersek:
It says to me that we need to work really hard over the next two weeks to tell people that if they want to keep Medicare they have to vote Labor.
The prime minister is up and about in Sydney, bad flu notwithstanding.
Hearing about extraordinary growth for #OranPark, Swest Sydney with @TurnbullMalcolm @FionaScottMP @RussellMatheson pic.twitter.com/5mHKZT3jcV
— Angus Taylor MP (@AngusTaylorMP) June 19, 2016
A couple of things you’ll already know if you tuned in for the live coverage yesterday: Labor is flicking the switch to Medicare in the final push, and the opposition is pretty much past the policy announcements now – it will be pure politics for the final fortnight.
Helen mentioned before the shadow health minister, Catherine King, was on AM this morning. In that interview she acknowledged that Medicare’s computer networks will have to be upgraded “at some point” and that might involve some input from the private sector. “But under no circumstances would you flog it off,” King told the program.
On Sunday the government ditched the idea of outsourcing the Medicare payments system in order to head off Labor’s intensifying political attack about privatisation.
Updated
Projecting back the *meh*
Good morning everyone and welcome to the final sprint. We are in the final two weeks, and we will be sprinting, right to the finish.
I want to open this morning with the Liberal party’s new political ad, the one that Helen has already shared this morning, the one Twitter has dubbed #faketradie. Enormously good sport #faketradie – but let’s stow the wisecracks and try and unpick what this ad is telling us about the contest.
We are now at the final pitches stage of the campaign. The TV advertising up until now has been about creating impressions. The Liberals have had a benign-looking Malcolm Turnbull talking about the components of his plan. The nonsense attack ads that Scott Morrison has been launching are social media creations. Labor, for its part, has pushed it services message with a negative tagline about Turnbull being out of touch. Bob Hawke has fronted the Medicare ads, and they’ve been so successful they’ve pushed the Coalition into retreat. Now we have the beginning of the Coalition’s final pitch, a tradie telling us Bill Shorten can’t be trusted. As former union boss and experienced campaigner Tim Lyons pointed out on wisely on Twitter last night when the laugh fest about #faketradie was at its peak: “If the ad isn’t about persuading you, chances are you won’t like it.”
This isn't a criticism of anybody - but if the ad isn't about persuading you, chances are you won't like it. Even if it's your team.
— Tim Lyons (@Picketer) June 19, 2016
The point being this is a highly targeted ad, pitched at voters who are currently undecided, who could be persuaded to vote Coalition. It’s from a highly recognisable genre of political advertising, let’s call it “don’t change horses midstream”.
But I’m taken with the ambiguity of the tagline, which urges voters to stick with the current mob for a while. Given how heavily these things are workshopped and focus grouped and tested, it cannot be an accident. Broadly, I think the purpose of the appeal is stability. It’s the equivalent of there’s been a long period of uncertainty, why don’t we just give the government a go. But it’s also equivocal. Give them a go for a while. It’s a weird pitch isn’t it? Try Coke (for a while). Buy this car (for a while). Less than compelling, right?
But clever in this way: the ad explicitly references fatigue and disaffection in the electorate. As political blogger Margo Kingston noted again on Twitter last night, it returns power to the voter by saying all of this is highly disposable. This isn’t a life or death decision, it’s just three years. You can vote differently in three years time. In that way it’s a fascinating piece of political communication. Partisan loyalties are on the wane, people are jack of the same major party appeals at election time – how do you deal with that? By playing the voter’s own disaffection game, apparently. By projecting the meh right back at them. It’s OK to be meh, we get it, we politicians all kind of suck, but some of us suck more than others. Will it work? Who knows, but it’s interesting, I reckon.
Anyway let’s press 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.
Hold onto your hard hats, here comes Monday.
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With friends like these...
News Corp columnist Andrew Bolt is begrudgingly throwing his support behind the PM, in a column titled I admit it: Turnbull is better than Shorten. But let’s look long-term.
“Conservatives must now admit it,” he writes. “Whatever we think of that backstabbing Leftist Malcolm Turnbull, Labor would be worse.”
And with that to end on, I’ll hand over the blog to Katharine Murphy to carry us through the lion’s share of today’s developments.
See you again bright and early tomorrow.
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Day of the Tripods.
What the media conference room looks like before @TurnbullMalcolm arrives #ausvotes @abcnews @abcnewsSydney pic.twitter.com/QQVgB9PNt1
— Dan Conifer (@DanConifer) June 19, 2016
Senator Matt Canavan is in the Top End today, and has made a few hundred million dollars of announcements before breakfast.
So far we’ve had about $130m for Northern Territory roads, including an extra $28m for the Outback Way, and $985,000 to fast-track a feasibility study into irrigated agriculture.
I promise it wasn’t deliberate but it appears I missed Pauline Hanson’s hot take on Maguire.
Pauline Hanson wants to drown journalists and thinks everyone should get over McGuire's remarks. #sun7 https://t.co/DnytEF4xAH
— Sunrise (@sunriseon7) June 19, 2016
Something I haven’t addressed in the blog today because it wasn’t (yet) in the political realm.
In a shock development, Eddie Maguire has said something offensive, for which he is sorry (that you were offended).
The short version is that he and other high-profile AFL people “joked” about drowning female journalist Caroline Wilson, live on radio.
Mathias Cormann is the first politician I’ve seen to be asked to weigh in this morning, but please let me know if I missed one.
He was asked for his thoughts on the matter by Michael Rowland on ABC Breakfast.
“I’m not a commentator on commentators,” replied Cormann, labelling it an “unfortunate comment”.
Rowland offered Cormann another shot and Cormann turned the dial up to … about three.
“He shouldn’t have made that sort of remark”.
Updated
If you were looking for a new refrain for the last two weeks, then you’re about to be disappointed.
Mathias Cormann is on ABC to tell us “the prime minister will continue to promote the national economic plan for jobs and growth”.
Turnbull will also get out there to explain “this is not the time to take risks ... this is the time to stick with the team”, said Cormann, forgetting to add “for a while” to the end of that sentence.
For the second time this morning he’s out defending the Coalition against Labor’s warning of privatisation if the government is returned.
He’s also getting some of the Coalition’s former broken promises thrown back at him, but notes there is “no proof at all” of the claims in Labor’s “scare campaign”.
Updated
The Coalition wasn’t the only ones to release a slightly awkward video.
Evidently there aren’t enough journalists on the campaign trail, and Shorten’s wife, Chloe, was forced to step in and do the interviewing.
Coalition campaign spokesman, Mathias Cormann is on Sky News, getting asked about the Coalition shelving its plan to outsource the Medicare payments system.
Cormann denies the Coalition has been rattled.
“The PM has not ruled out improving service delivery and making it more user friendly,” he says.
“What we’re ruled out is contracting out services provided by Medicare.”
This whole campaign by Shorten always was and continues to be based on a lie, he says.
“Medicare is safe.”
Over on News Radio, Cormann’s Labor counterpart, Penny Wong, has denied the opposition is running a scare campaign on Medicare, and says the Liberal party “has form” in trying to dismantle it.
She’s also asked about Kunde, who she says he offered his resignation and it was accepted “immediately”.
Updated
Some more on that shock Labor resignation by Christian Kunde in the NSW seat of Farrer.
He’s already gone from the Labor party website, but it’s not going to be so easy to scrub him from the news cycle today.
News Corp reported this morning that Kunde had written public comments in support of Uthman Badar, the spokesman for extremist Islamic organisation Hizb ut-Tahrir.
Catherine King, speaking a few moments ago on ABC radio, says he was right to go.
“He’s obviously not been honest during preselection process and he’s right to resign,” she said. “You are supposed to disclose all matters.”
Kunde earlier said in a statement he was stepping down for the good of the party, but rejected the accusations levelled at him, at least in the way they were levelled.
“I am not homophobic and I believe in Australian democracy. I disagree with the way my comments are being reported; in fact, this distortion is exactly what I have warned about,” he said.
The post in question was written in 2014, in an opinion piece for ABC Religion and Ethics.
It looks at the coverage of Badar to lament ad hominem attacks in the media.
Kunde wrote:
He has been variously branded a “supporter of terrorism”, as well as an “extremist” and a “fundamentalist.” Disappointingly, there have been few calls – if any, aside from this one – to support Uthman against this barrage of modern ad hominem.
That’s the line which has been pulled out by the Daily Telegraph. Here are the next two paragraphs from that piece.
At this point, I should say that I know Uthman Badar personally. He is a brilliant economics graduate, who won the Premier’s Award for all round achievement in his Higher School Certificate. Moreover, he is a husband, father, trusted friend and cricket enthusiast. I would trust him with the guardianship of my own child. He is also deeply religious Muslim. But these are not the reasons why I believe Uthman deserves support against this modern ad hominem; the real reason is more complex and illustrates something more sinister.
Ultimately, it concerns the price that society and individuals pay for the justification of opinions that should stay suppressed. The justification-suppression model of prejudice, first proposed by Crandall and Eshleman, suggests that prejudices are repressed until they can be justified by means of stereotypes, ideologies or personal characteristics. It is an uncomfortable model for many, as it concludes that all individuals carry prejudices of some description.
For what it’s worth, the three reader comments on the piece disagree with Kunde.
I’d love to hear your thoughts. Was Kunde taken out of context? Is he right to step down? Should Labor have done a better job of vetting their candidate?
Updated
“No I don’t think a plebiscite would go ahead and I don’t support a plebiscite at all,” King says on the issue of marriage equality, when asked if Labor would vote for the public vote if the Turnbull government was returned.
Catherine King, Labor’s shadow health minister, is on Radio National hitting the Coalition on Medicare.
The federal government’s taskforce has been set up to look at Medicare, among other things, she’s telling AM.
“Frankly they have been lying about health from day one,” says King, accusing the government of trying to push costs on to patients, increase costs to pathology, GPs and diagnostic imaging.
King denied collaboration with the private sector on IT systems was very different to “flogging it off”, and said the IT system has to be modernised at some point. She doesn’t dismiss Labor working with the private sector to do so.
Updated
Before we get completely overrun with the morning media appearances, here’s something from the weekend.
On Saturday the ABC revealed the Coalition was given research in a Treasury briefing months ago which found negative gearing tax benefits favour high income earners. Despite this, the Coalition has continued to say negative gearing overwhelmingly favours the average Aussie, and Labor’s plan to restrict it will bring on an economic apocalypse.
You can read about it here, but the research says Labor’s proposal would also bring in a tidy $6bn or so a year in extra revenue.
Labor jumped on it, declaring it proved the Coalition - in particular Scott Morrison - was running a scare campaign.
Morrison said it didn’t change the fact that two thirds of negative gearers earned a taxable income (don’t forget that bit, it’s important) of $80,000 or less.
Don't change horses midstream
The Coalition released a new election ad last night and it sure is … something.
Lest the party sound too overconfident, a friendly looking tradie has urged voters to “stick with the current mob for a while”.
The tradie who “just wants to get ahead with an investment property” also stands up for his poor maligned bank.
Soon after the ad’s release #faketradie was doing the rounds on Twitter, noting among other things a number of apparently OH&S violations.
Also, why is his saw-stool set up in a lane outside the fencing? And who has a ceramic cup on a building site? pic.twitter.com/pZEs7TPk0T
— Bill (@Billablog) June 19, 2016
Has to be the same agency that did Stoner Sloth #faketradie https://t.co/F2HMD2FRSv
— Gloomgyron (@glengyron) June 19, 2016
I’d love to know what you think of it.
Updated
Hello, good morning, happy Monday, and welcome to the beginning of this week’s election live blog. There is less than a fortnight to go.
Yesterday saw the Labor party officially launch its campaign and the Liberals will follow on next week, which might be confusing if you’ve been following it all since 9 May.
Congratulations Australia, you’ve now survived this campaign for 42 days, a number which Douglas Adams said was the answer to life, the universe and everything, if only we could work out what the question was.
Adams also scribed a long conversation between a robot and a mattress, and there’s a tortured analogy about the election in those references, I’m sure, but maybe it’ll come to me after the second cup of coffee.
As Katharine Murphy noted yesterday, Labor’s policy announcement phase of the campaign is largely over now, after about $3.1bn in promises. We can expect more community events and meeting of the people in the final two weeks as Bill Shorten hits the pitch for a sprint through the final innings (please choose your preferred sports metaphor).
The latest Newspoll shows the two parties remain deadlocked at 50-50, with just a one percentage point bump for each leader as preferred PM, to 46% and 31% respectively.
The big picture
The Labor launch was the news of the weekend. The event saw three of the last four Labor prime ministers (not Kevin Rudd) come out to support Shorten. The announcements focused on health, employment, transport and tax breaks for small business.
Shorten went so far as to declare the election a “referendum on Medicare”.
The launch speech was aimed directly at dragging Malcolm Turnbull into a final-weeks contest on health, education and job creation, writes Lenore Taylor, and to stop him coasting to victory with a small-target strategy of reassuring voters there’s no need to risk change.
It didn’t impress Peter Hartcher at Fairfax, who writes that Shorten has completed a transformation from “faceless man” to “everyman”, but it did seem to force something of a backdown from the Coalition on one policy.
After Shorten continued to target the Coalition proposal to outsource the Medicare payments system as effectively privatisating Medicare, Turnbull ditched the idea.
Turnbull pledged – as he’s pledged before – that Medicare “will never ever be privatised”.
“What Bill Shorten is doing is peddling an extraordinary lie, so audacious, it defies belief,” he said.
Turnbull will on Monday morning announce the Coalition’s smart cities policy. According to the PM our cities are at the front line of action on climate change, I guess because so many of them are on the coast.
The policy promise includes a funding pool for clean energy, renewable energy and energy efficiency technology projects with an annual investment target of up to $100m and $50m for a “competitive Smart Cities Program” to encourage local governments to collaborate with businesses to improve services and address urban problems through technology-based approaches.
Labor is expected to continue its “Save Medicare” push, but will likely spend quite a bit of time mopping up the resignation of candidate Christian Kunde, who was standing for Labor against the health minister, Sussan Ley, in the NSW seat of Farrer.
The Daily Telegraph reports on its front page on Monday Kunde had ties to the senior spokesman for extremist Islamic organisation Hizb ut-Tahrir, Uthman Badar. According to the Tele, Kunde supported Badar after his 2014 Festival of Dangerous Ideas talk – titled by organisers “why honour killings are morally justified” – was cancelled.
On the campaign trail
In Sydney, where Turnbull will spend most of Monday, he has teamed up with the NSW premier, Mike Baird, to announce “a city deal for western Sydney”, centred around the proposed second airport and a connected passenger rail network.
It’s expected the new airport will create more than 39,000 jobs over the next 20 years, which is quite a bit more than the 20,000 by 2060 spruiked on the airport project’s official website.
Turnbull will head north later on Monday ahead of a Brisbane edition of Q&A, where hopefully the warmer weather will help his flu.
From western Sydney to Western Australia, Shorten is in Perth where he will focus on education, infrastructure and Medicare.
The Greens are using Monday to renew their push for a $61.2m royal commission into children in immigration detention.
The campaign you should be watching
Which of the marginal seats shall we look at today? Let’s take another look at the battle of New England, where Barnaby Joyce has seen off a mouthy celebrity and looks to do the same with his chief political challenge, the Return of Tony Windsor.
Newspoll shows Windsor’s support has fallen by eight points since March, leaving Joyce with a not entirely comfortable lead at 51% to Windsor’s 49%.
Will it be enough to claw back the 13.5% swing against him in the rural seat?
And another thing
Labor weren’t the only ones to launch a campaign over the weekend. Outgoing MP Clive Palmer also officially kicked off his bid for the Senate. The event was as odd as it was short, much like Palmer’s appearances in parliamentary sittings over the last term of government.
Australian Associated Press were there, and a more delightful writeup of the day you will not find. It reminded me of some of the best advice I ever received at university: if the material’s hilarious, just write it straight. It doesn’t need your help.
You will not read a more glorious five pars today. from AAP. https://t.co/CWMXFC6KE1 pic.twitter.com/Xjqlvo1AYg
— Helen Davidson (@heldavidson) June 18, 2016
Talk to me in the comments or on the Twits (@heldavidson). Our tireless photographer Mike Bowers is over at @mpbowers. Katharine Murphy (@murpharoo) will be in a little later.
Into the breach, friends.
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