In a nutshell
The opposition leader, Bill Shorten, came out swinging today, rubbishing a new analysis of Labor’s climate change policy as “propaganda” and defending his plans to intervene in the market to boost the wages of childcare workers.
It was a noticeable shift in style from the Labor leader, who has struggled to find his match fitness in the first two weeks of the campaign but who now appears to have sprung into action.
Rather than remain on the defensive, Shorten flicked the switch to attack mode, attempting to quickly kill off a government scare campaign based on modelling that showed gross national product would decline by between $542bn to $264bn over a decade as a result of Labor’s 45% emission reduction plan.
“When are we finally going to put the genie of the scare campaign back in the bottle on climate change?” Shorten said while campaigning in Tasmania. “We are very committed to taking real action on climate change. We don’t believe the scary numbers. We think they’re just rubbish.”
Morrison was also in the apple isle, announcing a $300m boost to the pharmaceutical benefits scheme safety net and attempting to turn the screws on Labor over climate policy. The risk for Morrison is that, in constantly bagging Labor for its climate change action, voters will start to wonder whether the Liberals want to act at all – hence why we have heard the prime minister at pains to stress that he was most definitely doing something on climate change.
“This election is not about whether we should take action on climate change. I believe we should. It’s not about whether you’re taking action on climate change. We have taken action on climate change. And we will continue to take action on climate change.” Get that?
Candidate malfunctions continued on both sides, with the Liberal candidate in the Tasmanian seat of Lyons, Jessica Whelan, under fire for anti-Muslim social media posts, and more lewd posts written by Labor’s Melbourne candidate, Luke Creasey, uncovered. Whelan disavowed the racist posts, claiming they were “digitally altered”, and the party has so far stuck by her. Morrison said the posts would be referred to the Australian federal police for investigation. Creasey was still the party’s candidate at 5.30pm on Thursday, but this too could change.
Elsewhere on the trail
Tony Abbott and Zali Steggall went head to head on Thursday afternoon in another debate as the contest for Warringah heats up. In a fiery forum at Queenscliff, Abbott and Steggall traded blows over climate change, same-sex marriage, the northern beaches tunnel and the possibility of a minority government. As one attendee said, it was great to see democracy in the safe Liberal seat. The argy bargy came after Abbott took objection after a flurry of offensive posters bearing his mug were posted across the electorate, calling it a “a new nastiness in Australian politics”.
The big picture
Liberals give the darndest gifts. No doubt this gem handed over by Tasmanian senator Eric Abetz will go straight to the PM’s office to sit alongside the “I stopped the boats” trophy.
Required reading
If you read one thing today, make it Katharine Murphy’s explainer on the emissions reduction cost barney. With a report from the Australian Institute showing that about 40% of voters remain completely bamboozled by energy policy in this country (not surprising given the past decade of uncertainty), the piece will go some way to helping clear the fog. This seat profile from Amy Remeikis and Mike Bowers looks at the key battleground seat of Herbert in Queensland, which is the most marginal electorate in the country and one that will be closely watched on election night.
Tweet of the day
A quick reminder of why journalists and press secretaries should never leave MPs unsupervised. Find herewith Labor member for Perth, Patrick Gorman, happily bidding a fond farewell to his dignity (and announcing some funding for ActivatePerth along the way)
That point in the federal election campaign where dignity goes out the window pic.twitter.com/ji8zjsvlem
— Nick Butterly (@nickbutterly) May 2, 2019
What next?
It’s is a big day for both leaders with the second debate to be held in Brisbane on Friday night. Shorten will start the day in Melbourne attending a rally as part of a national day of action for the National Disability Insurance Scheme, while Morrison is leaving Tasmania for an as yet undisclosed location.
