The campaigns have gone quiet.
At this stage, they are still in Sydney, but that could change at a moment’s notice – this weekend is their first chance to get out and about among ‘the people’ as it were, all those hardworking Australians they love to tell us about, because come next Friday, it’s Easter.
It’s also the start of school holidays in those states that didn’t go on break last week, which means for the first time, all states are on the Easter break. That’s a lot of everyday families to get out and meet.
If, of course, that is what you want to do. So far we have seen a lot of businesses and hi-vis and roadside, but not a lot of public.
No doubt there will be weekend announcements. Will there be trips north? Or west? Even further south?
Make sure you check back on the Guardian as the weekend rolls by, but also try to have a weekend. I’ll be stealing one, as one of the only ones we’ll have left over the next six weeks or so. So the blog will be down, but don’t worry, we’ll pick it back up early on Monday morning when no doubt, things will be blowing up again.
That’s the joy of election campaigns. You start the day talking about tax figures and end it on “disability excuses”.
A massive thank you to everyone who has followed us this week. We truly appreciate it, and all the messages and comments. Even when we don’t agree, we enjoy the interactions.
Have a wonderful weekend and please, take care of you. We’ve got a long 36 days stretching ahead of us.
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Rob Harris at the Herald Sun (and you would be hard pressed to find a reporter in this gallery who knows Victoria as well as he does) has a story on how the section 44 crisis *almost* crept into the 46th parliament.
The Victorian Liberals branch is now rushing to find last-minute replacements in three Labor-held seats before nominations close on April 23.
Current and future MPs and senators are now required to state the place and date of birth of themselves and their parents, and details of renunciation of foreign citizenship.
Kate Oski, the candidate for Lalor in Melbourne’s west, has stepped aside and will likely be replaced by her mother, Gayle Murphy.
The Herald Sun understands Ms Oski has rights to Polish citizenship through her father, Stephen, and was unable to complete a complex process to renounce her claim in time.
Liberal candidate in Wills, Vaishali Ghosh, has also been forced to step aside because of her Indian heritage.
It is understood Ms Ghosh is not an Indian citizen, but party officials were concerns over her Persons of Indian Origin status, which allows those with Indian parents or grandparents access to long term visas.
A third candidate, Helen Jackson in the inner-city seat of Cooper, will also be dumped because she is an employee of Australia Post.
Nominations don’t actually close until 23 April, so they have time to replace them.
To all candidates, for the sake of the country, for the parliament, for my own sanity, CHECK YOUR PAPERWORK IT IS NOT THAT HARD OMG JUST RENOUNCE EVERYTHING WE CAN NOT GO THROUGH THIS AGAIN.
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Politicians – they are just like us.
In Kristina Keneally’s defence, I have been past that Bunnings many, many times and it is never not a surprise at how big it is. Also, They closed down the Big Prawn centre, but kept the giant fibreglass crustacean, and it now randomly sits in the giant Bunnings carpark
Moments from the Bill Bus with Bill Shorten and Kristina Keneally 🚍🎈 #auspol pic.twitter.com/NFXONuuNdo
— Australian Labor (@AustralianLabor) April 12, 2019
Despite Treasury’s “yeah, but nah, we did not provide a total” distancing from the government’s $387bn tax attack on Labor, Josh Frydenberg is also doubling down:
Despite Chris Bowen’s desperate attempts at distraction, none of his frontbench colleagues have disputed that Labor’s new taxes total $387bn, the equivalent of an extra yearly tax bill of $5,400 per household.
Chris Bowen is welcome to come out of witness protection and explain the costings behind his big new tax experiment on the Australian economy, including the negative gearing policy which he has bungled.
As he himself has admitted, Labor’s new taxes would start in only 12 weeks’ time on 1 July. A vote for the Labor party is a vote for $387bn of additional taxes, but as Chris Bowen has told voters, if you don’t like them, don’t vote for them.
Labor can’t manage money and would weaken the economy. Only the Coalition can be trusted to deliver lower taxes, more jobs and a stronger economy, which underpins record spending on essential services.
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The Wilderness Society plans on having a big weekend.
Reid and Bonner, where Ross Vasta is struggling to hold on to his seat (you may remember I reported the Australian Christian Lobby put out a mail-out calling for volunteers and people willing to stick a Vasta sign in their yard recently) are both on the target list, with the society planning on door-knocking 1,000 homes.
Which, in these marginal seats, is no small plight. Billboards will be heading up in the electorates soon after.
“Queensland is in the midst of a deforestation crisis”, said the Wilderness Society Queensland campaign manager, Gemma Plesman, in a statement.
“A Gabba-sized area of forest and bushland is bulldozed every three minutes, killing a native animal every second, causing carbon pollution and muddying the Great Barrier Reef’s waters. Queensland’s deforestation rate puts us on a list of global deforestation fronts – making Australia the only developed country on that list.
“The current federal environment law, the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act is failing to protect threatened species, including koalas and icons like the Great Barrier Reef.
“We are seeing hectare after hectare of important habitat bulldozed, which is driving species like the koala to the brink of extinction and the EPBC Act is failing to stop this.”
The Society held a candidate forum on Wednesday in Bonner, which Vasta did not attend.
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Rachel Siewert said at “long last the dire poverty that people on Newstart are condemned to live in is being recognised” but she wants to see actual action.
Bill Shorten said earlier: “Newstart starts too low. We’re not reviewing it to keep it at such low levels.”
“I’ve introduced four private member’s bills to increase Newstart since I’ve been in parliament,” Siewert said in a statement.
“The community know it is not acceptable that this payment hasn’t been raised for 25 years.
“The major parties need to get on board with the community, economists and the social services sector and commit to raising the rate of Newstart as a priority after the election.
“Both major party leaders keep going on about fair go. But no one gets a fair go when they are forced to live in poverty on $40 a day looking for jobs that are simply not there.
“There is no fair go in this country while people looking for work are condemned to live in poverty.
“With inequality on the rise, we can’t keep favouring the super wealthy and the big corporate donors of the Liberal and Labor parties or keep trying to buy votes through tax cuts.”
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The Bad Show has confirmed Malcolm Roberts will be appearing on its Monday program, along with James McGrath, Larissa Waters and Terri Butler, in an episode called “The battle for Queensland”.
Taking donations to build the “fire me into the sun” canon ... now!
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Veteran LGBT+ campaigner Rodney Croome has written to Scott Morrison to ask him to condemn Brunei’s harsh anti-gay laws, punishing adultery and gay sex by death by stoning.
Morrison has responded – significantly strengthening the Australian government’s rhetoric against the laws:
The government’s view is clear: criminalisation of consensual same-sex sexual relationships is unacceptable. We believe in equal human rights for LGBTI persons and an end to violence and discrimination against LGBTI persons across the region and globally.
The Australian government is deeply concerned about the new measures under Brunei’s Syariah penal code. More broadly we are strongly opposed to corporal and capital punishments in all circumstances and for all people, including in Brunei.
When the first stage of the Syariah penal code was implemented in 2014, Australia urged Brunei to ensure that implementation was in accordance with its international human rights obligations. We are deeply disappointed that Brunei has proceeded with these measures. We have conveyed our strong opposition to the criminalisation of same-sex relationships under the Syariah penal code the government of Brunei and will continue to do so.
Croome now wants the Australia government to cease diplomatic ties:
I welcome Mr Morrison’s strong condemnation of the brutal new anti-LGBTIQ laws that have been enacted in Brunei. When the Australian prime minister speaks out, and when there is unanimous condemnation of Brunei’s brutal laws across the political aisle, it sends a very strong message to the Brunei government.
My hope is that there will be continued condemnation of the repressive Brunei laws by the Australian Government, regardless of who wins the May 18 election. If Brunei doesn’t change course, the Australian government should cease diplomatic ties with Brunei, cease using services owned by the Brunei government and move to have it suspended from the Commonwealth.
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We sent enquiries to Treasury this morning about the costings the government had released, and shortly after Philip Gaetjens’ letter to the opposition was released, Treasury replied:
Treasury received requests from the treasurer’s office outlining a number of policies to be costed. The requests made no reference to the opposition.
The relevant policy officers costed these proposals and provided this analysis to the treasurer’s office prior to the commencement of the caretaker period.
The response from secretary to the treasury, Philip Gaetjens, to the Hon Chris Bowen MP is available on the Treasury website: treasury.gov.au/media-release/response-treasury-analysis
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A reader with sharper memory recall than mine (also, I wasn’t in the parliament then) has remembered this quote from the now-environment minister, Melissa Price, from 2015, prompted by Tony Abbott’s use of “so-called settled climate science” not being settled.
They remembered the member for Durack saying this (from the November 2015 Hansard):
Whether you believe so-called climate change is due to human behaviour, planetary motion, ocean currents or solar variability et cetera, to me, is not the point.
My view is that governments all around the world should focus their efforts on ensuring that the environment in which we live is in better shape tomorrow than it was yesterday.
Australia has one of the most effective systems in the world for reducing emissions, and with environment minister Greg Hunt at the helm, we have led the way.
The world is rejecting carbon taxes and embracing direct action style approaches involving practical actions to reduce emissions.
Seems “so-called” climate change/“so-called settled climate science” has been a bit of a recurring theme.
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Tanya Plibersek was in Brisbane today, where she held a press conference with Ali France.
She had addressed Peter Dutton’s comments in the morning, before he doubled down on them in a statement to the Australian.
In between, the Labor deputy leader said Scott Morrison needed to address the issue. Morrison had said he believed Dutton’s comments were “taken out of context”.
Plibersek:
This just blows me away, you know? Peter Dutton talking about making excuses. What is his excuse for spending more time at his Gold Coast beachside mansion and then right here in Dickson, and the electorate he is supposed to represent?
What is Peter Dutton’s excuse to the cuts to schools and hospitals, and the cuts to disability services? What is Peter Dutton’s excuse for being voted by doctors the worst health minister in living memory?
What is Peter Dutton’s excuse for knocking off Malcolm Turnbull and then not even having the votes to win the ballot for the leadership?
What is Peter Dutton’s excuse for saying to people with disabilities, right across Australia, that there is somehow something wrong with them?
What is Peter Dutton’s excuse, and frankly what is Scott Morrison going to do to pull him into line? Because I say this to Scott Morrison: just days ago he was out there saying we should be more respectful to people with disability.
Now one of his most senior ministers is laying the boot in, and what is Scott Morrison going to do?
He is going to walk on by. I say to Scott Morrison, the treatment you walk past is the treatment you accept.
If he is prepared for Peter Dutton to be saying this sort of thing to Ali, I am not talking about her as an individual, I’m talking to millions of people who have heard this morning from Peter Dutton, a senior member of the LNP, the Coalition government, that it is fine to put the boot into people with a disability, what is Scott Morrison going to do about that?
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'We did not provide a total' – Treasury distances itself from $387bn cost of Labor policies
Labor is claiming “the Treasury has rejected the prime minister and treasurer’s claims today that Treasury has costed Labor’s tax policies”.
From Chris Bowen’s statement:
Scott Morrison has been caught out lying about Labor again. This is a humiliating rebuke and confirms that Scott Morrison cannot be trusted on the economy.
Every time Scott Morrison talks about Labor and the economy for the next five weeks, Australians will know that Scott Morrison is lying to them.
Today the Prime Minister said on Sunrise:
“…versus a Labor government under Bill Shorten that will increase taxes by, it shows with Treasury costings $387 billion …”.
The Treasury Secretary said in a response to the letter from the Shadow Treasurer:
“We were not asked to cost another party’s policies and would not do so …”
And furthermore, the Treasury also distanced itself from the total tax take claim made by the Prime Minister with Mr Gaetjens saying: “we did not provide a total”.
Treasury completed a costings request based on policy details and specification not provided by the Opposition, but by the Treasurer’s office.
The last six years have seen a determined effort by Scott Morrison and successive Liberal Treasurers to politicise and devalue the Treasury and its officials.
Reading the whole letter, it seems the Treasury didn’t cost opposition policies – it costed raw material provided to it, from the government – essentially rows of numbers, but did not provide a total, because it did not put the interaction effect in – how these policies all relate to each other.
Treasury to Labor: we didn't cost LABOR policies, per se, we costed each measure as described to us by the government. #auspol pic.twitter.com/69pIhcMRwe
— Paul Karp (@Paul_Karp) April 12, 2019
Updated
Peter Dutton doubles down on disability excuse comments.
Peter Dutton has responded to Michael McKenna’s story in the Australian this morning (the one that kicked it all off).
Asked about Mr Shorten’s demands for an apology, Mr Dutton’s spokesman issued a statement.
“Minister Dutton was reflecting the views raised with him by his constituents. These are the issues that people have raised,” the statement said.
“Minister Dutton was repeating the views and concerns about the Labor candidate, raised with him by constituents – that is that she doesn’t live in the electorate and has told people locally that even if she wins the seat she won’t move into the electorate.
“Dickson constituents believe Ms France’s refusal to live in the electorate, even if she won the seat, is more about her enjoying the inner city lifestyle, as opposed to her inability to find a house anywhere in the electorate.”
McKenna also gives some context to how the original story came about:
Mr Dutton’s comments were made in the interview on Thursday. Before the interview, his office told the newspaper that Ms France’s failure to move into the electorate was an issue among voters.
The comments were conveyed to Ms France’s campaign team, which issued a statement saying she had been unable to find a wheelchair accessible home and committing to moving into the electorate if she won.
Ahead of the interview with Mr Dutton, the contents of Ms France’s statement were detailed to his media spokesman.
Mr Dutton then raised Ms France’s residency issue when talking about his family’s long connection to the electorate.
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Now the election has been called we’re in caretaker mode, where public servants just keep things ticking over but DO NOT get involved in politics.
Problem is, on Thursday the industry and science minister, Karen Andrews, sent out a press release about a $6m investment in two West Australian space infrastructure projects which quoted Megan Clark, the head of the Australian Space Agency.
Clark is quoted as saying the investment “means Australia will be able to forge a new level of strategic partnership with the European Space Agency” and can “use the latest space data, artificial intelligence and robotics ... [sharing our] expertise in automation with the world”.
Sounds a bit like someone put together a ministerial press release before the election campaign (when it would have been appropriate) but sent it out in caretaker mode (a no-no).
Labor’s industry and science spokesman, Kim Carr, isn’t happy:
Labor is deeply concerned about comments from the head of the Australian Space Agency appearing in a Liberal campaign press release. This shows how desperate and chaotic the Liberal party is, clearly willing to try anything to stay in power. At no point should Australia’s world-class and independent public servants be used to justify political campaigns and policy. Karen Andrews must explain why these comments have been used in a Liberal party campaign press release.
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Angus Taylor says Labor is “heaping scorn” on “the cars Australia loves to drive”. From his statement:
Our favourite vehicles are on Bill’s hit list. Seventeen of the top 20 most popular models in Australia don’t meet Labor’s 105gCO2/km vehicle emissions standard.
The average price of Australia’s 20 most popular vehicles is less than $35,000. Labor’s 105gCO2/km limit will increase the cost of a new car by more than $4,800. This is a tax on all vehicles over 105g/km, so the Labor party can force Australians to help them meet their costly EV target.
The Liberal National government supports a natural transition to EVs for Australians who want to drive them.
We will achieve that through investments in congestion-busting infrastructure, continuing our support for Australian companies that are benefiting from opportunities in global manufacturing supply chains, and coordinating initiatives across all levels of government – so that Australian car owners can make their own decisions.
Only the Morrison government has a strong, costed and planned strategy for emissions reduction. The Labor party has set ‘economy-wrecking’ targets without a plan to get us there. Nowhere is this more obvious than in their hopeless and damaging EV policy.
If Bill Shorten can’t tell you what his policy will do to the price of cars and fuel, don’t vote for it.”
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Angus Taylor has responded to Tanya Plibersek’s comments on ABC Melbourne this morning that Australia was the “junkyard of the world” when it came to cars.
For context, this was the exchange between Plibersek and Jon Faine:
TP: But on electric vehicles, Norway is now at about 60% of new vehicles sales, most of Europe is ...
JF: Norway is tiny!
TP: Well, yeah, but it shows you that this is possible. Most major car companies aren’t doing new research and development into new cars with internal combustion engines. All of their further research and development is about electric vehicles. This trend is coming whether we ...
JF: But Australia is an entirely different market as car makers have discovered to their peril ever since ...
TP: And do you know what we are getting ...
JF: They started selling cars in Australia years ago ...
TP: We are the junkyard of the world. We are getting cars in Australia that don’t meet the vehicle emissions standards of Europe or the United States and we have got fewer choices for electric vehicles in Australia than most other countries. If you want to buy an electric vehicle in Australia you are looking at least $60,000 in most cases, many of the cars that are on sale here, put it this way – very few of them cost less than $60,000. I think there are four models that cost less than $60,000. In the UK right now you can buy an electric vehicle for $35,000. Of course that changed the market. We don’t have many charging stations here, we’ve got ... ”
Updated
A little later in the campaign I’ll be dropping in on the seat of Gilmore, a fascinating four-way contest between Warren Mundine (Liberal), Katrina Hodgkinson (Nationals), Fiona Phillips (Labor) and Grant Schultz, the independent who was to be the Liberal candidate before the party opted for a star candidate.
It’s one of very few contests where the Coalition partners will go head to head, but the Coalition agreement will require Liberals and Nationals to trade preferences.
That makes things difficult for Schultz, the insurgent, who could be decisive in determining who wins but is unlikely to benefit from conservative preferences if Lib and Nat voters follow their how-to-vote cards.
And who is Schultz perferencing? On Facebook he said:
“I can tell you who I’m going to preference: no one. There’ll be no deals and no preferences. I won’t be trading off your votes just to get myself or a party into government. That won’t be happening.
“So what you need to do is vote 1 Grant Schultz independent and number every other square after that. It’s as simple as that.”
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Scott Morrison has condemned Israel Folau’s comments that “hell awaits people like homosexuals, drunks and fornicators” as insensitive several times today:
Morrison (to the ABC) :
I thought they were terribly insensitive comments. Obviously they’re a matter for the ARU and they’ve taken that decision as a result of the insensitivities of those comments.
Well, you know it’s important that people act with love and care and compassion to their fellow citizens and to speak sensitively to their fellow Australians. That’s what I believe.”
And in his own press conference:
Israel’s comments were insensitive and it is important that when you’re in public life you just be mindful of being sensitive to other Australians and that you speak with that empathy and so the ARU have made their decision in relation to that matter.”
It clearly means a lot to Izzy and good for him for standing up for his faith,” Morrison said.
“He wouldn’t have wanted to intend to have offended or hurt anyone because that’s very much against the faith that he feels so passionately about.
“But I think he’s shown a lot of strength of character in just standing up for what he believes in and I think that’s what this country is all about.”
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We’re busting congestion in Western Sydney, & across the country, to manage population growth by investing in building new roads & rail, like the Mulgoa Rd upgrade in Penrith I visited today. It’s part of our $100b infrastructure plan to help get Australians home sooner & safer. pic.twitter.com/WLiI7765JX
— Scott Morrison (@ScottMorrisonMP) April 12, 2019
Going back to this morning (it’s been a long day) Laura Jayes from Sky News asked Zali Steggall, Tony Abbott’s main opponent in Warringah, whether she would support a Coalition government in the event of a hung parliament. She didn’t give a straight answer, saying she could not support the Coalition’s climate policy, as it stood, but she opposed Labor’s tax policy.
“We have to look at why we are here, and we are here because of the wrecking within the Coalition and the Liberal party, so people are really angry about that. The reality is we have to look at climate change, so I hope after the flip-flopping over climate change that I think was for political gain, against Turnbull, we can get the Coalition back to the table with a real plan for climate change,” she said.
But would she support the Coalition in a minority government?
“I have to look at the issues. I oppose Labor’s proposed tax changes and I oppose the climate change proposal by the Coalition, so it is about focusing on the issues.
“ ... I am being up front. It is about those two issues, so it is about working out solutions.
“ ... That is the reality, a hung parliament means both sides, in particular the Coalition when it comes to climate, has to change its tune, because they have not got a mandate to carry out an unsatisfactory climate change policy.
“ ... I look forward to the Coalition coming to the table on climate change.
“ ... They need to come to the table. That is what the Australian people are asking them to do. All moderate Liberals are desperately asking the Coalition to be real about climate change.”
Updated
Ali France says she was “disappointed” to read Peter Dutton’s comments, but “not surprised”.
Sarah Hanson-Young tweeted about it
Peter Dutton always goes low when he’s under pressure. Always has. In my view, there’s few people who represent what’s wrong with politics today as well as Peter Dutton.
— Sarah Hanson-Young💚 (@sarahinthesen8) April 12, 2019
Speaking to Sky News, the Liberal senator Jane Hume says Dutton was raising the concerns of his electorate and Labor “has form” of having candidates represent electorates or run in electorates they don’t live in.
I think Peter Dutton is very committed to ... the voters of Dickson and he is reflecting what they have told him, which is they want a local representing them.
Now if she has committed to moving to the electorate, that is well and good, but I think Labor has form on this and I think we need to unpick the promises.”
France lives just outside the electoral boundary and works in Dickson, but says she has been unable to find a wheelchair-accessible home, but would move, and modify a home, if she won.
Updated
Will he go to the Perth leaders’ debate? Scott Morrison has accepted the invitation. Bill Shorten says:
Well, I’m going to be in Perth, and I’m gonna be at a town hall meeting talking to the people. And I’m more than happy if the other fellow comes along. OK? That’s fine.
Secondly, it’s a shame that Mr Morrison, or the government, I should say, just saw fit to have 10 days of parliament in eight months. Because isn’t that where we do a lot of the debating?
I’m certainly up to a couple of debates with him. But I want the people involved. But what I’m going to do in this election, by all means, you know, let’s have a couple of debates. I think that’s appropriate and conventional. But I just want to say to the Australian people, in the next 35 days we want to keep hearing from you.”
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On Labor’s plan to collect more revenue than the Coalition’s plan, Shorten says:
What we choose to do is spend scarce and important taxpayer money on educating the kids, on decreasing the out-of-pocket costs of, you know, cancer treatment, rather than spend it on tax loopholes like deductions to accountants for $1m, or property subsidies.
The other one which is a big, you know, I go to now – just to help explain why we mean I don’t accept their figures at all – is that at the moment in Australia we give nearly $6bn in tax credits to people who don’t pay tax.
This is called a gift. And it’s a nearly $6bn gift. And it’s going to increase every year.
So when we say we’re not gonna give the gift any more, that is not a tax increase. It’s just a decision to improve the bottom line of the budget; it’s a decision to fund our healthcare.
You know, one in two Australians will get a diagnosis of cancer by the time they’re 85, the average life expectancy. One in two of us. And it’s expensive. And I just want to make sure that when you’re in the fight of your life, we’re alongside you.”
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Bill Shorten says he won’t “buy into” the government’s “false debate” on Labor’s tax policy and continues:
I just want to say to Australians, this election is about you, the people.
It’s not about us. I want to say that whilst I disagree fundamentally with how this Government’s fluffed up the last - mucked up the last six years, their instability, costs of living, everything going up except wages, cuts to schools and hospitals, I don’t see the Government as my enemy.
I see cancer as my enemy. I see as my enemy when people can’t afford to see the doctor or get the treatment they want. And Australians, I think, want to hear more of that from our politicians.”
Bill Shorten on Israel Folau:
I think, when you single out parts of the population with an offensive attack, I think the rugby authorities have acted in an appropriate manner. I don’t really want to get into everything that’s been said, but there is no freedom to perpetuate hateful speech. And, you know, some of the comments which have been seen are far closer to hateful than I think appropriate for what people should be doing on social media.”
Bill Shorten continues:
And, by the way, she knows that Peter Dutton’s making these comments because he’s scared of her. What else could motivate it? She doesn’t want people’s sympathy. The idea, though, that any Australian with a disability would rather use their disability than not have the disability is a fiction.
She never wanted the car crash. She never wanted the amputation. But she’s a strong person. We want more diversity in our parliament. So why is it that the very – a mother who lost her leg protecting her child – is now subject to a personal attack by a scared government minister? I think – I think that is disgusting.
Now I know the government boasts about, you know, going after Labor. Don’t they get it?
This country is sick of that rubbish. I think Mr Morrison should make his colleague apologise. I also remind you that a week ago – it was a week ago today – the government announced the disability royal commission.
And their words were excellent words, beautiful rhetoric, soaring. They said, ‘We’ve got to have a culture of respect towards people with disability in this country.’
Well, that didn’t last very long, did it? You know, so what we have here is Mr Dutton has insulted every Australian with a disability, and Mr Morrison has said, ‘That’s OK.’
So, you know, Ali France is campaigning. She was at a railway station this morning.
She understands – she can recognise fear in her competitor when we see this sort of base personal attack. But is this where the government’s got to? That they’re gonna start saying a person is using their disability? Especially, all you had to do was get that 60-second back story that I told you.
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Bill Shorten on Peter Dutton’s comments about Ali France:
I find Mr Dutton’s comments disgusting.
How you can launch a personal attack on a person who suffered an above-the-knee amputation trying to protect their child, and then say somehow they’re exploiting that? I just want to tell you what happened with Ali France.
She can say it better.
She was in a shopping centre. She’s got her little four-year-old boy. An elderly driver lost control of their vehicle, smashed into them. She shielded her four-year-old, as any mother would do, and she took the full brunt of the collision.
She suffered an amputation above her knee. And for people who are amputees above your knee, that is even more difficult in terms of recovery.
For two and a half years, Ali France never walked. She was told she would never walk again. She credits a fantastic surgeon.
She credits fantastic knowledge. Two and a half years she was told she would never walk again. She did. She’s a very strong person. Of course, as you would know, though, you could imagine, if you haven’t been through it, had a family member go through it, when you’re an above-the-knee amputee you can’t just have a shower like anyone else, you can’t just move around your kitchen.
She’s a strong woman, she walks a lot, she’s out there every day. But what she had to do was modify her house, because it can be so draining sometimes. She uses a wheelchair in her house so she’s got all her energy for outside the house.
Very few house have been built designed for the use of older people, people with mobility problems or, indeed, people with disabilities.
She spent over $100,000 of her compensation money just getting the house she lives in. She doesn’t own eight or nine houses, by the way. She just owns the house she lives in. She invested over $100,000 to get that house right. She’s a strong woman.”
Updated
The Australian Electoral Commission has laid out its plan for counting the 16 million or so votes the federal election should bring in:
Following years of planning, fine-tuning and improvements to AEC systems – plus the experience gained from running nine byelections since 2017 – the AEC expects to:
- Carry out about 800,000 enrolment transactions – most usually being online changes of address as well as new enrolments – before the close of rolls on 18 April
- Declare – if matching the last election – about 1,500 candidates after the close of nominations on 23 April
- Design, print and deliver across Australia about 50 million ballot papers once candidates have been declared
- Send out and then receive back well over a million postal votes
- Secure the premises for about 7,000 polling locations on election day
- Set up more than 500 early-voting centres that progressively open from the start of early polling on 29 April
- Establish 560 mobile polling teams to visit about 3,000 hospitals, nursing homes, prisons, outstations and remote locations
- Run nearly 90 overseas voting centres
- Employ a temporary workforce of 80,000
- Deliver 187,000 voting screens and 70,000 ballot boxes to polling places
- Post the official Election Guide to about 10.5m households
- Provide election-related material translated into 13 Indigenous and up to 30 other languages.
Updated
Bill Shorten and the former AMA president, Brian Owler, the Labor candidate for Bennelong, is announcing Labor’s key policy for today: $125m for cancer research.
Updated
Scott Morrison is still in Lindsay, talking to workers in hi-vis (what else) about the Coalition’s infrastructure plan.
Labor is ramping up its attack campaign against George Christensen. From Murray Watt’s statement:
The member for Dawson, George Christensen, must immediately justify the estimated $82,505 he received while missing in action, overseas, over a four-year period.
... It is simply not right that ‘Jetset George’ continued to pocket his salary while being AWOL for months in the Philippines.
It has recently emerged that Mr Christensen spent nearly 300 days overseas between 2014 and 2018, prompting his own LNP colleagues to label him ‘the member for Manila’.
In 2016 and 2017 he actually spent more time overseas than he did in parliament.”
Dawson might be marginal (in today’s political context) but it is considered fairly safe for Christensen given his popularity as a local member.
Updated
In the background of that Tony Abbott doorstop was an older gentlemen dressed in Lycra who stopped by on his bike to yell:
“How about some action on climate change! You are finished Tony! ... The sooner you are out, the better!”
A Liberal volunteer asked him if he “wants to have a chat over this way” in an attempt to move him away from the cameras.
He declined and left.
Updated
'So called' settled climate science isn't settled, says Tony Abbott
Further to that tweet on Tony Abbott, SBS has let us listen to the doorstop (it’s off the main campaign trail and was a small group of journalists grabbing him at his campaign launch at the Manly wharf).
The so-called settled science is not quite as settled as people say. And that’s my position. Nevertheless we have only got one planet; we should do what we reasonably can to rest lightly upon it.
I have always said climate change happens; mankind makes a contribution. We should do what we reasonably can to reduce emissions.
What we shouldn’t do though, is turn our economy upside down in what turns out to be a futile green gesture.
... What I’ve always said is we shouldn’t have an emissions obsession. I thought a year or so back the best way to break the emissions obsession was to pull out of Paris.
Quite a bit has changed since then, including the prime minister, and I think it is fair to say this is a government that is much more sensible and pragmatic about all this today.”
Just a reminder that absolutely nothing has changed for this government in regards to the Paris target or its emissions reduction targets, under Scott Morrison.
It’s the same policy.
Updated
Bill Shorten has made it to Bennelong, with a familiar face.
Bill Shorten now visiting a medical practice in the safe Liberal seat of Bennelong with Labor’s candidate Brian Owler #AusVotes19 pic.twitter.com/eNp6yCFLs1
— Anthony Galloway (@Gallo_Ways) April 12, 2019
Kristina Keneally was the Labor candidate for the seat in the byelection. John Alexander won that with a reduced margin, but it is still considered to be a long shot for Labor to win.
Updated
The Victorian state Labor government plans to delay its budget by about a month – until after the federal election – because of the “two dramatically different” options the Coalition and Labor have put forward for the state.
Updated
Things seem to be going really well.
We asked @TonyAbbottMHR his position on climate change: "The so-called 'settled science' is not quite as settled as people say. And that's my position. Nevertheless, we've only got one planet. We should do what we reasonably can to rest lightly upon it." #AusVotes19 @SBSNews pic.twitter.com/I8FHfB2iHB
— Brett Mason (@BrettMasonNews) April 12, 2019
Tanya Plibersek was on ABC Melbourne a little bit ago (before hopping on a plane to Brisbane) where she was also asked about Peter Dutton’s comments against Ali France.
“I was there a couple of days ago, campaigning with Ali. She is a magnificent candidate.
“ ... She is a journalist. She was working in palliative care. She has got two young kids. She is an international champion sports person canoeist and she is missing a leg. And she has also, consequently, been a fantastic advocate for people with disability.
“And I guess your Melbourne listeners may not know, but that pea-hearted Peter Dutton overnight attacked her for her disability. She lives about seven minutes outside the electorate she is contesting, and she hasn’t found a house – when she gets home after a long day, she takes her false leg off and she gets around her house in a wheelchair.
“She hasn’t found a wheelchair-accessible house to move into, so Peter Dutton is attacking her.
“ ... He said she is using her disability as an excuse for living outside the electorate. Now this is from the bloke, by the way, who owns, I think at last report, it was nine homes, and spends most of his time in his Gold Coast mansion, actually tried to move seats from Dickson to a safe Gold Coast seat because he didn’t want to represent the people of Dickson, attacking a woman who spends her working life as a journalist, working for palliative care, just a fantastic human being. She actually lost her leg protecting her kids in a carpark accident, and he’s using this against her.
“I mean, what kind of person does this?”
Updated
Jordon Steele-John, asked about Peter Dutton’s comments on Sky says:
“I don’t know what is more outrageous – that Peter Dutton decided to make these ableist comments, or that he then tried to blame them on the people of his own electorate.
“I think this is a question for the prime minister. Why does he and his cabinet keep acting in a way which is so ableist and discriminatory towards disabled people? This comes at a time when they are trying to deport an intellectually disabled and deaf man, simply because he is disabled.
“There are three or four cases where children are being flagged with the immigration department, and being deported, their entire families, simply because they are disabled.”
Updated
Tanya Plibersek will be in ... Dickson.
With Ali France. At 11.30.
Julie Collins, the Labor spokeswoman on mental health and ageing, will also be there.
Updated
The Bad Show continues to be The Bad Show
Malcolm Roberts became well known for his denial of climate change when he was last in the Senate. | @ConversationEDU #QandA Do you have a question?https://t.co/fUUgQPnR8T
— ABC Q&A (@QandA) April 11, 2019
ONE NATION'S MALCOLM ROBERTS ON #QANDA
— Pauline Hanson 🇦🇺 (@PaulineHansonOz) April 12, 2019
Find out how you can support @OneNationAus lead senate candidate for Queensland @MRobertsQLD by visiting https://t.co/in5t4oNQgA
Keep up to date with Malcolm on Facebook https://t.co/zYIMByiI54
AND VOTE ONE NATION!#AusVotes19 #auspol pic.twitter.com/4wCYEu9zus
And it is important because it raises the point that the big figure the Coalition is talking about today is essentially including money from Labor NOT doing something.
And it’s something the Coalition hasn’t legislated for, either.
That’s the big number: $387bn. Take away stage two and three of the tax cuts the Coalition has planned for middle to higher earners and it’s $157bn.
Updated
This question actually raises an important point in this tax debate:
On the tax analysis, the treasurer says these are $387bn of new taxes. Is that being misleading when it is only $157bn of new taxes? The rest of that money is from not proceeding with stage two and three of your tax cuts which are still several years away and some of them haven’t been legislated?”
Scott Morrison says:
We obviously plan to legislate them, that is why we are taking them to the election. The last lot that they said we wouldn’t be able to legislate, guess what? We legislated it. The difference here, and this is the point: it is a choice.
It is a choice between the tax policy that we’re presenting at this election, which means lower taxes, lower taxes to the tune of $387bn lower than what the Labor party are putting forward.
You’re right, Bill Shorten is cutting out millions of Australians from lower taxes. Bill Shorten thinks that it is wrong to get somebody who’s currently earning $42,000 and ensuring that their tax rate doesn’t go to 32.5c but stays at 19. I think they should be paying 19.
That’s what our tax schedule does. We think someone earning $47,000 should pay 30c in the dollar not 32.5c in the dollar.
Bill Shorten says no. He says the second highest tax rate should be 37c in the dollar. I don’t agree. I think it should be 30c in the dollar.
I think 94% of Australians should pay a marginal tax rate no higher than 30c in the dollar. Bill Shorten doesn’t agree with me. He thinks they should pay a higher rate of tax.”
Updated
Peter Dutton 'taken out of context', says Scott Morrison
Asked again about Peter Dutton’s comments, Scott Morrison: says:
I think those comments have been taken out of context.”
As reported by the Australian, these are the comments:
There are plenty of people with disability living in Dickson,’’ Dutton said.
“A lot of people have raised this with me. I think they are quite angry that Ms France is using her disability as an excuse for not moving into our electorate.
“Ali has been telling people that even if she won the election she won’t move into our electorate. She has now changed that position but I don’t think it is credible.
“If you are serious about representing an area, you live in that area and using her disability as an excuse for not living in our area is really making residents angry.’’
Updated
Asked if he would return Tony Abbott to his cabinet, Scott Morrison says:
They are decisions I hope to be able to make but I’m not going to presume upon them on the Australian people.
The choices for Australians – the choice is between a government that I lead, a government that is delivering a stronger economy, that has increased funding for hospitals by more than 60%, that has increased funding for public schools by more than 60%, has increased funding for Medicare by 27% to ensure bulk billing which in Lindsay today is over 95% – I think the figure is 98% here in western Sydney and Lindsay.
That is what a stronger Medicare is doing here in western Sydney, funded by a government that’s running a strong economy. If you can’t manage money, you can’t do that.
This is always the problem with Labor. They can’t manage money so they come after yours. When their wallet’s empty, they look in yours. It doesn’t matter if you’re a retiree who will be hit with a $5bn a year tax or the one in five police officers who go out and buy an investment property – whack on them with a higher tax.
If you’re investing in your super more, there is another tax. If you’re running a small or family business, there is another tax. The taxes keep piling up and the reason Labor taxes you more is because they can’t control their spending.
It was Chris Bowen who said the test of our government would be if we could keep taxes as a share of the economy less than 23.7%. We are achieving that. We will continue to achieve that. Under what Labor are proposing, tax as a share of the economy will rise to 25.9%. Well over more than a quarter of our economy being chewed up in taxes under a Labor government. That’s no way to manage money. It’s no way to run what, at that stage, will be a more than $2 trillion economy.”
Updated
Not two minutes later, Scott Morrison is asked about Rugby Australia’s decision to terminate Israel Folau and says:
Israel’s comments were insensitive and it is important that when you’re in public life you just be mindful of being sensitive to other Australians and that you speak with that empathy and so the ARU have made their decision in relation to that matter.
So many thinking face emojis
Scott Morrison straight out dismisses questions on Peter Dutton’s comments on Ali France.
Asked if “Peter Dutton was using his opponent’s disability as the basis of a political attack on her ... ”
Morrison says: “I don’t believe that is what is he did.”
Question: “Is that the tone you want to set at the beginning of this campaign?”
Morrison: “I don’t agree with the presumption of your question.”
Updated
Scott Morrison is holding his first major press conference of the day. It’s on Labor’s tax plan, and whether or not Treasury has been politicised (and yes, Wayne Swan also did it).
The point with Labor is when they stick one finger out, they have four pointing back at themselves. This has been a tried and true process that treasuries have done for a long time for parties on both sides of politics.
Governments, they inform governments about alternative approaches to policy. The real question is why hasn’t Bill Shorten told you about how much more his taxes are going to cost you?
If Bill Shorten won’t tell you how much extra tax he’s going to put on you, then why would you vote for him? It’s the same with his emissions reduction policies and his carbon policies. He won’t tell you what they mean, he won’t tell you more they will cost you, your wages, your vehicle and all these things. If he won’t tell you, I’d suggest you shouldn’t vote for him.”
Updated
A strong inclusion in Australian politicians looking at things: oil edition.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison, Foriegn Minister Marists Payne and Liberal candidate for Lindsay Melissa McIntosh tour an oil business in St Mary’s. #ausvotes19 @AAPNewswire pic.twitter.com/S8PtaPMizI
— Matt Coughlan (@CoughlanMatt) April 11, 2019
Updated
Tanya Plibersek is on her way to Queensland.
I wonder where she could be going. *insert thinking face emoji*
Chris Bowen has returned fire. He says the bulk of the Coalition attack is based on Labor not putting in the Coalition’s planned stage two and three tax cuts, which are part of its 10-year plan.
This is what @JoshFrydenberg has given out to media for publication tomorrow: dodgy “Treasury costings” of Labor policies. Given Treasury has said repeatedly they don’t cost Labor’s policies, someone’s got some explaining to do... pic.twitter.com/X7EaPrv3zJ
— Chris Bowen (@Bowenchris) April 11, 2019
Updated
Josh Frydenberg continues:
I’ll be putting out a document later this morning which will detail tax by tax, state by state, how this number was arrived at and it breaks it down into the cost for the retirees’ tax, the cost of Labor’s housing tax, the cost of Labor’s income tax, the cost of Labor’s tax on trusts and family businesses and superannuation. The Labor party doesn’t believe in aspiration. The Labor party does not believe in lower taxes. We do. That’s what we’ve delivered.”
Updated
Josh Frydenberg is holding a press conference to talk about Labor’s tax plan.
The government released what it says is Treasury modelling on the tax plan:
The Labor party is not disputing the fact that they are punishing the Australian people with higher taxes. I heard Penny Wong on radio this morning. She did not dispute this number.
This number is an accurate reflection of the new taxes that the Labor party will hit all Australians with. And it will be disastrous for the Australian economy because you can’t put that amount of new taxes, the highest tax burden in Australia’s history, on the Australian people without affecting economic activity, without affecting jobs, without affecting growth. This is exactly the worst time for Labor’s ill-conceived and desperate tax grab. The Labor party can’t manage money so they’re coming after yours.”
That bit in bold is a repeated line.
Updated
Scott Morrison was also asked about Julian Assange this morning.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison on #JulianAssange #AUSVote2019 pic.twitter.com/9rQTZCRmyX
— Tom McIlroy (@TomMcIlroy) April 11, 2019
Updated
Tony Abbott, speaking to Sky News in Warringah, had some advice for Malcolm Turnbull – one “respected former prime minister” to another, as it were, given Turnbull is planning on being out of the country for most of the election (I believe he had plans to be in New York, and he is still writing his book).
“Where Malcolm is, is entirely up to him,” Abbott said.
“It’s entirely up to him. But at the last election, I certainly campaigned strongly in Warringah. I campaigned quietly around the country in seats I thought I could be helpful in.
“That’s what I did in the election after I’d ceased being prime minister. I thought that was reasonable thing for a former prime minister to do.”
Team Tony – here to help.
Updated
Just on that, here is the estimates exchange Natalie Barr was talking about, as reported by Lisa Cox:
The Morrison government’s electric vehicles policy has not yet been written but [Melissa] Price said the Coalition was aiming for ‘25%+’ of all new vehicles to be electric by 2030.
The environment department told estimates hearings that projected emissions cuts of 10m tonnes through the government’s proposed electric vehicles strategy were based on data indicating electric cars could account for 25-50% of new sales by 2030.
The projection, contained in the climate solutions package, was drawn from data prepared for the Australian Renewable Energy Agency and the Clean Energy Finance Corporation by consulting firm Energeia.
“That analysis indicated that electric vehicles could make up between 25 to 50% of new car sales in 2030 if supported by coordination and facilitation of local state and commonwealth actions coordinated through a national strategy,” Kristin Tilley, the first assistant secretary of the department’s climate change division, told the hearing.
“Just so I’m clear, the government’s climate solutions policy includes a climate solution package that’s projecting a 10 megatonnes CO2 abatement number that could come from an electric vehicle strategy, that sees 25 to 50% of new car sales in 2030 as electric vehicles?” the Labor senator Kristina Keneally asked.
“That’s right” officials said.
Updated
In his exchange with Natalie Barr on Sunrise this morning, Scott Morrison compared his policy for electric vehicles to Labor’s.
Natalie Barr: But prime minister, in estimates last week it was revealed that your own climate solutions policy had the same target.
Scott Morrison: No, that’s not true.
NB: So 25 to 50% of new car sales it would be, by 2030. It’s the same as what they’re saying, isn’t it?
SM: No, it’s not our target was 16% when –
NB: Well, that’s not what they said, 25 to 50% of new car sales in 2030.
SM: Well, I know what my policy is, Nat. That’s the problem with Bill Shorten, he doesn’t know what his policy is.
NB: But that’s what the Department of Environment said in estimates last week, they were asked four times and that’s what the department said, so is that incorrect?
SM: Nat, it is. Our policy was from 16%, to 50% that’s –
NB: I think it was from 25 to 50. Should we check that?
SM: Well, happy for you to check it. But it’s up to 50 and it starts around 16%, Nat. That is, we’re looking to encourage people to get into this, but the issue is it’s their choice, Nat. We don’t want to force people to go and buy a car that they don’t want to buy. You know why? Those vehicles cost more, they do cost more. Up around $5,000 more and we don’t want to put those pressures on families. We want to ensure that families can have the choice, that they have lower taxes, to be working for business that have lower taxes, so that they can have certainty about their economic future and the choices that they want to make, for them and their families.
Updated
Deirdre Chambers!
He may not be campaigning, but apparently Malcolm Turnbull is still on the buses:
Amazing who you see at a commuter stop! 🥳⛴ Great to run into an old friend @TurnbullMalcolm down at the #RoseBay wharf this morning. pic.twitter.com/hoTuxorlRk
— Dave Sharma (@DaveSharma) April 11, 2019
Great to see you Dave! Good luck on the 18th of May.
— Malcolm Turnbull (@TurnbullMalcolm) April 11, 2019
On Sky News, Mathias Cormann is asked about Michael McKenna’s story in the Australian, in which Peter Dutton describes his Labor opponent in Dickson, Ali France, as using her disability as “an excuse” for not moving into the electorate.
France, an amputee who works in the electorate as a disability advocate, says she has been unable to find a wheelchair-accessible home, but would buy a property and modify it if she won.
Cormann, asked by Kieran Gilbert, if Dutton’s language is acceptable, defends it, saying:
Well, Peter Dutton was expressing views which were put to him by his constituents who had expressed those concerns, and as Peter Dutton pointed out, clearly, there are people with a disability to live across Dickson and people in his electorate have put to him, is that they don’t accept the explanation that was offered, as a reason for his opponent not moving into the seat of Dickson, which is the seat that she is seeing to represent in the federal parliament.
Pressed again, Cormann says:
Look, I am not going to provide commentary on commentary, but what I would say, is obviously Peter Dutton is a very hardworking local member who is very closely connected to his community and constituents have expressed views to him and he has relayed those views and I understand where the constituents of Dickson are coming from.
Updated
Labor had an inkling its policies were being modelled. You may have remembered the poor Treasury head, Ian Beckett, who was left to answer questions after his superiors missed estimates on Wednesday, being asked about what modelling Treasury was undertaking by Jenny McAllister:
McAllister: You’re providing technical advice to the Department of Industry modelling exercise, Mr Beckett. What type of modelling is being undertaken for which the advice is being provided? Is it whole-of-economy, CGE modelling?
Beckett: Again, I’d rather that we are providing technical advice to industry on aspects of modelling. I think, in terms of what the modelling is, it is again a question for the industry department, as they are conducting the modelling exercise.
McAllister: You can’t possibly be providing technical advice without understanding what model is being run. Do you have knowledge of the model that is being used?
Beckett: The exact model?
McAllister: The type of modelling that is being undertaken.
Beckett: Again, the industry department is arranging that modelling, not us.
McAllister: It’s very difficult to provide technical advice, presumably, on assumptions if you don’t know what modelling is being done. Any logical answer, you do know because it’s not possible to do the work that you have said you’re doing unless you have knowledge of the modelling work and the nature of the modelling work in order to provide technical assistance. So I’m asking you: is it CGE modelling?
Beckett: It is CGE modelling.
McAllister: OK. Thank you.
Updated
Mathias Cormann, standing in front of a blue backdrop which has “Building your economy. Securing your future” written on it in all caps, is attacking Labor’s tax policy, because, well, that’s his job.
He tells Sky News that Treasury’s modelling doesn’t take into account Labor’s climate policy. Because it can’t. Because it is not all out yet.
Simon Birmingham has been doing the rounds of the media since the election was called, making sure the Coalition’s message stays out there. He’s a good choice, in that he doesn’t get overly flustered and knows how to stick to a line.
And one of the lines is the National Centre for Social And Economic Modelling showing “average” full-time workers will be better off under the Coalition’s tax plan.
As Eryk Bagshaw has previously reported:
While the typical Australian (median) full-time worker earns $78,268 a year, according to the Grattan Institute, those on higher incomes pull the average earnings of a full-time worker up to $90,300 a year. When all workers, including part-time employees and casuals are taken into account the average is much lower at $67,243 a year.
That’s a difference.
Fact check of Birmo on AM: “Average workers will be better off by $1000 under Coalition’s tax cut.” Only average FULL-TIME workers will be better off by 2022, according to NATSEM. There is a $23,000 a year difference between avg and avg full time. #auspol https://t.co/swkCFbph9L
— Eryk Bagshaw (@ErykBagshaw) April 11, 2019
Updated
Marise Payne responded to Julian Assange’s arrest overnight:
I am aware Mr Julian Assange was arrested by the London Metropolitan Police Service at the Embassy of Ecuador on 11 April on a warrant issued by the Westminster Magistrates Court on 12 June 2012 for failure to surrender to the Court.
Mr Assange will continue to receive the usual consular support from the Australian Government. Consular officers will seek to visit Mr Assange at his place of detention.
I am confident, as the United Kingdom Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt publicly confirmed in July 2018, that Mr Assange will receive due process in the legal proceedings he faces in the United Kingdom.
As the matter is the subject of law enforcement and legal proceedings we will not provide ongoing comment.
Bill Shorten was also asked about it this morning on ABC Breakfast:
It will be a matter for the legal matters, he will receive the same support as otherAustralian citizens, it is before the court ...
I have only read what you read. He is entitled to his day in court ...
He should receive consular assistance and other than that I don’t know the facts and he will be represented in court.
Updated
Larissa Waters and Adam Bandt are launching the Greens “rapid” transition to renewable energy plan today in Brisbane.
From the statement:
The climate and energy plan includes:
* 100% renewables by 2030 including support for households and business solar and batteries and the establishment of renewable energy zones
* A new public energy retailer Power Australia and re-regulation of electricity prices
* Phasing out the burning and export of thermal coal supported by a $1bn transition plan for workers
* The building of a solar export industry based on hydrogen and direct exports to Asia
* Doubling energy productivity and a reduction in pollution across the economy driven by industry programs, a energy efficiency target and a carbon price
* A shift to electric cars with the phase out of petrol car sales
* Support for farmers to drawdown carbon in the land
The plan will create 180,000 new jobs nationally and drive Australia towards zero-net emissions by 2040.
Waters has a fight on her hands to maintain her Senate spot, with the Greens fighting to maintain the party’s election share in Queensland.
Updated
Labor opponent using disability as 'excuse' – Peter Dutton
The Australian’s Michael McKenna has quite an extraordinary story on the fight for the northern Brisbane seat of Dickson – Peter Dutton’s electorate – which shows just how bitter that battle is getting.
Dutton has been making much of Labor candidate, Ali France, not living in the electorate. France, a disability advocate, who had her leg amputated after she was hit by a car in 2011, has said she has been unable to find an accessible home in the area, but would buy a home and modify it if she won.
The Australian reported that Dutton responded with this:
There are plenty of people with disability living in Dickson,’’ he told The Australian.
“A lot of people have raised this with me. I think they are quite angry that Ms France is using her disability as an excuse for not moving into our electorate.
“Ali has been telling people that even if she won the election she won’t move into our electorate. She has now changed that position but I don’t think it is credible.
“If you are serious about representing an area, you live in that area and using her disability as an excuse for not living in our area is really making residents angry.’’
Updated
The line from Scott Morrison this morning?
The more Labor spends, the more they tax, the more they tax, the more they hurt the economy ,which is less money for all Australians.
And from Bill Shorten?
Listen, the Liberals are lying about taxes. Let’s just call it as it is. I don’t want to spend this election talking about them but let’s go to it. What we call unsustainable subsidies for the top end of town and rorts they call tax increases.
Updated
Bill Shorten has also completed the breakfast TV rounds.
Coalition candidates in Victoria are already under pressure over their Queensland colleagues’ enthusiasm for Adani’s coal project. Last night Josh Frydenberg faced a crowd of several hundred people at a climate change forum in Kooyong, while Anne Webster, the National party candidate in Mallee (formerly held by Andrew Broad), was forthright in insisting on her independent view at a similar forum.
I want to assure you that I make up my own mind, have my own opinions and I’m not afraid to stand up to others.
Here’s the full report from Calla Wahlquist and Lisa Martin.
Scott Morrison has appeared on Sunrise, ABC Breakfast and Today.
Labor’s announcement today is a $125m investment into cancer research.
Updated
Holding a political discussion in a pub is fraught with danger, especially when it doesn’t kick off until well after 9pm and is sponsored by the Australian Hotels Association.
Sky’s Paul Murray did his best to wrangle his raucus audience but was hampered by the fact that only one of the three major candidates could attend – the Liberals’ Tony Abbott.
The independent Zali Steggall and Labor’s Dean Harris were at another event on homelessness.
But that didn’t stop Murray from criticising Steggall for not turning up.
Instead Warringah got its first look at the United Australia party candidate, Suellen Wrightson, whose jingoistic contributions included that she supported surf lifesaving – “The nippers! the flags! I love it!.”
United Australia had bought an ad in every ad break, so her message was reinforced over and over. “Put the Australian people first,” she said in conclusion. Abbott was given plenty of soft questions, including an open invitation to hop into electric cars:
“They are totally impractical and totally uneconomic – they cost $50,000,” he told the audience to cheers. “Government didn’t subsidise petrol cars, automatic transmissions,” he said.
“Government doesn’t need to get involved in this!” he said of Shorten’s plan to encourage the uptake of electric cars.
As for renewables, Abbott branded them “unreliables” and said they were destabilising the grid. “The economics of coal and gas were being damaged by renewables,” he told the audience.
He also launched a vigorous defence of the Adani coalmine after one audience member asked why he was supporting a mine that would harm farmers and put at risk tourism and the reef. “There are dozens of coalmines in Queensland,” he said.
But the biggest issue of all in Warringah remains the planned northern beaches tunnel.
And on that most candidates are in furious agreement.
Updated
Looks like someone in the Coalition has been studying The Art of War.
This is a well-known union campaign method – a billboard truck which follows opposition candidates around, doing laps at their press conferences.
It was a billboard truck featuring a picture of Wyatt Roy and Malcolm Turnbull at the GQ awards that helped end Roy’s political career in Longman, with the union campaign picking up on the anti-Turnbull sentiment in the area.
Well, if you can’t beat ’em, join ’em, seems to be the message here.
When Labor runs out of money, they come after yours. The Bill Truck is hitting the road today #BillBus. pic.twitter.com/oKGWm3X4MI
— Liberal Party (@LiberalAus) April 11, 2019
Updated
The Coalition has the western Sydney seat of Lindsay on its target list – Labor’s Emma Husar felt pressured into resigning from the seat at the election amid bullying allegations, and has since indicated she would not be challenging as an independent.
The Liberals have preselected Melissa Grah-McIntosh, who, a quick Google search reveals, is very progressive on women’s issues, including paid parental leave.
In 2014, she wrote an op ed for the Sydney Morning Herald calling on Australia to increase its level of PPL:
Although starting from behind, the United States has a great opportunity to embrace innovative work practices that allow both women and men to get the most out of their careers. Its private companies are already doing this at a fast pace. Australia, too, is on the cusp of a change that, if the right partnerships are formed and choices made, could really make a difference. Both nations should pursue a 21st-century society and workforce in which the full and equal participation of women is not negotiable.
Which is great and all, except that the Coalition, during its term in government, has attempted to cut the PPL scheme. You may remember the whole “double dippers” thing.
Then there was Scott Morrison himself, who, as social services minister in 2015, said the Coalition’s policy was designed to remove a “rort”. As the ABC reported at the time:
The next day, Social Services Minister Scott Morrison told Sky News that being able to benefit from both schemes was a “rort”.
It was in response to a question about whether he considered an employer paying a lawyer six weeks maternity leave was generous.
Mr Morrison said: “Well, she will get the balance through the paid parental leave scheme which is provided by the taxpayer.
“She will get the same thing as someone working for the bakery, and that’s the important thing here — we are getting rid of what is an inequity and frankly in many cases I think is a rort.”
In the end, the Coalition couldn’t get its planned changes through the Senate. Not that it ever was double dipping. The scheme was designed to be a top-up. It was designed for eligible women to have both.
Updated
Good morning
Day two of the federal election opens with both leaders in Sydney.
Scott Morrison is in Lindsay while Bill Shorten in in Reid.
The Coalition has launched its first salvo against Labor with an attack against the party’s tax plan. As Katharine Murphy and Paul Karp report:
The first costings war of the 2019 election campaign is under way, with the Morrison government releasing what it says are new Treasury numbers concluding Labor’s “tax hit on the economy” will be $387bn, not the $200bn figure it has been spruiking in its attack lines for months.
But the shadow treasurer, Chris Bowen, blasted back before the new material was published by news outlets, declaring on social media the calculations were “dodgy” and observing that “someone” in Treasury had some explaining to do, because the department has said previously it doesn’t cost opposition policies.
No one is denying that this time around, the Coalition plans on going negative. There were many in the party who thought that the 2016 was too soft, and that Morrison can run both a “positive” and “negative” campaign. I guess he’s like a battery that way.
But it shows where the campaign is headed. And we have 36 days to go.
Morrison’s Instagram was full of his “bingo” night but he went without his traveling party:
First night on the campaign trail and instead of covering an event with Scott Morrison, journalists are sent videos/photos from his staff. He had dinner and called bingo at Windsor RSL. Keen to show you more but we were only informed after it happened #ausvotes #auspol2019 pic.twitter.com/1Y6JUUD3cI
— Olivia Leeming (@olivialeeming) April 11, 2019
Shorten’s campaign didn’t take off until late last night, with an early start at the Sydney Markets. Morrison has hit the breakfast TV shows.
We’ll be following along, as well as filling you in with any other titbits of the day. Of which there will be many. It’s the first real day of campaigning and both parties plan on taking advantage of it.
You’ll have me and the Guardian’s brains trust. For those who care (and I appreciate that you do) I am on coffee number two. We may set a new record during this campaign. One day you’ll just find me as a puddle of black coffee in front of my laptop.
But until then, strap in.
Ready?
Let’s go.
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