Tuesday night brought the latest Essential poll results, which found the Coalition just ahead of Labor on the two-party-preferred measure, 51% to 49%.
Malcolm Turnbull’s approval rating is still ahead as preferred prime minister at 40%, though this is down 3%. It’s still a close race.
Perhaps more importantly, the poll also gave us insight into which leader Australians would most trust to look after their pet.
Guess which leader people would most trust to look after their pet? Hint: he likes unions #Essential Poll #ausvotes pic.twitter.com/A4rmSwGHqV
— Joanna Mather (@JoannaMather) May 31, 2016
But enough about Tuesday’s polls and on to Wednesday …
The big picture
The prime minister has jumped to the deputy Liberal leader Julie Bishop’s defence after her train-wreck interview with Neil Mitchell. The usually well-informed, cool and collected Bishop struggled while facing questioning about the government’s superannuation policy.
Neil asked her: How does the transition to retirement scheme work?
Well, Neil, this is obviously a gotcha moment, you want me to go through … it’s not my portfolio and –
Mitchell: “No, no. This is the hole in your whole logic. You’re saying it’s only 4% of taxpayers. You, Josh Frydenberg, neither of you understand the transition to retirement. That’s clear and this is where you’re hitting average people. Not the fat cats, the average people.”
But asked about Bishop’s less-than-convincing answers about a topic which was, to be fair, outside of her portfolio, Turnbull said superannuation was a “notoriously complex” topic:
But I’d say this to you — it’s not very complex to know whether you own a $2.3m negatively geared house, most people can work that out.”
That was, of course, a stab at the embattled Labor MP David Feeney, who failed to declare one of his properties.
But Labor’s spokesman for financial services and superannuation, Jim Chalmers, said Bishop’s failure to adequately answer raised questions about the policy. He told the ABC:
The government likes to pretend thats it’s only a very small proportion of people at the top who have been affected, but the evidence we’ve received is that people on various incomes are impacted by that change.”
And the former chief of staff to Tony Abbott, Peta Credlin, who had a frosty relationship with Bishop, also weighed in, accusing the government of failing to explain its policy. She told Sky News viewers:
The government, if it’s got a policy, has got to defend it or it has to fix it. It can’t be in this limbo land where it’s not able to explain it. It is going to bite the Coalition if it is not able to deal with it properly.”
Meanwhile, News Corp Australia reports that the Queensland senator Glenn Lazarus copied his party’s central document from Senator Nick Xenophon, lifting his political rival’s constitution almost verbatim. The pair are fighting for one of the state’s Senate seats.
News reports:
The copy-and-paste job of the constitution, which sets out what the party stands for and how it is run, includes some typos which have been carried across.
One of the only noticeable differences in the 22-page document is replacing the words “Nick Xenophon Team” with “Glenn Lazarus Team” and “South Australia” with “Queensland” throughout.
But even the lifting of the document is imperfect, with one section on “delegates” leaping straight into unrelated dot points. It seems a portion of the original has been missed out.
The Nick Xenophon Team (NXT) is running two Senate candidates in Queensland.
Senator Lazarus said a number of the micro parties, including the Jacqui Lambie Network, had developed their constitutions together, working with Senator Xenophon.”
Finally, an Australian Population Research Institute analysis has cast doubt on Labor’s claims that the Coalition’s plan to freeze the Medicare Benefits Scheme for a further two years until 2020 to save $925m would hit bulk-billing rates.
The Australian reported on the findings, writing:
A growing glut of doctors has forced GPs to “chase patients” and pushed bulk-billing rates to record highs, leaving Medicare vulnerable to overuse that will add to its projected cost blowout of more than $35 billion within a decade.
Growth in GP numbers of almost 50 per cent over the past decade — 2.5 times population growth — has undermined doctors’ ability to charge fees above the Medicare Benefits Schedule.
‘There are so many GPs seeking patients that few could risk charging a co-payment because patients would go around the corner to a competitor who bulk bills,’ said report author Bob Birrell. ‘Oversupply is the cause of escalation of GP costs that the Coalition is trying to curtail. But freezing the rebate is just a Band-Aid.’
Mr Birrell called for a lowering of the intake of overseas-trained doctors and new limits on where doctors funded by Medicare were able to practise.”
On the campaign trail
Bill Shorten will announce $98.7m towards the creation of up to 10 community power hubs in the areas of most need to deal with the challenges of implementing renewable energy solutions.
The hubs will work with local communities to support the development of renewable projects, providing legal and technical expertise and startup funding. Examples of projects that could be eligible include shared arrays of solar panels for groups of renters, known as “solar gardens” and retrofitting of social housing to promote energy efficiency.
Turnbull will be in Brisbane focusing on innovation. He’ll announce $15m to increase support to Australia’s startup businesses by expanding the incubator support program.
It will add to the $8m already allocated to the program to increase the number of startup incubators and accelerators in Australia, support the expansion of existing high-performing incubators and attract “experts in residence’ to provide specialist advice to startup businesses.
The campaign you should be watching
Page will be in focus on Wednesday as the Nationals leader, Barnaby Joyce, campaigns in the seat held by his colleague Kevin Hogan by a margin of 3.1%.
Page is the scene of a Labor resurgence led by Janelle Saffin, who held the seat from 2007 to 2013. Joyce is facing a similar fight in his electorate of New England with the return of the independent Tony Windsor. He acknowledged this week that the fight for his own seat would be a tough one. But, according to AAP:
Joyce has rallied supporters – dubbed the ‘killer canaries’ due to their bright yellow T-shirts – to do their best to keep both seats in the hands of the country party.
The deputy prime minister conceded while the Nationals may not have the best social media campaign or the ability to nab newspaper front pages, the party did have old-school tricks.
‘The most powerful thing you ever have in politics is your people,’ Mr Joyce told a group of volunteers in Casino, near Lismore, NSW.
‘Every one of you knows five, six, seven people – you change votes.’”
Joyce will make a sports funding announcement in Lismore before travelling to Bundaberg for a street walk and then on to Gympie.
And another thing(s)
From AAP, Senator Nick Xenophon has posed for the men’s magazine GQ Australia, dressed by Target. AAP reports:
Standing in front of posters emblazoned with ‘make ship happen’ Xenophon’s Target suit would likely be the first of its kind to be photographed for men’s magazine GQ Australia.
In a press release Mr Xenophon reveals he refused to be styled by the magazine, sticking to his rigid $100 clothes cap for the shoot which he says includes Lowes shoes and Kmart undies.
The June/July issue of the magazine, which has Liam Hemsworth on the cover, features a Q&A with the senator who talks about his dislike of being called a politician and his respect for ‘charming’ prime minister Malcolm Turnbull.
‘In state parliament, I had the title The Honourable and after 10 years they told me I could apply to have the title for life, to put it on my letterhead. I loathe that crap,’ he tells the magazine.
The magazine will hit newsstands on Monday.”
Because it’s been too long since we had some comment on an Abbott comeback ...
Asked about whether Tony Abbott still has his eye on a comeback, the deputy PM Barnaby Joyce replied:
He will want to, but he’ll realise he can’t. To say that he doesn’t have a desire is ridiculous – to say that he can’t overcome that desire by the reality that’s just not going to happen [is another].”
Thi sprompted a scathing response from Abbott’s former chief of staff, Peta Credlin, who did not mince her words on Sky News last night:
I think that’s absolute rubbish. I was going to say horse shit but I don’t know if I can say that on TV. Honestly, Barnaby, get back on the wombat trail – please leave this alone. Tony’s made absolutely clear that the Abbott years are over, and no one can look at his performance during this campaign and see that he’s anything other than a team player.”
The “wombat trail” is a nickname for the Nationals campaign through regional Australia.
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