Will today be the day everyone starts behaving? Unlikely. We have just eight full days of campaigning before polling day. The scare campaigns really ramped up this week after polls remained deadlocked and Australia said meh.
We’ve had strong and often ridiculous language on Mediscare, a waiting “flotilla” of boats, low accusations of supporting radicals, and the danger of unfought bushfires. So far, mostly harmless, but what’s to come next week?
Buckle up, and let’s get into Friday.
The big picture
Bill Shorten has accused the Liberals of “sailing close to the wind” with political fundraising, drawing together the party’s apology to Lucy Turnbull yesterday for using her as a drawcard for an event and the scandal around the Parakeelia organisation.
“I don’t know what it is about Liberals and money but it seems to get them into quite a lot of trouble,” he said, calling on the party to back Labor’s campaign financing reforms.
The opposition leader will be in Darwin today, for his second visit to the marginal seat of Solomon. He will be calling for a bipartisan approach on mental health funding, to guarantee funding for youth service Headspace, before visiting a local defence base.
Malcolm Turnbull will today announce $150m for the relocation and expansion of the University of Tasmania campuses in Launceston and Burnie. It matches an earlier promise by Labor, and is a cofunding arrangement with UTas, the Tasmanian government and Launceston council.
The funding would allow for new campuses at Inveresk and West Park and the strengthening of Stem subject delivery at the new Launceston Institute for Applied Science and Design Building. The Coalition said it would generate $1.1bn in economic output and 3,110 jobs during the construction phase.
Labor is not letting go of Medicare, warning of privatisation by stealth, through the outsourcing of payments systems (forcing Turnbull to back down on that policy) and the handing over of children’s vaccination records to private companies. Shorten denied he was running a scare campaign not based on truth when he appeared on ABC’s 7.30 last night.
Sydney’s Daily Telegraph has given him the full cartoon treatment on its front page for his effort.
Front page of The Daily Telegraph. #auspol #ausvotes pic.twitter.com/lzKrosckNy
— Christopher Dore (@wrongdorey) June 23, 2016
The Coalition for its part responded with the scare campaign it knows and loves: boats. I don’t think it had even gotten that dusty after the last time they used it.
Turnbull and his immigration minister copped scepticism from all corners after announcing “for transparency” that a group of 21 asylum seekers had attempted to reach Australia by boat this month. A clumsy attempt to say Labor had caveats around its turnback policy (“when safe to do so” – the same as the Coalition), led to the opposition trumpeting that it had the same plans as the government.
Despite the prominence of these two issues in the campaign, the leaders are unlikely to debate them, Fairfax’s Jane Lee reports. The National Press Club has been in negotiations to host a debate – after a series on innovation, defence and employment – but they appear to have fallen through.
Shorten has demanded Turnbull call off his “attack dogs” after the justice minister, Michael Keenan, was yesterday accused of some pretty incredible smearing which he wouldn’t back up.
Keenan went after Labor’s candidate in Cowan, the anti-radicalisation expert Anne Aly, over a “letter of support” she had written for a self-styled Muslim preacher who was appealing against a jail sentence for flying under a false name.
“If President Obama and the Department of Homeland Security regard her as a global expert on de-radicalisation, I think we can do a little better than Michael Keenan trying to imply the opposite,” Shorten said.
When Keenan continued his attack on local radio, Aly called in to ask for a right of reply. He refused to talk to her.
After reading all that you might be more inclined to hear the suggestion by Greens leader Richard Di Natale that Australia is destined for minority government because the major parties can’t stop losing voters.
Gareth Hutchens reports that Turnbull and Shorten have ruled out working with the Greens but Di Natale told the National Press Club they “won’t have a choice” if the result of the election calls for a negotiated government.
The fear of minor parties is definitely taking hold, as Shorten blasted the rising threat that is the Nick Xenophon Team, which he called a “ragtag militia of candidates”.
On tax: the former Labor prime minister Paul Keating has responded to a piece in the Australia Financial Review which gathered together statements by a stack of Labor people seeming to have – in the past – supported a company tax cut.
A disappointing lack of creative insults, but scathing nonetheless.
And finally, the former treasurer and now ambassador to the US, Joe Hockey, has urged stateside Aussies to remember to vote.
Aussies in America - don't forget to vote. Booths are open at the Washington Embassy & consulates across the U.S. https://t.co/2JOvCv3Jk4
— Joe Hockey (@JoeHockey) June 23, 2016
On the campaign trail
Bill Shorten is in Darwin today, where he’s expected to follow on from his appearance in Adelaide yesterday with some Northern Territory-related announcements as part of his jobs package. He’ll also visit a defence base.
The PM is in the Apple Isle, visiting the electorates of Braddon, Bass and Lyons, all marginal seats held by the Liberals with 2.6%, 4%, and 1.2% respectively.
He’ll be announcing the $150m expansion for the University of Tasmania, plus funding commitments in Launceston as part of his Smart Cities policy.
The campaign you should be watching
The three seats Turnbull is visiting today are known collectively as “the three amigos”. The Coalition is predicted to lose anywhere between one and three of these three northern Tasmanian seats. My colleague Calla Wahlquist has taken a look at the area, some of which was hit this month by devastating floods.
And another thing
Polls have just closed in Britain on the historic EU referendum. It’s been a bitter campaign with a largely unpredictable result.
It’s been perplexing, as the leave and remain camps have not fallen along party or even ideological lines.
It’s got ridiculous, peaking with Nigel Farage and Bob Geldof having a loud whiny waterfight from flotillas on the Thames.
But it’s also been truly tragic, with the murder of the British MP Jo Cox.
The financial markets across the globe are on the edge of their seat, with reports the market seems to be confident of a remain result.
Horrible weather across the UK reportedly had an impact on voter turnout, and by all accounts it has been an emotional day for people as they answer one of the most important questions ever posed to the British population.
The Guardian is covering it all in detail here.
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