We have news at last regarding the Liberal campaign launch. Labor launched last weekend, the second last weekend of the actual campaign. The Liberal party will launch this weekend, the last weekend of the actual campaign. The reason parties wait so long is because the party organisation has to pay for the campaign once they ring the bell. Such is politics.
The big picture
So where will it be, this grand Liberal party?
It will be in the Sydney seat of Reid in the inner west, now held by Craig Laundy on a margin of 3.3% after redistribution. Laundy is an ally of Malcolm Turnbull, on the small L end of the party. The Australian reports that Tony Abbott will be “front and centre”, along with his fellow former PM John Howard. Labor wheeled out Bob Hawke, Paul Keating and Julia Gillard so Howard and Abbott are waiting in the wings for the Liberal event.
It tells us something that Sydney is the chosen launch address for both parties, after Brisbane was the favoured city in 2013. Sydney seats are the focus.
With those details under our belt, we can now step back and look at the final weeks. Labor is continuing to push the Medicare issue while the Coalition are hammering the economy and … drum roll … boats.
BREAKING NEWS: Navy intercepts asylum seeker boat in first test of borders during campaign
The Daily Telegraph reports that:
The navy has intercepted an asylum seeker boat off Australian waters in the first serious attempt by people smugglers to test our borders during the election campaign.
The Daily Telegraph can reveal a boat was seized in the Timor Sea, trying to make a run for Australia, after what is believed to have been a joint operation between an Australian Navy frigate and an Australian Border Force cutter. It is understood the boat was set on fire and scuttled by the navy after it was deemed unseaworthy.
On cue. Not to mention:
Mr Turnbull said the prospect of a Labor government had also been used as a tool by the people smugglers over the past year: “They are marketing that there could be a change of government in Australia.’’
We were waiting.
Elsewhere, the new president of the Australian Medical Association, Michael Gannon, has suggested Labor’s Medicare privatisation claims are wrong. He told the Oz that while the AMA backed Labor on the end of the rebate freeze, Bill Shorten was not correct when he says the Coalition’s plans amounted to privatisation.
The idea that you might outsource the payment system to the private sector is in no way the privatisation of Medicare. The current system is old and many elements of it date well back to the early 1980s. They’re antiquated, they’re rusty and the system needs substantial investment.
It should be noted that Gannon told News on his elevation that he wanted to work more closely with the government and he thought the previous leadership – headed by Brian Owler – was too “lefty”.
But Labor is not taking a backward step, planning further campaigning on Medicare today. Labor has dug up a quote from Turnbull in 2009.
In an ideal world, every Australian would have private health insurance.
On the campaign trail
Malcolm Turnbull is in the seat of Leichhardt in Queensland. It is held by the Liberal MP and marriage equality campaigner Warren Entsch with a 5.7% margin. Labor started its campaign in this seat, all those weeks ago. Today Turnbull will announces funding for innovation and jobs, to the tune of $30m. Cha-ching.
Bill Shorten is campaigning in marginal seats in Sydney. He will be continuing on the Medicare privatisation theme.
The campaign you should be watching
Barker is a South Australian seat, which sits on the eastern coast of the state, right up against the Victorian border. As Ben Raue notes, it has consistently voted for conservative parties. The seat has been held by the Liberals or its predecessor party since its creation in 1903– apart from two terms of the Country party.
Which makes it even more surprising that a Reachtel poll has Nick Xenophon’s candidate James Stacey ahead of the Liberal MP, Tony Pasin, who should be kicking back with a margin of 16.5%. The 2PP result is 52-48.
And another thing
Former Abbott chief of staff turned Sky commentator Peta Credlin is continuing to cause heartburn for the Turnbull leadership group. She has some more free advice.
I think you’d want to see, out of the prime minister’s team, more effort. Because, to date, what 12, 13 interviews for the entire campaign – I don’t think that’s credible. He looks a bit patrician, that he’s standing back – everybody else can campaign and I just expect you to vote for me.
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