Election 2022 live: Scott Morrison cops basketball to head, Anthony Albanese has early end to day on campaign trail
Prime Minister Scott Morrison has copped a basketball to the head while his rival, Anthony Albanese, had an early end to his day campaigning.
Federal Election
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Two pairs of child-sized “Crocs” were thrust before him, the country’s future basketball stars hopeful for a signature from the Prime Minister.
“I’ve never signed Crocs before,” Mr Morrison exclaimed before obliging his new young fans Sam and Taylor, both 12.
He then started passing balls to nearby photographers and young basketball players, with one returning a ball which, unfortunately, hit him in the head, knocking off his glasses.
The bizarre moment happened at the Wurdi Baierr stadium in Torquay, Victoria, where he announced a $500,000 stadium for a new stand and scoreboard.
Before trying his hand at basketball, even bouncing a ball through his legs, Mr Morrison was approached by a youth with a phone.
Only this time, it was for a genuine happy snap.
Meanwhile, Opposition leader Anthony Albanese also copped a knock to the head.
This time it was an errant microphone boom which he walked into while attending a nursing and midwifery conference in Melbourne.
Mr Albanese surprised journalists when he abruptly walked out of a media conference eight minutes early before flying to Sydney.
The Labor campaign stopped for the day when he reached Sydney about 3.30pm.
There were no more media or events for Mr Albanese for the rest of the day or night.
MORRISON’S ‘LABOR APPARATCHIK’ OUTBURST
Adisen Wright, who identifies himself on social media as a “progressive activist” and a Young Labor member, filmed himself shouting at the Prime Minister and calling Mr Morrison a “disgrace”.
Mr Morrison said Anthony Albanese had “set the tone” for the incident by spending three years as Opposition Leader saying it was “okay to sledge and attack”.
Mr Morrison was at pains to distinguish the incident from his confrontation with angry disability pensioner Ray Drury last week.
“I am not referring to Ray. Ray was a separate case,” he said.
Mr Albanese earlier on Wednesday condemned Mr Wright’s actions as inappropriate.
“I’ve seen footage of it and I think that gentleman - I don’t know who he was - his actions were entirely inappropriate. We need to have civil discourse,” Mr Albanese said.
Borrowing the late Shane Warne’s mantra, Scott Morrison has declared “manners cost nothing” in response to the gatecrashing of his private event on Tuesday night.
Labor faithful Adisen Wright ambushed the Prime Minister at a rowing club in Penrith, yelling “you’re a disgrace” and uploading his exploits on TikTok.
On Wednesday, Mr Morrison said the incident was the “equivalent of a pitch invasion of a Labor apparatchik”.
“When Anthony Albanese sets the tone for the last three years where he basically says it’s OK to sledge and attack and engage in personal attacks ... he can’t be surprised when people come and behave in that sort of way,” the Prime Minister said.
‘GOOGLE IT MATE’
Greens leader Adam Bandt has told a journalist to “Google it, mate!” after he was asked about a claim made in his pre-election pitch to voters.
In a speech to the National Press Club on Wednesday, Mr Bandt said the Liberal and Labor parties had designed a system which drove down wages, pushed up consumer prices and gave big corporations and billionaires too much power.
Asked what the wage price index was, Mr Bandt said that was the type of question that was turning people off politics.
“It’s about what happens when you have an election that increasingly becomes this basic fact-checking exercise between a government that deserves to be turfed out and an opposition that’s got no vision,” he said.
“Elections should be about a contest of ideas. Politics should be about reaching for the stars and offering a better society.
“And instead there’s these questions that are asked about – can you tell us this particular stat or can you tell us that particular stat?”
Mr Bandt went on to say wages were growing at about 2 per cent and inflation was growing at “3-and-a-bit per cent”, both of which were just about on the money, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics.
“I hope that at this election, we can lift the standard and turn it into a genuine contest of ideas,” he said.
The annual rate of wage growth rose by 2.3 per cent during the December 2021 quarter, according to the ABS’ most recent reading.
Workers’ pay was outpaced by inflation which rose by 3.5 per cent in 2021, according to the ABS consumer price index.
The next wage price index is due for release on May 18, just three days before the election.
Mr Bandt on Wednesday said the Greens were poised to become the third most powerful political party in the country and that ousting the Coalition was their central goal at this election.
He said his party would hold the balance of power in the Senate in its own right and possibly hold the balance of power in the House of Representatives, after earlier telling ABC radio he believed the May 21 poll would result in a hung parliament.
Mr Bandt pledged a swag of big spending social reform policies, including wiping student debt and adding dental care to Medicare, which he said would be paid for with a six per cent tax aimed at Australian billionaires and a “tycoons tax” to force companies to hand over “excessive profits”.
The ability of politicians to recall economic statistics has been at the fore of media coverage this week after Anthony Albanese was unable to name the national unemployment rate or the reserve bank’s cash rate.
The Opposition Leader apologised for the slip up, but the coalition was quick to weaponise his fumble.
ALBANESE CUTS SHORT PRESSER
The press conference was scheduled for 15 minutes but ended sooner, with Mr Albanese walking off as a journalist tried to tell him “you said you’d take all questions”.
“Mr Albanese, why aren’t you taking all the questions like you’ve agreed to?” he was asked as he left.
On day one of the campaign he promised every journalist would get a question as he “didn’t run away from press conferences”.
Mr Albanese had earlier been questioned about reports that Labor had dropped plans to review the JobSeeker rate.
His policy will keep the current JobSeeker rate of $642.70 per fortnight for a single person.
“We haven’t dumped anything. What we’ve said is we don’t have a plan to increase the JobSeeker allowance in our first budget,” he said.
“But what you’ll do, and I’ve said this on a number of occasions consistently... every time governments do a budget, they should look at what is responsible, and do what they can to help those in need.
“JobSeeker is $45 a day, $45 point something.
“$642.70 a fortnight to be precise, and that is a lot less than I earn and a lot less than any of you earn.”
He was questioned about whether he would review the JobSeeker rate in subsequent budgets but was unclear in his answer.
There has been criticisms that it is a similar policy to what Kevin Rudd tried to do in 2007, with 35 “GP super clinics” for $200m.
A 2014 media release from the Australian Medical Association later said of the plan:
“They have absorbed huge amounts of valuable health funding that would have been better spent in other ways in the health system”.
“When you consider the fact that a GP earns about $200,000 a year and you want them to staff 50 facilities, seven days a week, 14 hours a day. How are you possibly going to afford to build 50 of these facilities,” News Corp reporter Clare Armstrong asked.
She pointed out that a single clinic announced as a policy by Labor in 2019 cost 15 times as much.
“Because it wasn’t the same commitment, it wasn’t delivering the same service,” he said of the 2019 clinic announcements.
“We promised different commitments in 2019.
“We promised also a commitment in Fremantle and something in Bribie Island, it was a different commitment, different policy.
“This policy has been costed like all of our policies.”
MORRISON SLAMMED FOR ‘SNEAKINESS’
Mr Albanese attacked Scott Morrison over Medicare at a rally in Melbourne on Wednesday.
Deputy leader Richard Marles said the government had been carrying out “cuts by stealth to Medicare” when introducing Mr Albanese in front of about 500 people from the Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation.
“Because before every election, the Liberals say they won’t touch Medicare,” Mr Marles said.
“Then after every election, the Liberals cut Medicare.
“And they are doing it again. They are cutting it every day.
“Cut, after cut.
“And it’s the sneakiness, the way they cut by stealth – that should concern Australians the most.
They don’t destroy Medicare overnight.”
Mr Albanese was greeted by cheers of “Albo, Albo” and clapping.
“Friends the morning after the 21st of May can be the moment we begin a better future – a better future for Australia with a Labor government,” Mr Albanese said.
“At the heart of repairing that future will be repairing and restoring our health system.
“Our plan is to build it back better, with stronger Medicare.
“A government that has your back, just as you have the back of every single Australian in your care.”
He attacked the government over Health Minister Greg Hunt announcing he would not be recontesting the next election.
He also said that Mr Morrison “never takes responsibility” and only ever looks to blame others.
Mr Albanese then formally announced his plan for 50 GP-led bulk billing clinics across Australia that don’t need appointments, so as to free up emergency departments.
He also announced that Labor would launch a new national nurse and midwife health service which brought cheers from the crowd.
Mr Albanese on Wednesday outlined his plan to spend $135m to build 50 urgent care clinics across the country that would ‘ease pressure’ on the nation’s hospitals.
Mr Hunt took to Twitter to slam Wednesday’s announcement.
“Labor continues to scrape the bottom of the Rudd-Gillard-Rudd election barrel for health policy ideas, reheating and rehashing the Rudd government’s failed super clinics announcement today,” Mr Hunt tweeted.
“Super Clinics were Labor’s biggest failure in government, outside of refusing to list medicines on the PBS.
“Labor’s history on this is damning. When last in government, 64 of these super clinics were promised, but only 33 were delivered, with a damning Auditor General’s report criticising the program.
PEOPLE SMUGGLERS HAPPY, DUTTON WARNS
Announcing a more than $500 million tranche of weapons acquisitions from a Brisbane defence supplier yesterday, Mr Dutton said Labor could not be trusted with national security whether it was to deal with a restart of refugee boats, China aggression or even making friends in the Pacific.
He said he had followed Mr Albanese’s career from across the parliamentary dispatch box for more than 20 years and it was unbelievable the Labor Opposition leader was now 20 days before an election trying to pretend to be strong on security.
“It just doesn’t pass the pub test,” he said
Mr Dutton lampooned the Labor leader “as twisting and contorting”, not knowing who he was claiming to be reincarnated from former Labor leader Bob Hawke, laughably comparing himself to former Coalition leader John Howard and even marketing himself as Brisbane premier Annastacia Palaszczuk “version 2.0”.
“I think the Australian public can sniff a fake here,” Mr Dutton said.
He said he knew “the preconditions were there” for the refugee boats to resume voyages coming to Australia like they had during the Kevin Rudd and Julia Gillard Labor government years and smugglers were thinking “bring it on”.
On China he said a Labor government would no doubt dispatch Penny Wong as foreign minister to Beijing and she would be told by the Chinese relations could improve if Australia stopped the defence build-up.
“She would fall for it,” he said, adding there was a split between the Labor Left and Right on how to deal with China.
HOME AFFAIRS MINISTER TESTS POSITIVE TO COVID:
Home Affairs minister Karen Andrews has tested positive to Covid.
The Liberal MP who holds the Gold Coast seat of McPherson confirmed via Twitter on Wednesday morning she had tested positive after experiencing minor symptoms.
“Yesterday afternoon, after experiencing mild symptoms, I tested positive to Covid-19,” she wrote.
“I began isolating immediately. I’ll be working from home and will be back on the campaign trail in person as soon as I can.”
MAVERICK QLD MP JOINS ONE NATION
Queensland MP George Christensen has sensationally reneged on his decision to retire, revealing he has joined Pauline Hanson’s One Nation and is seeking re-election.
The bombshell announcement is set to send shockwaves through the Coalition’s ranks in an election where every seat is critical and Mr Christensen’s popularity in his Mackay-based electorate is sizeable enough to be a threat to the LNP should he run there.
Mr Christensen, in an exclusive interview with the Courier-Mail, said he should have joined One Nation “a long time ago” after realising their beliefs and views matched his.
His defection comes less than a week after he resigned from the LNP because it had betrayed its conservative roots, failed “to take action against vaccine mandates and destructive pandemic policies”, and supported reaching net zero emissions by 2050.
It also comes nearly a year to the day Mr Christensen revealed he would be bowing out, saying he wanted to focus on his young family. He had decided he could no longer stay in the LNP, saying he had diverged from the government on a range of issues.
WHY LABOR HAS DUMPED DOLE INCREASE
Labor says they’ve quietly shelved plans to increase the $46/day Jobseeker payment because they “can’t deal with all the damage”.
Labor has dumped plans for an independent review into the Jobseeker scheme, a major commitment Bill Shorten took to the 2019 election.
Labor’s assistant Treasury spokesman Andrew Leigh confirmed the policy position at an Australian Council of Social Service forum on Tuesday.
“Certainly, the focus that we have has been around our social housing commitment … which would see 30,000 additional social and affordable homes put into the market there.”
He told the forum that while he accepted it would be “a challenge” to live on the Jobseeker payment of $46 a day, Labor was committed to outlining a broader set of measures to ease cost-of-living pressures.
Labor’s health spokesman Mark Butler also admitted the current rate was a “modest” amount, but was at least better than the $40/day it was before the Covid-19 pandemic.
“We’ve said from the time of the 2019 election that we would be taking a more focused agenda to this election. We’ve been clear about that,” Mr Butler told ABC Radio.
“We’ve said we would take a more focused agenda to this election, that we wouldn’t be able to deal with all of the damage done to the country over the last 10 years.”
Mr Butler said Labor had already been instrumental in raising the daily payment from $40 to $46 during the Covid-19 pandemic.
“Circumstances have changed. We argued strongly throughout the pandemic that the temporary increase should be made permanent,” Mr Butler said.
“The pressure Labor put on the government is why the government didn’t cut it back to $40/day. We are still focused on the needs of Australians … who are really struggling.
“We will be taking a range of other policies that make it easier for people on low and fixed incomes to live and to get ahead with things like social housing, free TAFE, affordable childcare and more.”
ALBANESE OPENS UP ON CHINA, KEY ISSUES
Anthony Albanese no longer argues climate change is the greatest risk to Australia’s future because “China has changed under its current leadership” and is now a serious national security threat.
During a wide-ranging interview with News Corp Australia, the man on track to be the next Prime Minister was questioned about his most strident comments over 25 years in public life and made a fist of explaining some of his recent about-faces, such as abandoning his resistance to asylum-seeker boat turnbacks.
But on other topics — such as whether he supports new coal mines — he fudged.
In a conversation traversing 20 different topics, Mr Albanese revealed that in Labor’s first term he would seek to amend the Constitution to recognise First Nations people. He affirmed his support for heroin-injecting rooms as well as voluntary euthanasia.
He said he remained steadfastly against nuclear power.
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