Plibersek campaigns with Albanese at last; PM would welcome scandal-hit minister back to cabinet
Labor’s “missing frontbencher” Tanya Plibersek has emerged from the deep freeze to campaign alongside her leader, while Scott Morrison wants a minister who had an affair back in cabinet.
Federal Election
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Tanya Plibersek and Anthony Albanese have finally been seen in the same place at the same time.
The popular Labor frontbencher joined her boss to campaign in Melbourne despite persistent rumours of a rift.
Scott Morrison has visited retirees in Adelaide, promising a welfare payments “shield” to protect 900,000 pensioners from the impact of interest rate rises and saying he would welcome scandal-hit minister Alan Tudge back into cabinet.
A Greens Senator has posted a video of herself hurling abuse at police during a protest and Treasurer Josh Frydenberg has locked horns with his Labor counterpart Jim Chalmers in a debate.
Meanwhile, the independent candidate trying to win the Victorian seat vacated by retiring minister Greg Hunt has been forced to suspend her campaign over a glaring eligibility issue.
Despi O’Connor revealed on Thursday that she had received legal advice which suggested she was ineligible because of a constitutional rule that disqualifies candidates who hold “any office of profit under the Crown”.
Follow today’s updates from the election trail here.
HEY LOOK, IT’S TANYA!
Tanya Plibersek has finally joined Labor leader Anthony Albanese on the campaign trail in Victoria in an attempt to end questions about her conspicuous absence.
The senior Labor MP on Wednesday morning flanked Mr Albanese during a visit to Holmesglen Tafe in the marginal Liberal-held electorate of Chisholm in Melbourne.
Ms Plibersek did not attend Labor’s campaign launch in Perth on Sunday and there are reports party headquarters had failed to distribute her campaign transcripts and media event details.
Rumours had swirled the popular shadow minister had been benched after falling foul of Mr Albanese – she was missing from all of Labor’s major events in the first three weeks of the campaign.
Mr Albanese has previously said her absence was due to a forced rejig of campaign planning after a scheduling issue forced Ms Plibersek to miss the campaign’s launch in Perth.
He called the opposition’s education and women’s spokeswoman “an outstanding member” and “an extraordinary asset”.
Ms Plibersek said on Wednesday she had not been frozen out by the Labor campaign and had been “travelling around the country working very hard”.
“I don’t know how many media events I’ve done, I think last count about 30 of them and can I tell you one thing, not a single person has stopped me in the street and asked me the sort of questions that you just asked me,” she said.
Mr Albanese then declined to take a follow-up question about Ms Plibersek.
Party insiders have suggested the two drifted apart when Ms Plibersek was deputy leader to Bill Shorten, while others suggested Mr Albanese might be concerned she’s just that little bit too popular.
Mr Albanese was correctly able to name the official interest rate after his first-week stumble on that detail, but refused to tell reporters what rate he was paying on his own mortgage.
He said Labor would “supercharge productivity” in Australia by investing in university and TAFE to upskill Australians.
He continued his criticism on the government’s “cost of living crisis” and said low wage growth coupled with rising inflation had crippled Australians.
“We have around about one and a half million Australians who either are unemployed or want more work,” he said.
The Labor leader said he would grow the economy in a way which would not add to inflationary pressures, and said the government was “oblivious to the pressure working families are under”.
Ms Plibersek said the government has presided over a “national skills crisis” with fewer Australians undertaking apprenticeships and traineeships.
Labor believes its candidate, academic Carina Garland, can reclaim Chisholm which is held by Liberal Gladys Liu on a razor-thin 0.5 per cent margin.
After baking tarts with the TAFE students, Mr Albanese said a well-paying job would follow their graduation – but one of the students fired back “I don’t know about well-paid”.
INDEPENDENT KNOCKED OUT ON ‘TECHNICALITY’
The independent candidate trying to win the Victorian seat vacated by retiring minister Greg Hunt has been forced to suspend her campaign over a glaring eligibility issue.
Despi O’Connor revealed she had received legal advice which suggested she was ineligible because of a constitutional rule that disqualifies candidates who hold “any office of profit under the Crown”.
Ms O’Connor, the former Mornington Peninsula mayor, said she had been on leave without pay from her job in the Victorian Education Department for 18 months.
“In real terms, this means that because I am technically employed in the public school system, I am considered to be ‘profiting from the Crown’ and could be disqualified from running for office,” she said in a statement.
The revelation will change the course of the race in Flinders, where Liberal candidate Zoe McKenzie is seeking to replace Mr Hunt after his 21-year parliamentary career.
Ms O’Connor has the financial backing of the Climate 200 group which is supporting a series of candidates taking on moderate Liberals, particularly in Victoria and New South Wales.
Jo Dyer, another Climate 200-backed candidate running in Boothby in South Australia, was also forced to consider abandoning her campaign last week because of an issue renouncing her British citizenship.
She was later cleared to run when the cancellation was confirmed. In her statement, Ms O’Connor said the issue was “something that I should have picked up on”.
“It was simply an error made in the rush of an election campaign,” she said. “It may seem like a strange technicality of our electoral laws, but my campaign has been one built on integrity and I am determined to continue that.”
“Though I love teaching, I would give it up in a heartbeat if it meant I could represent the people of Flinders.
“Personally, I feel crushed that we have hit this roadblock.”
“This is not a concession statement. Still, it is clear that this issue has the potential to derail my campaign.”
Ms O’Connor’s case is similar to Phil Cleary, who was elected as an independent in the seat of Wills in a by-election in 1992.
His election was challenged in the High Court, which found he was not eligible to stand because he held an office of profit under the Crown with his job as a Victorian schoolteacher. He was also on leave without pay at the time.
PM WOULD ‘WELCOME TUDGE BACK’
Scott Morrison has paved the way for Alan Tudge to return to his cabinet should he be re-elected on May 21.
The sidelined education minister stood aside from his position in December, after claims from former staffer Rachelle Miller that he had been emotionally abusive, and on one occasion, physically abusive to her while they were in a relationship.
Mr Tudge has denied the allegations.
The Prime Minister has previously conceded Mr Tudge was “technically” still a member of his cabinet, but on Wednesday he opened the door to his return.
“If he’s available to come back into the ministry, he will,” he said.
But the press pack pushed back, questioning what the PM meant by “available”.
“He decided to stand aside for his own personal reasons and should he be in a position to be able to step up again, I would welcome him back,” Mr Morrison added.
As to whether he would join Mr Tudge on the campaign trail in Aston, Mr Morrison said his colleague “didn’t need my help”.
The line of questioning opened up the Prime Minister to questions about if he would make a visit to the seats across Sydney and Melbourne being targeted by “teal independents”.
“I will go where I believe it is best for my campaign for me to go,” he snapped back.
“I’ll flag where I go on the day. You’re on the bus. You know. You find out where we go each day, just like it works in the Labor campaign.”
Later, in a function room at Morphettville Racecourse, a breathless Mr Morrison said he wanted to be “real” with members and supporters.
Pointing to the recent interest rate rise, skyrocketing inflation, and the “serious” geopolitical security situation, he urged attendees to reflect on the “gravity” of the situation.
“We still have many challenges to face in the years ahead,” he said.
“Because whatever happens on the 21st of May, I can tell you that the global economy will still have the same pressures … the global security situation will still contain the same risks.”
At a similar rally just four days ago Mr Morrison was fired up, the crowd clapping and cheering along, but on Wednesday it was a more sombre affair overshadowed by the Reserve Bank’s decision to hike interest rates for the first time in a decade.
“You do not get to choose circumstances that you have to face in a government,” the Prime Minister said.
“We work hard to understand it and come to terms with it. Think through the policy solutions that are needed to address those problems.
“That is how as a government we’re able to bring Australia through these incredibly challenging and difficult times.”
CHALMERS SLEDGES TREASURER OVER 2019 QUESTION
Shadow Treasurer Jim Chalmers has brutally sledged Josh Frydenberg over his choice of question at the National Press Club – because it was about the 2019 election.
Both were given the chance to ask their opponent a question as part of the debate in Canberra on Wednesday. The Treasurer chose to ask about Labor's policies at the last election.
He said it went to the heart of the believability of the Labor Party.
"What impact would $387 billion of higher taxes that you took to the last election have had on an economy that has just encountered the biggest economic shock since the Great Depression with Covid?" he asked.
But Mr Chalmers shot down the question. "Josh, this might come as a big surprise to you, but it's 2022 now," he said.
"The 2019 election has been run and won.
"And I think it speaks volumes, frankly, and with respect of your approach to this job and to this economy and to the future of this country that when you're given an opportunity to ask one question of your opponent, you ask a question about the 2019 election."
Mr Chalmers chose to ask about wages. "How much, Josh, do the real wage cuts in your budget cost the average Australian worker this financial year?" he asked.
Mr Frydenberg pointed to the help for low-to-middle income earners in the budget as easing the burden on high inflation rates.
"Well, firstly, we're saying that wages will continue to rise and there's about a $900 difference for somebody who's on average full-time earnings between what the wages would be and what the inflation rate would be," he responded.
"But as you know, they get $1500 in tax relief from 1 July, so that makes up for that difference between the wages price index and the inflation rate."
Mr Frydenberg was accused by Mr Chalmers of giving himself a “pat on the back” in the midst of a “full-blown cost of living crisis”.
Both had been asked about what they would do in the face of unprecedented debt and deficit following the pandemic.
Mr Frydenberg noted that debt levels were high across the world.
“But what we saw in the budget was a material improvement to the bottom line by more than $100 billion, the fastest fiscal consolidation in more than 70 years in Australia,” he said.
“We’re seeing the debt as a proportion of the size of the economy peak four years earlier and more than 5 percentage points lower than what was previously forecast.
“We have done so off the back of conservative commodity price assumptions, unlike the Labor Party who baked in iron prices at $180 a tonne. I’ve got it in the budget, iron ore at $50 a tonne even though you’re selling at $130 a tonne.”
But Dr Chalmers took a swipe at Mr Frydenberg, saying Australians didn’t feel lucky.
“You’ve got to hand it to Josh – even in the midst of a full-blown cost of living crisis, the most wasteful government since federation, taking for the first time to an election a trillion dollars in debt and almost nothing to show for it, and he’s still managed to find a way to give himself a little pat on the back,” he said.
“And it is incredibly frustrating for Australians right around this country, for the Treasurer and the Prime Minister … to be telling Australians just how lucky they are.
“Now, Australians have had enough of this self-congratulation, they know after a decade in office, the challenges in the economy are acute and they know that only Labor has a plan to take seriously and deal with these challenges.”
He said the cost of living crisis “didn’t just show up when Russia invaded Ukraine – it showed up when the Coalition, the best part of a decade ago, started attacking the wages and job security of Australian workers”.
But Mr Frydenberg emphasised that unemployment was at its lowest in 48 years.
“We saw the biggest economic shock since the Great Depression (but) the Coalition has delivered lower unemployment, lower taxes and a strong economic recovery and we have the plan to take Australia forward.”
GREENS SENATOR SCREAMS AT POLICE
A Greens senator screamed abuse at a group of police during an asylum-seeker protest, accusing the officers of being “violent perpetrators” and “an absolute disgrace”.
Lidia Thorpe was filmed at a protest outside the Melbourne Immigration Transit Accommodation on Tuesday, following a decision to move 12 detainees to the Christmas Island detention centre.
A scuffle reportedly ensued between police and the protesters, prompting Senator Thorpe – the first Victorian Aboriginal woman in the Senate – to begin a two-minute rant.
“You are the criminals, you are the only criminals on this land,” Senator Thorpe yelled in a video uploaded to her Twitter page.
“How dare you treat people like that. How dare you manhandle women like you did, like you pushed me out of the way. You are an absolute disgrace.”
“Do you know how many innocent people are in there? Have you even done your research as officers of the law? The government are lying to you,” she continued.
In the video, a group of police appear to step back as Senator Thorpe shouts and points at them.
“I know you have got to do your job but why do you have to get violent? We are not here for violence. You are the violent perpetrators here.
“We’re talking about innocent people in there … Aboriginal people in there. You have blackfellas locked up in there which this government says aren’t black.
“Where’s your accountability for hurting people out here? Shame. You should be ashamed.”
Another protester abused the officers as “white supremacists”.
‘SCOTT’S DONE A GOOD JOB’
Scott Morrison has undertaken his first street walk on the campaign – a small stroll Glenelg’s Moseley Square.
After a quick stop to a local coffee shop Cibo Espresso – where the Prime Minister told candidate Rachel Swift he was shouting (he ordered a short black) – he spruiked his commitment to improve Jetty Road and upgrade the Glenelg Reef.
A re-elected Coalition, the Prime Minister said, would invest $14m to the precinct in an effort to boost the tourism hotspot.
Reaction to Mr Morrison’s presence at the promenade was mild at best, but several passersby stopped the Prime Minister to ask for a selfie.
Robyn Bassett, who pushed through the media scum for a quick photo, said she was delighted for a quick moment with the PM.
Another onlooker huffed at the “media circus” his visit had caused.
But the star of the show was Winston the Cavoodle, who seemed to have stolen the Prime Minister’s heart very quickly.
Owner Dot said she had just come out for a walk and was surprised to have met Mr Morrison.
“Scott’s done a good job,” she remarked.
But the mystery of what caused Mr Morrison to bandage his thumb continues a little longer, with the Prime Minister snubbing media questions about the matter as he stepped into his car.
SURPRISE GUEST AT MORNING TEA
Scott Morrison’s flying visit to Adelaide kicked off with a stop to The Parks Lifestyle Village in the marginal seat of Boothby.
It’s the second lifestyle village the Prime Minister has visited this week, but unlike his stop at Geelong, he was not met with a round of applause.
Residents weren’t told Mr Morrison would be the surprise morning tea guest and one remarked it was all “a bit too much”.
While enjoying a bite to eat and a cuppa, Mr Morrison was quizzed by residents about Medicare and called on the banks to pass on the interest rate bump to deposit holders.
“Banks have always been very quick to pass on higher interest rates to mortgage-holders,” he said. “They should be just as quick to ensure those changes pass on to deposit-holders, like those who we’re here with today. I think it’s only fair.”
He also stood by his criticism of a NSW style anti-corruption commission, despite being labelled a “buffoon” by its outgoing commissioner.
While NSW ICAC Commissioner Stephen Rushton did not name the Prime Minister directly, he lashed out at “buffoons” characterising his agency as a “kangaroo court”.
Mr Morrison said he stood by his view that “I don’t think that model is a good model for the federal jurisdiction”.
“He can say whatever he likes. I’m not easily offended. He’s free to disagree with me if he wishes,” Mr Morrison said.
He accused Labor of trying to “con the Australian people” about the economy, saying it criticised the government when rates fell and now again when they are rising – “you can’t have it both ways”.
And when questioned about a Coalition frontbencher – Senator Amanda Stoker, the Assistant Minister for Women – speaking at an anti-abortion rally in Brisbane on Saturday, Mr Morrison said “it’s a free country”.
HE’S JUST JOSHING OVER MOTHER-IN-WAR
Josh Frydenberg has refused to apologise for using his Kooyong opponent’s mother-in-law to score a political point.
Independent Monique Ryan slammed the Treasurer for supposedly taking her elderly mother-in-law’s words “out of context” – before conceding she had in fact told the Treasurer she would vote for him rather than her own daughter-in-law.
But Mr Frydenberg says he has “no regrets” about relaying the anecdote in his campaign launch over the weekend. He told Liberal donors that Dr Ryan’s mother-in-law told him she would vote for him because “you know what you’re doing and you’re a nice person”.
On Wednesday morning, Mr Frydenberg said he wouldn’t back down.
“It’s been subsequently told to me by numerous people that she (Dr Ryan’s mother-in-law) has had the same conversation with them. In fact she said that if I’m successful in the election, she’ll have me over for champagne – that’s what she’s telling people,” Mr Frydenberg told ABC News.
“I have no regrets of telling the truth of a conversation word-for-word what was relayed to me on the street. Dare I say, it has been relayed to many people in the community, not just myself.”
PM PROMISES PENSION ‘SHIELD’
Pensioners will not lose any pay for at least the next two years even if their earnings increase due to rate rises, under a Coalition pledge to ease cost of living pressures.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison will announce a two-year freezing of the pension deeming rate, ensuring about 900,000 retirees and other welfare payment recipients would not suffer a drop in payments if the Coalition is re-elected.
“This is another shield to help protect Australians from the cost-of-living pressures people could feel from an increase in interest rates,” Mr Morrison said.
“In addition to our indexation of social security payments, we will guarantee the rate of income for people who could otherwise see their social security income drop because of the increase in interest rates.”
In the wake of a shock 5.1 per cent rise in inflation and a 0.25 per cent increase in the official cash rate, Mr Morrison has sought to position his government as having provided economic “shields” to protect Australians from any severe financial shocks.
On a visit to a fruit shop in Mount Eliza, in the Labor-held marginal Victoria electorate of Dunkley on Tuesday, Mr Morrison said he understood Australians were worried about rising costs.
Mr Morrison said Australians knew it was the “significant pressure” overseas causing rates and inflation to rise, and pointed out the situation was worse in other comparable nations.
Among the “shields” he said were buffering Australians was the $250 handout to welfare recipients and pensioners, and impending $420 tax offset for low- and middle-income earners.
“A strong economy with Australians in work is always going to mean we’re more able to continue to provide support,” Mr Morrison said.
But when asked what would happen after those measures, and the cut to the fuel excise, wraps up in under six months, the Prime Minister did not commit to extending direct support measures.
Instead, he argued low unemployment and low tax rates would enable Australians to keep up with mortgage repayments and other bills.
BLAME GAME OVER COST OF LIVING
Opposition treasury spokesman Jim Chalmers said the Coalition “doesn’t understand” the pressure people are under, but admits there’s nothing his party can do about the interest rate rise.
When asked if Labor would “miraculously stabilise” rates, he said: “We don’t try to pre-empt the position of the independent Reserve Bank. They have said there will be a number of rate rises throughout the course of this year, at least, and that will make it even harder.”
“The government is trying to wash their hands of this challenge,” he added.
“They don’t understand the pressure that people are under, under Scott Morrison’s cost of living crisis, and we do.
“Growing the economy without adding to inflation, getting real wages moving again, trying to have something to show from this budget which is heaving with a trillion dollars in debt.”
But Treasurer Josh Frydenberg said there was nothing his party would have done differently.
Mr Frydenberg hit back at claims the cash handouts and fuel excise cut announced by the government during the budget to aid with cost of living has further added to inflationary pressures.
“The main drivers of the higher inflation are global developments. That is both the war in Ukraine and the Covid pandemic which has disrupted supply chains, and it’s affecting the whole world – not just Australia,” he said.
“The Federal Reserve in the United States has lifted the cash rate by 25 points. In the UK … 65 basis points, in Canada by 75 basis points and in New Zealand by 125 basis points.
“We’re very conscious of the cost of living pressures that Australians are under, and that’s why we’ve made the announcements in the budget.”
BANKS PASS ON RATE RISE IN FULL
The Commonwealth Bank, NAB, ANZ and Westpac have all matched the Reserve Bank and lifted home-loan variable interest rates by 0.25 percentage points.
The Commonwealth Bank’s rise from May 20 brings the standard variable interest rate for owner-occupiers paying principal and interest to 4.8 per cent, while the equivalent home-loan rate for investors will increase to 5.38 per cent.
The ANZ and NAB will be even quicker to bring in the hike, changing their rates from Friday, May 13. Westpac’s rise will take effect on May 17.
The 25 basis point change will increase monthly repayments by $57 on an average home loan of $450,000 for an owner-occupier paying principal and interest.
UNION PUSH FOR WAGE RISES
The union movement will press for pay rises of more than 5 per cent in the wake of the interest rate increase and soaring inflation, The Australian reports.
Union leaders said the rate rise would deepen already severe cost-of-living pressures on workers.
“Our members are being bruised at the bowser, smashed at the supermarket checkout and now gouged by their bank, as Scott Morrison’s policy of suppressing wages comes home to roost,” acting Electrical Trades Union national secretary Michael Wright said.
ALP PUTS LIVE EXPORT ON DEATH ROW
Labor has told animal rights activists that it will wind up the live sheep export trade should it win the election, setting up a fight with farmers, the Australian Financial Review reports.
Opposition agriculture spokeswoman Julie Collins had been vague on whether a Labor government would ban the trade but revealed her hand when responding to a survey from the Australian Alliance for Animals.
Labor told the alliance the industry was declining, and it would recommit to phasing out the live sheep export trade, “consistent with scientific advice in consultation with industry and the state government”.
HOWARD SAYS RATE HIKE IS NO CRISIS
Former Prime Minister John Howard has doubled down on his comments that there is no housing crisis in Australia, saying mortgage holders will still benefit from record low interest rates.
Mr Howard said while much has been made of the impact of rising costs of living hurting Scott Morrison’s re-election chances, he believed Australians were smarter than that.
“People know that interest rates are at record lows,’’ Mr Howard told Sky News’ Paul Murray Live program on Tuesday night.
“They will accept that interest rates have to return to a more normal level. When you talk about the cash rate going from 0.1 to 0.35 per cent that is not a crisis.”
Mr Howard said the Coalition remained the safest bet for mortgage holders, warning people hurt by rising living costs against lodging a protest vote.
The former PM warned conservative voters about giving their votes to the so-called teal independents, Clive Palmer or Pauline Hanson’s One Nation party.
“If any of those candidates are successful it will take a seat away from Liberals and give it to the Labor people,” he said.
“You will knock the Liberal government out of power. This is a very tight election.’’
He said anti-liberal groupies should not be supported by people who previously had backed the Coalition, and it was not the time for protest votes or “short-term rebukes”.
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