Christopher Pyne: Put away your mud buckets, Labor

Bill Shorten says he wants to turn his back on all that and lead a kinder, gentler kind of government. Pardon me while I pick myself up off the floor, writes Christopher Pyne.

It has become routine in this election for the Leader of the Opposition, Bill Shorten, to lecture the press pack and the Australian people about the need for a more civil political discourse. He reminds us that people are sick and tired of negativity and political candidates arguing with each other.

(As an aside, I wonder how former Labor prime minister Paul Keating would respond to this admonition. He famously described John Howard as suffering from “Portnoy’s complaint” and said that the Liberal Party Members of Parliament were like “dogs returning to their vomit”! Nice.)

Mr Shorten says he wants to turn his back on all that and lead a kinder, gentler kind of government. Pardon me while I pick myself up off the floor.

No one has forgotten the “Mediscare” campaign at the 2016 Australian election. Mr Shorten claimed the Liberals intended to privatise Medicare — a proven lie.

Labor’s candidate for Boothby ran into this startling hypocrisy problem on radio recently. She said Labor wanted to put an end to scare campaigns, that “people are over it”. Well, hear, hear! The problem is, as the radio interviewer pointed out, “Labor wrote the book, didn’t it on scare campaigns”.

He referenced the dirty “Can you trust Habib?” campaign that Labor ran in the 2014 South Australian state election campaign in the seat of Elder, where Labor “dog-whistled” a racist campaign against a female Liberal candidate.

He could have mentioned the fake how to vote cards that Labor came up with in the 2006 SA state campaign in the seat of Mawson, designed to fool Family First voters. Labor has a long charge sheet when it comes to dirty tricks.

But Labor is doing it all over again in Boothby. Their campaign against Nicolle Flint is personal and nasty. I assume it’s the same party backroom operatives that masterminded the racist campaign in the 2014 state election in the seat of Elder, as Boothby and Elder overlap. They aren’t making a pitch to voters based on the issues. Instead, they simply seek to poison the minds of voters against Nicolle Flint.

Voters in Boothby want to know which party is going to reduce traffic congestion for commuters and invest in the lifesaving infrastructure that makes road and rail travel safer, like the Liberals’ commitment to fix the Oaklands Crossing, the Hove Rail Crossing and the Fullarton/Cross roads intersection.

They want to know who will protect and enhance our cultural heritage by providing support for a new visitor centre at Carrick Hill and upgrading Old Government House in Belair National Park.

Along with national issues, like who is best to keep taxes down and deliver a strong economy, these are the issues people care about.

Put away the “mud bucket’’, Labor, and focus on what the people care about.

defence minister christopher pyne is the outgoing member for sturt.