Federal Election 2019: Bill Shorten at Australia Zoo, Scott Morrison in Queensland
A volunteer for Peter Dutton has been holding Clive Palmer’s how-to-vote cards, as Josh Frydenberg’s billboard was defaced with Nazi symbolism. SEE THE VIDEO
Federal Election
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One of Peter Dutton’s volunteers has been caught holding what appears to be Clive Palmer’s how-to-vote cards.
The man, who was wearing an LNP shirt, was caught on camera at Everton Hills in Mr Dutton’s seat of Dickson yesterday, where he was holding Mr Palmer’s yellow cards.
The footage of him, obtained by News Corp Australia, comes just days after a Liberal volunteer was spotted changing her shirt to a United Australia Party one and handing out his how-to-vote cards.
A spokeswoman for Mr Dutton said it was the volunteer’s first day and he had accidentally picked up a stack of Liberal how to vote cards that contained some of Mr Palmer’s how to vote cards.
She said the man had not handed any of the UAP cards out and was recorded holding them as he was taking them back.
Prime Minister Morrison has been under fire over the Liberals’ preference deal with Mr Palmer, which could parachute the billionaire into a Senate seat and help the Coalition in crucial marginal electorates.
Mr Shorten has capitalised on the deal, warning Mr Morrison is inviting chaos into the parliament, despite Labor officials also talking to UAP about a preference deal.
Labor senator Kristina Kenneally accused the Liberals of doing Mr Palmer’s “dirty work”.
“It is not enough that Scott Morrison is doing dirty deals with Clive Palmer, now liberal volunteers for Peter Dutton are doing Clive Palmer’s dirty work,” she told reporters in Queensland.
“They are handing out how to vote cards for Clive Palmer in Dickson.
“This is the lengths and desperation that Scott Morrison and the Liberals will go to in order to cling on to power.”
You can see the footage above.
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TREASURER’S BILLBOARD DEFACED WITH NAZI SYMBOL
Treasurer Josh Frydenberg has lashed the “cowardly and criminal” act of a vandal who defaced one of his billboards with Nazi symbolism.
A picture of Mr Frydenberg, on a billboard in Kew, was defaced with a Hitler moustache in recent days.
Mr Frydenberg said it was “an insult to every victim of the Holocaust and every Australian serviceman and woman who fought against Nazi tyranny”.
“To think that this cowardly and criminal act was committed just days after Holocaust Remembrance Day shows how ignorant the perpetrators are of the horrors of history,” he said.
“This incident is not about me or my campaign but about a broader and disturbing trend in society of antisemitism and intolerance.”
“Mutual respect is at the heart of a good society and let’s debate ideas and people’s words and records but let’s not as a community accept for one minute this type of behaviour or attitude.”
Vandals damaged several other posters of Mr Frydenberg in his Melbourne electorate of Kooyong last month.
Shadow Treasurer Chris Bowen said it was “utterly unacceptable” and should be “condemned in the strongest possible terms”.
Dr Dvir Abramovich, Chairman of Anti-Defamation Commission, Australia’s leading civil rights organisation, said: “This virus of intolerance has to stop. We deplore these ugly actions for what they are: a repulsive and hateful assault on our democratic system and on our core principles. It is sickening to think that in a week in which we mark Holocaust Remembrance Day and the millions of victims murdered at the hands of the Nazis, that members of the Jewish community continue to be singled out and targeted by such abhorrent vilification. The effect of such vandalism in to intimidate and frighten, and is a painful reminder that antisemitism is alive and well. We stand firmly with Josh Frydenberg during this difficult time, and trust that those who carried our this crime are identified and are brought to justice. We call on all religious and politics strongly denounce this outrageous attacks against our elected representatives, and to declare in one voice that such conduct will never be tolerated in our nation.”
PM COPS BACKLASH FOR STAR WARS TWEETS
Already, the Morrison camp is copping online backlash for a tweet they posted in the spirit of Star Wars Day today.
The tweet has a photo of the PM’s head superimposed onto the body of a Jedi knight, with the words: “The Economy is Strong with this one. May the Fourth be with you.”
The economy is strong with this one. #StarWarsDay #MayThe4thBeWithYou pic.twitter.com/xhR8znXVJe
— Liberal Party (@LiberalAus) May 3, 2019
They also tweeted a picture of Bill Shorten depicted as Emperor Palpatine with the Death Star in the background, with the words: “Stop Labor’s Debt Star”.
Last time they were in government, Labor delivered 6 record deficits totalling $240 billion.
— Liberal Party (@LiberalAus) May 3, 2019
Australia can’t afford to go back to Labor. #StarWarsDay #MayThe4thBeWithYou pic.twitter.com/vLDUVH8rdF
Social media users replied with memes and comments attacking the tweet, saying the “dark side” of the Liberal Party would stop him from winning, referencing Tony Abbott.
They also thought the use of a science fiction film was irrelevant to the political campaign.
others were stunned and posted their reaction, calling for him to never post this type of tweet again.
— David Leigh (@ecobard) May 3, 2019
Unfortunately “Luke†, the dark side within the party is destroying you from within!
— 💧PJ Bardsley 💧 (@PrueBardsley) May 3, 2019
Use the force to find balance again, reject “the reactionary Sith†pic.twitter.com/dxc8uTe8mW
Shouldn't #scomo's meme be...#coal wars #MayThe4thBeWithYou pic.twitter.com/UjAE49OJ2v
— 💧australiablueprint (@ausblueprint) May 3, 2019
PM’S CAKE DECORATING SKILLS
Scott Morrison showed off his cooking skills in Brisbane today decorating a cupcake with wife Jenny.
Visiting the Canefields Clubhouse - a centre for adults struggling with mental health issues - Mr Morrison learnt how to make petals and leaves with icing.
The centre is in the electorate of Forde which the Coalition holds by a slim margin of less that one per cent.
Today the Prime Minister unveiled a $100 million investment for South East Queensland hospitals and health programs including $400,000 per year for four years to deliver psychological support to people with mental health conditions.
Among seats captured by the funding announcement is north Brisbane’s Petrie. The electorate is held by LNP’s Luke Hogarth at a margin of 1.65 per cent but is vulnerable to Labor candidate Corinne Mulholland, with Greens preferences expected to put her over the line.
Among other electorates affected will be Rankin, currently held by Labor frontbencher Jim Chalmers with a notional margin of 11.3 per cent, and Longman, notionally held by Labor’s Susan Lamb by 0.79 per cent after a redistribution.
SHORTEN’S CRICKET PITCH
Meanwhile, Mr Shorten started his day in Brisbane with a run with the Australian cricket team.
He announced $7 million in funding for Cricket Australia to create a national cricket campus, which would be an indoor and outdoor complex for all levels of cricket.
The package, which will create 300 jobs, will also redevelopment the Allan Border Field into a hub for international women’s cricket, domestic first-class cricket, and outdoor high performance programs.
The Opposition leader went to Australia Zoo on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast to unveil Labor’s $50 million plan to launch a new environmental watchdog.
It’s part of a $1 billion environment plan, which includes $62 million to tackle coastal erosion.
The new $50 million independent Environment Protection Agency will enforce tougher conditions and “manage development approvals” for new projects, such as the Adani coalmine.
The package will also include $100 million to establish a Native Species Protection Fund in an effort to restore numbers of endangered plants and animals and eliminate non-native pests.
Mr Shorten will also face questions over one of his senators travel expenses.
The Courier-Mail reports Northern Territory senator Malarndirri McCarthy last night referred herself to the independent Parliamentary Expenses Authority over serious questions over more than $100,000 in mostly business-class flights.
Senator McCarthy referred herself to the IPEA after she was asked to explain why she spent more than 100 nights in Sydney outside parliament sittings since 2016.
Bill Shorten did not defend Senator McCarthy’s travel expenses today.
“She’s self-referred herself to the parliamentary expenses authority, that’s the right course of action. We’ll see what they say,” the Labor leader said this afternoon.
MORE CANDIDATE DRAMA
The Liberal party is facing another challenge to their election team as questions emerged about whether Canberra candidate Mina Zaki had properly renounced her Afghan citizenship.
A Labor candidate is also in hot water over anti-refugee comments posted on social media.
According to The Guardian, Ms Zaki declared she had renounced her Afghan citizenship on April 16, but the document she provided to the Australian Electoral Commission and Afghan citizenship law both suggest an additional step is required for complete renunciation.
On her eligibility checklist she identified that both her parents and grandparents were born in Afghanistan and that she held Afghan citizenship. In 2018 the High Court ruled - in the midst of the dual citizenship crisis of the 45th Parliament - that the “reasonable steps” defence for renouncing foreign citizenship was insufficient.
This is the first election where all candidates are required by the AEC to fill out an eligibility checklist declaring whether they have any issues, such as bankruptcy or dual citizenship, that could put them in breach of section 44 of the constitution.
While the Canberra seat is notionally held by Labor on a 12.9 per cent margin, uncertainty about another candidate’s eligibility will rock the Liberals who have already lost nine candidates since the election was called. Meanwhile, Labor is under pressure to disendorse their candidate for the Western Australia seat of Durack over anti-asylum seeker posts on social media. The West Australian reported that Sharyn Morrow made her comments on Facebook in 2013 in response to a riot at the Nauru detention centre.
“These trouble makers should be sent back to where they came from, they do not deserve our charity. When will we see a government that understands charity begins at home.” Questioned by reporters about Ms Morrow’s comments shadow treasurer Chris Bowen said it was the first he’d heard of her remarks.
“We have processes to look at these things. We would need to look at that closely,” he said.
Environment minister Melissa Price holds the seat of Durack on a margin of 11.1 per cent.
Mr Shorten has dodged questions over whether yet another Labor candidate should be disendorsed over racist remarks.
Today, he said: “I have not seen her comments.”
The Liberals’ election chances have suffered a great blow after the party was yesterday forced to dump its candidate for the marginal battle ground seat of Lyons in Tasmania, which they could have won from Labor.
It was the third candidate they dumped in a week, after another resigned over homophobic posts and one was dumped over anti-Muslim remarks.
The controversy surrounding racists social media posts by dumped candidate Jessica Whelan — who has now declared she will run as an independent, following in Pauline Hanson’s footsteps from 1996 — may also damage the party’s chances in the nearby Tasmanian seats of
Braddon and Bass.
All three had been key Liberal targets.
Now it will be scrambling to find a new candidate with two weeks to poll day.
Ms Whelan was disendorsed yesterday morning after new posts emerged.
It was less than 24 hours after Mr Morrison came to her defence, saying racist comments posted online in her name appeared to have been “doctored” and would be referred to the Australian Federal Police to investigate.
Mr Shorten’s campaign also took a hit after he stood by Labor’s candidate for Melbourne Luke Creasey over a rape joke just hours before explicit new posts emerged and the 29-year-old schoolteacher was forced to resign.
He was the second Labor candidate to resign, following NT Senate candidate Wayne Kurnoth on Monday who was forced to quit over an anti-Semitic conspiracy theory he had posted online.
Asked why Labor hadn’t dumped Mr Creasey earlier, Mr Shorten said: “When the first post he said emerged, we said it was stupid, wrong and reprehensible, there were no excuses.
“But then it was clear there was not just one post and there were more and I was not going to keep defending the situation.”
Labor only had a slim chance of winning the seat of Melbourne, held by Greens MP Adam Bandt on a 19 per cent margin, but the controversy has engulfed Mr Shorten in a week where he won the first leaders’ debate and was appearing stronger on the campaign trail.
In old posts that emerged yesterday, Mr Creasey had joked online about watching his female friend have sex with multiple people.
He also joked about her wanting someone to “roughly take her virginity”.
In the morning, Mr Shorten had said Mr Creasey’s rape joke was “deeply offensive” and “stupid” but he had apologised and no longer held those views.
But after his other posts were made public, Mr Shorten told media he had demanded a full brief on Mr Creasey’s remarks.
In a statement after he resigned, Mr Creasey said his comments were “many years ago” and in no way reflected the views he held today.
He apologised to party members for letting them down.
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