Turnbull’s economic plan lacks Queensland cash splash

MALCOLM Turnbull will continue his campaign through Brisbane’s marginal seats today. But don’t expect him to reach for the chequebook.

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A FRUGAL Malcolm Turnbull will leave the national chequebook in his pocket today while continuing his campaign through Brisbane’s marginal seats.

With day two of the election campaign still focused in the state, the Prime Minister yesterday revealed the seats he feared losing and what he hoped to steal in Queensland.

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But despite infrastructure inertia in Queensland and the importance of the state to the Coalition, no cash was offered by Mr Turnbull yesterday and none is expected today while he “continues to sell his Budget and economic plan”.

While Opposition Leader Bill Shorten yesterday wasted half a day flying from Tasmania to Cairns, Mr Turnbull blitzed three Queensland marginal seats, two held by the LNP — Petrie and Bonner — and Labor’s Moreton.

Sources said the Government believed it had a good chance of stealing Moreton from Graham Perrett.

“There’s no Kevin Rudd factor this time,” said one Coalition strategist, explaining why the Government was throwing resources at a seat it had targeted since 2007.

Mr Turnbull mingled with farmers at Rocklea Markets and headed to a fruit juice business in the seat of Bonner before addressing the nation for the first time during the election campaign in the marginal seat of Petrie.

Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce will campaign in Petrie today and Employment Minister Michaelia Cash could arrive as early as tomorrow.

“We have an election on 2 July, we have eight weeks, we will be talking about our national economic plan every single day. Jobs and growth. Confidence. Australia, its future. That’s what this election is about,” Mr Turnbull said yesterday.

Today, he is expected to hit the hustings in Forde, held by the LNP’s Bert van Manen by 4.4 per cent.

Mr Turnbull will almost certainly meet with Brisbane candidate Trevor Evans, who was preselected this year after Teresa Gambaro resigned, at some stage in the next 53 days.

Mr Shorten, who is focused on the regions, launched a 2½-week bus tour of Australia’s east coast that will take him to 30 electorates. Today he will be in Townsville in the electorate of Herbert, which is held by Ewen Jones.

Yesterday in Cairns, Mr Shorten announced almost $5 million for 400 indigenous scholarships. But it was his constant reference to hand-held cheat-sheets that gained the most attention. In a move almost without precedent in an election campaign, the Labor leader was forced to constantly look down at his notes during a press conference in far north Queensland.

His campaign team claimed he often used notes and said Mr Shorten wanted to ensure he got his numbers right. But on closer examination, the phrase “Mr T has no plan” could be plainly seen in bold on the cheatsheets.

New Senator Pat Dodson joined Mr Shorten at Cairns West State School, where 500 of the 700 children come from an indigenous background.

“We’re committing to make sure that we do something about the unacceptable statistics in our education system concerning Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander kids,” Mr Shorten said.

Meanwhile, Mr Turnbull will have two former prime ministers on the hustings in the next eight weeks.

John Howard and Tony Abbott are both expected to mount national campaigns. Mr Abbott will be in Dawson on Thursday. Mr Howard, the most successful PM in the past 20 years, was instrumental in convincing Mr Turnbull not to quit politics when he lost the Opposition leadership in 2009

Originally published as Turnbull’s economic plan lacks Queensland cash splash