Results for Longman by-election will be tight: Labor frontbencher
RESULTS for the Longman by-election will be tight enough the winner may not be known for several days, according to a senior Labor frontbencher.
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RESULTS for the Longman by-election will be tight enough the winner may not be known for several days, according to a senior Labor frontbencher.
It follows a Sunday Mail-ReachTEL poll showing the LNP's Trevor Ruthenberg slightly leading Labor’s Susan Lamb 51 to 49 per cent on a two-party-preferred basis.
Despite this, Labor has been increasingly hopeful of its chances in the electorate it holds by just a 0.8 per cent margin.
Opposition finance spokesman Jim Chalmers said the by-election results may not be known next Saturday night, after the poll.
“I think it will be an absolute squeaker here in Longman, but also in Braddon,” he told ABC’s Insiders.
“You have to remember that in Longman there’s been eight elections since the seat was created, and the Liberals have won six out of those eight.
“We will get a sense of it this time next week. We might not even know this time next week — it could be that close.”
Mr Chalmers took aim at One Nation, which is polling at almost a 14 per cent primary vote and its preferences could decide the winner.
“I think Pauline Hanson has been an especially enthusiastic supporter of Malcolm Turnbull’s tax breaks for the top end of town, cuts to local hospitals and schools.
“She is behaving like the wholly owned subsidiary of the Liberal Party that she is in Canberra in the Senate, sticking her hand up time and time again for Malcolm Turnbull’s agenda, which favours the top end of town, over communities like this one.”
A spokesman for Senator Hanson said One Nation was not an extension of the Liberal National Party.
“We go into this election as an independent political party,” he said.
“We have conservative values. Some times they align with the Liberals, but we will vote on legislation on its merits, not for the sake of opposing it like Labor does.”
He said Labor had an “appalling” record of voting with the Greens.
Opposition workplace relations spokesman Brendan O’Connor said Labor leader Bill Shorten would take the party to the next election regardless of what happened at the by-elections next weekend.
“Bill Shorten will be leader at the next Federal election. Last election he won 14 seats and took us within a whisker of winning,” Mr O’Connor said.
“You talk about tests for Labor, Mayo is a test for (Malcolm Turnbull).”
From Townsville this morning, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said Labor should be “streets ahead” in Longman.
He painted next weekend’s poll as about border security, taxes and energy prices - as well as a battle for who should run the country.
“The by-elections on all the evidence appear to be very close, but we have got to recognise that Labor should be streets ahead in these by-elections,” Mr Turnbull said.
“The last time a government won a seat in a by-election from the opposition was about 100 years ago, there’s a reason for that.”
He said a vote for Susan Lamb in Longman was “a vote for Bill Shorten and his higher taxes”.
“Bill Shorten wants to increase tax on individuals, on families. We wants to go after the savings of retirees with his cash-grab, his retiree tax. He wants to increase taxes on investment,” he said.
“A vote for Bill Shorten’s candidate is a vote for weaker border protection. It’s a vote to put the people smugglers back into business because that’s what the unions are demanding he do.”
The Prime Minister also spoke about job creation, as recently released Queensland Treasury figures show the Moreton North region, which includes Longman, and Townsville have the third highest unemployment in the country.
“We’re getting behind hard-working enterprising Australians and supporting them and they’re growing the the economy and employing,” he said.
“So here in Townsville, as right across the country, our commitment is to ensure we maintain strong economic growth.”
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