Federal election 2022: Josh Frydenberg hits back at ‘teal’ rival; Albanese leads Brisbane rally
Treasurer Josh Frydenberg has defended dragging his rival’s mother-in-law into the election, saying he quoted her “word for word”, as Anthony Albanese led a union rally in Brisbane.
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Treasurer Josh Frydenberg is standing by his claims the mother-in-law of “teal” independent challenger Monique Ryan said she was voting for him because “he was a good person”.
As the tight election contest for the once blue-ribbon seat of Kooyong grows ugly, Mr Frydenberg told his official campaign launch that Dr Ryan’s mother-in-law told him she would vote for him.
Mr Frydenberg told a room of his supporters on Sunday a story of running into a “very nice lady in her 70s” near a cafe who said she was voting for him and told him she was his opponent’s mother-in-law.
He claimed he asked her why she would vote for him, and she replied: “Because you know what you’re doing and you’re a nice person.”
Dr Ryan disputed his claims, telling The Age: “My mother-in-law was misquoted by Mr Frydenberg.”
“She is a frail 87-year-old lady who should not have been brought into the public spotlight in this way.
“It is beyond the pale that Mr Frydenberg would use my frail 87-year-old mother-in-law as the butt of his jokes for cheap laughs.”
She later conceded to the ABC that her mother-in-law had told Mr Frydenberg she intended to vote for him, but added: “I’d like to know where he draws the line. I don’t want him coming after my parents and I don’t want him coming after my children.”
Mr Frydenberg on Monday told NCA NewsWire: “This is word for word what she said.”
He defended his decision not to attend the local candidates’ forum organised by a climate activist by saying it amounted to nothing more than a “campaign rally” for his opponents.
Dr Ryan on Monday said she had been extremely clear about who she would lend her support to if she is elected to a hung parliament.
“I would support whichever of the major parties was willing to come to the table on what the people of Kooyong want,” she said
“Which is effective action on climate change in the next 10 to 15 years and a strong federal (Independent Commission Against Corruption).”
Mr Frydenberg, who holds Kooyong on a 6.4 per cent margin, has conceded the May 21 election will be a tight contest.
‘BRING THIS HOME’: ALBO’S RALLY
Anthony Albanese called on a crowd of Labor faithful in Brisbane to “bring this home”, as he surrounded himself with supporters for the second day in a row.
The opposition leader, in a speech rallying the troops at the Labour Day march in Brisbane, said the election was about the “future of your kids and the future of this country” before repeating his campaign slogan of a “better future”.
“We have just 19 days to go, 19 days to determine whether we actually move forward with that plan for a better future,” Mr Albanese said.
He led the parade alongside Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk, the head of the ACTU and various Labor MPs and candidates.
Mr Albanese was welcomed to the stage by Ms Palaszczuk, who hyped up the crowd by launching into a tirade against the Prime Minister.
“We’ve had a prime minister that failed to get the vaccines, he failed to do quarantine,” she said. “So we built our own quarantine.”
The Wellcamp quarantine facility in Toowoomba cost $200m to build and has largely sat unused due to easing pandemic restrictions and high vaccination rates.
Flood victims also opted to be put up in hotels instead of the Wellcamp facility, which ended up costing the state government $278,000.
Mr Albanese and Ms Palaszczuk mischievously highlighted tensions between Canberra and the states.
Mr Albanese suggested NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet may only be prepared to state his true opinion on Scott Morrison “in private”, while Ms Palaszczuk used a joint press conference to slam the prime minister, with whom she has a frosty relationship.
“The prime minister of this country had a golden opportunity to unite this country,” she said.
“And during a pandemic he chose to divide. He chose to attack Queensland and Victoria and attack ... (we) need someone who will unite this country, and I believe that Anthony Albanese is definitely the person to do this job.”
During Labor’s campaign launch in Perth on Sunday, Mr Albanese leaned heavily on the popularity of Western Australian Premier Mark McGowan and newly elected South Australian Premier Peter Malinauskas.
But he refused to commit to splitting health funding 50-50 between Canberra and the states.
State health ministers, including in Queensland, have called for a rethink of how Australia’s health infrastructure and services are funded.
Mr Albanese did not commit to this, instead saying a Labor government would “sit down with members constructively” and work through the question “that’s there on the hospital systems”.
WARM WELCOME FOR PM
Mr Morrison arrived at the Mount Duneed retirement village to a round of applause.
Jenny, a local resident who asked for her last name not to be used, said the residents weren’t told who would be crashing their planned afternoon tea with Stephanie Asher and Sarah Henderson.
She had hoped it would be the Prime Minister but didn’t dare to dream that he could make a stop in Corangamite -- currently held by Labor MP Libby Coker on a slim margin of 1.1 per cent.
“We thought maybe it would be the health minister so when he showed up it was a big surprise,” she said.
Jenny doesn’t know if his celebrity visit will be enough to get him through and thinks voters in one of the nation’s most marginal seats will make their minds up closer to election day.
“But when the Prime Minister shows up, you need to show him respect,” she added.
Sandra Camm, who moved to the village two years ago, said she was a big fan of the Prime Minister and was blown away that he visited.
She said she believed his appeal to voters would get him over the line -- especially his focus on aged care and other care programs.
MORNING PRAYERS – AND A PLEA FOR HELP
An Afghan Australian woman has broken down in tears as she begged Scott Morrison’s candidate in the Western Sydney seat of Parramatta to help her family flee the Taliban and join her.
The prime minister and his candidate Maria Kovacic celebrated Eid Al-Fitr, marking the end of Ramadan, with hundreds of worshippers at an outdoor service held in Parramatta Park on Monday morning.
Former prime minister Kevin Rudd and Labor’s Parramatta candidate Andrew Charlton also attended.
After the service, crowds gathered to meet the two leaders – who had politely shaken hands at the start of the event – and take selfies, but local woman Hijara Taufiq instead took the chance to lobby the government to help her family stuck in Afghanistan under Taliban rule.
Ms Taufiq became tearful as she asked Ms Kovacic to help her brother’s family, including several young children, who were trapped in Afghanistan and unable to get to safety in Australia because they couldn’t get paperwork.
“I want help,” she said. “My family (is) in Afghanistan. They now not have passport, visa.”
Ms Taufiq spoke only a small amount of English but tried to explain her plight to the media, saying one of her nephew’s legs was “broken” by the Taliban.
She made a gesture of cutting her throat to explain her family’s lives were in danger from the militant group, which took over Afghanistan when allied forces, including Australia, withdrew following 20 years of conflict.
Ms Taufiq said her family had told her to “not expect” to see them.
She said “school is over” for her four nieces since the Taliban took over in September.
Mr Morrison told Ms Taufiq that Ms Kovacic would be able to help her.
“Maria will be able to work with you, we are bringing thousands and thousands of people from Afghanistan,” Mr Morrison said to Ms Taufiq. “We will do everything we can.”
Parramatta teenager Zaman Ahmed telling News Corp it was a “complete surprise” to have both Mr Morrison and Mr Rudd attend his community’s Eid celebration, but it was the former Labor leader who he lined up to take a selfie with.
“It’s nice that they are here to acknowledge our presence and acknowledge our contributions to Australia’s multicultural society, and the Islamic community,” he said.
Mr Ahmed said he was happy to see Mr Charlton at the service, and did not mind the Labor candidate was not originally from the area.
“Not hate or disrespect to Mr Morrison, but I’m a Labor supporter,” he said.
“I met Andrew when he was out campaigning the other day and we had a really nice interaction and I think he can be good for this community.”
Northmead resident Ghaith Khazaleh also lined up for a picture with Mr Rudd, saying Labor would also secure his vote at the May poll.
“(Mr Morrison) is trying his best, but for me I’m supporting Labor,” he said. “I think because (Mr Rudd) also served as foreign minister, he has more knowledge about things abroad.”
Worshipper Sid Rahman hoped to nab a selfie with Immigration Minister Alex Hawke.
“I’m going to tell my friends and family I met the Prime Minister. Alex Hawke as well,” he said.
In his remarks, Mr Morrison likened the breaking of the fast to Australia emerging from the Covid pandemic. He also thanked the crowd for their devotion to their faith, which he said was key to keeping Australia strong.
NEWSPOLL: LABOR BACK ON TRACK
The latest Newspoll out today has good news for Labor – its primary vote has lifted one point, arresting a trend where it was haemorrhaging support, and it maintains an election-winning 53-47 two-party preferred lead.
If replicated on election day, Labor would win a majority and around 10 government seats would fall.
Labor’s primary support is 38 per cent, the Coalition is stable at 36 per cent, and 26 per cent of voters will give their primary vote to independents or minor parties.
Both leaders improved their position last week. Prime Minister Scott Morrison recorded his best rating as preferred prime minister in a year with a satisfaction rating of 44 per cent and dissatisfaction rating of 51 per cent.
After spending most of the week in isolation, Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese had a satisfaction rating of 40 per cent and dissatisfaction of 49 per cent.
His net negative rating of minus nine is now worse than Mr Morrison’s, and Mr Morrison maintains a 45-39 edge as preferred PM.
The Greens have 11 per cent support, One Nation 5 per cent, Clive Palmer’s United Australia Party 4 per cent and “others” are at 6 per cent.
The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 2.9 per cent.
A separate Resolve Strategic poll conducted for the Nine Network had similar results. It found Labor was leading 54-46 amid strong support for minor parties, and pollster Jim Reed claimed “over three-quarters of the electorate are now absolutely committed to their vote”.
PM’S SURF CLUB VISIT
The Prime Minister’s jam packed day ended with a stop at the Torquay Surf Life Saving Club where he promised to chip in $6.5m for its redevelopment.
Glancing out at the Torquay’s surf beach, Mr Morrison made reference to his home of Cronulla seeking to highlight his connection to local surf clubs.
It was high fives all round when he stopped to speak with six of the club’s junior nippers, who excitedly told the Prime Minister about their medal haul at their last competition.
WHO’S THE SEXIEST OF THEM ALL?
Labor frontbencher Jason Clare has laughed off a suggestion he has become a “sex symbol” during his time on the campaign trail.
After being referred to last week as “Captain Handsome”, Mr Clare was asked on Monday if his wife Louse realised “how lucky she is being married to a sex symbol”.
“She’s watching now. So I don’t really know how to answer this question,” Mr Clare told Today.
“Other than to say I think Karl (Stefanovic) asked me this question a long time ago.
“And the answer then is the answer now. She thinks that Stephen Smith, the former foreign affairs minister, is a lot sexier than me.”
The Opposition’s campaign spokesman stepped into the spotlight as Anthony Albanese’s understudy when the Labor leader was isolating with Covid-19.
Mr Clare drew praise for his assured and easygoing nature in front of the media, and his confident delivery of Labor’s election messaging.
LABOR MATCHES SENIORS PLEDGE
Labor intends to match the Coalition’s promise to make healthcare and medicines cheaper for older Australians by expanding the seniors’ concession card scheme.
Scott Morrison will on Monday pledge $70m over four years to help 50,000 additional senior Australians save hundreds of dollars per year, as part of the Coalition’s strategy to woo older voters.
Asked if an Albanese government would back the commitment amid cost-of-living pressures, Labor’s campaign spokesman Jason Clare said he thought it was a good idea.
“We will back it. People are sick of Labor and the Liberals just saying if one side comes up with an idea the other side will say no to it,” Mr Clare told Sunrise.
“If you’ve got a good idea, we will back it.”
Mr Clare went on the attack by claiming older Australians should be wary of voting for the Coalition.
“The point I’d make (is), they have a habit of offering things to pensioners in an election and if they win, they come after you,” he claimed.
“This is a party that over the course of this decade in power tried to lift the pension age to 70 years. Don’t just look at what they say on the eve of an election, look at their record over the last decade.”
The Coalition plans to increase the income test threshold for seniors’ concession cards from $57,761 to around $90,000, and expand the couple’s threshold from $92,416 to $144,000.
The new thresholds would come into effect from July 1, marking the first major changes to the seniors’ health card scheme in more than two decades.
HOMEBUYER PLAN BRANDED ‘ATROCIOUS’
A Labor plan to help more low-income earners buy their first home by staking some of the cost could actually drive prices up, economists have warned.
Housing industry bodies cautiously welcomed Labor’s commitment to cover an equity stake of up to 40 per cent of the cost of a new house, saying it would help more Australians buy their first home.
But economists said the policy would not cause the housing market to stabilise or put any downward pressure on prices.
The Motley Fool’s chief investment officer Scott Phillips slammed Labor’s scheme as an “atrocious” version of the government’s first home buyers grant “on steroids”.
While he panned the Coalition’s “non-policy” on housing, Mr Phillips said Labor’s alternative amounted to a government being an “equity partner in an unaffordably-priced asset”.
“They’re choosing to ‘buy at the top’,” he said.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison said under Labor’s policy, Anthony Albanese wanted to take a “cut” of the house value.
“They’re looking to make money out of this, they will have equity in your home,” he said.
Defending his own housing policies, Mr Morrison argued Australians dreaming of owning a home “understand” it was not possible for everyone and “no government” could promise it was.
Economist Saul Eslake said Mr Morrison’s policies on housing had tended to make affordability for first-time buyers “worse rather than better”.
“The general problem with the policies of both sides in the last few years is they tend to do more to increase demand than boost supply,” he said.
“Labor’s scheme is reasonable, well devised in that sense in that the number of places under it is limited.
“It would put upward pressure on prices, but I don’t think the effect will be any greater than existing schemes.”
Mr Eslake said Mr Morrison’s comment that no government could offer every Australian homeownership would have former prime minister Sir Robert Menzies “turning over in his grave”.
Greens leader Adam Bandt said Labor’s proposed housing policy wouldn’t make housing more affordable, calling it a “small answer to a huge problem”.
“There will only be about 5 per cent of first home buyers who will gets it and it might in fact push up prices,” he said.
Labor’s Treasury spokesman Jim Chalmers said it was a “long-term policy for a long-term problem”.
“This is about making people’s mortgages smaller in the context of rising interest rates,” he said.
MasterBuilders chief Denita Wawn welcomed Labor’s new policy, saying combined with the opposition’s other housing announcements, they were focused on “both supply and demand issues to tackle housing access and affordability”.
But Ms Wawn said there were still a whole cohort of middle income earners – families earning about $120,000 or individuals over $90,000 – who were not captured by Labor’s scheme and needed help to get a deposit.
“We still have a significant shortage of housing, particularly at that mid-range price, and there are many supply barriers by state and territory governments,” she said.
‘TEAL’ INDEPENDENTS WILL BRING ‘CHAOS’
Scott Morrison has taken aim at the so-called “teal” independents challenging inner city seats where moderate Coalition MPs worry the Prime Minister’s brand is harming their chances.
With once-safe blue-ribbon seats like Kooyong, Wentworth, North Sydney and Goldstein under threat, Mr Morrison used a rally of Liberal Party faithful at Sydney Olympic Park on Sunday to warn of the “chaos” electing independents would bring.
Earlier in the day when repeatedly asked if he would be personally campaigning in those electorates, Mr Morrison would only broadly commit to travelling all over Australia.
“I’ll be (campaigning) … all across the country,” he said.
Liberal Party sources have privately voiced concerns Mr Morrison’s brand was “toxic” for the inner city seats, where independents were running on issues like climate, integrity and respect for women.
But at the rally Mr Morrison slammed the “teal” challengers, declaring they should reveal who they would support in a minority government before polling day.
“It’s not about personality politics. It’s about the serious challenges that the government has and I can tell you, you do not want a pile of chaos,” he said.
Premier Dominic Perrottet, NSW Liberal Party president Phillip Ruddock and MPs from the Greater Sydney area, including Fiona Martin and Melissa McIntosh were among the front row dignitaries at the event in a function room of the Accor Stadium at Sydney Olympic Park on Sunday
Several candidates attended, including Mr Morrison’s pick for the northern beaches seat of Warringah, Katherine Deves, who made a rare public appearance at the event.
Foreign Minister Marise Payne entered the room to AC/DC’s Thunderstruck and revved up the crowd before welcoming Mr Morrison to the podium.
Mr Morrison argued that only the Liberals would allow Australians to “raise their children in the way you want to raise your children” and doubled down on his economic credentials.
“A strong economy is not some certificate you put on the wall and admire from a distance,” the Prime Minister said, poking fun at Labor leader Anthony Albanese’s economics degree.
“A strong economy is always at the centre of everything we do.”
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