Malcolm Turnbull’s personal attacks: will he target Shorten again?

SOUTH Australia has been likened to a third world country during Question Time after generators were needed for power during a statewide blackout.

SOUTH Australia’s ongoing power blackouts have been likened to third-world conditions in Question Time which didn’t have the same fire as yesterday.

Energy policy and security in South Australia dominated the session after the statewide blackout in September and another blackout overnight which left 90,000 customers without power.

Environment and Energy Minister Josh Frydenberg said the state’s energy security was about as reliable as a third-world country’s thanks to Labor’s “incompetence”.

“Labor incompetence has subjected the people of South Australia to Third World conditions,” he said.

Australia's Energy Minister Josh Frydenberg has likened South Australian to a third-world country during Question Time. Picture: AAP

The Prime Minister too said electricity had become so unreliable in South Australia, businesses were investing millions of dollars in backup generators.

One Port Lincoln man had told him on a recent visit: “We may as well be operating in a third world country, the electricity is so unreliable.”

“The truth is that the Labor Party stands today for higher power bills and less available and less affordable childcare,” Mr Turnbull said.

Malcolm “mad dog” Turnbull didn’t make a return appearance in Question Time today though after his savage attack on Opposition leader Bill Shorten yesterday.

There was a rowdy vibe when the session began. Would the Prime Minister go for the throat again? Would Shorten respond with an equally vicious attack?

It wasn’t to be.

There was no return to the fiery debating between Bill Shorten and Malcolm Turnbull.

Labor and the Coalition were both fired up when the parliamentary session began.

Backbenchers were sitting to attention. MPs were drowning each other out with interjections.

But the saltiest attacks were about Labor’s energy policies, South Australia’s blackout and the Coalition’s welfare reforms.

At one point, Treasurer Scott Morrison produced an actual lump of coal and asked if the Opposition was afraid of it.

Australia's Treasurer Scott Morrison looks at a piece of coal during Question Time. Picture: AAP

Immigration Minister Peter Dutton and Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce both strayed into character attacks on the Opposition leader at times.

But in the end, the loudest thing about Question Time today was Mr Joyce’s red and black tiger-stripe socks.

Originally published as Malcolm Turnbull’s personal attacks: will he target Shorten again?