Federal Election 2019: Scott Morrison and Bill Shorten lay out ‘fair go’ visions
Class warfare is set to dominate the election, with Scott Morrison and Bill Shorten laying out very different visions for what it means to have a fair go.
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Class warfare is set to dominate this election with Scott Morrison and Bill Shorten laying out very different visions for what it means to have a fair go.
At a polished event in Sydney the suited-up Opposition leader pumped up a crowd of more the 550 awash in Labor red with a pledge to tackle “intergenerational unfairness”.
In a clear bid to overcome Mr Shorten’s image issues among the public, deputy leader Tanya Plibersek played a front and centre role with campaign posters focusing on selling the pair as a leadership package deal.
The prime minister instead marketed himself as a man of the people channelling Barack Obama by ditching the tie and rolling up his sleeves. In a US-political-style event he stood alone at the centre of a 250-strong gathering moving around the stage as he preached the benefits of aspiration.
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The soft campaign launches came as both leaders prepare to do battle for Liberal-held seats in Melbourne’s east today with Mr Morrison heading to the seat of Deakin, which has been considered under threat since the party’s abysmal result in the Victorian election, while Mr Shorten will visit the marginal seat of La Trobe.
ACDC’s Back in Black played as Mr Morrison, flanked by wife Jenny, entered the outdoor venue at the Brisbane showgrounds in a reminder that the Coalition will this year deliver a surplus budget before he took the stage to deliver a 25 minute sermon about jobs.
In what is sure to be an election slogan Mr Morrison repeated “it’s about jobs because people matter”.
“We think Australians should keep more of what they earn. The harder you work and the better you do then you should be able to get on with it,” he said.
“This is one of the great big fault lines of this election as Liberals and Nationals we believe that you don’t have to hold anyone down to lift anyone up.
“The harder all Australians work then the better they’ll do which is why we have a plan to reduce taxes. We’re the parties of aspiration.”
In stark contrast Mr Shorten and campaign spokesman Jim Chalmers did not shy away from their tax plans leaving higher income workers worse off.
Instead they were proud that their higher taxing policies would pump more money into government coffers to spend on schools, hospitals and the National Disability Insurance Scheme.
Mr Shorten said Labor would change the nation’s tax system which was creating “intergenerational unfairness against Australian young people”.
He also announced a $40 million training program for disability carers in the speech and attacked the Coalition’s funding of the NDIS.
“You deserve better than the last six years. Australia deserves better than the last six years. Friends it is time for a change,” he said.
Mr Shorten also spoke about the Coalition’s “denial on climate change”, a claim which Mr Morrison tackled head on.
“Of course we have to take action on climate change. We just don’t talk about it, we get it done,” he said.
Originally published as Federal Election 2019: Scott Morrison and Bill Shorten lay out ‘fair go’ visions