Turnbull, Shorten go soft; Leadsom and Corbyn hang tough

Australian leaders are looking for common ground, but Mediscare could prove to be a fly in the ointment.

Bill Shorten is in a generous mood after conceding defeat on Sunday:

I understand that we have an opportunity here. The Australian people expect all sides of politics to work in the national interest. I understand that we need to make this parliament function and we will be up for that … In terms of any negativity, I’ve made it clear to Mr Turnbull that we will work to find common ground.

Malcolm Turnbull is suitably grateful in response:

It’s vital that this parliament works — it is vital that we work together and as far as we can try to find ways upon which we can all agree … I welcome that remark … because it is vital that this parliament works.

But Shorten has a qualification:

Their (the Coalition’s) Medicare cuts shouldn’t be persisted with. I think Australians have made that very clear. I don’t know if the Liberals have quite worked out what happened in this election, but Medicare was a key issue.

Turnbull already made his thoughts known in his election night speech in which he said of the Labor Party’s “Mediscare”:

The ALP ran some of the most systematic, well-funded lies ever peddled in Australia.

In Britain, politics is taking a turn towards the brutal, as The Times reported yesterday:

(Tory leadership candidate) Andrea Leadsom is facing a “black ops” campaign by opponents committed to destroying her, her most senior backer in the race to lead Britain’s Conservatives said, amid the fallout from her comments about motherhood.

Iain Duncan Smith, the former Tory leader, tells colleagues unnerved by Leadsom’s performance:

Calm down, for god’s sake.

Duncan Smith also hints that there may be consequences for those who speak out publicly against Leadsom in a future government:

I think people come to regret some of the silliest things they say during a leadership election.

Opposition Leader Jeremy Corbyn threatens to take his colleagues to court, The Times reports:

He promised to bring forward legal action if opponents tried to exclude him from the race by denying him an automatic place on the ballot paper.

The Australian’s Chris Kenny writes about the closure of the ABC’s Drum website on July 6:

It is to these professionals and the millions of Australians who respect, defend and rely upon Aunty that the reckless diversion into editorial opinion through The Drum website has been particularly unfair. This was Aunty showing her slip, undermining the good work of many within … For any critic wanting to denounce ABC bias, the website was a treasure trove. So obvious was the green-left slant of the ABC journalists and other contributors that they had to host copious copy from the Institute of Public Affairs to provide balance.

The Drum online editor Chip Rolley signs off last Friday:

We have sought to make The Drum not an expression of one person’s views, but a forum for the interplay of a variety of viewpoints from across the political spectrum, filtered only by our strict adherence to editorial principles of fairness, accuracy and deep respect for a strong argument well ­expressed. We all have opinions, but at The Drum we wanted to ensure that those we published were tethered to facts and tested for fairness and ­accuracy.