Xenophon’s paradox: mysterious case of the slum in the high-rise

The curious case of the slum in the high-rise. Nick Xenophon tries to set the record straight, Seven’s Today Tonight Adelaide, Thursday:

Presenter: Another claim today, they’re calling you a slumlord, that one of the apartments that you owned had international students crammed in there. Were you aware of that?

Xenophon: Look, absolutely not … I wasn’t actually a director of the company at the time but, you know, this is part of a very ugly campaign.

Really? Xenophon, speaking to The Australian, June 2:

I was aware of the issues with overcrowding … it’s an issue in the past and I know that it is something that has been completely unacceptable.

Are you sure? Xenophon speaking to ABC radio, June 3:

The overcrowding had nothing to do with any apartments that (my father) owned or that I was involved in.

Meanwhile in South Australia … The Australian’s Michael Owen reports, yesterday:

A Nick Xenophon Team candid­ate who is challenging Labor heavyweight Mark Butler on the basis of his business credentials failed to tell voters his firm wound up last year owing 117 creditors more than $402,000.

More Labor reversals. The Australian, yesterday:

Labor has backed down in its long fight with the Coalition over unpopular spending cuts as part of a mammoth savings plan … Labor Treasury spokesman Chris Bowen revealed the savings would include cuts to family tax benefits but said the changes would be focused on families earning more than $100,000 a year.

From Labor’s now-disappeared Give Families a Fair Go website, April 2:

Raising a family doesn’t come cheap. So why are Malcolm Turnbull and the Liberals making it even more expensive?

A Labor spokesman, speaking to The Australian, yesterday:

These are old campaigns. The petitions were removed some time ago and are unrelated to today’s announcement. Working and middle-class families and pensioners will be better off under Labor.

Peter Phelps, Liberal member of NSW’s Legislative Council, Twitter, yesterday:

Look at all these mooted backflips on budget measures by Labor. (Jenny) Macklin is being rolled like a wheel of Brie down a hillside.

ABC journalist Nicholas Dole correcting the record, Twitter, yesterday:

@PeterPhelpsMLC the variety traditionally rolled down hills is a Gloucester style, which holds together far better than Brie.

ABC’s Insiders host Barrie Cassidy sees trouble in all this. ABC Drum website, yesterday:

The real damage for Labor in coming clean on the books for the next four years is that it confirms the case the Coalition has been trying to make since the campaign started — that Labor will spend and tax more than the government will.

You don’t say. Bill Shorten, yesterday:

We will need to make difficult decisions as this election unfolds.

Where would we be without public health officials? The Times of Israel reports on the UN’s latest anti-smoking crusade, yesterday:

The World Health Organisation has identified another grave risk to the health of Syrians in their war-torn country: tobacco. In a statement last week, the UN health agency warned that “notwithstanding the current crisis” … Syrian officials should collaborate with the UN health agency to control the use of tobacco and water pipes among its people, especially young adults, women and teenagers.