Federal election 2016: Dutton on refugees; Shorten in Sydney; Turnbull in Cairns
The PM praises Peter Dutton as “outstanding” after his comments on refugees; while Labor calls it “political dog whistling at its worst”.
- Turnbull dodges Dutton defence
- ‘Illiterate refugees’ warning
- Bishop backs Immigration Minister
- The cost of refugees revealed
- A song for Shorten
Hello, and welcome to Day 11 of the federal election campaign. Peter Dutton has kicked off debate about refugees and unemployment while Malcolm Turnbull visited Cairns and Bill Shorten is in Sydney.
Who won the day?Read David Crowe’s verdict here.
8.45pm:Sales grills Marles on refugees
It was the government’s immigration minister Peter Dutton who copped flack today for his comments about asylum seekers, but that didn’t stop Leigh Sales from grilling opposition immigration spokesman Richard Marles over the issue.
On ABC’s 7.30 Report, she asked the Labor MP: “Isn’t it just a statement of the bleeding obvious that some refugees are illiterate and innumerate and they require a great deal of assistance to resettle?”
Marles replied saying while it was true that Australia does have “some of the best settlement services in the world”, Dutton’s comments were offensive rather than factual.
“That was an indiscriminate spray which I think we all understand what that was about, political dog whistling at its worst and it ought to be called out,” he said.
Opposition spokesman for #Immigration & Border Protection @RichardMarlesMP joins @leighsales on #abc730 #auspol pic.twitter.com/RPQO6N8usT
— abc730 (@abc730) May 18, 2016
Sales then honed in on the specifics of Labor’s immigration policies.
“Isn’t the problem here for Labor that on this issue you have zero credibility because the statistics on arrivals, and the chopping and changing in this policy area in your last time in Government, speaks for itself?” Sales asked.
Marles replied: “Well, I mean, we have gone through over a long period of time, and particularly over the last few years in opposition, a very difficult and sober process of looking at what we have done over the last 15 years, what we did in Government and making sure that we have an ethically-based policy...”
Sales: “You had a policy, you dismantled it, it fell apart, you had to scramble to find something that worked. I put to you that isn’t there a problem for Labor here that you have a credibility issue?
Marles: “Anyone who saw our national conference last year knows the seriousness with which we have dealt with this, knows the degree to which we have gone into it, and frankly, the depth of thought now going on in relation to this issue is happening on the Labor side of politics.”
Marles also dodged questions about Labor’s policy for offshore processing, conceding that his party’s policy was different to the Coalition’s. They would pursue different options for settling refugees in Australia by speaking with the UNHCR and “re-engaging with the global community” to find “genuine resettlement options in resettlement countries,” he said.
7.15pm:Personally offended by Dutton
Iranian-born Labor frontbencher Sam Dastyari says he’s personally offended by Peter Dutton’s comments on refugees.
The immigration minister has been slammed today for claiming “illiterate and innumerate” refugees would swamp welfare queues and take the jobs of locals if the annual humanitarian intake was substantially increased.
Senator Dastyari said as an immigrant, he was personally offended by the slur.
His parents had created countless jobs through small businesses.
“When I came to this country as a five-year-old towards the end of the Iran/Iraq war I could not speak a word of English,” he told Sky News.
“This is a country that should pride itself on what migrants have been able to achieve.”
Malcolm Turnbull earlier brushed aside calls for Mr Dutton’s head.
Cabinet minister Arthur Sinodinos also defended Mr Dutton’s “robust” language but acknowledged Senator Dastyari had “every right to be annoyed”.
“I didn’t learn English until I went to school because we only spoke Greek at home,” he said.
Senator Dastyari said the minister should have been pulled into line but that the prime minister wasn’t prepared to stand up to the right-wing “tin foil brigade” within his party.
5.20pm: The seats we’re all talking about
A win in the NSW electorate of Eden-Monaro is a prize that defines an election and its voters are already talking about the election on Facebook.
According to Facebook statistics the first week of campaigning has pushed the bellwether seat into the top five electoral divisions most discussing the election.
Regardless of age or gender Facebook users focused on the economy, budget and governance issues when discussing the election. While men aged 25 to 34 were the largest demographic talking about the election and related terms.
This is a change from budget and pre-budget weeks as older age groups dominated the election-related discussions during that period.
Most engaged electorates: 1. Macquarie (NSW) 2. Page (NSW) 3. Richmond (NSW) 4. Dawson (Qld) 5. Eden-Monaro (NSW)
Most engaged demographics: 1. 25 to 34-year-old men 2. 35 to 44-year-old men 3. 45 to 54-year-old men 4. 45 to 54-year-old women 5. 35 to 44-year-old women
Most discussed issues: 1. Economy 2. Budget 3. Governance 4. Social issues 5. Foreign policy
Source: Facebook, AAP
Like The Australian on Facebook here
4.15pm: Libs complain over Democrats video
The Liberal party has made an official complaint against the Liberal Democrats for using footage from parliament in an election advertisement.
The ad condemning the poor economic records of Liberal and Labor governments features footage of former treasurers Wayne Swan and Joe Hockey and current treasurer Scott Morrison delivering budget speeches.
Liberal federal director Tony Nutt has written to parliamentary officials asking that the advertisement be edited to remove the footage.
The officials agreed with Mr Nutt and have written to Liberal Democrats senator David Leyonhjelm asking that the chamber broadcast footage be removed.
The letter to Senator Leyonhjelm points to a resolution of both houses of parliament stating: “Broadcast material shall be used only for the purposes of fair and accurate reports of proceedings, and shall not be used for political party advertising or election campaigns”.
However, Senator Leyonhjelm said he would not be complying.
He said he had found at least five examples of the Liberals using parliament footage in ads and Mr Nutt had made no case. “I find it perplexing they would want to fight with us, but there’s no accounting for Nutts with no balls,” Senator Leyonhjelm told AAP.
Asked whether he feared a contempt charge for using the footage, Senator Leyonhjelm said it was a matter for the Senate to decide. “If people say something in parliament, why should it be treated any differently to what they say in the evening news?”
3.25pm: A song for Shorten
Yesterday he got a kiss in Adelaide, today Bill Shorten was serenaded in Sydney.
The Labor leader took his campaign to woo voters on the streets from South Australia to the pavements of Campbelltown on Wednesday. Ester Arabor stopped Mr Shorten and shortly after introducing herself as a professional singer broke into a melody at the opposition leader’s encouragement.
Ester Arador serenades @billshortenmp on a street walk. He says it tops his Adelaide kiss #ausvotes pic.twitter.com/dG6qtHXDU5
— Jessica Marszalek (@JessMarie_News) May 18, 2016
She sang Unchained Melody, the much-covered 1955 hit song which most prominently featured on the soundtrack to the Hollywood movie Ghost.
“Oh, my love, my darling, I hunger for your touch,” she sang, as Mr Shorten watched on.
The Labor leader appeared gleeful his daily street walks were proving such a hit.
“You might have just topped Adelaide yesterday,” Mr Shorten replied.
Later, Ms Arabor couldn’t decide whether she liked Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull or Mr Shorten more.
But she said she’d definitely vote Labor as long as Mr Shorten attended her next performance.
3.15pm:Labor’s Port Botany funds “don’t add up”
The Coalition claims the $175 million Bill Shorten announced for the Port Botany Rail Line this morning is less than half the amount of money which will be required to complete the project.
But Major Projects Minister Paul Fletcher would not commit to funding the rail line himself, despite saying it was a “good project”.
Speaking at a doorstop in Sydney, Major Projects Minister Paul Fletcher said Labor’s numbers did not stack up.
“To start with, the NSW State Government says the cost of the Port Botany rail line project is $300 million, and that includes the money needed to realign the track to be a part of the Sydney Gateway project,” Mr Fletcher said
The Sydney Gateway project is a road connecting the new WestConnex freeway to Sydney Airport and Port Botany.
Mr Fletcher said it was essential the Port Botany rail line be integrated with both the Sydney Gateway and WestConnex.
He said it appeared Shadow Transport and Infrastructure Minister Anthony Albanese had not looked at the NSW government’s $300 million business case for the project.
“In fact (Labor’s project) will cost more, because Labor says their money will also provide for a passing loop at Warwick Farm, and that will cost another $100 million,” Mr Fletcher said.
“So what we have is a $400 million project, or set of projects, that Labor has offered $175 million for.
“It’s like somebody saying I’ll buy you dinner, but only coming up with enough money for the entrée and the garlic bread.”
Mr Fletcher did not say how much the government was willing to spend on the project, instead talking up the Coalition’s $1.5 billion commitment to WestConnex, plus $2 billion in concessional loans the Commonwealth will provide for the NSW government to complete the road.
3.10pm: Turnbull “committed to schools that are safe”
Malcolm Turnbull indicated the Coalition’s modifications to the Safe Schools program were minor, in response to a question from our reporter Rosie Lewis about Labor’s position on the issue.
Labor is considering restoring the controversial program after the Greens yesterday promised to roll it out fully and strip churches of exemptions in discrimination laws.
Earlier this year the Coalition held a review and made changes to the program, which is intended to prevent children being bullied about their gender or sexuality, amid an outcry over 11-year-olds being asked to role play as gay teenagers.
Mr Turnbull said Safe Schools had been modified “only really to the extent that there is more parental involvement and consent in it which I think most parents would find reassuring,” as a result of Education Minister Simon Birmingham’s review.
“But obviously Labor and the Greens are heading in a trajectory of their own,” Mr Turnbull said.
“We’re committed to schools that are safe.
“Bullying of any kind whatever the basis, whether it is on gender or appearance or race or religion or sexual orientation, bullying is unacceptable in any school.”
Seriously. What even is this, @samdastyari ? pic.twitter.com/Y9BqPbDj6X
— Terri Butler MP (@terrimbutler) May 18, 2016
2.20pm:Labor’s “gesture politics”
Malcolm Turnbull sought to turn the attention from Peter Dutton’s refugee comments to Labor MP David Feeney’s failure to declare a $2.3 million home in his electorate, which he also negatively gears.
“Labor’s approach to immigration is one of gesture politics,” the Prime Minister said. “Today Mr Shorten is being shrill and carrying on because he wants to distract from Mr Feeney’s omissions, who overlooked a $2.3 million negatively geared house. That is a lot to overlook. I will leave that for them to explain.
“What Australians want to know is that the immigration program is being
well run, well resourced. Refugees are getting the support they need to integrate into the community and our borders are secure.”
In the future every refugee family will get one of Feeney's houses. #youknowitmakessense #problemsolved
— Chris Kenny (@chriskkenny) May 18, 2016
2.15pm:Lunchtime wrap
Malcolm Turnbull has visited Cairns and Townsville in far north Queensland. He’s announced $24 million to improve the Cairns Marine Precinct, and $150 million for the Townsville Eastern Access Rail Corridor.
Bill Shorten has been in Sydney, pledging $175 million for rail freight near Port Botany.
Two issues have dominated: Labor frontbencher David Feeney’s failure to declare ownership of a $2.3 property, and Immigration Minister Peter Dutton’s comments about the costs of resettling refugees.
Labor has also seized on comments Howard government treasurer Peter Costello made yesterday, warning that the federal government’s proposed changes to superannuation transfers will not be as beneficial for retirees as promised.
The latest wages figures will be uncomfortable reading for the government, with the Australian Bureau of Statistics reporting that wages are growing at the slowest rate for at least 18 years.
2.05pm:“Peter has identified need for refugees we can settle”
Malcolm Turnbull has lauded Immigration Minister Peter Dutton as an “outstanding” member of his team, declaring he made a “very important” point by acknowledging many refugees who came to Australia were illiterate.
He pointed out that Mr Dutton had acknowledged the need to take the number of refugees Australia “can effectively settle.”
But the Prime Minister refused to weigh in on Mr Dutton’s warning that illiterate and innumerate refugees would take Australian jobs, saying instead the country would “reach out to them with compassion”.
“Peter Dutton is an outstanding Immigration Minister. For more than 600 days, there has not been one successful people smuggler operation bringing unauthorised arrivals to Australia,” Mr Turnbull said from Townsville.
“As Peter was saying earlier today, many of them come to Australia from shattered areas of the world. They are from dreadful, devastated, war-torn regions of the world and many of them, large percentages of them have no English skills at all. Many of them are illiterate in their own language. Many haven’t completed high school. That is no fault of theirs.
“What it is, as Peter has identified, is a basis for us taking our responsibilities seriously and ensuring that we take into Australia the number of refugees that we can effectively settle.”
“That is why we are reaching out to help them with compassion. What we do, in a way that many other countries do not, is that we invest $800 million a year in ensuring they get the settlement services they need so they learn English, so they are integrated into our society. That is why we are the most successful multicultural society in the world.”
Mr Turnbull said the proposals by Labor and the Greens to double and “quadruple” the refugee intake would cost Australia billions of dollars.
“Nor have they considered whether we have the capacity in our settlement services to ensure those additional refugees are settled here,” he said.
“People that are coming out of these war-ravaged areas, out of the horn of Africa and other places in the world ... many of them have never been employed. Many of them have not had very much education. Many of them are illiterate in their own languages. That is no fault of theirs. That is not a basis for criticising them,” Mr Turnbull said.
While Mr Dutton warned on Sky News last night that illiterate refugees would be taking Australian jobs, Mr Turnbull said he wanted everyone who comes to the country to be able to find employment.
“Everybody that comes to Australia, we want to be able to seek employment. We want to be sure that they have got the skills to do so,” he said.
.@EwenJonesMP hosting his Coalition colleagues "sorry about the weather today, it's a bit cool" #ausvotes pic.twitter.com/HKu5dMDFZF
— Rosie Lewis (@rosieslewis) May 18, 2016
1.45pm: Feeney’s forgetfulness boosts Greens hopes
Labor frontbencher David Feeney’s failure to declare ownership of a $2.3 property has boosted the Greens’ hopes of winning his inner northern Melbourne seat of Batman.
Greens Leader Richard Di Natale told reporters in Sydney this morning it appeared Mr Feeney had made “one hell of an oversight”.
“I think he’s got some serious answers to give and so far the explanation he’s given falls well short,” Senator Di Natale said.
Jack the Insider: Feeney’s idiocy
Greens Member for Melbourne Adam Bandt earlier used the Feeney story to highlight that Mr Feeney owns an investment property in his electorate, but does not live there.
“Voters of Batman have a clear choice between local social worker Alex Bhathal who lives with her husband and kids in the electorate or a factional warlord imposed over the will of locals who doesn’t even live there,” Mr Bandt said.
“A NSW Premier had to resign after forgetting about a bottle of wine. What happens to someone who forgets to declare a $2.3 million house?”
Mr Shorten told reporters on the campaign trail in Sydney he had contacted Mr Feeney this morning and expressed his displeasure.
“He’s indicated to me that he’s corrected the record, as I expect him to do, and I was very clear that this sort of behaviour is unacceptable,” Mr Shorten said.
1.20pm: Protesters take the plunge over Abbott
What would an election campaign be without a stunt or two. We’ll break away from the usual stage-managed, Canberra-approved numbers to bring you this effort from Manly, in Sydney.
Disgruntled punters have taken to the roof of Tony Abbott’s electoral office to make a stand about his so-called ‘climate-blocking’:
1.10pm: Shorten fumes over MP’s ‘oversight’
Bill Shorten has reprimanded Labor frontbencher David Feeney for failing to declare a $2.3 million dollar home in his Melbourne electorate which he negatively gears — a practice that Labor is seeking to restrict.
The Opposition Leader today said he had contacted Mr Feeney to convey his unhappiness at the omission and described the error as “unacceptable.”
While there will be no formal punishment for Mr Feeney — who holds the Melbourne seat of Batman — Mr Shorten said the omission had already attracted negative publicity for the Labor MP during an election campaign.
Mr Shorten is campaigning on a plan to restrict negative gearing to new properties from July 2017, halve the capital gains discount to 25 per cent while grandfathering existing arrangements.
Mr Shorten sought to downplay the issue, by referring to Mr Dutton’s warning last night that it was possible for refugees who were not numerate or literate in their first languages to take Australian jobs.
12.50pm:Attacks on Dutton continue
Bill Shorten has accused Immigration Minister Peter Dutton of insulting refugees and channelling an anti-immigration line that One Nation founder Pauline Hanson would be proud of.
The Opposition Leader has challenged the Malcolm Turnbull to condemn the comments of Mr Dutton who last night said that many refugees were not numerate or literate in their first languages yet still capable of “taking Australian jobs.”
Mr Shorten said the remark by Mr Dutton was an insult to the “millions of migrants who have contributed to making this a truly great country” including refugees like the late heart surgeon Victor Chang and Westfield chair, Frank Lowy.
“The best that the Liberal Party can do, it appears, is put out a string of lies and pathetic scare campaigns,” Mr Shorten said in Sydney’s Port Botany.
“In the last 12 hours we’ve seen Mr Dutton insult refugees and indeed our great migrant history. Mr Dutton’s comments are comments Pauline Hanson would have been proud to make.”
“Mr Turnbull if he has any shred of self respect left on this matter must immediately condemn Mr Dutton’s comments.”
Mr Shorten questioned whether the Prime Minister had been “feeding the lines to Mr Dutton” and said Australians expected more from the government.
“Australians want to see in this election a contest of solutions to make this country better, not this string of orchestrated rubbish that we’ve seen Mr Turnbull and Mr Dutton come up with.”
Greens Leader Richard Di Natale has called for Malcolm Turnbull to sack the Immigration Minister.
Senator Di Natale described Mr Dutton’s claim as “shameful and appalling” at a press conference in Sydney.
“(The comments) are not just an attack on refugees, they’re an attack on families right around the country - families like mine,” he said.
12.30pm:Bad economic news for the government
The latest wages figures will be uncomfortable reading for government types. The Australian Bureau of Statistics reports that wages are growing at the slowest rate for at least 18 years.
Read about the wages stagnation in Business Writer Daniel Palmer’s report here
12.15pm:Who’s where, and why
A quick roundup of where all the key players are today:
• After starting in Cairns, Malcolm Turnbull heading south to Townsville, where he and Herbert MP Ewen Jones (who has a margin of 6.2 per cent) will pledge $150 million for the Townsville Eastern Access Rail Corridor
• Bill Shorten’s $175m rail freight upgrade at Port Botany may help his infrastructure spokesman Anthony Albanese, whose electorate of Grayndler is nearby. And maybe even local member for Kingsford-Smith, Matt Thistlethwaite, who holds his seat by 2.8 per cent.
• In Canberra, Environment Minister Greg Hunt and opposition environment spokesman Mark Butler go head-to-head at the National Press Club.
• Greens MP for Melbourne Adam Bandt is in Melbourne, making the most of the news yesterday that Labor MP for Batman David Feeney had not declared a $2.3 million Northcote property. Batman is immediately northeast of Mr Bandt’s seat, and the Greens are hoping Feeney’s embarrassment might persuade voters in the hipster belt to give their candidate, social worker and refugee campaigner Alex Bhathal, a go. Mr Bandt will also talk up the Greens’ role in successfully fighting to save community health organisation Cohealth, after it was cut in the 2015 budget.
• Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce and his National Party Deputy Fiona Nash is in northern Victoria. They spent yesterday in northeast Victoria with the Nationals’ candidate for Indi Marty Corboy, who’s up against incumbent Independent Cathy McGowan and former Liberal frontbencher Sophie Mirabella.
Today he’ll be in Murray, centred on Shepparton in the state’s north, where the resignation of Liberal Sharman Stone sees a contest between Liberal Duncan McGauchie, and National Damain Drum. Both seats are home to rich dairy farming country, and Mr Joyce can expect to face many questions on milk prices and the now delayed backpacker tax.
• A Labor contingent including Opposition Senate Leader Penny Wong, mental health spokeswoman Katy Gallagher, Education Minister and Member for Adelaide Kate Ellis, and SA senator Anne McEwen are in Adelaide to campaign against government cuts which they say will see the recently opened Headspace early psychosis intervention centre close on June 30.
• Shadow Treasurer Chris Bowen and Shadow Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus are at a glass factory in the southeastern Melbourne suburb of Dandenong to announce Labor’s domestic gas national interest test.
• Minister for Major Projects Paul Fletcher is in Sydney, where he’ll be addressing the Australian British Chamber of Commerce.
• Justice Minister Michael Keenan is in Melbourne, where he’ll will join the Liberal candidate for Labor frontbencher Jenny Macklin’s northeastern suburbs seat of
David Mulholland. Ms Macklin holds the seat by 3.2 per cent. Mr Keenan and Mr Mulholland will announce $440,000 from its Safer Streets program to make Heidelberg West’s Bell Street Mall a more family friendly space.
• Shadow Vocational Education Minister Sharon Bird is in Parramatta with local member Julie Owens to campaign on campaign on TAFE cuts.
• Shadow Human Services Minister Doug Cameron is in Townsville - where the PM is also headed - to campaign with Labor’s candidate for Herbert Cathy O’Toole. Senator Cameron will then head south to Capricornia, on Queensland’s central coast, campaigning with Labor candidate Leisa Neaton in Rockhampton. Capricornia is held by Coaltion MP Michelle Landry by a 0.8 per cent knife-edge.
11.30am:The cost of refugees revealed
Peter Dutton’s office has released estimates of how much the Greens and Labor immigration policies would cost.
Read a full breakdown of costs here in Rachel Baxendale’s report.
• Chris Kenny writes: ‘It is hard to believe the Labor Party and the broader Left could be so idiotic and irresponsible as to deliberately inflame border protection as a crucial issue for the sixth election in a row’
Read Chris Kenny’s take on the Peter Dutton ‘outrage’ here
• Labor has seized on comments by Howard government treasurer Peter Costello warning that the federal government’s proposed changes to superannuation transfers will not be as beneficial for retirees as promised.
11.15am:Liberal MP echoes Dutton comments
Queensland Liberal Party backbencher Ian Macdonald agreed with Mr Dutton that the more people coming into Australia “without permanent employment prospects” put pressure on the nation’s jobs.
However, he said he could not think of a company that would employ an illiterate refugee over an Australian.
“The fact of the matter of course is the more people who come into Australia without permanent employment prospects do put pressure on the employment market in Australia,” he said.
“In Cairns and Townsville there is a real unemployment problem at the moment and we have to be cautious of how we deal with that. Some of Mr Dutton’s comments are matters of fact.”
Senator Macdonald said it was the “unregulated flow” of migrants or “illegal” refugees that “cause problems”, despite Australia no longer resettling those asylum-seekers who came to the country by boat.
10.40am:Turnbull dodges ‘illiterate refugee’ questions
Malcolm Turnbull has managed to sidestep questions about Immigration Minister Peter Dutton’s warning that thousands of illiterate and innumerate refugees would take Australian jobs under an increased humanitarian intake.
Taking questions from local media outlets in Cairns, the Prime Minister said Australia was the “most successful multicultural society in the world” but conceded the resettlement of refugees was “very expensive” and it was “important” to get the program “right”.
“We have the most successful multicultural society in the world ... we have a very generous humanitarian program, which as you know we are increasing over the next few years to 18,000 a year, and in addition to that we’re taking 12,000 refugees from the Syrian conflict zone,” he said.
“The reason we are successful is because we invest an enormous amount of money into the settlement services to make sure that our refugees who come to Australia get the language instruction, all the support to enable them to integrate into Australian society and move into employment and take up those opportunities.
“It’s very expensive, we don’t begrudge the money, but it’s important to get it right.”
We’re expecting another press conference in Townsville this afternoon, stay tuned.
10.15am:What you need to know
A quick look at our top political stories for the day:
• Labor is considering restoring the controversial Safe Schools program after the Greens promised to roll it out fully and strip churches of exemptions in discrimination laws. And as Paul Kelly writes in an analysis piece, The Greens pledge for a $32 million four-year rollout of the gender fluidity Safe Schools program — combined with a frontal assault on religious liberty by toughening anti-discrimination law — lights up sexual and cultural values in this election and poses serious questions for Labor.
• Peta Credlin also weighed in on the Greens proposal to take 50,000 refugees on Paul Murray’s Sky News show last night. Tony Abbott’s former chief of staff defended the Coalition’s policy. “Let’s be fair dinkum we are talking about public housing, we are talking about water shortages,” she said. “We are talking about a range of issues, it’s not a simple hand on heart humanitarian response, it’s got to be hard-headed and it’s got to be paid for.”
• Yet another Labor candidate has spoken out against key elements of the party’s asylum-seeker policy, and suggested the ALP under Bill Shorten has become a “weakened right-wing” opposition. In another blow to the Opposition Leader, who is battling internal dissent over his party’s support for boat turnbacks, The Australian has revealed that Katie Gompertz, Labor’s candidate for the Sydney seat of Bradfield, has become the 21st ALP candidate or MP to express concern about Australia’s near-bipartisan asylum-seeker policies. Ms Gompertz has been a strong critic of boat turnbacks and has advocated an end to the practice of detaining asylum-seekers.
• We’ve done a graphic detailing the 21 candidates or MPs and their opposition.
Sarah Martin and Kylar Loussikian have the inside story on how A threatened revolt among regional MPs in the Coalition partyroom prompted Scott Morrison to make an 11th-hour promise on the night before the budget to shelve the controversial backpacker tax for six months.
• As Joe Kelly writes from Bill Shorten’s bus, woman in red Margo Carey didn’t miss her chance yesterday to plant a kiss on the Opposition Leader’s lips.
• Here’s Rosie Lewis’s campaign trail account of Malcolm Turnbull’s tour of Darwin.
• Labor frontbencher David Feeney has admitted to an “omission” over a $2.3 million home in his Melbourne electorate which he negatively gears after he failed to declare the asset on parliament’s register for more than two years.
• The Greens were last night under fire over their push to legislate to entrench weekend penalty rates after it emerged they had not made a submission to the Fair Work Commission inquiry on the issue.
• Mothers with fulltime jobs are working for as little as $5 an hour once they pay tax and childcare costs, according to new ANU research.
• Scott Morrison has joined Malcolm Turnbull in trying to convince Liberal Party factions not to relegate Concetta Fierravanti-Wells into the sixth position on the NSW Senate ticket.
• A grand coalition of environment groups claiming 1.5 million members has entered the federal election campaign with a blueprint to reform environment laws, ahead of today’s National Press Club debate between Environment Minister Greg Hunt and his Labor counterpart Mark Butler
Economics Editor David Uren writes that the Parliamentary Budget Office is keeping the bastards honest this election.
• The main problems with superannuation are the low, and falling, rates of return, the fees being skimmed off it, and the fact that your savings might get blown up entirely by an incompetent or corrupt financial adviser, not the tax concession, According to Alan Kohler.
• Janet Albrechtsen writes that while Tony Abbott expressed laudable and humble aspirations to serve the party, people and government by supporting the re-election of a Turnbull government earlier this week, it’s not yet clear that Abbott understands how he failed to live up to that aspiration as prime minister.
• Bill Shorten is being squeezed and the pressure is showing, writes Dennis Shanahan, who says the Opposition Leader is starting to sound shrill and frustrated as the Greens attack Labor from the left on social issues and workers’ rights while simultaneously joining the Coalition in a pincer movement on illegal boat arrivals.
• Greg Sheridan writes that Greens leader Richard Di Natale’s attack on the US alliance makes a mockery of Michael Kroger’s idea that the Liberals preference the Greens ahead of Labor.
9.55am: PM on the waterfront again
Malcolm Turnbull has made his first venture into North Queensland but rather than pressing the flesh with voters on the street he’s toured yet another shipyard. The staged event in Cairns has been designed so the PM can commit $24 million to upgrade the city’s marine precinct.
He’s also managed to focus on the government’s “jobs and growth” mantra while he met ship workers. He’ll head to Townsville shortly.
Apprentice Drew Gully, 19, found out he was meeting the PM at 7.30am. Overall happy with Turnbull's visit #ausvotes pic.twitter.com/2HrrqSUGRZ
— Rosie Lewis (@rosieslewis) May 17, 2016
Malcolm Turnbull meets a second-year apprentice at the shipyard, remarks "all boats are different" #ausvotes pic.twitter.com/0DKg2O9qA7
— Rosie Lewis (@rosieslewis) May 17, 2016
9.45am: Opposition Leader hits the ground running
Bill Shorten started his day in Sydney with a 10km run this morning around the waterfront and jogged passed the new Barangaroo district, Circular Quay, the Opera House and Mrs Macquarie’s Chair.
The Opposition Leader is campaigning today in the seat of Kingsford Smith held by Labor MP Matt Thistlethwaite where he will visit a container freight services operation and commit $175 million to “unclog” major rail lines and roads.
The announcement is aimed at informing Sydney voters that carrying more containers on the rail link to Port Botany will improve the heavily congested M5 which connects the city to the southwestern suburbs.
Mr Shorten will then move on to the election battleground of Western Sydney, visiting Campbelltown in the seat of Macarthur held Liberal MP Russell Matheson.
9.30am:Shorten’s transport plan
Bill Shorten will vow to “unclog” major rail lines and roads in a $175 million commitment today that intensifies his policy contest with Malcolm Turnbull over transport funding, amid a dispute over Labor’s plans to raise new finance for big projects.
The Opposition Leader will campaign in Sydney today with a pledge to voters to duplicate a freight rail line to the city’s busiest port, holding out the hope of helping industry while also cutting congestion for commuters on the surrounding roads.
The proposal comes a day after Mr Shorten announced $500m for an Adelaide tram network. The Adelaide plan, which sparked an attack from the federal Coalition, falls far short of the total investment needed for the Adelink expansion, tipped to cost $3 billion.
David Crowe writes that the plans could help save Anthony Albanese
9am:Morning snapshot
Where the leaders are campaigning:
Malcolm Turnbull is in Cairns, in the Coalition seat of Leichhardt, to pledge funding for a marine precinct redevelopment. Then to Townsville and the marginal seat of Herbert to make a rail freight announcement.
Bill Shorten is in Sydney to promise $175 million for Sydney roads by shifting more freight containers onto rail.
What the Coalition wants to talk about:
Its strong border protection policy, as another Labor candidate questions her party’s asylum-seeker policy.
What Labor wants to talk about:
Spending money on much-needed rail freight infrastructure. * A national interest test for gas exports.
What’s making news:
• Immigration Minister Peter Dutton claims unemployment will rise dramatically if Australia increases its humanitarian intake of refugees as Labor and the Greens plan.
• Labor frontbencher David Feeney is in hot water after failing to register a negatively-geared $2.3 million house.
• Labor considers restoring the controversial Safe Schools program after the Greens promised to roll it out fully and strip churches of exemptions in discrimination laws.
• Former Liberal treasurer Peter Costello questions government claims a planned $1.6 million cap on tax-free retirement accounts is generous.
8.30am: Trump choice ‘up to the US’
Ms Bishop has commented on Bill Shorten’s statements yesterday that he would prefer to work with Hillary Clinton as US President than with Donald Trump.
She said she had greater respect for the US democratic process than to comment on the candidates.
“It’s up to the American people to choose their president and the Coalition government will work successfully and productively with whomever the people of the United States choose as their president, as we have in the past,” Ms Bishop said.
“The alliance with the United States is stronger than whomever is in the White House or whomever is in the Lodge at any given time.
“It is the bedrock of our security and defence policies and we will work well with whomever is the president of the United States, and I’m disappointed that Mr Shorten thinks that it’d be too difficult to work with the president of the United States. Our national security depends on it.”
She suggested Mr Shorten might be preparing for an alliance with the Greens.
“I understand that the Greens have questioned the alliance with the United States,” Ms Bishop said.
“Perhaps Mr Shorten’s getting ready for an alliance between Labor and the Greens and so he’s changing his policies towards the United States as he would change his policies about border protection should there be an alliance between the Greens and Labor.”
Mr Shorten has clarified the statement he made about US politics yesterday, saying he will respect whoever becomes the new US president but would be more inclined to vote for Hillary Clinton over Mr Trump.
“Truthfully, Hillary Clinton’s values reflect a lot more of the values which I’ve always espoused, but we’ll work with whoever the Americans pick, that goes without saying,” Mr Shorten told 2Day FM.
“But Trump, it seems like the personality’s taken over the whole of the process. The headline shouldn’t dictate the story, should it?” he said.
8.15am:Greens outraged
Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young has accused Mr Dutton of scaremongering and xenophobia and called for Malcolm Turnbull to condemn his Immigration Minister’s comments without reservation.
“Our nation has been built off the back off people who have come to Australia for a better life and (to) make their families safe #welcomerefugees,” she tweeted.
Our nation has been built off the back of people who have come to Australia for a better life & make their families safe #WelcomeRefugees
— Sarah Hanson-Young (@sarahinthesen8) May 17, 2016
8am:Bishop defends Immigration Minister
Foreign Minister Julie Bishop has defended Mr Dutton, saying it is “self-evident” that the cost of resettling humanitarian refugees is very high.
“It was costed at over $700 million just for 12,000 Syrian refugees, so Peter Dutton is pointing out the self-evident fact that it costs a great deal of money to settle people in Australia,” Ms Bishop told Sky News from Vienna, where she has been taking part in Australia’s first International Syria Support Group meeting, which is being co-chaired by US Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.
Ms Bishop said the Greens, who are calling for the humanitarian refugee intake to be lifted to 50,000, never had to present a budget or account for the costs of their policies.
“It’s just another example where they are so out of touch with the reality,” she said.
“We bring in 13,750 people, those on humanitarian visas in each year.
“In addition the 12,000 Syrians that we promised to resettle, and then that figure of 13,750 will increase to about 18,750, but it has to be paid for, and Peter Dutton is talking about the very high cost in doing so.”
Asked about Mr Dutton’s comments on literacy and numeracy, Ms Bishop said the costs of resettlement included education costs.
“Teaching people English because they speak another language — I mean these are all a significant cost and we shouldn’t run away from it.
“That’s a fact, and Peter Dutton was making a self-evident point that there are significant costs involved in ensuring that people are able to contribute to Australian society.
“That is that they can speak our language, that they can get a job, that they can make a contribution.
Ms Bishop said Mr Dutton’s comment about refugees taking Australian’s jobs simply highlighted the fact that the government wants refugees to have jobs.
“If they are going to be in Australia we don’t want them to be on welfare, we want them to be contributing and so therefore, we would want them in jobs,” she said.
7.30am:Dutton’s ‘illiterate’ refugees storm
Immigration Minister Peter Dutton says unemployment will rise if Australia dramatically increases its refugee intake.
Labor has pledged to ramp up the intake to 27,000 and the Greens policy is 50,000,
The current humanitarian refugee intake is 13,750 per year, not counting our one-off commitment to take 12,000 Syrians and Iraqis this year.
“For many people they won’t be numerate or literate in their own language let alone English ... these people would be taking Australian jobs and there is no question about that,” Mr Dutton told Sky News last night.
Mr Dutton said those who can’t find work would “languish in unemployment queues”.
Labor frontbencher Chris Bowen, who has served as an immigration minister, said Mr Dutton should apologise for the remarks.
“There are hundreds of thousands of refugees in Australia who have worked hard, educated themselves and their children and they will be shaking their heads ... in disgust,” Mr Bowen told ABC Radio.
He said Australia had benefited significantly from the contribution of refugees who had settled here.
Hey @PeterDutton_MP! I came to Australia from refugee camps living in hell for 20 years. I am a civil engineer now. #auspol #ausvotes2016
— Devi Pokhrel (@devicpokhrel) May 17, 2016
As Political Correspondent David Crowe writes, everything went perfectly for Bill Shorten yesterday, until his frontbencher David Feeney had to admit to owning a $2.3 million property he failed to declare. Shorten spent yesterday in Adelaide, announcing $500 million for a new tram network. He was also accosted by big fan Margot Casey, who gave the man who played a key role in setting up the National Disability Insurance Scheme a big kiss on the lips from her mobility scooter.
Labor continues to struggle with internal divisions over asylum seeker policy, and the appearance of confusion over penalty rates. Meanwhile, the Coalition backtracked on the backpacker tax, announcing a delay and review more than a year after the unpopular measure was adopted as government policy in the 2015 budget, and less than two weeks after it was retained in this year’s edition.
7am:Crowe’s verdict?
“If campaigns are judged on “optics” alone, Shorten had a clear victory with the surprise pash with Margot.
“If campaigns are judged on policies instead, Turnbull had an obvious defeat as he and his ministers backflipped on backpackers. It was Shorten’s day. But he would have enjoyed it more without Feeney.”
Day 11
Today is apparently rail freight day, with Malcolm Turnbull in far north Queensland and expected to announce $150 million for the Townsville Eastern Access Rail Corridor, and Bill Shorten in Sydney to pledge $175 million for rail freight near Port Botany.
Mr Turnbull will start the day in Cairns, in the seat of Leichhardt, held by Warren Entsch by 5.7 per cent. There he will announce a $24 million investment to improve the Cairns Marine Precinct, including upgrading wharves and floating docks within shipyards and reconfiguring the refit yards. This $24 million is in addition to $420 million the government has already committed to develop additional wharf space and other support facilities at navy patrol boat base HMAS Cairns. The government claims the spending will ensure 1300 local shipbuilding and maintenance jobs are sustained, as well as generating new jobs. Mr Turnbull then moves Townsville for the rail freight announcement. He’ll be accompanied by Herbert MP Ewen Jones, who holds his seat by 6.2 per cent. The Townsville rail project will fund an eight kilometre freight line connecting the North Coast Line directly into the Port of Townsville, removing freight trains from the city’s suburbs.
Mr Shorten claims his freight project, which will duplicate the rail line between Port Botany and Mascot and build a rail crossing loop at Warwick Farm will take 300,000 trucks a year of Sydney roads. Shadow treasurer Chris Bowen has also announced a Foreign Investment Review Board-style body to scrutinise future export projects through a national interest test. The proposal is intended to help combat rising prices for manufacturers.
Meanwhile in Canberra, Environment Minister Greg Hunt and opposition environment spokesman Mark Butler go head-to-head at the National Press Club. The pair will likely battle it out over issues including climate change, the CSIRO and the recently damaged Great Barrier Reef.
Wage growth figures are also due to be announced later day. Economists expect they will continue to show slow growth, with an annual figure similar to the 2.2 per cent result in December.
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