Federal Election 2016: Turnbull in Sydney, Shorten makes Barrier Reef pledge
A man has been charged with allegedly posting an expletive-laden racist tirade aimed at the outgoing senator.
- We’re not ‘anti-business’
- Was Fiona Scott sidelined?
- Hunt steals Shorten’s reef thunder
- Burke attacks De Lacy
- Cormann backs ‘anti-business’ claim
- Leaders’ debate criticised
- Today’s schedule
Hello and welcome to today’s rolling coverage of the federal election campaign from The Australian. It’s the 23rd day of electioneering; there are 33 days remaining.
The biggest stories so far have been Greg Hunt stealing Bill Shorten’s thunder with a Great Barrier Reef announcement and the backlash over comments by former Queensland Labor treasurer Keith DeLacy that Bill Shorten is “anti-business”.
10pm: That concludes our live coverage. Join us tomorrow for another day on the campaign trail.
9pm:Shorten backs Peris
Opposition Leader Bill Shorten tweeted his support for the outgoing senator.
Good on you @NovaPeris for calling out racism. No place for these sorts of hateful attacks in this country.
— Bill Shorten (@billshortenmp) May 30, 2016
8pm:War of words over women’s sport
Bill Shorten has labelled crossbench senator David Leyonhjelm a “stone-age man” after he criticised a Labor pledge to fund the broadcast of more women’s sport.
Liberal Democrat David Leyonhjelm said if women’s sport was more interesting it wouldn’t need other people’s money.
Mr Shorten hit back on Monday, telling reporters in Cairns: “Back to the cave, stone-age man”.
Senator Leyonhjelm hit back, saying he would rather be a cave man than a “fiscal fiend”.
“Does the ABC need to be bribed with $21 million in order to not be sexist?” he told ABC Radio. “If we go further ... indigenous sport, what about gay sport, disabled sport, where does it end?”
7pm:Labor launch revealed
Federal Labor will hold its election campaign launch in western Sydney.
The launch will be in the marginal Liberal seat of Lindsay in the suburb of Penrith on June 19, a party spokesman said. The party has previously held its launches in Brisbane in 2010 and 2013.
5.50pm:Man charged over Peris abuse
A 64-year-old man from the NSW Central Coast has been charged with allegedly posting an expletive-laden racist tirade to the Facebook page of outgoing senator Nova Peris. The man was arrested at a business on Victoria Road in Woy Woy on Monday afternoon and charged with using a carriage service to cause offence.
Chris Nelson was arrested and charged today with using a telecommunications service to cause offence. He was granted conditional bail to appear at Gosford Local Court on June 21.
Mr Nelson has denied making them.
The Daily Telegraph reports that a direct message to Senator Peris from Mr Nelson’s Facebook account, which has since gone viral and sparked international outrage, read: “Nova F*** off. You were only endorsed by Juliar (sic) because you were a black c***.
“Go back to the bush and suck on witchity grubs and yams. Stop painting your f**king face with white s*** in parliament. Other than being a runner you are nothing.”
3.46pm:A replacement for Nova Peris?
The decision was made by the national party executive this afternoon and made known to Labor operatives a short time ago. Read Amos Aikman’s report here.
Former NT Labor minister Malarndirri McCarthy nominated to replace outgoing Labor Senator for the NT, Nova Peris
— Amos Aikman (@amosaikman) May 30, 2016
2:51pm:PM marvels at sonar systems
The PM has made his final campaign stop for the day, visiting French company Thales with Defence Minister Marise Payne to learn about the advanced sonar systems it is building for Australia’s submarines.
French President Francois Hollande also recently toured the company in Rydalmere, located in the marginal western Sydney electorate of Parramatta, which is held by Labor MP Julie Owens on 1.3 per cent. “This is a great example of our investment into defence technology,” Malcolm Turnbull said, adding that he may have recruited some future designers from the McCarthy Catholic College he visited earlier today. “There was a young boy there with a model submarine ... It probably wouldn’t sink that well.” Thales’ underwater systems are used on ships and subs to detect enemy vessels.
2.12pm:Leyonhjelm is a ‘stone-age man’
Bill Shorten has traded barbs with libertarian senator David Leyonhjelm, lashing the crossbencher as a “stone-age man” for criticising Labor’s pledge of subsidies to broadcast more women’s sport on the ABC.
Senator Leyonhjelm attacked the announcement as “politically correct nonsense” and a “waste of our money”.
”If it is not popular enough to be shown on television, why is it OK to spend taxpayers’ money on it? If the commercial networks think it’s attractive to audiences, they will show it at no cost to taxpayers,” the Liberal Democrat said.
“Women’s sports are not shown on television for a reason - they are not appealing to audiences. Money won’t change that.
The Opposition Leader, asked about the comments, scorned: “Back to the cave, stone-age man.”
Senator Leyonhjelm fired back on Twitter: “At least cavemen (and cave women) didn’t spend other people’s money.”
1.44pm:Malcolm makes friends
“Jim’s a train driver but he’s not driving this train you’ll be pleased to know.”
Earlier today the transport-loving Malcolm Turnbull made his way to Emu Plains by train and invited media along for the ride. He told Ryan and Angel Johnson, who were headed to the Blue Mountains with their seven-month-old son Clark, that it was the best way to get around Sydney. “I always do. It’s much more relaxing, you meet new people, you don’t meet anyone sitting in a motor car,” the PM said.
Mr Turnbull also met Jaideep Singh, 29, who was taking his brother-in-law from India to the mountains. Surprised at seeing a prime minister on the train, he said that wouldn’t happen in India. “So Mr (Narendra) Modi doesn’t get the train very often?” Mr Turnbull asked.
“Well I get the train all the time, it’s the best way to get around,” Jaideep replied.
“I don’t always have my friends from the media with me ... But I always make some new friends and sometimes I meet old friends,” the PM said.
12.48pm:PM (finally) takes to the streets
Malcolm Turnbull has finally done his street walk through Penrith Westfield and it did not disappoint. The PM managed to pat Splinter the rat, who was sitting on his owner Shane Mundt’s shoulder, was unsuccessfully ambushed by The Chaser’s Craig Reucassel, and met a woman so overcome with happiness she burst into tears.
Mr Turnbull appeared to be interested in Splinter, saying he was “fantastic” and inquiring about his age. Splinter is 2.5 years old, for the record. “The only bad thing he does is he tries to clean my teeth while I’m asleep,” Shane informed him.
We've seen it all. @TurnbullMalcolm pats Splinter the rat at Westfield Penrith @australian #ausvotes pic.twitter.com/cG6CEV7p1U
— Rosie Lewis (@rosieslewis) May 30, 2016
Reucassel popped up in the mall with a life-size cut out of Tony Abbott declaring “he knows he looks better if he’s got Abbott around him” and “what if he forgets where his policies come from?” Heavily blocked by security guards, Reucassel didn’t get close to Mr Turnbull but his appearance inspired one shopper to yell out “Go Tony!”
Just as Mr Turnbull was about to leave, 66-year-old Anne Stacey managed to catch up to the PM and Lindsay MP Fiona Scott, bursting into tears. “I’ve been looking everywhere for them. Today I caught up. I didn’t know where they were,” she said. “I can’t believe it.”
The trio had their photo taken together and Anne said she’d put it in an album.
12.47pm:Will Albo replace Shorten?
Asked about suggestions that his frontbencher Anthony Albanese could challenge him if Labor lost the election, Bill Shorten said he would not contemplate defeat.
“I’m planning to win this election,” he said.
“Anthony is a great shadow minister and he will make a great minister.”
“Labor is not contemplating defeat. We start this election as the underdog but we have got great policies, in a while range of seats not the least of which is in regional Queensland and Far North Queensland.”
OPINION: What can Bill do for me? Read Chris Kenny’s piece here.
12.39pm:PM comments on killed fighter
Australians who travel to the Middle East to fight against Islamic State “will be held to account”, Malcolm Turnbull said today, after Australian fighter Jamie Bright was reportedly killed fighting with Kurdish forces in northeastern Syria.
12.33pm:‘Poverty’ of the Liberal plan
Bill Shorten has spoken about last night’s debate, saying the contest of ideas revealed the “poverty” of the Liberal plan for Australia’s future.
“His [Malcolm Turnbull’s] plan over the next ten years is to spend $50 billion from the budget bottom line to large companies who will gain most of this benefit and what will they do with that money? They will either take it in profits, or they will remit it to foreign shareholders.”
He also said he would be happy to engage in further debates with the Prime Minister, but rejected criticism that last night’s event was too confined to talking points.
“I look forward to exposing the poverty and lack of plan that Mr Turnbull has contrasted with our plan to put working class and middle class families first.”
12.15pm:We’re not ‘anti-business’
Bill Shorten has dismissed criticism that his election platform is the most “anti business” ever put forward by the Labor Party, saying the remark comes from a vested interest.
“Shock horror, a company director saying he would like to see a company tax cut for his company,” Mr Shorten said.
“A Government I lead will operate in the national interest in the interests of all Australians.
We won’t be dictated to by business who want to see...a handout from the taxes and from the budget of Australia,” he said.
Mr Shorten has returned to Queensland to campaign in the seat of Leichhardt, held by the Coalition’s Warren Entsch on a 5.8 per cent margin.
The visit comes after exclusive analysis of Newspoll figures released in The Australian today shows the Coalition in Queensland has suffered a six per cent swing against it in two party preferred terms since the last election, putting six seats within grasp of the opposition.
Ahead of a visit to Green Island on the Great Barrier Reef, Mr Shorten announced a $500m package for the Queensland tourism drawcard and accused the Liberal Party of neglecting the area.
“This is a government that does not want to hear the problem,” he said.
The $500m funding commitment over five years will include $50m for CSIRO research and up to $100m for land and water management.
Mr Shorten said the policy would be funded through savings measures already announced and it was a “fully costed, fully funded” announcement.
The package will include “reprioritising” $123m from other government programs, and funding for water quality, land management and improved governance.
12.09pm:Scott wasn’t sidelined: PM
Malcolm Turnbull has dismissed suggestions Lindsay MP Fiona Scott was sidelined during a press conference in her electorate, as he directed media to ask a couple of questions relevant to today’s funding announcement.
It’s the second time the PM has visited the marginal seat. The first visit didn’t go entirely smoothly as Ms Scott was faced with questions over her alleged betrayal of Tony Abbott in last year’s leadership spill.
Ms Scott was with Mr Turnbull and Education Minister Simon Birmingham as they toured McCarthy Catholic College but stood back for the press conference. Mr Turnbull said it was because he was delivering an education announcement - $4.6 million for 12 new pilot sites for the government’s Pathways in Technology Early College High School (P-Tech).
“We’re doing am education announcement and you should come with us on our street walk shortly. We’ll be with Fiona meeting many of your fellow residents of this electorate’” Mr Turnbull said.
“We’re making this announcement here, myself and the minister (Senator Birmingham), and because we’re dealing with questions ... Regrettably none of you have shown any interest at all in the announcements we’ve made here, none of you have shown any interest at all in this school.
“What about this, why don’t we have two questions on P-Tech and technology in schools, can you think of one?”
Stick with us, the PM has headed to Penrith Westfield for a coffee date with Ms Scott. It’s the same place he had to cancel a street walk in last time he was in the area.
Labor frontbencher Tony Burke made light of Mr Turnbull’s return to Lindsay to finally undertake the much-anticipated “street walk”.
“Normally members of parliament are in an area and they walk down the street,” Mr Burke said in Canberra.
“This is the first time I’ve ever heard of there being three weeks of planning and build-up before the Prime Minister deemed it safe.”
12.04pm:‘No dills in this team’
Treasurer Scott Morrison has backtracked from a suggestion that some of his Liberal Party colleagues – such as Victorian candidate Chris Jermyn – could be classified as “dills” while debating the issue with 2GB’s Ray Hadley.
“It’s a strong team, right across the board,” Mr Morrison ultimately insisted.
You can listen to the interview here.
11.48am:Labor stick with WestConnex
Bill Shorten says a Labor government will stick by any contracts signed in relation to the WestConnex motorway in western Sydney.
Media reports suggest Labor has pledged to stop any more funding for the road network if a Shorten government is elected on July 2. The Labor leader told reporters in Cairns his party supported WestConnex and would not repudiate any contracts.
Labor’s transport spokesman said Westconnex would not receive an extra dollar if the opposition formed government, Mr Shorten said his party was supportive of the project.
“We are determined to act on the congestion on workers coming from the western suburbs to Sydney every day.
“But we have also said, both Anthony and I, that the WestConnex project isn’t satisfactory in that it doesn’t go to the port and the city.”
He also insisted that the project was already funded, and would not require additional government spending.
“The truth of the matter is that the funding of this project has already been paid. The truth of the matter is that the Government has paid the money and they are just trying to work out where the project goes.”
He said the funding had “already gone” and the Labor Party would not repudiate any contracts already awarded.
11.30pm:Kids test PM’s reactions
Students at McCarthy Catholic College, Emu Plains, have put Malcolm Turnbull through a reaction test as he campaigns in the battleground seat of Lindsay.
See how he got on below:
.@TurnbullMalcolm has a reaction time of 0.269 seconds as he races an F1 car against Year 9 student #ausvotes pic.twitter.com/dORDb5cqZ2
— Rosie Lewis (@rosieslewis) May 30, 2016
The school will receive funding for a pilot program to boost student outcomes in STEM subjects
and help them become more employable after high school.
11.25am:End to ‘herding cats’
Treasurer Scott Morrison is hopeful a coalition government won’t have to “herd cats” in the Senate anymore.
The tight race ahead of the July 2 double-dissolution election has raised speculation of extra numbers being added to the Senate crossbench.
In the last parliament, the government needed to secure either six crossbench votes, the support of the 10 Greens or Labor’s backing to pass motions and laws.
“The current situation we have got in the Senate, basically you are herding cats - you have got to get six out of eight and they are all going in completely different directions,” Mr Morrison told 2GB radio this morning.
“I would hope after this election that that risk is reduced.” Mr Morrison is hoping the coalition will win majorities in both houses, as John Howard did in 2004.
“But that’s up to the Australian people,” he said.
If no major party secures a majority in the lower house, it will mean the coalition or Labor will need to negotiate with independents to form government.
Labor earlier in the campaign ruled out a deal with the Greens, as Julia Gillard secured after the 2010 election.
Earlier, Foreign Minister Julie Bishop said any post-election negotiations were hypothetical.
11.00am:Good vibes in Eden-Monaro
The man hoping to win back the bellwether seat of Eden-Monaro for Labor says he is getting a positive feeling from the electorate on his travels.
A Newspoll analysis suggests the Liberal-held seat, which is bigger than 66 countries in the world, could fall to Labor at the July 2 election.
“We feel we’re deeply in touch with the feelings and needs and desires of this community and I think that’s something they’ve been missing for the last few years,” Mike Kelly told reporters on the ACT/NSW border.
10.56am:‘Every single vote matters’
Newspoll analysis showing the Coalition faces the loss of 19 seats across NSW, Queensland and Western Australia underscores that “every single vote matters” at this election, Finance Minister Mathias Cormann says.
“Every single Australian at this election has a very clear choice … between our plan for jobs and growth, our plan to put Australia on a stronger foundation for the future, or the alternative Labor approach which would … not be stable, will lead to higher taxes, which will hurt jobs and growth and will lead to weaker borders,” he told reporters in Canberra.
Labor’s Tony Burke insisted Labor remained “the underdogs” but Australians were responding to Malcolm Turnbull’s policies favouring of the wealthy.
“He’s drawn the dividing line here at the absolute top end and the plan for all of us is to send all the wealth up there and somehow Australia will benefit with slower broadband, a less-trained workforce and lacking investment in basic health like Medicare,” the opposition finance spokesman said.
“I’m under no illusions here; when you get more than a 20-seat head start in an election campaign that makes you automatically the frontrunner, and that’s where Malcolm Turnbull is.”
10.23am:Hunt unveils reef funding
Environment Minister Greg Hunt has unveiled $6 million for an additional control vessel to tackle crown-of-thorns starfish on the Great Barrier Reef, spoiling Bill Shorten’s visit to the Great Barrier Reef.
The Opposition will today make a battleground issue of the natural wonder as he outlines Labor’s $500 million plan to protect the natural wonder from the “disastrous” effects of climate change.
Mr Hunt touted the government’s success in destroying 400,000 coral-eating starfish by commissioning divers to inject the creatures with a saline solution.
“Building a strong, resilient and healthy Great Barrier Reef is a high priority for the Coalition,” he said.
“Destroying the coral-eating predator is essential in order to protect the Great Barrier Reef for future generations and ensure it is in the best possible condition to withstand the challenges of climate change and the recent coral bleaching.”
The second vessel will complement the existing culling effort underway between Cairns and Lizard Island, Mr Hunt said.
.@billshortenmp in Cairns saying reef is "in peril" and under threat from a range of threats. #ausvotes pic.twitter.com/zQb6leYTev
— Sarah Martin (@msmarto) May 30, 2016
Environmental groups have been quick to criticise Labor’s $500 million policy as insufficient to prevent the decline of the natural wonder.
The World Wildlife Fund said the ALP’s policy was a “good first step” but demanded greater spending on the reef’s health.
“$377 million in new money to tackle water quality is the most significant announcement so far but falls far short of what is required,” WWF-Australia spokesperson Nick Heath said.
Australian Marine Conservation Society said government needed to cap farm pollution entering the reef’s waters.
“Scientists warn our fragile reef may be ‘terminal’ within five years unless major action is taken to arrest the decline from the impacts of global warming and farm pollution washing off the land and into the reef’s waters,” spokeswoman Imogen Zethoven said.
“In 2007 during the millennium drought the Murray-Darling Basin was in crisis and the Federal Government announced a $10 billion rescue package that has since expanded to almost $13 billion.”
10.08am:Burke attacks De Lacy
Labor’s Tony Burke has mounted a scathing attack on former Queensland ALP treasurer Keith De Lacy over his comments criticising the opposition as “anti-business”.
“Mr De Lacy’s made comments like this every few months. He’s clearly got this view – nothing that I saw today is new from him,” Mr Burke, the opposition finance spokesman, said in Canberra.
“On the Great Barrier Reef for example, if you read some of the views he’s got there about the only problem being the do-gooders and it being a self-correcting ecosystem, I think when you go through the history of Mr De Lacy’s views I was surprised they were given the prominence they were.”
Mr Burke, asked if the opposition was alienating big business, said he rejected “trickle-down” economics.
“What we’re doing is making it clear that if you want economic growth, you can’t ignore the vast bulk of the Australian people. If you want to deliver economic growth, you don’t just throw all the wealth to the top and hope some of it might trickle down. It’s a theory of gravity but it’s not good economics,” he said.
“What you want to make sure you do is you drive the investment in people and in infrastructure and, if you do those two things, that’s how you get a more productive economy.”
9.57am:Debate not a ratings winner
Last night’s Malcolm Turnbull-Bill Shorten show was the 10th most popular television program.
Its five-city audience total of 529,000 was far short of the top ranking show, Seven News, which had 1.424 million viewers.
Amid criticism of the debate being dull, Labor’s Tony Burke said he would like to “keep changing the format of these debates” to keep it exciting.
“I think the more interactive a debate is then the more interesting it’ll be for viewers,” the opposition finance spokesman said in Canberra.
“If you were looking for the big moments of clash. The big fiery moments where people would speak would over the top of each other, there weren’t many of those.
“I think sometimes when I watch debates that are considered to be more fiery and you’ve just got two people talking over the top of each other, I can’t hear either of them. So I think a bit of civility can help.”
9.45am:Plibersek defends kids’ bonus dump
Deputy Labor Leader Tanya Plibersek has defended her party’s difficult decision to dump the school kids’ bonus.
Ms Plibersek says she hasn’t received any negative feedback since the opposition announced it won’t pursue the policy if elected.
“I think most people understand that this is a very difficult decision for us to make,” she told reporters while campaigning in the bellwether seat of Eden-Monaro on the ACT/NSW border.
9.13am:Cormann backs ‘anti-business’ claim
Finance Minister Mathias Cormann has seized on former Queensland ALP treasurer Keith De Lacy’s decrying the opposition’s stance on corporate tax cuts.
Mr De Lacy, the Goss government treasurer from 1989 to 1996, told The Australian: “This is the most anti-business policy I’ve ever seen federal Labor put to an election.
“And it’s not just the policy. It’s the language. The way it splits out the top end of town leaves business in no doubt that they are the enemy.”
Senator Cormann told reporters in Canberra: “We’ve said all the way through this campaign that Bill Shorten and Labor in this campaign are running on a unity ticket with the Greens pursuing an anti-business, anti-success, anti-investment, anti-jobs, anti-growth agenda. That is not what Australia needs.”
“Don’t take our word for it. None other than a former Labor treasurer from Queensland agrees that Bill Shorten and the Labor Party in this campaign are running an anti-business agenda.”
8.59am: Leaders’ debate criticised
Labor’s Jason Clare has touted the benefits of the “town hall”-style debates hosted by Sky News, after last night’s more traditional leaders’ debate at the National Press Club was criticised as dull.
The debate – in which Bill Shorten and Malcolm Turnbull ducked journalists’ tough questions about economic, refugee and environmental policy – contrasted sharply with the less formal Sky News people’s forum that brings the leaders’ face-to-face with voters.
“A lot of feedback from last night was that the town-hall meeting was a lot better, where you’ve got members of the general public asking questions rather than journalists. You’re more likely to throw up a question out of left-field – I think that’s a better way to hold these debates,” Mr Clare told the Nine Network.
“Not everybody was watching last night – I’m sure a lot of people were watching House Rules – unlike us, people aren’t as focused on politics. We’ve got five weeks to go and I think people are just starting to switch on now.”
Finance Minister Mathias Cormann said voters benefited from a differing array of debate formats.
“There is a diversity of formats which brings out a diversity of issues,” Senator Cormann told ABC radio.
7.54am:‘Take Western Sydney seriously’
Labor is opening up a new line of attack, criticising the coalition for not taking Western Sydney seriously. Western Sydney Labor MP Jason Clare took aim at the coalition for not confirming candidates for five seats in the key area of the west.
“There are five seats in Western Sydney where the Libs haven’t picked a candidate yet and we’ve got less than five weeks until the election,” he told the Seven Network this morning.
Instead voters have got a “try-hard Tony Abbott”, Mr Clare said.
7.47am:Bishop talks minority government
Liberal deputy leader Julie Bishop says the Coalition could ally with crossbench MPs to form a minority government if the circumstances were right.
Bill Shorten has repeatedly said he would not negotiate with minor parties and independents to form government, attempting to quash fears he would repeat Julia Gillard’s decision in 2010 to sign a power-sharing deal with the Greens.
Ms Bishop, asked today whether the Coalition would give the same assurance told ABC Radio: “This is all hypothetical. It would depend very much on the circumstances; it would depend on the legislation we were putting forward.”
The Foreign Minister said a Coalition-led government would attempt to ram its industrial relations laws through a joint sitting of parliament.
“This is a double-dissolution election, as you know, and so our anticipation is that … on the assumption that we were able to win the election, we would then go to a joint sitting of both houses of parliament to pass two very important economic and productivity-enhancing measures: the restoration of the ABCC and laws that make union officials as accountable as company directors are,” she said.
“Those two very important pieces of legislation are the first thing we would do.”
There are likely to be numerous lower-house crossbench MPs after the next election including incumbents Greens MP Adam Bandt, north Queenslander Bob Katter, Tasmania’s Andrew Wilkie, Victoria’s Cathy McGowan.
The Greens are campaigning hard in inner-city seats such as Grayndler in Sydney and Batman, Wills and Higgins in Melbourne. Veteran politicians are standing as independents in NSW’s New England and Perth’s Tangney.
7.25am:PM back in Lindsay
Malcolm Turnbull will venture again into the battleground western Sydney electorate of Lindsay, two-and-a-half weeks after its seat holder Fiona Scott was bombarded by questions over her alleged betrayal of Tony Abbott in the September leadership spill.
The PM had to cancel a street walk through a mall during his last visit because an event ran overtime but will attempt to press the flesh with Ms Scott’s constituents today and have coffee with the local MP.
Mr Turnbull will focus on science and innovation on the campaign trail, pledging $4.6 million for 12 new pilot sites for a program designed to improve employment outcomes for students and deliver better results in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. One of those sites will be McCarthy Catholic College in Emu Plains, in Ms Scott’s electorate, which she holds on a 3 per cent margin.
John Howard also made a return to the bellwether seat he wrestled from the hands of the Labor Party in 1996, hitting the hustings last week to drum up Liberal support.
7.00am:Where the leaders are today
Malcolm Turnbull, following last night’s solid (if uninspiring) performance at the leaders’ debate at the National Press Club in Canberra, is taking his jobs and growth message to voters in the Sydney basin. Our reporter, Rosie Lewis, is travelling with the Prime Minister.
Bill Shorten is travelling to far north Queensland to pledge $377 million in new funding over five years to boost scientific monitoring, research and management of the Great Barrier Reef. Our reporter, Sarah Martin, is with the Opposition Leader.
Richard Di Natale will announce the Greens arts policy with local artists at St Kilda, in the battleground Labor-held seat of Melbourne Ports.
Tanya Plibersek, the deputy Labor leader, is campaigning in the bellwether seat of Eden-Monaro, east of Canberra, where former MP Mike Kelly is working to defeat senior Turnbull ally Peter Hendy.
Chris Bowen, the opposition treasury spokesman, will promise money for sporting facilities in the Brisbane northside electorate of Petrie, the Queensland LNP’s most marginal seat.
Meanwhile, former Queensland Labor treasurer Keith De Lacy has decried the party’s stance on tax cuts as “the most anti-business policy I’ve ever seen federal Labor put to an election”.
However the opposition will be reassured by Newspoll’s revelation of fierce swings against the Coalition in Queensland, Western Australia and NSW — enough to win the election for Labor.
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