Federal Election 2016: Turnbull, Shorten campaign in Brisbane
MPs acknowledge concern in the Coalition party room over superannuation reforms, amid reports they were never put to them for consideration.
- No sense in super backlash
- Will party room fight super?
- Joyce-Credlin stoush continues
- GDP figures released
- Hanson-Young’s super stumble
- PM meets start-up owners
- O’Dwyer explains super
- Abbott comeback? No way
- Credlin criticises Bishop
- Shorten’s power pledge
- Today’s campaign schedule
Welcome to The Australian’s rolling coverage of the 25th day of the campaign. There are 31 days remaining.
• Both Malcolm Turnbull and Bill Shorten have been in Brisbane; the PM has pledged $15 million for business start-ups; while the Opposition Leader announced a plan for community power hubs.
• The biggest story of the day is a report that pressure is building within the Coalition over changes to superannuation, with some MPs vowing to fight them after the election.
• The most talked about event of the morning was Sarah Hanson Young’s excruciating radio interview in which she struggled to explain the Green’s super policy.
7pm:How the day unfolded
Here’s a wrap of where all the key players have been campaigning today:
Malcolm Turnbull has been in Brisbane, where he has announced a $15 million boost for startups. He was joined by Treasurer Scott Morrison for this morning’s national accounts announcement, which showed the economy has been growing much faster than expected thanks to export growth. The Prime Minister is now headed to Sydney.
Bill Shorten also started the day in Brisbane, where he announced a $100 million plan to set up 10 community power hubs to close caps in household access to small scale solar and wind power. He made the announcement in the southeastern Brisbane seat of Oxley, held by Labor’s Bernie Ripoll by 3.77 per cent. He’s now also in Sydney in the inner southwestern seat of Barton, which is held by Liberal backbencher Nickolas Varvaris, but considered to be 4.4 per cent Labor-held after a redistribution.
Shadow Treasurer Chris Bowen has been in Sydney, where he earlier gave a press conference about the national accounts.
Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce has been campaigning in the seat of Page, on the NSW north coast. The seat is held by Nationals backbencher Kevin Hogan by 3.1 per cent. He’s up against Labor’s Janelle Saffin, who held the seat from 2007 to 2013. Mr Joyce will made a sports funding announcement in Lismore and is this afternoon crossing the Queensland border to Bundaberg for a street walk with Nationals backbencher Keith Pitt, who holds the local seat of Hinkler by 9.01 per cent, and then heading south to Gympie, in the seat of Wide Bay, where former Nationals leader Warren Truss is retiring on a margin of 13.16 and Queensland LNP Vice President and policeman Llew O’Brien is vying to replace him. Mr Joyce Nationals said he was not offended Peta Credlin’s declaration that he was talking “horsesh*t” when he yesterday said Tony Abbott still harboured leadership ambitions. “Line up a whole range of people who’ve said worse things about me,” Mr Joyce said at a press conference in Lismore.
Deputy Liberal leader Julie Bishop has been campaigning in the western Sydney seats of Lindsay and Greenway, with backbencher Fiona Scott, who holds Lindsday by 3 per cent, and Greenway candidate Yvonne Keane, who is up against Labor MP Michelle Rowland on the same margin. She earlier clarified her self-described “gotcha moment” on superannuation during a press conference in Lindsay.
Shadow Infrastructure and Transport Minister Anthony Albanese has been in Wagga Wagga with Labor’s candidate for Riverina, Tim Kurylowicz. He discussed high speed rail at a doorstop this morning, and last night gave an address about Labor’s aspirations to represent country people. Assistant Defence Minister and National Party MP Michael McCormack holds Riverina on a margin of 19 per cent.
A Labor contingent including Shadow Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Industry Minister Kim Carr, Shadow Immigration Minister Richard Marles, and Labor Candidate for Corangamite Libby Coker has been in Geelong meeting staff and students at Deakin university. Mr Marles holds the Geelong seat of Corio by 7.75 per cent. Ms Coker is up against Liberal MP Sarah Henderson, who holds Corangamite, southwest of Geelong, by 3.94 per cent.
Greens Deputy Leader Larissa Waters has been in Anthony Albanese’s inner western seat of Grayndler with his Greens rival Jim Casey, announcing a plan to double the number of paid firefighters by 2020. Greens animal welfare spokeswoman Lee Rhiannon has been in Adelaide with South Australian Senator Robert Simms to launch the Greens policy on phasing out live animal exports.
Shadow Assistant Treasurer Andrew Leigh has been in his government counterpart Kelly O’Dwyer’s seat of Higgins, in Melbourne’s leafy southeast, discussing Labor’s call for a Royal Commission into Australia’s banking sector. He’s been campaigning with Labor candidate Carl Katter, a same-sex marriage activist and the half-brother of Queensland independent MP Bob Katter, whose views on the subject differ somewhat. Ms O’Dwyer notionally holds her seat by a 9.93 per cent margin, but she’s facing an attack from the Greens, with the state seat of Prahran, which falls within Higgins, won by a Green in 2014.
Shadow Minister for Regional Communications and Shadow Assistant Minister for Health Stephen Jones has been campaigning in the seats of Paterson and Newcastle on the central coast. Radio personality Meryl Swanson is contesting Paterson, where Labor technically has a 0.4 per cent margin after a redistribution despite the fact that it is held by retiring Liberal Bob Baldwin. Not-for-profit health and education worker Karen Howard is the Liberal candidate. Labor MP Sharon Claydon holds Newcastle on margin of 9.4 per cent.
Shadow Minister for Superannuation Jim Chalmers has been in his southern Brisbane seat of Rankin attacking the Coalition for what he says are retrospective changes to its superannuation policy.
Shadow Minister for Defence Stephen Conroy and Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Defence Gai Brodtmann, a Victorian senator and Canberra MP respectively, have been in Swanbourne, in Julie Bishop’s safe Perth seat of Curtin, to visit defence housing settlement Seaward Village.
6.15pm:Greens claim cost blowout
The government’s corporate tax cut plan will cost almost $3 billion more than originally predicted.
The Parliamentary Budget Office has estimated the cost of the 10-year plan to bring down the corporate tax rate to 25 per cent at $51.095 billion.
Treasury officials told a Senate committee on May 6 the figure was $48.2 billion.
However, the Greens asked the PBO for an independent costing of the plan.
The PBO’s costing, which the agency rated as of “low to medium reliability”, was based on information from Treasury and the Australian Taxation Office.
It added: “The estimate of the financial impacts of the company tax rate cut includes an estimated claw-back due to dividend imputation.
“This estimate assumes that companies continue to pay the same proportion of their after-tax income as dividends.” Greens treasury spokesman Adam Bandt MP said it was a “death blow” to the argument that the company tax cuts were affordable.
3.25pm:Shorten’s Origin gaffe
Melburnian Bill Shorten has fumbled his footy teams today hours before kick-off in tonight’s State of Origin opener. Shorten confused the Maroons with the Melbourne Storm as he declared he was backing Queensland because his wife was a Banana-bender. “I also have to say the Storm are the underdogs slightly under the bookies market and I am partial to backing the underdogs,” he said. Shorten later took to Twitter to apologise to Maroons captain Cameron Smith, who is also Melbourne Storm skipper, and his team.
Sorry @camsmith9, got your teams mixed up. Will be backing you & the Maroons tonight & the Storm this weekend. #goQLD #goStorm
— Bill Shorten (@billshortenmp) June 1, 2016
3.10pm:Happy Birthday, Mr Trajovski!
Mr Shorten has done a very quick walk down King Street mall in Rockdale. He joined a birthday party for a Mr Trajovski, who was celebrating his 63rd birthday. It looked as though the celebration had been kicking on for a while, with the opposition leader declining to join them for a beer. He was asked to make sure pensioners were looked after, and Mr Shorten said: “I promise you that and what we are going to do is keep down the price of going to the doctor,” he said.
3.05pm:Stop live exports, say Greens
On the same day Greens Senator Peter Whish-Wilson has called for penguin-killing pet dogs to be shot by army snipers, the party has called for Australia’s live export industry to be phased out. Greens animal welfare spokeswoman Lee Rhiannon and SA senator Robert Simms have launched their policy in Adelaide, claiming it will create new jobs in the Australian chilled meat industry. The Greens have also today announced a $370 million plan to adapt to global warming, which includes a commitment to doubling the number of paid firefighters by 2030.
Greens Deputy and climate change spokesperson, Senator Larissa Waters announced the policy in the inner western Sydney seat of Grayndler, with Greens candidate and professional firefighter Jim Casey. The doubling of the number of firefighters would initially cost $120 million over four years. There’s also a $250 million annual Active Transport Fund for bikes and walking infrastructure which was today announced by Victorian Greens senator Janet Rice.
“An investment of $1 million builds around a kilometre of bike path — and a pretty fancy bike path at that. In comparison, the failed East West Link toll road in Melbourne was going to cost around $1 billion for every kilometre of road,” Senator Rice said. The Greens say the initiative will help combat congestion and pollution, and reduce obesity.
2.50pm:Bishop reflects on gotcha moment
Let’s catch up with Julie Bishop’s press conference in Western Sydney earlier. The deputy Liberal leader has been campaigning in the seats of Lindsay and Greenway, with backbencher Fiona Scott, who holds Lindsday by 3 per cent, and Greenway candidate Yvonne Keane, who is up against Labor MP Michelle Rowland on the same margin. Reflecting on her self-described “gotcha moment” on superannuation yesterday, Ms Bishop said she could have gone into far more detail about the transitioning to retirement stream of the government’s policy.
“What I said yesterday was the fact that our objective is to make the superannuation scheme sustainable, to have integrity in it and to ensure it’s fair,” Ms Bishop said. “That is what we have sought to do and we will be going around the country explaining the changes and I stress again that 96% of superannuants will either be not affected or will in fact be better off.”
Ms Bishop declined to buy in to Peta Credlin’s comments that the issue will “bite” the Coalition if it does not work out a way to defend or fix its scheme. “Peta is entitled to her views because she is a political commentator,” Ms Bishop said. “My point is I’ve been saying consistently the focus of our superannuation changes are to put integrity and sustainability into our superannuation system.”
Asked whether she stood by her comments yesterday that the question she seemed unable to answer on superannuation was a “gotcha moment”, Ms Bishop said it was certainly an opportunity for the government to explain its superannuation changes. “I was speaking about it yesterday as well and as I said yesterday, this is about achieving the objective of retirement income,” Ms Bishop said. “This is about a generous concessional tax rate of 15%. It is not retrospective. Some changes take place from 1 July 2017, 96% of superannuants are the better off or not affected.”
2.25pm:I got confused: Hanson-Young
South Australian Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young says she was confused about her party’s superannuation policy but has now clarified the Greens’ position. After her excruciating fumble over the party’s superannuation policy live on ABC Radio this morning where she said superannuation should be taxed at the same rate as income, she fronted the media, saying it was “a confusion in terminology, that happens”.
“I’ve clarified of course the Greens position in terms of what we would do if we had the ability to tackle those unfair contribution concessions for high income earners when it comes to superannuation,” Senator Hanson-Young said. “I got confused with the terminology on air and I’ve clarified it now.”
Senator Lee Rhiannon, in Adelaide for an animal welfare forum about live exports, came to her colleague’s defence. “Everybody makes a slip of the tongue etcetera, but the issue is that we’re for a fair superannuation system,” Senator Rhiannon.
2.20pm:PM to attend State of Origin I
Malcolm Turnbull will participate in one of the biggest events in Australia’s sporting calendar, watching the first State of Origin clash between NSW and Queensland at Sydney Olympic Park in Homebush, western Sydney, tonight. The PM is more a rugby union man than a rugby league fan. Perhaps his decision to go to the game has been influenced by the election campaign?
2.15pm:‘Get a grip on reality’
A Liberal politician who commanded Army sniper teams has hit back at Tasmanian Greens Senator Peter Whish-Wilson’s calls for pet dogs which attack penguins to be “taken out” by professional shooters.
Former senior Australian Army officer Andrew Nikolic, who holds the northeast Tasmanian seat of Bass by 4.04 per cent, said Senator Whish-Wilson’s comments were particularly “loopy” because they came at the end of an interview during which he had said he did not support culling sharks or crocodiles which attack people.
Senator Whish-Wilson was asked about 14 dead penguins which were found at a viewing area in the tourist town of Stanley, in Tasmania’s northwest, on Sunday night. The penguins are believed to have been killed by dogs. The Senator, who is also an army veteran, suggested the only solution was to “bring in an army sniper, letterbox the area and say if your dogs are going to be down there they are going to get shot”.
Mr Nikolic said Senator Whish-Wilson needed to get a “much firmer grip on reality”.
“The same Green Party that helped slash the defence budget to the lowest level since 1938, now wants the Army to divert highly specialised resources to killing dogs,” he said. “As someone who spent 31 years in the Army, including in command of recon and sniper teams, I can say with confidence that a ‘kill mission’ against dogs is not something the Army would want to do.”
“As the Greens defence spokesman, Senator Whish-Wilson should know that. These skewed priorities show how out of touch the Greens really are and indicate the kind of influence they would bring to bear in minority government with the Labor Party.”
1.42pm:Is super backlash real?
The backlash against Malcolm Turnbull and Scott Morrison on superannuation tax increases is yet to turn into a real backbench revolt, writes The Australian’s Political Correspondent David Crowe.
Liberal National Party MP Ewen Jones is not seeing widespread concerns from voters to the super changes in his base of Townsville, the heart of his electorate of Herbert. This is the sort of territory where the government needs to win over ordinary Australians. Jones does not see a party room push gaining momentum on super.
While Sky News reports that the backbench concerns are so great there will be a push to change the super policy after the election, Jones does not see that happening. “It doesn’t make a lot of sense. It’s against our narrative. It’s against our message on balancing the budget,” he says. Like other MPs, he questions why any Liberals would want to challenge the Prime Minister and Treasurer over this.
“If someone wants to start an argument over this they’re just doing what the Labor Party wants us to do,” Jones tells The Australian. “I just don’t see that happening.”
Others say the same thing. “I’ve seen no evidence of a backbench revolt,” says one Liberal MP. This doesn’t mean every voter is happy – many MPs admit they are getting complaints from their traditional supporters. In western Sydney, Liberal MP Craig Kelly has been setting up talks over the phone or in his office with constituents who are unhappy over the changes. He acknowledges they are paying more tax but believes they can accept this when reminded of the scale of the budget deficit.
“It’s obviously been an issue of concern with many constituents but I’ve been able to talk with them, explain the changes and the budget situation that we face, and explain that the tax concessions they’re getting are still very generous,” Kelly says. Like Jones in Queensland, Kelly is fighting for a battleground seat, not blue-ribbon Liberal territory.
The concerns are not new. We’ve been reporting that Liberal Party members have threatened to quit the party over the changes. One story on that is here.
There is no question that many members of the Liberal Party base hate the changes to super. The $1.6 million transfer cap will put up taxes for wealthier retirees while the $500,000 cap on non-concessional contributions is backdated to 2007 and triggers claims of retrospective taxation. Now there is a stronger focus on a third change, to the Transition to Retirement Income Stream, or TRIS, after Julie Bishop stumbled on the issue on Tuesday.
It is also true that the changes were introduced in the May 3 budget without going to the Coalition party room for consultation. This is the usual process with budget announcements. The consultation will be over the detail after the election when a bill is drafted, put to the Coalition backbench economics committee and then put to a vote in the Coalition party room. There will be plenty of opportunities for expressions of concern. At this stage there is unease but no revolt.
1.08pm:Morrison defends super scheme
Scott Morrison has defended the government’s transition to retirement superannuation scheme, saying it will affect 115,000 Australians or 5 per cent of account holders between the age of 55 and 64.
Asked if it was time to explain these changes more simply given cabinet ministers like Julie Bishop have been unable to explain the policy, the Treasurer had a go himself.
“People will take a wage after they’re in that position where they can have one of these schemes,” he said. “They will make a contribution into their superannuation fund and then they pull income back at a concessional tax contribution into that superannuation fund, and then they pull income out of that superannuation fund, which is not taxed. And as a result it is a scheme that minimises the tax paid. This is an important integrity issue that needs to be addressed.”
12.59pm:‘They are not multinationals’
Scott Morrison has sought to humanise the effects of the government’s 1 per cent company tax cut, fending off Bill Shorten’s attack the Coalition is only looking after the big end of town.
“Those 100,000 businesses who employ 2.2 million Australians who have a turnover of between $2m and $10m, they get a tax cut on the 1st of July on this year ... They are not multinationals, you won’t find a Google CEO amongst any of those businesses. What you will find is mums and dads running businesses. And this is one thing I’ll say about small businesses, they pay their creditors first, they pay their employees second and they pay themselves third. And Bill Shorten thinks they’re the problem. He thinks they don’t deserve the support to invest more in their businesses and we do think that they do deserve support to invest more in their businesses.”
12.58pm:Scullion accosted in Darwin
Indigenous affairs minister Nigel Scullion has been accosted at a press conference by disgraced former Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission head Geoff Clark and co-chair of the National Congress of Australia’s First Peoples, Jackie Huggins, writes Amos Aikman.
The pair interrupted Senator Scullion while he was announcing additional funding to for native title bodies and to help resolve land claims outside the National Native Title Conference in Darwin, and demanded he commit a future Coalition government to negotiations with indigenous people likely to lead to a treaty.
As 1 of elected chair from 31 May Darwin forum, I want to ask @Nigel_Scullion will he have treaty dialogue.#auspol pic.twitter.com/Bei1KpeV16
— Geoff Clark (@tjapmara) June 1, 2016
Senator Scullion responded that there was already a process underway around reconciliation that he did not want to pre-empt.
Mr Clark called the Referendum Council and associated consultation process, set up at indigenous leaders’ request, a “distraction” organised by the government. He denied his personal history compromised his ability to represent the many indigenous people he claimed to be speaking on behalf of.
Senator Scullion labelled Mr Clark “the past” and quipped that his and Ms Huggins’ intervention had probably set indigenous affairs “back 20 years”.
12.47pm:Shorten not an ‘economic wizard’
There were some colourful attacks against Bill Shorten and the Labor Party during Malcolm Turnbull and Scott Morrison’s joint press conference. Here are a few of them:
Malcolm Turnbull: I think sometimes the Labor Party imagine that Australia is in some kind of a bubble, sealed off from reality, sealed off from the rest of the world, where you can increase taxes on investment and investment won’t be affected.
Scott Morrison: I get the sense from Bill Shorten that somehow there’s some growth he’s not happy to have. Every inch of growth matters, as small or as large as it can be, and we will fight for every inch of growth, every job that can be created as a result of our tax plan and our broader national economic plan.
Malcolm Turnbull: Look at what other countries are doing. Mr Shorten may think he’s an economic wizard, but why has the United Kingdom reduced its company tax down to 20 per cent, heading to (18 per cent)? Why are other jurisdictions around the world reducing company tax? ... All these other economies, all of these other markets around the world have recognised the need to compete and that’s why they’ve reduced business taxes and they have seen the benefits of it.
12.45pm:‘Bring in an army sniper’
Greens senator Peter Whish-Wilson has called for “drastic action” to stop the killing of penguins by dogs in northwest Tasmania, suggesting sharpshooters be hired to “take out” roving pets.
Fourteen dead penguins were discovered by a Stanley resident at the town’s penguin viewing area on Sunday night. The dead birds are being examined, but roving dogs are suspected to be responsible.
Senator Whish-Wilson, an army veteran, today said the penguin killings had happened before and they made his “blood boil”.
“I think the only thing we can do here, and I have had a look into this and our party has spoken to Parks and Wildlife, is do what they did in Sydney and bring in a sniper,” he told ABC radio.
“Bring in an army sniper, letterbox the area and say if your dogs are going to be down there they are going to get shot. This is what we’ve had to do in other areas. It’s time for some drastic action. I am absolutely sick and tired of seeing these penguins being killed.”
Asked if he would advocate using a sniper to “take out” the dogs, the senator answered: “Correct; a professional shooter.
“This is what we’ve had to do in other areas. It works. I think these penguins are terribly defenceless.”
A Liberal source ridiculed Senator Whish-Wilson’s suggestion as “outrageous”.
“So don’t cull sharks or crocs – but if your pet poodle is off the leash in the wrong place, army snipers will shoot to kill,” he said.
12.25pm:‘Super not put to party room’
Pressure is building within the Coalition over changes to superannuation, with some MPs vowing to fight them after the election.
Sky News Political Editor David Speers has gone to air this afternoon saying he has spoken to government frontbenchers and backbenchers who have confirmed the reforms never went to the party room for consideration, and say they will fight the changes if they are re-elected on July 2.
The Coalition MPs have told Speers some party branch members have quit in protest about the super changes and donors have withdrawn funding.
Asked about the issue at a press conference earlier, Malcolm Turnbull said his MPs backed the changes, which were included in the budget.
“The budget which comprises obviously the superannuation changes has been presented by the treasurer and has the full support naturally of the government, the cabinet and the party room,” the Prime Minister said.
Speaking with The Australian’s columnist Peter Van Onselen this afternoon, Mr Speers said Mr Turnbull appeared to be using his words very carefully.
“I’m told this did not go to the party room, the superannuation changes specifically, for any discussion, and that’s why they’re saying post-election they want a discussion,” Mr Speers said.
“Obviously no one is going to go public during an election campaign and say ‘this is all a bad idea’, but certainly that’s what some of them at least are saying privately.”
Mr Van Onselen said he had also been hearing from Liberal sources that superannuation would be an issue on the other side of the election.
“Others, what I would describe as Turnbull detractors, are saying that they hadn’t heard about it but they hope it’s right, which is interesting,” Mr Van Onselen said.
“Then in the ministerial ranks when talking to those who are involved broadly in that finance team, they’re dispelling this, they’re putting this off.”
The growing pressure follows Deputy Liberal Leader Julie Bishop’s self-described “gotcha moment”, when she was unable to explain the rules on the transition to retirement during a radio interview yesterday.
Labor is planning attack ads on the issue.
12.24pm:Morrison seizes on growth
Malcolm Turnbull and Scott Morrison have seized on the 3.1 per cent GDP growth revealed in today’s national accounts, saying it’s proof the transitioning economy is “working”, but have warned the country cannot afford to be “complacent” amid strong global economic headwinds.
“These numbers show fragility in business investment, they show fragility in company profits, those are the two things you have to address in a national economic plan,” the Treasurer said. “Now Bill Shorten has no plan to address those issues. He plans to tax profits more and he plans to tax investment more.”
“The non-mining investment is where we need to ensure that we drive growth in the future and that’s where our entire economic plan is really trying to do one thing above all us and that is drive investment because as the Prime Minister says and as he knows from his own experience in the corporate world, if you don’t have investment, you don’t have growth. And if you don’t have growth, you don’t have jobs”.
Asked what his message was to voters about the need for a clear mandate if he wins government, Malcolm Turnbull said he wanted to “get down” to business and continue delivering the Coalition’s national economic plan.
“We are asking the Australian people to support us on the 2nd of July to deliver our national economic plan. If it is already delivering growth and jobs but there is much more work to do and we’re seeking that support on the 2nd of July and when, if, we are re-elected on the 2nd of July we will then get down to completing our national economic plan because every element of it will deliver stronger economic growth and more jobs,” he said.
“Our opponents in the Labor Party and the Greens, everything they propose is going to reduce investment. That is an objective fact. If you want less of something, you increase the tax on it. They are increasing tax on investment right across the board.”
The PM said the “casualty” of the Labor and the Greens’ “war against business” was jobs.
12.13pm:‘Hail the sacred wombat!’
The agrarian-themed stoush between Barnaby Joyce and Peta Credlin continues, with the Nationals leader saying he is not offended by Tony Abbott’s former chief of staff’s declaration last night that he was talking “horsesh*t” when he said Mr Abbott still harboured leadership ambitions.
Mr Joyce made the comments as he campaigned in northwestern New South Wales yesterday.
Campaigning in the seat of Page on the northern NSW coast today, Mr Joyce laughed off the exchange, falling back on what’s become the default Coalition response to questions regarding Ms Credlin: “I’m not going to commentate on commentators”.
“Nor am I going to get into a debate on the equine minutiae of what’s happening on the trail,” the deputy prime minister said on the campaign trail in Lismore.
“Line up a whole range of people who’ve said worse things about me.”
Mr Joyce deflected assertions Ms Credlin’s view that he should “get back on the Wombat Trail and leave this alone” could be taken as derogatory to the Nationals’ campaign.
He said he was focused on the “Wombat Trail”, as the Nationals’ campaign tour around regional Australia has affectionately been known for decades.
“I went for a run around in Lismore talking to people - that’s the sort of campaign I like running,” Mr Joyce said.
“Hail the sacred wombat!”
11.57am:‘Aliens more likely’
Bill Shorten has suggested that the chances of the Fair Work Commission recommending a cut to penalty rates is as far fetched as aliens making contact with earth.
Asked about whether he would accept the independent umpire’s decision if it recommended reducing penalty rates, the opposition leader said “they are not going to”.
“What if alien life makes contact with earth?” he said.
“I don’t accept the argument that the Fair Work Commission is going to dismantle our penalty rates system. The evidence doesn’t support it. It is not going to happen. When people ask me - you’re not the first person to ask - what if? I am saying it won’t happen.”
“I’ve got full conference in the independent umpire maintaining ... our penalty rate structure.”
Mr Shorten has also spoken about the decision made yesterday by the Fair Work Commission on the Coles enterprise bargaining agreement, saying it “shows the system is working.”
“It vindicates my faith in the system,” he said.
“Let’s be clear - I do think the parties need to go back and rectify this arrangement. I am not supporting the arrangement.”
Mr Shorten said that workers would have voted on the EBA which was negotiated by the powerful Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees Association.
“I am not defending the behaviour of the union or the company in this matter at all.
“Our system does support bargaining but it also supports employees having a say and as another belt and brace, a safeguard, it supports the review by the Fair Work Commission.
“I am not supporting the details of the agreement but what I do recognise and what I will defend every day while I am in public life is the role of an independent conciliation and arbitration system.”
11.52am:Australia needs a ‘proper plan’
Shadow Treasurer Chris Bowen has used this morning’s national accounts figures to warn that the Coalition has only one idea to drive economic growth, namely a “$50 billion tax cut for big business”.
“Today’s national accounts figures underline the need for the next government of Australia to have a proper plan for Australia’s economic future,” Mr Bowen told a press conference in Sydney.
“Any headline figure like this is welcome, but let’s be very clear - this figure is driven entirely by net exports.
“Without net exports we would have had a flat quarter of economic growth.
“We welcome the boost in LNG exports which are as a result of the facilities coming online and some government action in China as well in relation to iron ore, but this is not a plan for Australia’s future.
Mr Bowen said Australia could not rely on the Chinese government to stimulate its economy.
“The Treasurer was out yesterday warning of fragility in the domestic economy. I agree. That just shows and underlines this government’s record, when it comes to economic growth, is nothing to boast about.
“Beneath the headline figures, we know there is an economy struggling with falling demand and falling income growth.
“In these figures today we see the eighth consecutive decline in nominal income, living standards: the most sustained decline in our history since records began.
“We have a Government promised to manage the economic transition but the fact of the matter is the transition could be going a whole lot better.
“For Australians who are trying to get into the labour market, who are wondering whether they can keep their jobs into the future, Australians aspiring for a better future for their children to make
sure they have good, well-paying jobs, they have the chance to get into the housing market, Labor has plans to deal with these things.
“If you look at the serious commentary out this morning, it was pointing out that fragility underlying what would be potentially a welcome headline rate but headlines don’t make for real progress in terms of the living standards of Australians.”
11.48am:PM responds to GDP figures
“So far so good, but there is plenty of risk out there on the horizon.”
Malcolm Turnbull says the national accounts show strong economic growth but has warned Australia cannot be complacent. He’s used the release of the figures to accuse Labor of taking the economy for granted. The PM says he is seeking a mandate from voters to deliver the government’s economic plan.
11.42am:Coalition’s start-up ‘shame’
Labor says it ‘shamed’ the Coalition into action on start-up accelerators, after the PM announced an extra $15 million for the government’s Incubator Support program.
Labor’s spokesman for digital innovation and start-ups Ed Husic told The Australian: “Everyone knows they’ve spent three times as more in ad campaigns promoting themselves than what they were prepared to do to support regional innovation”. Read the full story here.
11.36am:Deficit levy not ‘permanent’
Mr Shorten says Labor will keep the deficit levy for ten years, contradicting his opposition treasury spokesman Chris Bowen who said it would be a “permanent” measure.
But when asked if the money raised by the levy would be directed to paying down the deficit, Mr Shorten said it would go to consolidated revenue and spent on a “number of priorities.”
“We will have rigid budget discipline. We also have got a real economic growth strategy for real jobs which will prioritise funding our education system. TAFE, universities, schools, child care,” he said.
“We will also make sure that we invest in nation building infrastructure. From our roads to public transport and rail, right through to the NBN and we are going to back in industry.”
Mr Shorten has also dismissed growing dissent within Labor ranks about the diesel fuel rebate for mining companies, saying the party would keep the payment in place.
“Let’s not exaggerate or overcook this one,” he said.
“The truth of the matter is that our party has a range of views, but as I said at the debate on Sunday, I lead our party and I am not going to have some sort of giant witch hunt that every individual has to agree with me.
“And if we are going to talk about five MPs signing a petition, let’s talk about the 61 Liberal MPs and candidates who don’t support and want to slash penalty rates.”
11.35am:GDP figures released
Great news for the government with growth figures just released. Our GDP grew 1.1 per cent in the March quarter, and 3.1 per cent over the year.
Treasurer Scott Morrison is in Brisbane with Malcolm Turnbull, and they are expected to address the media on the results shortly. Shadow Treasurer Chris Bowen is also due to address the media from Sydney at 11:45am. Read the full story here.
11.00am:Xenophon’s Kmart undies
Independent senator Nick Xenophon has posed for GQ “proudly wearing a Target suit, Lowes shoes and Kmart undies”.
In the magazine’s accompanying interview, Senator Xenophon says the election campaign is going to be “gruelling, ugly and nasty,” and describes his relationship with Malcolm Turnbull “civil, but not close”.
You can read the full interview here.
In April, Greens leader Richard Di Natale posed for GQ in a turtleneck jumper.
10.50am:‘Gay marriage like Nazism’
The Australian Christian Lobby has compared same-sex marriage and Safe Schools to the rise of Nazism, referring to them all as “unthinkable things”.
The lobby’s director Lyle Shelton wrote in a blog post today: “The cowardice and weakness of Australia’s ‘gatekeepers’ is causing unthinkable things to happen, just as unthinkable things happened in Germany in the 1930s.”
He said Bill Shorten’s support of the Safe Schools program reflected “a failure of those of us who know better”.
“Changing the definition of marriage to entrench motherless and fatherlessness in public policy and teaching our kids their gender is fluid should be opposed,” he said.
10.39am:Election ‘Malcolm’s to lose’
Independent senator Nick Xenophon says he still believes the election is “Malcolm Turnbull’s to lose,” despite polls indicating Labor is ahead.
The leader of the Nick Xenophon Team told ABC Radio National’s AM he would work with either side in a constructive way, from the political centre, should he hold the balance of power in the Senate after July 2.
Senator Xenophon was speaking in the Adelaide Hills seat of Mayo, where his candidate Rebekha Sharkie is up against Liberal Jamie Briggs.
“I’d be actually quite shocked if Malcolm lost this election, so I think it’s more likely we’ll be dealing with a Turnbull government, and that’s fair enough,” Senator Xenophon said.
“My only plea to Malcolm Turnbull when he comes to the electorate of Mayo in the next few days, as I expect he will, whatever promises he makes, these are promises for the people of Mayo, not promises for one political party. It’s important that he honours those promises regardless of who wins Mayo.”
Mr Briggs was stood down in December as Cities Minister after a late night incident with a female public servant in a Hong Kong bar.
Ms Sharkie said she was “in it to win it”, admitting that the contest in the previously blue ribbon seat is a “David and Goliath battle”.
Senator Xenophon said Ms Sharkie understood the issues in Mayo, which have not been addressed by current and previous governments.
“Mental health: there’s no Headspace here, there’s no emergency department in Mt Gambier, the roads are shocking, there are issues here in terms of youth unemployment, a whole range of infrastructure issues and transport issues that haven’t been addressed, and she wants to make Mayo matter,” he said.
“The fact is, she’s resonating with people. People want a new voice in Canberra, and I think on July the Second there’s going to be a real upset in this seat.”
Senator Xenophon said his party would run an open ticket in Mayo, and would not preference candidates in other seats unless there was demand from individual candidates or their communities.
“People are smart enough to decide where they want their second preferences to go,” he said.
“I have more faith in Australian voters than the major parties seem to.
“None of them have indicated that they want to preference so far, and that’s a big decision, but as with everything that we do it’s with consultation and sitting down and working it through, but here in Mayo, it will be an open ticket.
“We just want to make sure that anyone who doesn’t vote for Rebekha gives her the second preference, for those diehard Labor and Greens voters.”
10.24am:PM is a ‘slime bag’
Union protesters have followed Malcolm Turnbull around Brisbane, calling him a “slime bag” and a “dud”.
A handful of protesters from the Electrical Trades Union gathered this morning outside the Brisbane hotel where Mr Turnbull was staying, carrying union flags and signs saying “Stop Medicare and hospital cuts”.
Several then piled into a maroon ute and followed the media bus from the hotel to River City Labs, a hub that helps entrepreneurs, where Mr Turnbull announced a $15 million boost for start-up businesses.
Four men in ETU clothing waited outside the building for Mr Turnbull’s arrival and began protesting against the government’s $4 per hour internships as he emerged from his car.
“What about your money in Panama Malcolm, you slime bag,” one yelled.
“Have a real go for Australia you dud.
“You haven’t done a thing for Australian jobs, you haven’t done a thing for Australian apprenticeships, it’s money overseas.” The group began their protest again - joined by several climate activists - as Mr Turnbull left the building an hour later.
10.03am:First Julie, now Sarah
South Australia’s most senior Green has stumbled over her explanation of her party’s superannuation policy, writes Rebecca Puddy, saying the minor party would seek to tax superannuation at the same rate as income tax rates.
Sarah Hanson-Young, speaking live on ABC Radio, said superannuation should be taxed at the same rate as income in the interests of fairness.
But she was confused about whether it was a tax on contributions or earnings.
“We’re saying that if you earn more than... if you’re earning more you should have to pay the tax rate that you’re paying,” Senator Hanson-Young said.
“(It will kick in) at 65 at the income level that it’s set at for the rest of your income level.
“Why should there be (a concessional tax rate)?”
Listen to Sarah Hanson Young's Super bombshell on Super Wednesday by 891 ABC Adelaide #np on #SoundCloud https://t.co/eTZStBXhvg
— David Bevan (@DavidBevanSA) June 1, 2016
This comes only one day after Foreign Minister Julie Bishop was unable to explain the Liberal’s transition to retirement scheme.
Senator Hanson-Young later clarified her party’s position after receiving a text from her chief of staff.
“I’ve had a text from my chief of staff sitting outside sending me the table,” she said.
“It’s basically as I was saying, a progressive tax rate.
“For those that would normally be taxed on the 33 cents for $37,000 to $100,000 its 15 cents worth of tax on your super.”
When asked whether it was contributions or earnings she responded: “This is the super rate.”
Asked again whether it was for contributions or earnings she paused before responding: “On earnings... I’m just trying to give you the correct information.”
She was then asked about what the tax would be on contributions, followed by a deep breath and a lengthy silence on air.
“Sorry... what? What are you?” she said.
“It is the amount of contributions that you are putting into superannuation, it is the tax on that.”
She then apologised for saying it was a tax on earnings, before saying she did not have the information on how earnings would be taxed.
Senior Labor MP Mark Butler described her statement as “extraordinary”.
“It is essentially undoing 30 years of retirement incomes policy in Australia,” he said.
10.00am:PM given Origin jersey
Malcolm Turnbull has been gifted a Queensland State of Origin jersey ahead of tonight’s first game between the Blues and Maroons. The PM pointed out he was from NSW, so it’s not likely he’s going to wear it. The founder of River City Labs Steve Baxter also gave Mr Turnbull a personalised T-shirt with his title “Prime Minister” printed on the back.
9.50am:Labor to ‘reclaim the bush’
Labor is on a mission to reclaim rural Australia, senior opposition figure Anthony Albanese has declared. The inner-city MP used a speech in Wagga Wagga to outline Labor’s pitch to the bush, focusing on schools, high-speed rail, fibre-to-the-premises NBN, mobile phone coverage and climate change.
He conceded Labor hadn’t done enough to gather country support in the past.
Recent changes within the party had developed a greater focus on the bush, which in previous generations was a stronghold for the ALP.
“In the forthcoming federal election, and in the years that follow, Labor must seek to reclaim the bush,” Mr Albanese said. “That will not be easy.”
9.39am:Is anyone clear on super?
The Executive Director of the free market think tank the Institute of Public Affairs, John Roskam, who has previously stood for Liberal Party preselection and remains a Liberal member, told ABC Radio National’s AM earlier that it was clear that many Australians who are not classes as rich will be affected by the Coalitions changes to they system.
“For example one particular superannuation fund estimates that up to 90 per cent of their members who use these pension programs (the Transition to Retirement income stream) earn less than $100,000 a year,” Mr Roskam said.
“There are many people who earn less than $60,000 who are affected by these changes.
“For the government to claim that it is simply affecting high net worth individuals is simply not correct.
“What occurred in Julie Bishop’s interview on Melbourne radio is a manifestation of a problem that the entire government has, which is it can’t explain its policy, and the Coalition has to listen and understand the very grave concerns that have been created in the community by these changes.”
Labor frontbencher Richard Marles said this morning that if Ms Bishop couldn’t explain the transition-to-retirement system then the government needed to look at changes.
“Explain to the Australian people why this is fair,” he told Sky News.
Finance Minister Mathias Cormann insisted the changes were fair and designed to make the system more sustainable.
“Over time, we’d like to think the majority of people will come to accept what we are doing here is the right thing,” he told reporters in Canberra.
OPINION:“One of the great dangers that governments in Australia face is that many in Treasury hate superannuation and don’t have a deep understanding of how it works in the lives of ordinary Australians,” writes Robert Gottliebsen. Read the full article here.
9.17am:Twiggy attacks spending
Mining magnate Andrew “Twiggy” Forrest has attacked the election promises of the major parties, saying leaders who can’t lead spend instead.
The Fortescue Metals chair was responding to a question about the corporate tax rate, which the federal coalition plans to cut if it wins the July election and spending commitment of both party leaders made so far.
“They would not get a job at the Fortescue Group ... Stop thinking that money is the solution,” he told Sky News this morning, adding that if leaders “can’t lead, instead they spend”.
9.14am:PM meets start-up owners
Malcolm Turnbull is meeting with business owners at Brisbane’s start-up community workspace River City Labs alongside assistant minister for innovation and science Wyatt Roy.
Deb Morrison used River City Labs to help kickstart her company, Petcloud, an Airbnb for pets. She was there with her cavoodle Milly. The PM told Ms Morrison he had an “old puppy” Jojo and said he was sure Petcloud was a popular company.
Mr Turnbull told the gathering of entrepreneurs he and wife Lucy were just like them 30 years ago. “You’re providing above all else the imagination, the idea, the dream, the courage,” he said, adding they were also recreating the businesses of the future.
“I’m pumped up because what you’re doing is driving our economic future.”
"You are creating the future of Australia". We have @TurnbullMalcolm in the house today! @sbxr #ausvotes pic.twitter.com/oltjeLhv7b
— River City Labs (@RiverCityLabs) May 31, 2016
The PM was in his element as he spoke to start-up founders, drawing on their imagination and enterprise and one of his favourite themes - the ideas boom.
“You’re such a great role model because a lot of people say that the tech sector is very heavily weighted to men and it’s harder for women and girls to get started but you’re really forging ahead,” Mr Turnbull told Sarah Timmerman, founder of online women’s fashion retailer Beginning Boutique. The PM used younger lingo too, telling one entrepreneur a hospital he had business links with was “in my electorate, it’s in my hood”.
River City Labs founder Steve Baxter said the new focus on start-ups since Mr Turnbull took over as leader was welcome. “What’s really nice since you became Prime Minister is the change in language and the change in attitude toward innovation and start-ups,” he said.
9.13am:Shorten not ‘anti-mining’
Mr Shorten is on his way to the electorate of Oxley to open a new solar wholesale distributor. The seat is held by the Labor Party on a 3.77 per cent margin.
The Opposition Leader is speaking to ABC and has been asked about the party’s support for coal mining, and particularly the Adani mine.
“We need to focus a lot more on renewable energy,” he said.
“It’s not up to me to support a particular business enterprise.”
But Mr Shorten said he had never been “anti-mining” and the party would support coal mining into the future.
“Coal mining will continue if Labor is elected,” he said.
Mr Shorten was also asked about the Fair Work Commission ruling on the Coles EBA, and his
position on penalty rates.
“I’m glad that this agreement has been rectified,” he said.
“I’m not here to defend the SDA.”
A caller to ABC later asked Mr Shorten how he can justify supporting offshore detention, which she has called “Australian concentration camps”.
Mr Shorten said his priority if elected would be to send his immigration minister to the United Nations to expedite resettlement of asylum seekers.
But he said Labor would not support a policy that restarted people smuggling.
9.12am:‘Absent’ O’Dwyer explains super
Assistant Treasurer Kelly O’Dwyer has declined to directly comment on Peta Credlin’s declaration that she has been “completely absent from the campaign” and has not articulated the government’s superannuation policy sufficiently.
Ms O’Dwyer said she was not going to “commentate on a commentator”, but that she was delighted to be on ABC RN Breakfast radio earlier this morning.
“This is the first invitation I’ve received to be on your show to talk about superannuation, and I’ve actually been spending a lot of time travelling around the country talking to people about our small business tax cuts and superannuation policy,” Ms O’Dwyer told host Fran Kelly.
She also declined to comment on the fact that Resources, Energy and Northern Australia Minister Josh Frydenberg and Liberal deputy leader Julie Bishop were unable to explain the “Transition to Retirement” phase of the Coalition’s superannuation policy during recent interviews with 3AW’s Neil Mitchell.
“I’m not into commentary, I’m into explaining the policy and I’m delighted to do that,” Ms O’Dwyer said.
She said the “Transition to Retirement” phase applied to people aged between 56 and 65, and allowed them to receive income from their superannuation while they’re still working.
“At the moment, the earnings on the account, as part of that scheme, is not taxed,” Ms O’Dwyer said.
“But under the changes that we’ve announced in the budget, from the First of July 2017, the earnings will be concessionally taxed at 15 per cent, and this is all designed to make the overall system fairer and more flexible, and designed to make sure that some of the problems that have been identified by the Productivity Commission in 2015 with this particular measure can be dealt with.”
She said there were currently about 115,000 people on a Transition to Retirement income stream, and about 80,000 of those were involved in a self-managed super fund.
“Now this is all accounted for in the modelling that has been done around who is affected,” Ms O’Dwyer said.
“The Treasurer and others have said many times 96 per cent of people are either going to be unaffected by the superannuation changes or better off, and the reason that we are better targeting these tax concessions with the Transition to Retirement Scheme is because as the Productivity Commission identified itself, tax concessions were being used by people who were not necessarily transitioning to retirement by reducing their hours but were still working full time and using it as a tax minimisation tool.”
Ms O’Dwyer said the 4 per cent of Australians affected by the superannuation changes included those in the Transition to Retirement income stream.
Asked about a superannuation fund which told Radio National’s AM this morning that 90 per cent of its members in the Transition to Retirement income stream earn less than $100,000 and many of them earn under $60,000, Ms O’Dwyer said that if those people were paying 32.5 cents in the dollar as their normal tax rate, they were still getting a significant discount in only having to pay 15 per cent.
Ms O’Dwyer said it was important to note that low income earners would benefit from the Coalition’s changes to superannuation.
“There are about three million low income Australians, including about two million women, who will actually benefit from the fact that we are introducing a low income superannuation tax offset,” Ms O’Dwyer said.
8.47am:Abbott comeback? No way
Cabinet minister Mathias Cormann has dismissed outright any chance of Tony Abbott making a comeback to the Liberal leadership.
Nationals leader Barnaby Joyce set the hares running on Tuesday when he told AAP the former prime minister still had leadership ambitions but realised the party had moved on.
When asked whether he could see an Abbott return Senator Cormann told ABC TV this morning: “No.”
Mr Abbott’s former chief of staff Peta Credlin insists the Abbott years are over.
“I think that’s absolute rubbish. I was going to say horse s*** but I don’t know if I can say that on TV,” she told Sky News last night. “Honestly, Barnaby, get back on the wombat trail - please leave this alone.”
8.44am:Battle begins in Brisbane
The Turnbull camp has headed to Fortitude Valley in the marginal seat of Brisbane, held by retiring Liberal MP Teresa Gambaro on a 4.28 per cent margin. We’re in River City Labs, an accelerator for tech start ups. Malcolm Turnbull will use his visit to spruik a $15 million
government investment to increase support for start-up businesses.
8.38am:Shorten’s Origin pick
Bill Shorten is talking to another Brisbane commercial radio station, and has revealed he will be backing Queensland in the State of Origin, the home state of his wife.
This was the most pressing question for the Opposition Leader today who is keen on wooing voters in both Queensland and western Sydney and is expected to go to the first match of the series at the ANZ stadium in Homebush tonight.
8.21am:‘Sponging off system offensive’
Bill Shorten has been asked on Brisbane radio about welfare dependency and what to do about multiple generations who “don’t want to work”.
“I actually think that most people do want to work,” he told Triple M.
He said that he did not think there were many people sitting around “in hammocks”.
When told an anecdote about a Centrelink worker who had said there were people rorting the disability support pension, he said: “The idea that there is someone just sponging off the system is offensive.”
“The best way forward is to encourage people with disabilities to have a crack.”
8.02am:Katter goes bananas
Colourful Queensland Independent Bob Katter is urging Australians to “go bananas” and eat more of the fruit in a bit to overcome a glut.
The Member for Kennedy, in Queensland’s north, has shared two of his favourite banana recipes: the “FNQ (Far North Queensland) Finger”, and the “Rum and Nana”.
A warm, wet start to winter in Far North Queensland has led to an oversupply of bananas, which are selling for below the cost of production.
“It is the most consumed produce on the shelves of our supermarkets and we are asking Australia to have two bananas a day, instead of one”, Mr Katter said in a press release issued this morning.
The FNQ Finger, or banana sandwich, involves slicing a banana down the middle, placing a slice of cheese and some cooked bacon in the middle, and toasting it until the cheese has melted.
Mr Katter suggests cutting it into fingers and serving with a cappuccino.
He says he pinched his “Rum and Nana” recipe from the Annual Innisfail Banana Races - a horse race in the northern Queensland town which is dedicated to the banana industry.
The recipe involves frying a banana on the barbecue, adding a dash “or four” of rum, and serving with ice-cream.
Mr Katter suggests enjoying the dessert while watching the State of Origin rugby league clash between Queensland and NSW this evening.
8.00am:Credlin criticises Bishop’s response
Peta Credlin says the government must defend or fix its superannuation policy.
The Sky News commentator and former chief of staff for Tony Abbott hit out at the government’s poor selling of its policy following deputy Liberal leader Julie Bishop’s self-described “gotcha moment” on Melbourne radio yesterday.
Ms Bishop was unable to answer a question from 3AW host Neil Mitchell regarding the transition to retirement phase of superannuation.
Ms Credlin said superannuation was a “big sleeper issue” with the Coalition’s base, and did not just effect the “so-called rich” with more than $1.6 million in super.
“It’s everyone else who’s close to retirement age or in that pre-transitions phase, if I can say over 45 really,” Ms Credlin told Sky’s Paul Murray Live last night.
“The difficulty is, yes it is complex, that’s why if you sit around the cabinet table and you make a complex decision like changes to superannuation just prior to a budget, just prior to an election, you want to make sure you understand, everyone around that cabinet table, what you decided,” Ms Credlin said.
She said anyone who listened to Melbourne radio would know that Neil Mitchell had been “banging on about” superannuation since the day after the budget was handed down.
“(Resources and Energy Minister) Josh Frydenberg went on and was handed his head within about 15 minutes, (Assistant Treasurer) Kelly O’Dwyer is completely absent from the campaign, I haven’t seen her out there articulating the government’s case,” Ms Credlin said.
Watch the video below:
“The government, if it’s got a policy has to defend it, or it has to fix it, but it can’t be in this limbo land where it’s not able to explain it.”
Ms Credlin cited statistics from media monitors Isentia, showing superannuation was the top issue being discussed on talkback radio.
“There’s no good burying your head in the sand on this issue,” she said.
“It is going to bite the Coalition if it does not deal with it promptly.”
Ms Credlin, who is known to have clashed with Ms Bishop in the past, said the Foreign Minister was generally well regarded for being across the details of her portfolio.
“I don’t think anyone would say in general terms Julie Bishop’s not across her brief,” Ms Credlin said.
“I think she should have been better prepared. To be honest, Neil Mitchell’s a tough interviewer. “He’s the king of Melbourne talkback, there’s no doubt about that, and Tony Abbott went through a hung parliament, he was on Neil Mitchell very frequently, and obviously as PM, and not me, but the press office, would spend a good half an hour running him through his paces before he did Neil.
“So I’d put it down to her office probably needing to lift its game a bit, but also her colleagues who are in those portfolios, as I said, Kelly O’Dwyer, the Treasurer even, Scott Morrison, others need to be out there articulating the case so that she’s not caught like that again.”
Ms Credlin said nearly 600,000 people would be affected by the government’s changes to super.
She also said it was her understanding that Mr Abbott and Ms Bishop had not spoken since the leadership spill last September, during which Ms Bishop remained deputy leader when Malcolm Turnbull took the Prime Ministership.
“My understanding is that they’ve only had text conversations — well let’s not even call that a conversation — text exchanges,” Ms Credlin said.
“That’s a matter between the two of them. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with politicians actually being honest and saying that it was a bit of a bruising contest down there in September and we haven’t spoken since, or whatever.
“I mean there’s quite a few from the front bench who would ring my phone three or four times a week that I haven’t heard from since September and that’s the way politics is.
“It’s a pretty tough brutal business, and if you want a friend, get a dog, they say.”
7.47am:PM on Alan Jones
Malcolm Turnbull has had his second Alan Jones interview of the election campaign but again no barbs have been thrown during a lengthy and wide ranging chat about the health of the economy, Medicare, foreign-owned wind turbines, company tax cuts, industrial relations and coal-seam gas mining. The powerful broadcaster revealed one of his listeners had accused him of being “soft” on the Prime Minister in their first live encounter last week and today was little different.
Mr Turnbull continued his attack against Bill Shorten and the Labor Party, declaring it was the most Left wing, anti-business ALP in a generation. Responding to a caller who has always voted for the Liberal Party but is confused about Mr Turnbull’s party allegiance, the PM said:
“Everything we’re doing and everything I’m doing and have done my whole life Alan, and you’ve known me for most of my life, everything I’ve done has been about enterprise, hard work, self-reliance, having a go, investing, hiring people, if it works, build it bigger, if it doesn’t work, try something else. My life and the values of my party are values of economic freedom and enterprise and that is what most Australians see as where their future lies ... Labor is opposed to all of that.”
Jones said something driving people “nuts” was the CFMEU’s 15 per cent pay rise it had secured for the next three years. The 2GB host asked the PM how he thought average workers in marginal seats felt when they learned a carpenter on a unionised project was earning $163,000 - with the taxpayer picking up the tab. “Who will stop these excesses?” Jones declared. Mr Turnbull said his government would but couldn’t unless it won the election, accusing the CFMEU of standing over builders and developers and getting away with it because there was no rule of law in the construction industry.
“I talk about it but I’m acting. I’ve dissolved both Houses of parliament in order to put this bit of legislation on the agenda where we can actually legislate it and actually make it happen ... But can I say to you the extent to which the Labor Party and its leader in particular are acting on the orders of militant unions, it is not just the construction sector which is where we need vital economic reform,” Mr Turnbull said. The PM called this double-dissolution election after the government’s key industrial relations bills - to re-establish the Australian Building and Construction Commission and Registered Organisations legislation - were rejected by the parliament on multiple occasions. He said most of the one million workers under the CFMEU were suffering because there was less construction and opportunities.
Voters can expect to hear more from Jones and Mr Turnbull next week.
7.34am:Shorten’s power pledge
Labor will pledge $100 million on a plan to set up 10 community power hubs to close gaps in household access to small-scale solar and wind power.
It will use the cash to focus on renewable energy in rental properties, public housing, aged care facilities and apartment blocks.
“Every Australian deserves the chance to benefit from the rise of renewable energy, wherever they live,” Mr Shorten said.
A spokeswoman for the Opposition Leader said: “Labor has a positive plan to take real action on climate change, create real jobs and stimulate real investment in Australia’s renewable energy future”.
Labor wants 50 per cent of Australia’s power to come from renewables by 2030 but is yet to reveal how it plans to achieve the target.
7.00am: Today’s schedule
Both leaders start the day in Brisbane. Labor holds only five of Queensland’s 24 seats and the LNP 17, with Clive Palmer’s seat of Fairfax expected to return to the Coalition at the election.
Malcolm Turnbull is expected to pledge $15 million for business start-ups, which will add to the $1.1 billion innovation agenda the government launched last year. The extra money will expand the Incubator Support Program, which initially received $8 million, as it fails to meet demand.
The ISP is designed to help start-ups access funding and get ideas to market sooner, and the increased funding is intended to increase the number of start-up incubators, support the expansion of existing incubators, enable incubators to access $500,000 in funding, and attract experts to provide advice to start-ups. The Prime Minister will give his second interview in as many weeks to 2GB’s Alan Jones after 7am. The Australian’sRosie Lewis is travelling with Mr Turnbull.
Bill Shorten will announce a $100 million plan to set up 10 community power hubs to close gaps in household access to small scale solar and wind power. Our reporter Sarah Martin is travelling with Mr Shorten.
Treasurer Scott Morrison and his opposition counterpart Chris Bowen will both hold press conferences to respond to the latest economic growth figures, which will be released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics at 11:30am. The figures are expected to be good news for the government, with economists tipping they will show the economy expanding faster than 3 per cent, after trade data released yesterday showed exports - particularly to China - will make a strong 1.1 percentage point contribution to economic growth in the March quarters. Economists, who earlier predicted growth as low as 2.6 per cent, were quick to upgrade forecasts to an annual rate of around 3 per cent. Both Treasury and the Reserve Bank are forecasting a growth rate of 2.5 per cent for the full financial year ending in June.
Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce will campaign in the seat of Page, on the NSW north coast. The seat is held by Nationals backbencher Kevin Hogan by 3.1 per cent. He’s up against Labor’s Janelle Saffin, who held the seat from 2007 to 2013. The Nationals’ leader Mr Joyce has enlisted a bunch of supporters who he calls the “killer canaries” due to their bright yellow T-shirts, urging them to do their best to keep both his seat of New England and neighbouring Page in the hands of the country party. Mr Joyce will make a sports funding announcement in Lismore before crossing the Queensland border to Bundaberg for a street walk with Nationals backbencher Keith Pitt, who holds the local seat of Hinkler by 9.01 per cent, and then south to Gympie, in the seat of Wide Bay, where former Nationals leader Warren Truss is retiring on a margin of 13.16 and Queensland LNP Vice President and policeman Llew O’Brien is vying to replace him.
What you missed yesterday:
Political Correspondent David Crowe awarded yesterday to Labor, as a result of Liberal deputy leader Julie Bishop’s unforced error on Melbourne radio, when she admitted her inability to answer 3AW host Neil Mitchell’s question on the government’s superannuation was “obviously a ‘gotcha’ moment”. Yesterday saw Mr Turnbull visiting a Sydney hospital to announce $20 million for research into children’s cancer, and Mr Shorten obliged to buy wife Chloe a bunch of flowers as they encountered a florist while campaigning in Brisbane yesterday. The Opposition Leader had earlier announced $1 billion plan for tourism in Northern Australia. You can read yesterday’s blog here.
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