Coalition’s medivac attack fails to sway poll

Labor MPs say government ‘scaremongering’ over border protection has failed to cut through with voters.

Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton. Picture Gary Ramage

Labor MPs say government “scaremongering” over border protection has failed to cut through with voters, despite warnings from Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton they would face the “wrath of the silent majority” at the upcoming federal election.

As Scott Morrison declared poll numbers were not a factor in his political assault against Labor’s medivac bill, ALP president Wayne Swan said Labor had successfully endured government ­attacks over the party’s support for the legislation.

Mr Swan said confirmation by Newspoll showing Labor’s lead over the government unchanged at 53 to 47 per cent in two-party-preferred terms despite the government’s medivac attack — showed voters were more interested in “bread and butter issues”.

“If it means anything, what it says to me is that the government is not responding in a positive way to the issues the electorate wants to hear about,” he told the ABC. “It just says that their national security scaremongering didn’t necessarily have the impact that some people thought.”

Bill Shorten said the government’s policies were designed to give the Coalition “a jump in the polls”, but argued the public had seen through Mr Morrison’s ­attempt to make national security a frontline election issue.

“I think the Australian people are sick of just reheated fear campaigns from past elections,” the Opposition Leader said. “I really get the impression this government wants to scare Australians into voting for the status quo, they’ve run out of ideas for the ­future. It is disgraceful.”

Left-wing Labor MP Stephen Jones, who holds the NSW seat of Whitlam, told The Australian he thought the medivac bill — passed by Labor, Greens and independent MPs — “got the balance right” and was “in step with public opinion”.

He said government attempts to “beat up a scare campaign against it” hadn’t worked.

“I hope we can now get back to dealing with core economic issues like jobs, education and how we prepare our country for the ­future,” he said.

Mr Morrison said his pushback on Labor’s medivac laws wasn’t about winning votes. “I’ve always done it for one simple purpose. That is, our borders should be strong, and I don’t want to see kids on boats dying,” he told ABC radio.

However, Mr Dutton warned Labor would be punished over the passage of the medivac bill, which allows refugees and asylum-seekers to be fast-tracked to Australia for medical treatment on the ­orders of two doctors.

“Left-wing Labor MP’s will face the wrath of the silent majority in this country if they continue to spit in the faces of Australians who support strong borders,” Mr Dutton told The Australian.

“Labor MPs’ contempt of Australians who want strong border protection policies shows they are arrogant and out of touch.”

Labor MP Ged Kearney, a former ACTU president who has advocated for the urgent removal of refugees from Manus and Nauru, said Labor had struck the right balance in its medivac bill, ensuring sick people got the medical care they needed.

Liberal Party federal president Nick Greiner acknowledged the Coalition could not win the election on border security alone, but argued the government was happy to “have this as one of the issues on which the election will be fought”.

“If anyone on my side of politics thought this was a panacea … well, obviously, it isn’t,” Mr Greiner told the ABC. “I do believe it’s an issue where we are on the right side of politics and history for that matter. But it’s not a single issue that on its own is going to win the election.”