Federal election 2019: Campaign Day 21: Scott Morrison heaps pressure on Bill Shorten’s emissions plan
Scott Morrison has moved to pile pressure on Bill Shorten over Labor’s 45 per cent emission reduction plan.
- ‘I’ve done the maths, Bill’
- Labor candidate in porn strife
- Shorten: No coalition with Greens
- Tudge defends Hastie
- Jeremy Hearn disendorsed
- Morrison hits marginal seats
Hello and welcome to PoliticsNow, The Australian’s live coverage of Day 21 of the federal election campaign.
Climate change is dominating the campaign today with questions over Bill Shorten’s solar costs and an enticing coalition offer from the Greens. However, Bill Shorten has ruled out any deals with the Greens to pass climate policy.
Top story: Scott Morrison has moved to pile pressure on Bill Shorten over Labor’s 45 per cent emission reduction plan.
9.34pm: Shorten appears on 7.30
Bill Shorten has changed his approach to fielding questions on Labor’s lack of costings for its climate change policies, saying “the cost of not acting on climate change is far worse than acting” on it.
Read our recap on his appearance on the ABC’s 7.30 here.
Primrose Riordan 8.40pm: ScoMo’s campaign lands in Tasmania
Scott Morrison’s campaign has landed in Launceston in Labor MP Ross Hart’s seat of Bass. Agricultural show, Agfest, is on just outside of the city from May 2-4.
4.18pm: Killin quits over gay comments
A Liberal candidate has stepped aside after apologising for saying the “homosexual lifestyle” carries “appalling health risks”.
Liberal candidate for the Victorian seat of Wills, Peter Killin, made a submission to the Ruddock review into religious freedomin which he wrote about the “dangers” posed by gay people.
“The dangers and health risks (of gay people) have been well documented in many reliable medical sources for years,” he said.
In the comments section of a blog, Mr Killin also lamented the fact he was not at the preselection for fellow Liberal TimWilson so he could have ensured there was “no homosexual MP”.
The candidate on Wednesday issued an apology for the comments, after a story was published in the Herald Sun.
“My comments were wrong and I apologise unreservedly for making them,” he said in a statement.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison told reporters that the Liberal Party had asked Mr Killin to explain himself.
“I’ll allow the party to follow its processes,” he told reporters in Perth. Less than two hours later, a Liberal Party spokesman confirmed that Mr Killin had resigned as a candidate.
AAP
Sid Maher 4.12pm: ‘I’ve done the maths, Bill’
Scott Morrison has moved to pile pressure on Bill Shorten over Labor’s 45 per cent emission reduction plan, dismissing the Opposition Leader’s claims that it can’t be costed and declaring that taxpayers ultimately will pay.
Campaigning in Perth this afternoon, the Prime Minister said it was very important Australians knew the cost of a change of government.
“You can’t tell other people to do the math,’’ Mr Morrison said.
“As I said, the Prime Minister should be able to do the math.’’
Mr Morrison said that as Prime Minister, if Labor was elected, Mr Shorten would have to chair the budget expenditure review committee.
“You can’t contract out the maths, Bill. You’ve got to do it yourself and know the cost of things. But the Leader of the Opposition doesn’t know the cost of things because it’s not him who will have to pay for it.
“It’s the Australian people and $387bn worth of higher taxes. I’ve done the math, Bill, and it’s $387bn.’’
Richard Ferguson 2.55pm: Vetting process now harder: PM
Scott Morrison says it is becoming harder for major parties to vet candidates in the age of social media as two of his Victorian candidates land into trouble over homophobic and anti-Muslim views.
“For the Liberal Party, in this day and age when there is social media, multiple posting, that represents new challenges in the vetting of candidates,” he said in Perth today.
“This is something I will be expecting the party to be working on and improving their processes.
“The Labor Party had to disendorse a Senate candidate. Of course, the Labor Party has a candidate running in the seat of Melbourne who was strategically positioned right
behind the Labor leader talking about their commitment to women and at the same time has been caught out with some rather disturbing comments of their own.
“Look, in election campaigns, these individuals we identified, they’ve been identified in a number of parties and they need to be dealt with swiftly and appropriately and that’s the action we are taking.”
Jack The Insider 2.47pm: New marker of political stupid looms on the horizon
It looked yesterday that the election campaign had reached peak stupidity.
PHON senate candidate Steve Dickson resigned after film of him drunkenly cavorting in a Washington DC strip club was screened on Channel Nine’s A Current Affair.
Just as Pauline Hanson got on the blub on the same program last night, decrying how she’d been let down horribly by her candidates, another PHON candidate stepped forward to take a crack at the prize for Australia’s Dumbest Politician when it emerged Ross MacDonald, PHON’s man in Leichhardt, has a Facebook page devoted to ‘What I did on My Holiday in Thailand’.
The stupidity indexed remained stuck in the red zone today with Labor candidate in the Greens-held seat of Melbourne, Luke Creasey, facing questions over a raft of appalling posts that include rape jokes.
Creasey’s posts also mocked working class in Sydney’s Sutherland Shire working class youth. That’s the modern Labor Party for you.
Read more here
Richard Ferguson 2.33pm: Liberal candidate’s gay attack
A Liberal candidate who has railed against the “homosexual lifestyle” has written online that he would not have supported gay Liberal MP Tim Wilson’s preselection because of his sexuality, as a Labor candidate who shared a rape joke and pornographic material online apologises.
The Victorian Liberals face losing their second candidate in a day after online comments from Wills candidate Peter Killin attacking gay people emerged.
The Herald Sun reports that Mr Killin wrote that he believed Christians should “1. Infiltrate 2. Influence 3. Impel” to “change a party from within”.
Discussing Mr Wilson’s 2016 preselection, Mr Killin said in an online post for the website CultureWatch that he regretted he was not there to vote against the now MP.
Read more here
2.01pm: Shorten agrees to third debate
Bill Shorten has finally agreed to a third federal election debate with Scott Morrison on prime-time television.
The leaders will have a second debate on Friday and now the Labor leader has agreed to take part in another evening bout at the National Press Club next Wednesday.
“We are happy to consider this compromise option being held in the evening, as the other two debates are,” Labor national secretary Noah Carroll wrote to his Liberal counterpart on Wednesday.
The prime minister earlier in the week accused Mr Shorten of avoiding prime-time scrutiny by seeking to have the third debate at lunchtime.
“A prime-time debate would provide as many Australians as possible, including those who work during the day, the best opportunity to scrutinise the very clear choice on offer at this election,” Mr Morrison said.
Mr Shorten will also appear on the ABC’s Q&A program on Monday. Labor challenged the prime minister to also make an appearance on the show, which involves taking an hour of questions from audience members. “I note the prime minister has not appeared on this program for several years,” Mr Carroll wrote.
“Will the prime minister be breaking his Q&A drought this campaign?”
AAP
Luke Griffiths 1.41pm: Greens candidate won’t be ‘scared away’
A South Australian Greens senate candidate says he won’t be “scared away” by racist comments that were scrawled on one of his election posters.
Major ‘Moogy’ Sumner, a Ngarrindjeri elder, expressed his disappointment about the “vile racism” after a sign of his in Port Adelaide was targeted with “Kill All Abos”.
Mr Sumner, who is second on the Greens’ senate ticket behind Sarah Hanson-Young, said the abuse was unacceptable.
“It is disappointing to see this crop up in our community, but it won’t stop me from standing up for what we believe in,” he wrote on Facebook.
“Here I am, you’re not going to scare me away.”
Ms Hanson-Young said she was proud to have an Aboriginal elder on the Greens’ ticket.
“We need First Australians in our parliament and they need to be able to participate without these kinds of attacks,” she said.
“This does not represent South Australia. Moogy is a beloved and respected leader in our state. People on all sides of politics respect him, love him and I know wish him well for this election.”
Mr Sumner unsuccessfully stood for the Greens at last year’s Mayo by-election, where he received 9 per cent of the primary vote.
Rachel Baxendale 1.33pm: Explain Erikson ‘links’: Andrews
Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews has called for Prime Minister Scott Morrison to explain whether any member of the Liberal Party worked with far right extremist Neil Erikson during the 2018 state election campaign.
Mr Andrews said the United Patriots Front co-founder had claimed he had been paid by a third party to disrupt the November state election, and Mr Morrison had “some explaining to do”.
The comments come after Mr Erikson claimed he met WA Liberal MPs Ian Goodenough and Andrew Hastie at a rally for white South African farmers in Perth Last year.
Mr Goodenough yesterday said they had a “brief” encounter, while Mr Hastie says he is “confident” he has never met Mr Erikson.
“We have some very serious questions to be answered in relation to Mr Erikson, a convicted criminal, who is alleged to have been secured, his services secured by the Prime Minister — this is all alleged — to interfere, to cause trouble, to disrupt the Victorian election last year, to challenge and put at risk the harmony, the respect we have as a defining feature of our state, to again pit one Victorian against another,” Mr Andrews said.
“Scott Morrison is very good at demanding others answer questions. The key point today is that he’s got some explaining to do and he should be quick about it.”
Mr Andrews said there was a “pattern of extremism” in the federal Coalition’s campaign, citing the dumping today of the Liberal candidate for Isaacs, Jeremy Hearn, over comments he made about Muslims, including that all Muslims subscribe to an ideology of “killing or enslavement of the citizens of Australia if they do not become Muslim”.
“I think there is a pattern of extremism, whether it’s in preference deals with One Nation, the online views of candidates, or in fact this alleged arrangements, and employment arrangements involving an absolute extremist, one with a criminal record, about interfering, allegedly, in the Victorian election, pitting one Victorian against another,” Mr Andrews said.
“It’s a very serious matter and the Prime Minister needs to answer this in full.”
Opposition condemns Hearn
Victorian Opposition Leader Michael O’Brien dismissed Mr Erikson’s claims that he was engaged by a third party to assist the Liberals in last year’s state election.
“If Neil Erikson told me the sun rose in the east I’d look out the window to check. I wouldn’t believe a thing,” Mr O’Brien said.
Mr O’Brien and planning spokesman Tim Smith earlier joined their federal colleagues in condemning Mr Hearn’s comments about Muslims, saying they have “no place in the modern Liberal Party”.
Mr O’Brien and Mr Smith’s comments come as the Liberal Party battles to hold the federal seats overlapping with their leafy inner eastern suburban state seats, after they sustained significant swings against them at the November state election.
“Those comments were appalling. I reject them entirely,” Mr O’Brien said.
Primrose Riordan 1.29pm: PM meets fired-up Perth voters
Scott Morrison has addressed a group of Liberal Party supporters and seniors in Perth this morning, where he was asked by one attendee whether he could “nail the bastard” in the three weeks left of the election campaign.
Mr Morrison was asked the question by Coalition voter Ian Johnson from South Fremantle.
“Can any of you remember that show Andrew Denton used to run, it’s called Enough Rope, well I think that’s what I’ll give him,” Mr Morrison replied.
Mr Morrison was also grilled on delays facing those waiting for home care packages and unlocked funding for the NDIS at the forum.
Mr Morrison said the government was looking at the issue as a “priority” but did not want to raise taxes.
Mr Morrison also called aged care minister Ken Wyatt the “yoda” of Australian politics due to his calm manner.
Steve Irons also joked about throwing Mr Wyatt under the bus as he introduced the aged care minister at the forum held in a former court house in Mr Wyatt’s seat of Hasluck this morning.
“Also hello to my great friend Ken Wyatt, the Member for Hasluck and the minister for everything in this area. Great to see you Ken. Ken tells me some of this ancestors used to come here,” Mr Irons said.
“Ken was just saying some of his ancestors used to come to this court many years ago. That was my chance to throw him under the bus because he threw me under the bus before,” he said.
1.23pm: Creasey ‘not welcome in parliament’
Liberal Senator Jane Hume has taken aim at the social media posts by Labor’s Melbourne candidate Luke Creasey. Her tweet as accompanied by a picture of Mr Creasey at a Labor women’s rights announcement.
.@CreaseyLuke’s posts are simply foul. @billshortenmp and @AustralianLabor must immediately disendorse him in the seat of Melbourne.
— Jane Hume (@SenatorHume) May 1, 2019
A candidate who makes rape jokes and shares pornographic material online is not welcome in the Australian parliament. #auspol pic.twitter.com/R0lVbnC74S
1.05pm: Birmingham on dumped Lib
The Liberal Party's campaign spokesman Simon Birmingham has spoken after the party was this morning forced to disendorse its candidate in the Victorian seat of Isaacs, Jeremy Hearn, after he claimed Muslims wanted to kill and enslave Australians. “There will certainly be a thorough review after the election of what went wrong in terms of the vetting process,’’ he said. “I trust the Labor Party will be equally thorough.’’
.@Birmo on Jeremy Hearn: There will certainly be a thorough review after the election of what went wrong in terms of the vetting process. I trust the Labor Party will be equally thorough.
— Sky News Australia (@SkyNewsAust) May 1, 2019
MORE: https://t.co/XYu9ICsha1 #kennyreport pic.twitter.com/3sbgzyQVGd
Rachel Baxendale 1.00pm: Vic Libs condemn Hearn
Victorian Opposition Leader Michael O’Brien and planning spokesman Tim Smith have joined their federal colleagues in condemning dumped Isaacs candidate Jeremy Hearn’s comments on Muslims, saying they have “no place in the modern Liberal Party”.
“Those comments were appalling. I reject them entirely,” Mr O’Brien said. He said recent news stories had highlighted a need for both major parties to improve their vetting processes, citing the Labor Party’s decision to disendorse its Northern Territory Senate candidate Wayne Kurnorth, after The Australian revealed that he shared an anti-Semitic conspiracy theory that claims the world is being run by a secret society of Jewish shape-shifting lizards.
Mr O’Brien also highlighted Labor being forced to reprint how-to-vote cards in the bayside Melbourne seat of Goldstein, following revelations it had preferenced a former One Nation candidate who runs a fan club for the proponent of the anti-Semitic Jewish lizard theory.
Labor campaigners were still handing out how-to-vote cards preferencing John Tiger Casley above Liberal MP Tim Wilson yesterday, but a party spokesman told The Australian the process of reprinting and replacing the fliers was underway.
Richard Ferguson 12.25pm: Labor opponent should quit: Bandt
Adam Bandt, the three-term Greens MP for Melbourne, told The Australian that Labor’s candidate in the seat Luke Creasey should consider stepping aside. Mr Creasy, who shared a rape joke and pornographic material online, has apologised but vowed he will not step aside. “If this is true, it is very concerning,” Mr Bandt said. “I think Mr Creasey needs to consider whether he remains as the Labor candidate.” Read more here.
Andrew Clennell 12.35pm: Get Up’s tactical blunder
The Liberal Party believes it has been given a boost in its marginal seats in NSW because left-wing campaign organisation GetUp has decided — unlike at the 2016 election — to put all its resources into former prime minister Tony Abbott’s seat of Warringah rather than target Coalition marginals. GetUp says it has about 600 volunteers in Warringah, where Mr Abbott is facing a challenge from independent candidate Zali Steggall that the Liberals believe they can narrowly stave off. But the number of volunteers in Warringah from the organisation means GetUp is not working in seats it attacked during the last federal election campaign. Read more here.
Richard Ferguson 12.15pm: Labor candidate sorry for porn
The Labor candidate who shared a rape joke and pornographic material online has apologised. Luke Creasey, who is running against Greens MP Adam Bandt, will not step down but says the lewd Facebook posts — shared when he was in his early 20s — were “stupid” and “immature.”“It’s been brought to my attention that some posts I shared on social media several years ago when I was in my early 20s have been circulated,” he said in a statement today. “What I said was stupid, immature and in no way reflects the views I hold today. I apologise for these posts which have been removed. My focus remains on making sure we elect a Shorten Labor Government and restore funding to our schools and hospitals.” Read more here.
Primrose Riordan 12.10pm: PM at WA forum in Hasluck
Scott Morrison is in aged care minister Ken Wyatt’s seat of Hasluck and is set to address a group of Liberal supporters and retirees to discuss Labor’s franking credit policy. Mr Wyatt and Liberal MP Steve Irons will address the forum as well. Mr Morrison has also been joined today by his wife Jenny.
Rosie Lewis 12.05pm: McKim stumbles on renewables
Tasmanian Greens senator Nick McKim has been unable to say what the party’s 2030 emissions target is, as it pushes for 100 per cent renewable energy by that year. Senator McKim also declared the Greens were ready to work with Labor on climate change policy as they did with Julia Gillard in the 43rd parliament, saying it was now up to Bill Shorten to act.
The Greens policy is for “net zero” emissions by 2040, whereas Labor has proposed a 45 per cent emissions reduction target based on 2005 levels by 2030 and the Coalition’s reduction target is 26 to 28 per cent. Asked what the party’s 2030 emissions target was, Senator McKim told Sky News: “We think we need to (have) a far more ambitious target than Labor does by 2030. All of this will be on the table in negotiations. The thing about negotiations is it takes two to tango. Richard Di Natale’s contacted Bill Shorten, reached out the hand of cooperation and said effectively this is such a serious issue that we need to sit down like adults and work through and negotiate it. We stand ready to do that. The question now is Labor prepared to do that? We’ve done it once when Julia Gillard was PM, we introduced through negotiations with Labor a global leading climate package which actually drove Australia’s emissions down. We stand ready to do that again and the ball is very clearly now in Bill Shorten’s court.”
Greg Brown 11.50am: Shorten photo emerges
A photo has emerged of Bill Shorten with dumped Northern Territory Senate candidate Wayne Kurnoth, despite the Labor leader claiming he never met him. The picture shows the Opposition Leader with his arm around the United Voice union leader, who stood down after The Australian revealed he shared an anti-Semitic conspiracy theory online that claims the world is being run by a secret society of Jewish shape-shifting lizards.
“This fellow, who I have never met, who was on the Northern Territory Senate ticket. I don’t think ... anyone is contrasting (what he did) with the complete Islamophobia of the Liberals,” he said. “But nonetheless, not appropriate, gone.”
Richard Ferguson 11.35am: Labor candidate in porn strife
Labor’s candidate for Melbourne Luke Creasey, a high school teacher, has become the latest in a string of major party candidates to get in trouble over their social media history by sharing rape jokes and pornographic material online. Mr Creasey, who is running to unseat Greens MP Adam Bandt, shared a rape meme in 2012 on his Facebook page which read: “Hey I just met you / If you don’t date me / You’ll go to prison / I’ll say you raped me.” He also shared a link to pornographic material about pegging — a sexual kink — and made disparaging comments about working class people and people who live in Sydney’s Sutherland Shire. Read more here.
Luke Griffiths 11.25am: Getup targets Libs in Boothby
A small number of GetUp members spent this morning protesting outside the office of Boothby Liberal MP Nicolle Flint. The left-wing activist group is targeting Ms Flint, who holds the suburban Adelaide seat by a margin of 2.7 per cent, over what they say is her indifference towards climate change. “Nicolle Flint has been at the centre of the Liberal party’s destructive climate policy, as long as she and her hard right mates are in parliament, progress will be blocked,” GetUp campaigner Renaire Druery said. “Boothby voters are demanding a representative that is serious about climate action, this is at the front of their mind as they prepare to go to the ballot box.’’
Ms Flint is one of half a dozen government MPs being targeted by GetUp as the group seeks to oust “hard right” MPs. Last month, the 40-year-old accused the group of focusing on stunts, not substance. “While Labor and their union and GetUp mates are focused on staging stunts and bombarding local residents with negative personal attacks on me, I’m getting on with the job of delivering for my community,” Ms Flint said.
Bill Shorten has spent this morning campaigning in Boothby alongside Labor candidate Nadia Clancy.
Richard Ferguson 11.00am: Butler on carbon credits
Opposition climate change spokesman Mark Butler has conceded Labor will not engage in conservation with Australian businesses about how many international carbon credits they need to purchase to help its ambitious emissions target until after the election. Mr Butler also said there would be more domestic carbon credits under Labor policy, and businesses would not need to just send money overseas.
“It would depend on price and we’re confident that we are a reinvigorated carbon farming market, there will be much more supply of very affordable credits from the Australian carbon farming market,” he said in Adelaide. “We might have arrangements with countries in our region but those are matters they (business) want to engage in discussion with once we’re in government, if we win the election.”
Richard Ferguson 10.45am: Shorten: No coalition with Greens
Bill Shorten has ruled out any coalition with the Greens to pass climate policy. “No coalition with the Greens. Sorry, Richard, it’s not happening,” he said in Adelaide today.
“I see that the Greens are sort of trailing their coat and saying, ‘Look at me’. The fact of the matter is that if we get elected we’ll be making decisions in a Labor Cabinet and the decisions will be made by members of Parliament of the Labor Party.
“The good news for us is if we’re elected, we’re elected to implement our policies.
“I do not expect the Senate to stand in the way of our government if we are elected, when we clearly outlined all our policies and have such a strong mandate in the event that we are elected.”
The Australian reported this morning that Greens leader Richard Di Natale will appeal directly to Mr Shorten to work with the Greens in a Gillard-era inspired coalition after May 18 to combat climate change, warning the Labor leader he will never reach a bipartisan position with the Coalition. As Scott Morrison ramps up his attack against a Labor-Greens alliance, Senator Di Natale will today use his National Press Club election address to urge the Opposition Leader to negotiate a comprehensive energy policy with him.
Richard Ferguson 9.45am: ‘The right decision’
Opposition legal affairs spokesman Mark Dreyfus has welcomed the sacking of his Liberal opponent Jeremy Hearn in the Melbourne seat of Isaacs, after he was caught posting anti-Muslim tirades online.
“I’m pleased to hear that ... if it is correct that Mr Hearn has been sacked by the Victorian Liberal Party, then they’ve made the right decision, and I’d congratulate them for it,” Mr Dreyfus said.
“This man should never have been pre-selected by a mainstream political party in Australia in the first place.
“The Liberal Party has shown that it thought that it was OK to pre-select someone who had expressed these abhorrent Islamophobic views. And not just privately.
“These were views, prepared material, that Mr Hearn had committed to magazines like Quadrant Magazine as late as last year.”
.@AlanTudgeMP on Liberal candidate for Isaacs Jeremy Hearn: He’ll be disendorsed this morning – his views have no place within the Liberal Party and consequently the Victorian division is taking action this morning.
— Sky News Australia (@SkyNewsAust) April 30, 2019
MORE: https://t.co/UKpkLgCk3t #amagenda pic.twitter.com/ASOizAzmLb
Richard Ferguson 9.00am: Tudge defends MPs over extremist
Cities Minister Alan Tudge has defended two Coalition MPs who allegedly met far-right extremist Neil Erikson.
Western Australian MP Ian Goodenough told Guardian Australia he did encounter Erikson, a convicted criminal and former neo-Nazi, at a rally for white South African farmers last year.
Fellow MP Andrew Hastie has strongly denied he was at that same encounter, but Mr Goodenough and Erikson have both said Mr Hastie was present.
“Andrew Hastie was not at that meeting,” Mr Tudge told Sky News today.
“Andrew Hastie’s recollection is that he never even said hello to this person ... Ian Goodenough does believe that the person did approach him at the particular rally.
“I can absolutely guarantee you this: Ian Goodenough, Andrew Hastie, the Liberal Party do not share any of the values of this particular individual.”
Richard Ferguson 8.40am: Hearn to be axed
Liberal candidate Jeremy Hearn will be disendorsed after he claimed Muslims wanted to kill and enslave Australians.
The Coalition campaign has confirmed the Victorian Liberal state administrative committee will move to disendorse Mr Hearn today, after Josh Frydenberg called for him to be dumped.
Cities Minister Alan Tudge also confirmed on Sky News this morning Mr Hearn will be sacked.
Mr Hearn has written online that he wants taxpayers to stop funding Muslim schools because they are waging “rebellion against the government”.
In a series of online comments, Mr Hearn also said all Muslims subscribed to an ideology of “killing or enslavement of the citizens of Australia if they do not become Muslim.”
Mr Hearn wrote that Australia’s Muslim community wanted to “replace the Australian government and legal system with sharia (law)” and “(Muslims) are lying about their purpose to conceal their activities”
Mr Hearn last night told the Herald Sun: “Those comments were entirely wrong and I apologise unreservedly for them.”
.@AlanTudgeMP on Liberal candidate for Isaacs Jeremy Hearn: He’ll be disendorsed this morning – his views have no place within the Liberal Party and consequently the Victorian division is taking action this morning.
— Sky News Australia (@SkyNewsAust) April 30, 2019
MORE: https://t.co/UKpkLgCk3t #amagenda pic.twitter.com/ASOizAzmLb
Primrose Riordan 8.30am: Morrison hits marginal seats
Scott Morrison will spend this morning in Perth before heading back over to the east coast. He is yet to visit the more marginal seats in the state such as Hasluck and Swan as well as Michael Keenan’s former seat of Stirling.
Richard Ferguson 8.20am: Frydenberg - sack Hearn
Josh Frydenberg has called for a Liberal candidate in Victoria, who claimed Muslims wanted to kill and enslave Australians, to be disendorsed.
The Treasurer told the Herald Sun that Isaacs candidate Jeremy Hearn’s online comments were “appalling.”
”There is no place in the party for people with these views,” he said.
Mr Hearn has written online that he wants taxpayers to stop funding Muslim schools because they are waging “rebellion against the government”.
In a series of online comments, Mr Hearn also said all Muslims subscribed to an ideology of “killing or enslavement of the citizens of Australia if they do not become Muslim.”
Mr Hearn wrote that Australia’s Muslim community wanted to “replace the Australian government and legal system with sharia (law)” and “(Muslims) are lying about their purpose to conceal their activities”
Mr Hearn last night told the Herald Sun: “Those comments were entirely wrong and I apologise unreservedly for them.”
The Herald Sun also reports that the Victorian Liberal Party’s state administration committee will meet today to discuss Mr Hearn’s candidacy.
Greg Brown 8.10am: Shorten in Boothby
Bill Shorten will today spend the morning campaigning in the Adelaide seat of Boothby, which is held by Liberal MP Nicolle Flint on a margin of 2.7 per cent.
The Opposition Leader will visit a childcare centre and promote his plans to increase subsidies by $1 billion a year. Mr Shorten will spend one day in the South Australian capital, where he will also talk up plans to turn the Spencer Gulf region into a “renewable energy zone”.
Boothby is Labor’s best chance of picking up a seat in South Australia.
Richard Ferguson 7.25am: Pressure to disendorse Lib Islamophobe
A Liberal candidate in Victoria has been forced to apologise for claiming Muslims wanted to “replace” the government and kill or enslave Australians who did not convert to Islam
Scott Morrison is now under pressure to disendorse Mr Hearn, the Liberal candidate for the marginal Labor-held seat of Isaacs, as the Prime Minister faces a battle to hold onto Victorian seats.
Jeremy Hearn has written online that he wants taxpayers to stop funding Muslim schools because they are waging “rebellion against the government”.
In a series of online comments, Mr Hearn also said all Muslims subscribed to an ideology of “killing or enslavement of the citizens of Australia if they do not become Muslim.”
Mr Hearn wrote that Australia’s Muslim community wanted to “replace the Australian government and legal system with sharia (law)” and “(Muslims) are lying about their purpose to conceal their activities”
Mr Hearn last night told the Herald Sun: “Those comments were entirely wrong and I apologise unreservedly for them.”
Labor Isaacs MP and opposition legal affairs spokesman Mark Dreyfus branded Mr Hearn is an Islamophobe and must be sacked.
“These disgusting and divisive comments have no place in Australia and they should have no place in a mainstream political party,” he told the Herald Sun.
“Jeremy Hearn is an Islamophobe. His comments are hate speech and they are abhorrent. An apology is not enough. Morrison must kick him out.”
Labor has had its own problems with candidates with extremist views. ALP Northern Territory senate candidate Wayne Kurnorth was dumped earlier this week for sharing an article online claiming the world is controlled by Jewish shape-shifting lizard people.
What’s making news:
Richard Di Natale will appeal directly to Bill Shorten to work with the Greens in a Gillard-era inspired coalition after May 18 to combat climate change, warning the Labor leader he will never reach a bipartisan position with the Coalition.
Bill Shorten’s $1 billion cash splash to roll out solar and battery storage across Australia — a move that builds on a signature Kevin Rudd policy — has triggered claims it will cost 4000 schools up to $380,000 each.
The Coalition’s point man at the National Disability Insurance Agency has resigned suddenly, effective immediately, less than two years after taking the job.
Bill Shorten has left open a Labor government granting taxpayer-funded wage increases to “underpaid” aged-care workers from next year, as he sought to contain demands for him to extend his $10 billion pre-election wage subsidy promise to childcare workers to other sectors.
Labor has unleashed Kevin Rudd into marginal seats to win back Mandarin-speaking voters who deserted the party following former NSW leader Michael Daley’s disastrous anti-Chinese gaffe.
Labor has shifted its position on forest policy, abandoning support for more native forest reserves, as it attempts to retain three under-siege Tasmanian marginal seats.
Braddon — a key Labor-held marginal seat in northwest Tasmania — is poised to return to the Liberals, a new poll shows.
Scott Morrison has warned that two of the states’ key revenue sources — stamp duty and GST — could be hit by a property slump linked to Labor’s negative gearing and capital gains tax changes.
Michael McCormack has tied the Nationals’ electoral fortunes to a promise of building more dams, despite conceding the Coalition’s failure over the past six years to get a single dam project off the drawing board.
Labor’s candidate in the hotly contested NSW seat of Cowper, Andrew Woodward, has been forced into an about-face on views that the Adani coalmine “must be stopped” to ease the “climate crisis”.
Gladys Liu, the Liberal candidate for the marginal Melbourne seat of Chisholm, has blamed “nerves” for claiming during two public debates held a fortnight apart that she was an AFL multicultural ambassador, despite resigning from the role last year.
Pauline Hanson broke down in tears last night during a television interview in which she lashed out at current and former One Nation members for “letting her down dreadfully” and leaving the party in chaos.
The mother-in-law of Queensland Liberal National Party leader Deb Frecklington says Clive Palmer is a “bully” who “can’t be trusted” and warns Scott Morrison that the businessman could be destabilising for the government during the next term of parliament.
Paul Kelly writes: The status quo may not be a vote winner but Labor’s promises could come back to bite it.
Janet Albrechtsen writes: Imagine how much stronger the Liberal Party would be if leaders had championed more core values.
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