Federal Election 2019: Campaign Day 34: PM slams Shorten’s ‘desperate’ accusation over gays
The PM launches a renewed attack on Bill Shorten’s criticism of his religious views.
- ‘I’m not running for Pope’
- ‘Mean commentary’ on gays
- Pre-polling nearly 3m
- Security nutters ‘a code’
- First home plan ‘will firm market’
- ‘We discussed property plan’
Hello and welcome to PoliticsNow, The Australian’s live blog on Day 34 of the federal election campaign.
Polls are tight, hung parliaments are in sight, and both leaders are planning an aggressive blitz on key marginals.
Top story: Scott Morrison has declared he is running for Prime Minister not Pope as he launched a renewed attack on Bill Shorten’s criticism of his religious views.
9.45pm: Morrison makes friends on campaign trail
Scott Morrison has shared a beer with locals at the Bridgenorth Football Club in Launceston.
34-year-old Jarrad Cirkel, who sported an impressive mullet, took the opportunity to take a photo with the PM.
6.12pm: Tune in to The Scrutineers
On the latest episode of The Scrutineers podcast, Alice Workman interviews Sid Maher and Turi Condon, discussing the upcoming federal election, ScoMo’s housing plan and Newspoll.
Primrose Riordan 6.05pm: Howard hits back at Keating’s claims
Former Prime Minister John Howard has hit back at Paul Keating, saying his call to “clean out” intelligence agencies was “inappropriate” and “unjustified”.
“I happen to know quite well and was responsible for the appointment of quite a number of the people who he attacked and I thought they were entirely unjustified comments to people who have served both sides of Australian politics with a great deal of distinction. People like David Irvine and Nick Warner and Duncan Lewis,” the former Liberal leader told Sky News.
“They’ve all done wonderful service and do be the recipient of those fairly inappropriate remarks is just pretty poor.”
Mr Howard also said Australians should not read much into the fact former leaders like himself did not attend the subdued Liberal Party launch on the weekend.
“I don’t think so, I think this is overdone, I don’t know that the presence of those former Labor Prime Ministers and some subsequent comments by one of them was such a rip-roaring success.”
Mr Howard said his party were still behind in the race to win the May 18 election, but Labor did not have a strong primary vote.
“I think we can win, I’m not saying we will, we’re still behind. But if I were Bill Shorten there’s one thing I would really lay awake thinking about and that is the primary vote of the Labor Party,” he said.
“If you look at the last three changes of government and I was intimately involved in the first two namely 96 when we won and 2007 when we lost, 2013 when Tony Abbott won, on those three occasions, a week or more out from the election there was a clear ascendancy in the primary vote of the winning party and we had a lead in 96 of something like eight or ten per cent in the primary.”
“And in 2007 Labor had a lead of four or five per cent and in 2013 I think Abbott was seven or eight per cent ahead. Now on this occasion I think Labor’s primary vote, albeit suppressed is lower than our admittedly also suppressed primary vote.”
“There is some unhappiness with how our side has behaved I accept that but I find no instinctive warmth towards the alternative and if you look at those figures they seem to bear that out.”
Joe Kelly 5.10pm: Trade war ‘not good for global economy’
Scott Morrison has warned the escalation of the US/China trade war is “not good for the global economy” after both superpowers raised trade barriers.
The Prime Minister used the intensification of the trade war to warn voters it was the wrong time to switch to a Labor government. He argued that Bill Shorten’s high taxing agenda was the wrong policy prescription for the challenges facing Australia.
“They are not good certainly for the regional economy,” Mr Morrison said. “We’d be very keen to see these issues resolved between China and the United States.”
Campaigning in the seat of Bass in Tasmania where he announced $15 million for a community sporting precinct in northern Launceston, Mr Morrison stressed that Australia did not have to pick sides between Beijing and Washington.
But he advised Australians concerned about the economic outlook not to cast a ballot in favour of the Labor Party on Saturday.
“What it highlights is a point I’ve been making,” he said. “And that is we are facing more uncertain times economically over the next three to five years.”
“Australia is going in to another difficult period. And so the issue for Australians is, as you’re going into that, do you want to go into that period, if you vote Labor with higher taxes weighing down the Australian economy?”
Mr Morrison also announced $10 million for the renewal of the Albert Hall.
Sid Maher 5.05pm: ‘I’m not running for Pope’
Scott Morrison has declared he is running for Prime Minister not Pope as he launched a renewed attack on Bill Shorten’s criticism of his religious views.
Declaring “theological questions’’ should have no place in an election campaign, Mr Morrison described the Opposition Leader’s swipe as “frankly a bit grubby and a bit beneath him and disappointing’’.
Mr Morrison said yesterday in Perth that he supported the law that legalised same-sex marriage and never mixed his religion with politics when asked if he believed gay people went to hel as he was questioned over the Israel Folau issue.
He did not directly say he disagreed with the proposition.
The Opposition Leader seized on the comments today, saying he could not believe the discussion was even under way and he did not believe gay people went to hell.
“I don’t need a law to tell me that. I don’t believe it. I think if you want to be prime minister of Australia you’ve got to be prime minister for all people. I just don’t believe it. The nation’s got to stop eating itself in this sort of madness of division and toxicity,” Mr Shorten said while campaigning in the Tasmanian seat of Braddon.
“The meanest commentary I’ve seen in the election is actually the propositions that are being advanced that gay people are going to go to hell ... I can’t believe the Prime Minister has not immediately said that gay people will not go to hell. This country needs to really lift itself and the political debate and coverage needs to really lift itself in the next four days.”
But asked about Mr Shorten’s comments earlier today in Perth, Mr Morrison explicitly said he did not believe gay people went to hell.
“No, I do not believe that,” the Prime Minister said.
In Tasmania this afternoon, Mr Morrison again bristled when Mr Shorten’s criticism of his refusal to comment on whether gay people go to Hell was raised at a door stop at a campaign event in Launceston.
“It is not my view that’s the case,’’ Mr Morrison said. “My faith is about ... God’s love is for everybody. That is what I’ve always believed.
“I found it very disappointing that without even prompting he sought to try and politicise this. And seek to exploit opportunity for it. I thought that was very disappointing. I don’t think that should have a place in this election campaign.
“People’s faith are people’s faith.
“I’m not running for Pope, I’m running for Prime Minister. So, you know, theological questions you can leave at the door.’’
He said Mr Shorten was raising it as a distraction.
“The real issue is Labor is getting more desperate. When they get desperate, these are the sort of tricks they try and pull. I’d suggest _ let’s stay talking about the sort of taxes you want to put on the Australian people,’’ Mr Morrison said.
Alice Workman 4.50pm: Pump TV ads to fuel run to end
The Coalition is rolling out ads at 12,000 petrol stations to circumvent the election media blackout. Read more here
Rosie Lewis 4.30pm: Franking fracas
Labor’s candidate for Boothby Nadia Clancy says voters have raised the party’s controversial franking credits policy with her but a line had to be drawn.
She did not think it would be a make or break policy in the marginal Adelaide seat, and predicted the election result could come down to just 10 votes.
“It’s really tight,” Ms Clancy told The Australian. “Franking credits come up ... There are some who are on the edge who (receive) the smaller amounts (of the cash refunds) and I do say I understand, I do genuinely feel for them. A line had to be drawn somewhere there and it’s something that started costing $500 million a year and it’s now costing $6 billion a year.
“I don’t think that people in the same breath can say you need to have a strong budget and you need to find ways to pay for all the services you want to provide but make sure that money doesn’t come from me.”
Ms Clancy said Boothby constituents were excited about Labor’s climate policy, having a federal environmental protection agency, school funding and more affordable childcare.
Rosie Lewis 4.15pm: Power play
Bill Shorten has made a lightning visit to Flinders University in the Adelaide seat of Boothby to inspect thousands of solar panels from a cherry picker.
He was accompanied by energy spokesman Mark Butler, Labor’s Senate leader Penny Wong and Boothby candidate Nadia Clancy, a former parliamentary staffer to Mr Butler and Kevin Rudd.
The university installed 4100 solar panels at a cost of $5 million, which generate 1.8 megawatts of power. Today they were powering 40 per cent of the institution’s electricity.
There were also three electric cars for the picture opportunity but Mr Shorten did not inspect them.
Rosie Lewis 3.26pm: Shorten challenged at Labor rally
Bill Shorten has been heckled by a Liberal voter at a rally of more than 100 Labor supporters, with the Boothby local questioning how the Opposition Leader was going to pay for his election promises.
At a Labor BBQ in Mitchell Park, in Adelaide’s southern suburbs, Mr Shorten told supporters he detected a mood for change though conceded Saturday’s result was by no means clear.
Michael Ded, 83, called out “where do you get the money from?” when Mr Shorten talked up Labor’s climate policy, which includes a 45 per cent emissions reduction target.
“I’ll tell you what brother, what we will do is we will stop giving tax subsidies to the very wealthy and the multinationals and we will back working and middle class people,” Mr Shorten responded.
Speaking after Mr Shorten preached to the party faithful, Mr Ded said he supported Labor’s action on climate change but he did not trust the party.
Mr Ded, who ran a furniture store with his daughter and grandson and also worked in a factory, said he did vote for Kevin Rudd but he felt let down by Labor.
“I agree with him (Mr Shorten) for climate change, I like it but still I’d like to know where he get the money from to give it to the people,” Mr Ded said.
“Why am I coming here? To listen what he says. He told me in the face where he got the money from.”
As Mr Ded praised John Howard and Peter Costello for their economic management he was challenged by Labor supporters, who reminded him their party had delivered Medicare.
“All my life I’m 61 years here in the country, every time we vote Labor we went broke. Liberal coming in, pull us out of trouble,” Mr Ded said.
A Labor supporter called back: “That is so not true.”
Mr Ded said he lived near the park.
Ewin Hannan 3.10pm: ‘Put a stake into heart of neoliberalism’
The ACTU leadership has urged workers to “change the country” at Saturday’s election by voting out the Morrison government and “putting a stake into the heart of neoliberalism”.
In a joint video, ACTU secretary Sally McManus and ACTU president Michele O’Neil said “we are on the cusp of changing our country for the better” and urged workers not to be distracted and scared by the negative tactics of the “rich and powerful”.
Ms McManus said workers were “on the cusp of doing something really big and that is being in a position to deliver some of the best workers’ rights that people have ever seen in the country”.
“The rich and powerful have actually got a lot to lose,’’ she said.
“They like not paying tax. They like the fact that their workers are not getting pay rises because they don’t have the tools and power they need to win it. They love being able to put people in labour hire and make jobs casual because it cuts costs for them.
“So they are adding all that up. They are going to do whatever is necessary in these last few days of the election to try and distract people, to try and scare people, to try and throw as much dirt as possible so people vote not to change the rules because it’s in their interests that things stay as they are.”
She said workers were on the “cusp of turning around our country and putting a stake into the heart of neoliberalism and trickle down economics”.
Rosie Lewis 2.14pm: PM’s response ‘pretty odd’: Wong
Labor’s foreign affairs spokeswoman Penny Wong said she found it “pretty odd” Scott Morrison was unable to say yesterday if he believed gay people went to hell.
Senator Wong, who is gay and memorably broke down in tears when the result of the same-sex marriage plebiscite was announced, said the Prime Minister should have been able to answer the question.
“We know what Scott Morrison’s view on marriage equality was, he was against it, he opposed it and then even when his electorate supported it he left the parliament so he didn’t have to vote for it,” she said.
“It’s pretty clear what Mr Morrison’s view on equality is ... It was a pretty odd fact yesterday he couldn’t answer a straight question.”
Rosie Lewis 2.03pm: Shorten bus hits Boothby
The Shorten bus arrives at Mitchell Park in the Adelaide electorate of Boothby, held by the Libs on 2.7 per cent. Meet Eva, the democracy sausage dog (that is ketchup in between a bun) #ausvotes @australian pic.twitter.com/SLuHVWQOa7
— Rosie Lewis (@rosieslewis) May 14, 2019
Richard Ferguson 1.42pm: Greens ‘far more extreme’
John Howard has labelled the Greens are “far more extreme” than Clive Palmer and One Nation.
“The Australian people will decide whether someone is fit to be parliament,” he said in Perth today.
“That applies to whether you’re Clive Palmer, you’re One Nation, you’re Liberal or Labor.
“But I can just say on the measure of extremities; the most extreme political movement on offer in this election is the Greens.
“The Greens are far more extreme than Clive Palmer or One Nation.”
Mr Howard is campaigning today for Aged Care Minister Ken Wyatt in the marginal southern Perth seat of Hasluck.
Rosie Lewis 12.40pm: PM lashes ‘cheap’ Shorten over gays
Scott Morrison says he does not believe gay people go to hell, and labelled Bill Shorten’s attack on his earlier refusal to state that belief a “desperate, cheap shot.”
“No, I do not believe that,” the Prime Minister said today.
“It was a desperate, cheap shot from Bill Shorten who is looking to distract attention from his housing tax that will undermine the value of people’s homes.”
A war of words between Mr Morrison and the Opposition Leader over faith and gay rights has escalated in recent days.
Mr Morrison said yesterday in Perth that he supported the law that legalised same-sex marriage and never mixed his religion with politics when asked yesterday if he believed gay people went to hell.
He did not directly say he disagreed with the proposition.
The Opposition Leader seized on the comments today, saying he could not believe the discussion was even under way and he did not believe gay people went to hell.
“I don’t need a law to tell me that. I don’t believe it. I think if you want to be prime minister of Australia you’ve got to be prime minister for all people. I just don’t believe it. The nation’s got to stop eating itself in this sort of madness of division and toxicity,” Mr Shorten said while campaigning in the Tasmanian seat of Braddon.
“The meanest commentary I’ve seen in the election is actually the propositions that are being advanced that gay people are going to go to hell ... I can’t believe the Prime Minister has not immediately said that gay people will not go to hell. This country needs to really lift itself and the political debate and coverage needs to really lift itself in the next four days.”
Mr Shorten’s attack comes after former Labor prime minister Paul Keating labelled Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton the meanest politician and urged the constituents of Dickson to “drive a political stake” through his political career.
Deputy Labor leader Tanya Plibersek quipped: “We’ve all said that about Peter Dutton.”
Richard Ferguson 12.25pm: Bowen’s party mix-up
Opposition Treasury spokesman Chris Bowen has warned Australians not to vote for a “Labor government” today. If only by accident.
“Of course the real risk in this election is the re-election of a Morrison Labor Government reliant on Pauline Hanson and Clive Palmer,” Mr Bowen told ABC radio this morning.
The revelation that Scott Morrison will lead a Labor government will no doubt rock the election campaign.
But news Mr Bowen has swapped identities with the Prime Minister may be of greater concern to Labor insiders.
“Okay. Mr Morrison thanks,” ABC host Sabra Lane said at the end of her interview with Mr Bowen.
Richard Ferguson 12.10pm: Dutton hits back at Keating
Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton has hit back at Paul Keating’s call for Dickson voters to “drive a political stake ... though his dark political heart” by claiming the former prime minister destroyed his father’s small business.
The Home Affairs Minister this morning tweeted: “Paul Keating almost destroyed my Dad’s small business with his heartless mismanagement of the economy & he inspired me to join the Liberal Party.”
Throwing Mr Keating’s own words back at him, he added: “It’s why I’m so passionate about not letting Bill Shorten repeat history & drive a stake through the hearts of small businesses around the country with his higher taxes.”
Paul Keating almost destroyed my Dad’s small business with his heartless mismanagement of the economy & he inspired me to join the Liberal Party.
— Peter Dutton (@PeterDutton_MP) May 14, 2019
It’s why I’m so passionate about not letting Bill Shorten repeat history & drive a stake through the hearts of small businesses around the country with his higher taxes.
— Peter Dutton (@PeterDutton_MP) May 14, 2019
Mr Keating told ABC radio earlier this morning that Mr Dutton was the “meanest” politician he had come across in his fifty years in politics.
“I joined the Australian Parliament 50 years ago this year. In those 50 years, I’ve never seen any public figure as mean or mean-spirited as Peter Dutton,” the former Labor leader said..
“At this election, those electors in Dickson have a chance to drive a political stake through his dark political heart.
“The meanness which informs his view of the world and the country means that with this big apparatus (of Home Affairs) at his hand, you wouldn’t know where his priorities are.”
11.55am: Racist flyers attack Aly
Flyers attacking Anne Aly have been distributed in the West Australian Labor MP’s electorate.
The flyers refer to Dr Aly by her full Egyptian given name and says she supports banning any criticism of Islam “just like Saudi Arabia”.
One Nation leader Pauline Hanson, who is in Perth, said her party had nothing to do with the flyers but rejected descriptions of the material as racist. “That word is just thrown around too easily these days. You can’t have an opinion or say anything without being called racist,” Senator Hanson told ABC radio.
She said it was a personal attack on Dr Aly and she didn’t agree with it. “We don’t fight in the gutter. It’s not my way or my candidates’ (way),” she said.
Senator Hanson confronted Dr Aly on Monday during a chance encounter in Cowan, which the counter-terrorism expert holds with a margin of 0.7 per cent, complaining about her speaking to a journalist about a private lunch they had three years ago.
Dr Aly appeared surprised, asking Senator Hanson why she was bringing it up now.
Rosie Lewis 11.15am: Shorten blasts PM over gays
Bill Shorten has singled out Scott Morrison’s refusal to say he did not believe gay people would go to hell as the “meanest commentary” of the federal election campaign.
The Prime Minister said he supported the law that legalised same-sex marriage and never mixed his religion with politics when asked yesterday if he believed gay people went to hell.
He did not directly say he disagreed with the proposition.
The Opposition Leader seized on the comments today, saying he could not believe the discussion was even under way and he did not believe gay people went to hell.
“I don’t need a law to tell me that. I don’t believe it. I think if you want to be prime minister of Australia you’ve got to be prime minister for all people. I just don’t believe it. The nation’s got to stop eating itself in this sort of madness of division and toxicity,” Mr Shorten said while campaigning in the Tasmanian seat of Braddon.
“The meanest commentary I’ve seen in the election is actually the propositions that are being advanced that gay people are going to go to hell ... I can’t believe the Prime Minister has not immediately said that gay people will not go to hell. This country needs to really lift itself and the political debate and coverage needs to really lift itself in the next four days.”
Mr Shorten’s attack comes after former Labor prime minister Paul Keating labelled Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton the meanest politician and urged the constituents of Dickson to “drive a political stake” through his political career.
Deputy Labor leader Tanya Plibersek quipped: “We’ve all said that about Peter Dutton.”
Richard Ferguson 11.05am: Shorten doubles down on franking credits
Bill Shorten has doubled down on his franking credit reforms while campaigning in the Tasmanian seat of Braddon, after The Australian revealed its incumbent Labor MP Justine Keay went to the opposition frontbench with her electorate’s concerns over the proposal.
“It’s a reform which not everyone likes. But what good is a government in this country if it’s not willing to make the big decisions?” the Opposition Leader said today.
“This is a hard reform. But I tell you what - doesn’t it move your hearts when you hear that pensioners in Australia can’t afford to go to the dentist?
“Are you worried about someone who has got their sixth investment property, or complains about franking credits sicking on the back deck of their yacht?
“Are we really a nation who thinks that finding the out of pocket expenses for that should take second place to this lazy Government’s thread bare policy agenda where they want to shovel as much money as they can to big corporates, making Clive Palmer happy? Game on.”
.@billshortenmp on franking credits: This is a hard reform. Doesn’t it move your hearts when you hear that pensioners can’t afford to go to the dentist?
— Sky News Australia (@SkyNewsAust) May 14, 2019
MORE: https://t.co/21cqrLIGwW #newsday pic.twitter.com/FGR21KDZp8
Richard Ferguson 10.30am: ALP to withdraw PM’s FWC submission
Bill Shorten will withdraw Scott Morrison’s current submission to the Fair Work Commission on increasing the minimum wage if he wins office on Saturday as part of Labor’s push to increase the wages of lower paid workers.
The Opposition Leader labelled the government’s current submission as “meaningless” and “insipid.”
.@billshortenmp on wages: It is a forward-leaning decision, an unprecedented decision, for us to boldly put the case to the commission that we should have modest but meaningful rises.
— Sky News Australia (@SkyNewsAust) May 14, 2019
MORE: https://t.co/21cqrLIGwW #newsday pic.twitter.com/dtobQV8D4Q
In its submission, the Coalition did not explicitly support an above-inflation increase. It said it had “provided the latest evidence on the economy, labour market, low-paid workers and inequality for the panel to consider in determining a fair increase to minimum wages.’’’
Mr Shorten said the Fair Work Commission should remain the final arbiter but there should be modest meaningful wage rises for millions of Australia.
“Let’s not confuse a government advocating and making a submission to increase wages with determining the outcome,” Mr Shorten said.
“Previously, historically, governments have put in submissions. But let’s be clear - I have said today, Brendan O’Connor, my shadow minister and I, have written to the Fair Work Commission.
“And we have said that in the event we’re elected next Saturday, one of our first acts will be to withdraw from the old government’s meaningless, insipid submission.
“Now, I acknowledge that it is a forward-leaning decision, an unprecedented decision for us to boldly put the case to the Commission, that we should have modest but meaningful rises, fairer wage rises for millions of Australians.”
The Opposition Leader has written to the FWC this morning stating he will prosecute a new case for increasing wages to them if he wins on Saturday.
To read more of Labor’s plan on wages, click here.
Richard Ferguson 9.50am: Pre-polling nearly 3m
Nearly 3 million people have already cast their ballot four days out from polling day, the Australian Electoral Commission says.
“As of COB Monday approximately 2.6m people had cast their vote at an early voting centre for the 2019 federal election. Around 400k voted yesterday,” the AEC tweeted today.
“This compares to 1.5m pre-polled at the same stage of the 2016 federal election.”
As of COB Monday approximately 2.6m people had cast their vote at an early voting centre for the 2019 federal election. Around 400k voted yesterday. #ausvotes #auspol
— AEC (@AusElectoralCom) May 13, 2019
Richard Ferguson 9.45am: ‘Drive stake through Dutton’s dark heart’
Paul Keating has called on the voters of Dickson to “drive a political stake” through “mean” Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton’s political career.
“I joined the Australian Parliament 50 years ago this year. In those 50 years, I’ve never seen any public figure as mean or mean-spirited as Peter Dutton,” he told ABC radio this morning.
“At this election, those electors in Dickson have a chance to drive a political stake through his dark political heart.
“The meanness which informs his view of the world and the country means that with this big apparatus (of Home Affairs) at his hand, you wouldn’t know where his priorities are.”
Joe Kelly 9.40am: Deposit scheme ‘good for whole family’
Scott Morrison has told 2GB radio that “independents need to declare” who they would back in the event of a hung parliament, as he talked-up the benefits of his new home loan deposit scheme.
The Prime Minister said the new $500 million scheme would stop Australians borrowing money from their family to purchase their first property, saying that “young people are going to the bank of mum and dad.”
He warned this practice was also eating into the retirement savings of older Australians, and argued his new plan to top-up home loan deposits from 5 per cent to 20 per cent for first home buyers was a “great solution for the whole family.”
Taking aim at the independent candidate running in the seat of Cowper, Rob Oakeshott, Mr Morrison argued that when he was last in parliament he “voted for Julia Gillard and Kevin Rudd.”
“He voted for the carbon tax. He voted for the mining tax.”
Mr Morrison doubled down on his calls for independent candidates to reveal who they would support in a hung parliament, suggesting that the Labor candidate in Wentworth in Sydney’s East - Kerryn Phelps - would support Labor’s legislative agenda.
“I want people in their communities to know now,” he said. “You never know what you’re going to get.”
Richard Ferguson 9.15am: Security nutters ‘a code’
Paul Keating says he was “speaking in code” when he called Australia’s national security chiefs “nutters” at the Labor Party campaign launch and that “dormitory chit chat” picked up by spies was too influential in informing foreign policy.
“I was sort of speaking in code to the foreign policy and security establishment. Of course, we need a national security apparatus,” he told ABC radio this morning.
“What in short-hand I was suggesting (was) that the importance of the security agencies and intelligence should not be the currency of Australia’s foreign policy settings.
“The foreign policy of Australia should be made in relation to the tectonic plates of power in the world.
“That’s what we should be making the foreign policy, and not university dormitory chit chat which the intelligence agencies pick up in their signals intelligence and then that goes into the cabinet room informing the foreign policy.”
Bill Shorten distanced himself last week from Mr Keating’s comments on security services after the former prime minister was attacked by Scott Morrison.
Mr Keating, Labor leader from 1991 to 1996, has long argued for a more independent foreign policy and a shift towards China.
Rosie Lewis 8.40am: Shorten targets Tassie
The Shorten camp has arrived at the University of Tasmania Rural Clinical School in Burnie. Bill Shorten will he joined by his deputy Tanya Plibersek, health spokeswoman Catherine King, Braddon MP Justine Keay and senator Anne Urquhart.
Labor must retain its four Tasmanian seats, three of which are very marginal, to give the Opposition Leader his best shot of forming government.
Joe Kelly 8.15am: PM defends Independent demand, property plan
Scott Morrison will begin his day by campaigning in Adelaide, telling local ABC radio that it was a “reasonable question” to demand who Independent candidates would support in the event of a hung parliament.
“Those who are running as independents in their electorates would need to answer,” the Prime Minister said. “This is going to be a very close election.”
Mr Morrison said the Liberal Party was campaigning hard to return the Coalition to a majority government, but said voters should know who an independent candidate would support.
He argued that the Centre Alliance MP for the South Australian seat of Mayo -- Rebekha Sharkia -- should make clear which side of politics she would back if the election delivered a hung parliament.
“You just never know what you’re going to get,” Mr Morrison said.
He also defended his $500 million scheme to help first home buyers into the market, saying he had discussed the program with the Treasurer Josh Frydenberg and Finance Minister Mathias Cormann for “months.”
“A final decision was made when we were in the campaign,” he said. “This is based on a couple of schemes that have been operating in other jurisdictions for decades.”
He also dismissed suggestions the scheme was a subsidy, arguing it was simply “opening up the door” for young home buyers.
Richard Ferguson 8.10am: Property plan ‘will firm market’
Finance Minister Mathias Cormann says the government’s proposed first home buyers’ deposit scheme will not put pressure on interest rates.
“That’s wrong. These schemes have operated successfully, for example, in Western Australia and New Zealand,” he told ABC radio this morning.
“That has not been the experience in those markets, and we don’t expect that to be the experience here.
“We do expect this to have a firming effect on the property market; which is of course in contrast to Labor’s agenda which will drive down the values of people’s homes and push up people’s rents.”
Richard Ferguson 8.00am: Property plan ‘discussed for some time’
Finance Minister Mathias Cormann says Scott Morrison’s economic ministerial team have been working on a first home buyers’ deposit scheme for “some time”, despite reports the cabinet was not told about the policy.
“It’s an election commitment which was developed by the economic team, together with the Prime Minister, it is very carefully designed,” he told ABC radio this morning.
“I have been involved in discussions in relation to this for some time ... It’s something that we’ve looked at for some time.
“This is a policy that will help first home buyers into the housing market. Of course, it’s been widely welcomed by key stakeholders. It’s been backed in by the Labor Party, sight unseen, before we even put the policy on our websites.”
Richard Ferguson 7.55am: Aussies ‘deserve to know how Indies vote
Finance Minister Mathias Cormann has denied Scott Morrison’s calls for independent candidates to declare their hand in a hung parliament situation is a concession the Coalition cannot get a majority.
“We want the Australian people ... to vote Liberal-National,” he told ABC radio this morning.
“We do believe it is fair and reasonable for the Australian people, in the context of independents running at this election, what they would do.
“Are you really suggesting that somebody running for a seat in parliament, who might be successful on Saturday, should not be indicating whether they would be supporting our agenda for a stronger economy or Bill Shorten’s agenda for a weaker economy?
“We are in the election campaign now. Surely the Australian people deserve to know how a independent candidate, who may well be successful on Saturday, would vote in the parliament on the formation of the government.”
Richard Ferguson 7.40am: Senate concerns ‘false argument’
Chris Bowen has labelled concerns he will not get his tax plans past a post-election Senate are a “false argument” due to the difficulty in predicting results for the upper house.
“This is a bit of a false argument. I don’t know who’s going to win the House of Representatives, I certainly don’t know who’s going to win the Senate,” he told ABC radio.
“I’ve seen all sorts of commentators out there predicting the Senate with a high degree of certainty. Frankly they’re wrong.”
Richard Ferguson 7.35am: ALP policies ‘right for the times’
Opposition treasury spokesman Chris Bowen says he will put his tax changes and spending promises to the Australian parliament, even if there is a global economic downturn.
“We’re seeking a mandate to big and important things, of course we are going to put them to the parliament and argue for them,” he told ABC radio this morning.
“Of course they will be reflected in the first budget of a Shorten Labor government which I will bring down in the third quarter of this year, if elected.
“We believe the policies are right for the times. We need bigger buffers, we need bigger surpluses.”
Richard Ferguson 7.30am: Home buyer plan ‘reasonable’
Opposition treasury spokesman Chris Bowen has defended adopting the Coalition’s first home buyer deposit scheme despite reports today Scott Morrison did not model the policy.
“When we see an idea which we think is reasonable, we will say that,” he said on ABC radio today.
“It’s pretty modest, not many people will be accessing this scheme ... we don’t see it as such a big deal. We see it as something if carefully designed, properly implemented could play a role.
“We think this is a concept which could work, we think this is a concept we are comfortable with. Of course there will be design elements to work through, the government hasn’t put much out.”
Rosie Lewis 7.10am: Shorten in three state marathon
It’s going to be a three-state day for Bill Shorten, who is ramping up
his campaign pace for the final sprint to May 18. The Opposition
Leader will begin campaigning in the marginal Labor-held seat of
Braddon, in northwest Tasmania, before heading to Adelaide and then on
to Perth.
What’s making news:
Scott Morrison has called on independent candidates to declare whether they would support the Coalition or Labor in the event of a hung parliament, as the election contest tightens and the chance of a minority government rises.
Removing names from public service job applications to tackle “unconscious” gender bias, a move championed by Bill Shorten yesterday, backfired in a previous trial, which found men benefited the most from the change.
Bill Shorten will immediately urge the Fair Work Commission to support an above-inflation pay rise for minimum wage and award-reliant low-paid workers if Labor wins Saturday’s election.
Victorian, Queensland and West Australian voters are set to decide the outcome of Saturday’s federal election, with the three states swinging most strongly behind Labor since 2016, despite Scott Morrison remaining the preferred prime minister.
A growing revolt at Labor’s franking credits policy is threatening to cost it two key marginal seats in Tasmania, as MP Justine Keay revealed she took concerns about the plan to the ALP frontbench.
John Howard has accused a “sneering’’ Bill Shorten of coming after ordinary, hardworking people with tax increases on their retirement income and housing, saying there is a growing community view “he’s after your savings”.
The Coalition’s first-home buyer plan will inject up to $3 billion into the housing market but will do little to stem further falls in prices, economists say.
The teachers’ union has been accused of running a misleading campaign around school funding, including cherrypicking data to back up its contention that Catholic schools rake in more government support than public schools.
Greens candidate for Higgins Jason Ball has been labelled a “hypocrite” by Labor for using his official candidate Instagram account to promote a Holden car he was given for free as part of a marketing deal.
Troy Bramston writes: Labor know that voters will not ignore years of policy chaos, political dysfunction and revolving-door prime ministers.
John Durie writes: The new government will have to give us a jump start as soon as it pulls into Canberra.
‘Unique’ AUKUS deal a safeguard from tariffs: Marles
Defence Minister Richard Marles spruiks Australian contributions to US military at a meeting with Pete Hegseth in Washington, as Donald Trump runs the ruler over American allies.
Trump’s Gaza gambit is brazen and naive
Donald Trump has shown the gulf between his position and Anthony Albanese’s, wedging Labor on Palestine. But his plan to ‘own’ Gaza won’t work.