Federal election 2019: Path to victory ‘like walking on razor edge’
Scott Morrison has described the eight months leading up to his government’s re-election as like “walking along the edge of a razor blade”.
- Albo looks to dump franking credits plan
- Phelps concedes in Wentworth
- Labor’s blame game
- Libs claim Boothby
- Franking plan ‘mistake’
Hello and welcome to PoliticsNow, The Australian’s live coverage of the federal election results. Counting continues in a handful of undecided seats as the Coalition closes in on an absolute majority in the 151-seat parliament.
• Top stories: Tanya Plibersek rules out running for Labor leadership
Anthony Albanese looks to dump Labor’s franking credits policy
Turnbull takes a swipe at coup leader Peter Dutton
Elias Visontay 9.33pm: Election lead-up ‘like walking on edge of razor blade’
Prime Minister Scott Morrison has described the Coalition’s victory at Saturday’s election as a “victory for the quiet Australians”, who he said voted out of concern for their jobs and the country’s economic future.
Appearing on Sky’s Paul Murray Live, Mr Morrison also said his eight months as prime minister leading up to his government’s reelection was like “walking along the edge of a razor blade”.
“Ultimately Australians need to be the ones who make the choices about their lives and not have those made by governments.”
“It was about them saying, I think, ‘our choice is the one that’s important not those that people want to make for us’”.
“They don’t want these class wars. They don’t want to see these divisions.”
“It was a victory for the quiet Australians. Not for the Liberal Party or me personally, it wasn’t actually about politics. It was about them sending I think a very clear message that ‘we want to remain in control of our lives’.”
“We want to cut taxes because we want people to keep more of what they earn because we believe their money is better off in their pocket with their decisions.
“I said to people before the election ‘I trust you, I back you. That’s why I’m asking you to back me’, and they did.”
When elaborating on who “quiet Australians” were, Mr Morrison hailed working mothers and fathers, young Australians on apprenticeships, the disabled, and migrant families in seats including Banks, Chisholm and Reid - which all saw swings towards the Liberals.
“These are highly multicultural seats. The thing about migrant communities I believe is they’re aspirational. They didn’t come here to take something they came here to give something. Make a contribution with their lives and set up opportunities for their kids.
Mr Morrison also said “the bubble certainly popped on Saturday night” for media commentators who had predicted his government’s downfall, but that there was no such bubble for “most other Australians”.
“So many Australians... they’re not that engaged in politics all the time, they’re not looking for the government to come and tell them how they should live their lives.”
“I had a very clear job to do when I took over the prime ministership last year I knew that we’d been doing good things as a government but people were frustrated with what had happened in terms of changing of leaders and all those sorts of things and people were rightly pretty peeved about that and they wanted to be assured that that wasn’t going to happen again.”
“When it came to it there was a clear path to us being able to win this election. It was a very narrow one. It was a bit like walking along the edge of a razor blade for eight months. But it required the discipline of the whole team.”
“So I think when people could see how just how disciplined our team had been over that eight months, and how much we had worked together.
“I think as we have begun so we will continue now with this fresh opportunity at this election.”
Elias Visontay 8.59pm: Labor ‘must resurrect itself in Qld’
Labor leadership frontrunner Anthony Albanese has called for a re-examination of the party’s economic policies, acknowledging the opposition did not convince voters that it was strong enough on jobs and economic growth during the election campaign.
Appearing on ABC’s 7.30, Mr Albanese also acknowledged that Labor needed to focus on resurrecting itself in Queensland.
“I think the working-class will certainly benefit from many of the policies that we put forward at the election. But, clearly, we’ve had a message sent to us on Saturday. We need to respect that message.
“We have not sold the message well enough … that we are interested in jobs and economic growth as the priority, as well as the distribution of wealth in our society.”
“I think what we need to do is to re-examine our policies - but not re-examine our values. So it’s our values that drive our policy across the board.
“So on economic policy, the value is that we want economic growth and job creation, that we want people to have opportunity in life, that we care about the distribution of wealth - but we also care about the creation of wealth.”
Regarding Labor’s vote in Queensland, Mr Albanese said: “that’s one of the big things that we’re going to have to examine”.
“We need to really examine how it is that we only got 25 per cent. Of course, our primary vote was only 1 in 3 Australians throughout the country. So it’s not just a Queensland issue. Our primary vote of 1 in 3 is simply not good enough. So Queensland has to be a priority,” he said.
Mr Albanese also said: “I think the issue with the franking credits policy was that it impacted on some people who had made arrangements on the basis of the existing laws that were there, and they felt as though what we were doing was changing the rules midstream.”
He also refused to agree with the premise that Labor has “tracked too far to the left”, saying:
“What we need to do is explain the fact that change is occurring and ensure that we put forward a strong argument that a Labor government will shape that change in the interests of working people.”
Elias Visontay 6.55pm: Turnbull’s swipe at Dutton
Former Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has taken a fresh swipe at Peter Dutton while congratulating Scott Morrison on a “very outstanding personal victory” in Saturday’s election.
“I congratulate Scott on a very outstanding personal victory … I’m very glad that in that dreadful time in August he succeeded to the prime ministership rather than Peter Dutton,” Mr Turnbull said.
Mr Turnbull made the comments today when arriving back in Australia from a holiday that coincided with the tail end of the election campaign.
Mr Dutton was behind the leadership coup that led Malcolm Turnbull to resign from politics, triggering a by-election in his Sydney seat of Wentworth.
Mr Turnbull congratulated newly elected Liberal MP Dave Sharma on victory at his second attempt at succeeding him in Wentworth.
However Mr Turnbull also congratulated Kerryn Phelps, who defied Wentworth’s reputation as a safe Liberal seat when she won it at a by-election last October as an independent.
She conceded the seat to Mr Sharma today.
It comes as Alex Turnbull labelled former prime minster and Tony Abbott a “terrorist” and expressed his delight at the former prime minister’s election defeat in the seat of Warringah.
“I am very happy I got rid of Tony,” he told 9 News, also acknowledging the grassroots campaign behind independent victor Zali Steggall.
“Tony was very much a terrorist.”
Greg Brown 4.45pm: Conroy backs Albo
Labor MP Pat Conroy has backed Anthony Albanese as Labor leader, declaring he was “authentic” and people would trust him.
The NSW Left MP said Mr Albanese would be the right person to lead the party to the election.
“I think he has got a proven track record of delivering for all Australians as a senior minister and deputy prime minister,” Mr Conroy told The Australian.
“Albo is also an incredibly authentic person. What you see with Albo is what you get and people can trust him.”
Greg Brown 4.42pm: Indigenous referendum not on agenda
Cities Minister Alan Tudge says he does not know if there will be a referendum on indigenous recognition in this term of parliament.
“That is something that I don’t know if we’ll get there or not. We haven’t committed to holding a referendum this term,” Mr Tudge told the ABC.
Greg Brown 4.40pm: Palmer money stole election from Labor: Swan
ALP president Wayne Swan has shifted blame for the election loss on Clive Palmer and “vested interests” that he says spent more than $100 million on campaigning against the Labor Party.
Mr Swan said Mr Palmer and business lobbies spent about nine times the amount of money spent by the unions, GetUp and Labor, warning the “future of democracy was under threat” by “cheque book democracy”
“There is no doubt when Clive Palmer could get together $70 million and be joined by the Master Builders (Association) and a whole host of lobby groups who probably in the end spent upwards of $100 million in a campaign against the Labor Party that we were massively swamped by private vested interests and billionaires when it came to campaign spending,” Mr Swan told the ABC.
“You can’t discount the impact that had particularly in the saturation advertising that we saw in the last two-and-a-half weeks.”
Mr Swan claimed Mr Palmer stole the election from Labor.
“The power of vested interests and turning Australia into a cheque book democracy is going to be a subject of substantial public debate in the country for the next three years,” Mr Swan said.
“Whatever mistakes the Labor Party made, we do know democracy is under threat when an individual can spend $60 million in cheque book democracy, basically with a revolving preference deal with the Liberal Party to help steal an election.”
He said GetUp failed to make an impact on the outcome.
“If I was GetUp I would be doing what the Labor Party is going to do and going to have a good hard look on the effectiveness of what we are doing,” he said.
Mr Swan said Labor would review its policies and campaign strategy but rejected Labor ran a class war or radical agenda.
“There is nothing more aspirational than giving people the capacity to work hard and be rewarded for their efforts and people on middle and low income get a fair go in the taxpayer tax system. It is aspirational to have decent education and health care,” Mr Swan said.
Ben Packham 4.00pm: ‘Anti-Green’ Albo can connect
Queensland MP Graham Perrett has declared Labor leadership candidate Anthony Albanese can connect with voters in the Sunshine State, because he is anti-Green, likes rugby league, and has a beer named after him.
As Mr Albanese presses his claim on the Labor leadership, Mr Perrett said his Left-faction ally — a former transport and tourism minister — also understood Queensland’s regional challenges and the importance of its tourism industry.
“In all the years I’ve known him, his number one political enemy has been the Greens, so he understands that dynamic,” the Member for Morton said.
“He understands how to retail to people well and truly. He understands transport. Queensland is Australia’s most decentralised state and he understands that.
“He likes his footy, he’s a passionate South Sydney supporter. Queensland people respect loyalty.
“And for God’s sake, they guy’s got a beer named after him. If that doesn’t appeal to Queenslanders, what will?”
Reconnecting with Queensland voters is looming as a major factor as Labor considers who its next leader will be, after the state’s massive rejection of the ALP agenda on Saturday night.
While Mr Albanese is a Left-faction heavyweight who has had to barricade his seat from the Greens, Mr Perrett said the inner-city Sydney MP could take a nuanced position on issues like the Adani coal mine.
“He understands the complexities — that people have cars, people want their lights on, people want their air conditioning on.
“He lives in the real world, and understands that. And he can package an idea.”
Ben Packham 2.53pm: ‘Now is not my time’: Plibersek out of race
Tanya Plibersek will not run for the Labor leadership.
Ms Plibersek, who campaigned alongside Bill Shorten as his deputy, argues she would have had strong support to contest the leadership, but is concerned about the impact on her family.
Ms Plibersek, a darling of the party’s rank and file, said she believed she could have become leader.
“I have support, from across the party, to be elected leader,” she said.
“I am overwhelmed by the confidence my colleagues, the union movement, and Labor party members have placed in me.
“I thank them from the bottom of my heart for their support.
“But now is not my time.”
Ms Plibersek said she could not reconcile her family responsibilities with the additional workload she would have to shoulder as leader.
“I have to my family with the additional responsibilities of the Labor leadership.
“I know some people will be disappointed with this decision.
“I intend to continue as deputy leader until the leadership is determined.
“At that point I will serve in whatever capacity my colleagues best think can help Labor return to government.
“Whatever my colleagues decide, I will play a role in taking our economic and social policy agenda to the next stage.”
Richard Ferguson 2.25pm: PM straight back to work
Scott Morrison has gone back to work after his stunning election victory on Saturday and is set to receive economic and national security briefings through the next couple of days.
“Tomorrow I will be talking to the Treasurer (Josh Frydenberg) about economic issues, that side of things. The leadership group has met this morning,” he said in his Sydney office today.
“It is a back-to-work day that enables Australians get back to work.
“The government will be about those jobs, we are creating 1.25 million new jobs.
“It is about keeping Australians safe and secure. This afternoon I will hook up for a national security briefing from our defence chiefs to make sure we are back in on those issues as quickly as possible. A lot to do.”
As of 2:26pm today, the government is ahead in 77 seats and has 50.88 per cent of the two party preferred vote according to the Australian Electoral Commission.
Jessica Cortis 2.10pm: Sharma takes his seat
Liberal MP Dave Sharma has claimed Malcolm Turnbull’s old seat of Wentworth, saying it was a “long and continuous campaign” that kicked off straight the by-election seven months ago.
He reclaims it from independent Dr Kerryn Phelps who won it at a by-election last October.
“I want to acknowledge and thank Kerryn Phelps for fighting a tough campaign”
“I am honoured and humbled of the trust people of Wentworth have shown in me.”
Mr Sharma won’t consider a position in the ministry and will focus on newly-won Wentworth.
Greg Brown 2.00pm: ‘Look mining towns in the eye’: Labor MP
Labor MP Milton Dick has called on the future leadership team to immediately visit mining towns in central Queensland and “look people in the eye and hear their concerns”.
Mr Dick, a Queensland Right MP, said Labor needed to address the disastrous result in regional Queensland, where marginal seats were turned into safe ones on the back of concerns about Bill Shorten’s position on coalmining.
“One of the things I would like the new leadership team to do, once we settle that in due course, is the first place I want them to visit is to central Queensland and look people in the eye and hear their concerns,” Mr Dick told The Australian.
“I won’t sugar-coat this: it is a really, really tough result for us in central Queensland. We have received some of our lowest votes there. We have got a hell of a lot of work to do to rebuild the trust in some of those mining and resources communities.
“That is one of the key take outs from this election. We have got to take the medicine, we have got to hear what people have said.”
Mr Dick, who held his vote in the Brisbane seat of Oxley better than most Queensland MPs, said Labor needed to talk more about the benefits of the resources sector, which he described as the backbone of Queensland’s economy.
“We need to take a stronger and firmer view of talking about resources and the benefits they bring to our economy, not just here domestically in Queensland but across Australia,” he said.
Mr Dick backed Mr Shorten to stay in parliament and on the frontbench of a new Labor team.
Greg Brown 1.55pm: Franking call gets louder
Labor MP Maria Vamvakinou has called on the future leadership group to reconsider its franking credits and negative gearing policies, declaring they would have a detrimental impact on working and middle class Australians.
Ms Vamvakinou, a Victorian Left MP, told The Australian that Saturday’s result showed the public had rejected Labor’s policies.
“We need to look at it from the point of the people who said to us that they cannot afford to lose their retirement savings,” Ms Vamvakinou.
“I don’t believe the top end of town was going to be suffering very much. It is the middle group that can’t afford to lose what they planned to have.
“I think we need to not only accept it is real and understand them, but we need to find a way to address it.
“A lot of people didn’t vote for us because they didn’t want the policy change.”
Ms Vamvakinou said the negative gearing changes would have impacted “middle and working class Australia”.
Richard Ferguson 1.45pm: Albo set to dump franking plan
Labor frontbencher Anthony Albanese has opened the door to dumping the party’s franking credits reforms if he is elected leader, saying the policy hit people who “weren’t very wealthy”.
“Quite clearly one of the issues I think that was very difficult for us was that the measures that we were proposing about the dividend issue impacted on people’s hip pockets, and some of those, of course, weren’t very wealthy people,” he told Adelaide’s 5AA radio.
“They were people for whom a small cheque was what they paid their rates with or their car rego, or other essentials in life when it came in, so that clearly had an impact for us.
“Quite clearly the amount of money that is going out there is the reason why we were proposing that $6 billion is unaffordable in terms of the budget to keep growing into the future, but clearly those issues are going to have to be looked at by the government itself in my view, down the track.”
Mr Albanese was reported yesterday to be considering dumping both the franking credits and the negative gearing policies, but he would not confirm that when asked at his campaign launch yesterday in Sydney.
Of course Albo will be the next Labor leader!
— Peter van Onselen (@vanOnselenP) May 20, 2019
1.35pm: Union’s dummy spit
A post-election “call to arms” tweet from journalist union the MEAA has sparked some backlash. Journalists critical of it say it is at odds with the basic premise of impartiality in reporting. The tweet appears to have disappeared from the union’s feed.
1.10pm: Bright spot amid gloom
Long-serving Labor MP Warren Snowdon has claimed victory in the Northern Territory seat of Lingiari, AAP reports.
With more than 66 per cent of votes counted by Monday morning, the swing towards Country Liberal Party candidate Jacinta Price was only 1.4 per cent and Mr Snowdon felt secure with a margin of nearly 6.9 per cent.
One of Australia’s longest-serving MPs, the 69-year-old former Rudd minister was first elected in 1987 and served until 1996. He was elected again in 1998 and has served ever since.
— AAP
Simon Benson 1pm: National security plans
Scott Morrison will convene a meeting of cabinet’s National Security Committee for briefing defence and intelligence agencies. Read more here
Richard Ferguson 12.42pm: Turnbull weighs in
Malcolm Turnbull has congratulated incoming Liberal MP Dave Sharma for winning his old seat off independent Kerryn Phelps.
Congratulations @DaveSharma on winning Wentworth - the best part of the best country in the world! Good luck in the years ahead. And thank you @drkerrynphelps for the great courage and character you showed as our MP.
— Malcolm Turnbull (@TurnbullMalcolm) May 20, 2019
Dr Phelps won the seat in a by-election last year after Mr Turnbull resigned over his removal from the Prime Ministership.
She lost the seat in a very close contest with Mr Sharma and conceded today.
Greg Brown 12.35pm: Labor philosophy questioned
Victoria’s Jobs Minister Martin Pakula has urged federal Labor to return to the centrist policy agenda of the Hawke/Keating years.
Mr Pakula slapped down outgoing Labor senator Doug Cameron, who has taken to social media to warn against Labor “catapulting once again to neoliberalism”.
Mr Pakula said Labor had never capitulated to neoliberalism and praised the reform era under Bob Hawke and Paul Keating.
“When did we capitulate to neo liberalism? The Hawke/Keating years when we won and implemented lasting, vital social reform? Now is the time for a robust internal debate about the future and the preconditions for Labor winning. People who rely on Labor governments deserve no less,” Mr Pakula tweeted in response to Senator Cameron.
When did we we capitulate to neo liberalism? The Hawke / Keating years when we won & implemented lasting, vital social reform? Now IS the time for a robust internal debate about the future & the preconditions for Labor winning. People who rely on Labor Governments deserve no less https://t.co/8xlEyexEJE
— Martin Pakula (@MartinPakulaMP) May 19, 2019
Senator Cameron has also said on social media this morning the election was close and Labor should not change its policies.
“The ‘miracle’ has seen the Libs sweet in to a narrow majority. As it stands now the difference is 181,454 votes across the nation. Hardly a ringing endorsement for the Liberal Party,” Senator Cameron said.
“Over five million Australians backed a progressive Labor agenda. We must stay strong and progressive.”
Richard Ferguson 12.30pm: Meet the new ‘fixer’
Attorney-General Christian Porter will be Leader of the House in the re-elected Coalition government, acting as Scott Morrison’s key parliamentary tactician.
“That was a decision made prior to the election. So when Christopher Pyne retired, I did have a conversation with the PM that I would take that role in the last days of opposition and should we win government again,” Mr Porter said in Perth.
“So that is an important and vital role to the functioning of Parliament and I would like to see that role executed in a way that is as collegiate as possible and makes for a Parliament that is cooperative and works as well as it can do for the Australian people.”
With the government on track to win a majority of two in the lower house, Mr Porter should a relatively easier time controlling the floor as Leader of the House than some of his recent predecessors.
.@drkerrynphelps concedes defeat:
— Sky News Australia (@SkyNewsAust) May 20, 2019
I may have only been in parliament for a short time, but I am proud of my record. I wish @DaveSharma very well in his new role.
MORE: https://t.co/QG3zIp8Iuy pic.twitter.com/EZacCi0E2H
Jessica Cortis 12.20pm: ’People didn’t want Labor’
More from Kerryn Phelps, who has conceded defeat:
“We put up a great fight … none of us could have worked any harder than we did … we worked so hard to make sure we provided the people of Wentworth,” Ms Phelps said to media this morning.
With 75 per cent of votes counted, Mr Sharma leads in the ballots by almost 2,000 votes, claiming 51.16 per cent of votes after preferences on Sunday evening, while Dr Phelps has 48.84 per cent.
She said it was more important now than ever to address the future of the ABC, establish a national anti -corruption commission and support the medevac bill.
“I operated in Canberra with conviction and integrity … I delivered on my promises and I congratulate Dave Sharma.”
Dr Phelps said it was “up to the political analysts to decide” how she lost the seat. She was captured hugging her loyal supporters and pooches at the Eastern Suburbs Park shortly before addressing the media.
Dr Phelps summed up her seven months in Canberra as an “enormous privilege”.
“The circumstances were different in the by-election … I mean we needed to win a 19 per cent swing,” she said.
“The broader national issues came into play and I think it was because people didn’t want a Labor government.”
Richard Ferguson 12pm: Phelps concedes defeat
Independent MP for Wentworth Kerryn Phelps is conceding defeat after losing to Liberal challenger Dave Sharma.
Dr Phelps won the blue-ribbon Sydney seat last year against Mr Sharma in a shock after Malcolm Turnbull resigned. But on Saturday, Liberal voters returned to the government.
“There may well be a time in the future where the Australian public misses the constructive input of the crossbench in this last Parliament because that constructive crossbench can actually hold government to account,” she told supporters in Sydney.
“I am proud of the Home Affairs Amendments bill … which came to be known as the Medevac Bill.
“Since that bill was passed our public hospitals have not been overrun and none of the other dire convictions about compassionate treatment for sick refugees have come to pass. What we do have is prompt medical care for people under Australia’s watch.
“My hope is that Scott Morrison’s newly elected government will continue to ensure that the remaining refugees and people seeking asylum receive the attention deserve promptly and without unnecessary legal delays and that a proper solution is found for these people so that they can live in freedom and safety.”
The Prime Minister has promised to repeal Dr Phelps’ medevacs legislation.
11.45am: What’s next for Morrison?
* Caretaker period is now officially over.
* Swearing in of cabinet and wider ministry.
* Parliament, possibly opening in late June.
* Passing the federal budget handed down on April 2.
* Passing the income tax cut package.
* Banning animal activists going onto farms.
* Temporary exclusion orders to ensure returning foreign fighters are put on a watch list and subject to probation-like controls.
* Axing “medevac” legislation and mothballing Christmas Island.
* Underwriting of baseload power stations, based on shortlist of 12.
* Murray-Darling water plan review.
* First dams to be rolled out under regional water fund.
* Domestic violence national action plan.
* Expanding youth mental health and suicide prevention support.
* Guaranteeing part of house deposits for first home buyers.
— AAP
11.30am: Nats spruik poll result
The Nationals want to get on with building regional infrastructure and more dams after holding all of their lower house seats, AAP reports.
It looks like the Nationals will hold 16 seats in the House of Representatives, including LNP MPs in Queensland who sit in the Nationals party room in Canberra.
Leader Michael McCormack — who will remain deputy prime minister — said the party was thankful and proud.
“These results show voters have endorsed our plans in areas such as local infrastructure delivery and building dams to boost water security and grow economic activity in regional communities,” he said today. “The result also showed the Nationals always put locals first and we never take anything for granted, which is why we’ll return to work immediately and continue listening and working hard on local issues.”
However, the Nationals will have a reduced presence in the Senate. Tasmania’s Steve Martin appears unlikely to hold his seat in the upper house. Townsville-based businesswoman Susan McDonald is expected to take over retired senator Barry O’Sullivan’s Queensland Senate seat.
And water policy officer Perin Davey is still a shot to take up a NSW Senate seat, vacated by John Williams.
If Ms Davey does not win, the Nationals will only have Matt Canavan, Bridget McKenzie and Ms McDonald in the upper house, reducing its current numbers by two after July 1.
The Nationals will soon get to work discussing a new coalition agreement — a private letter between leader Michael McCormack and Prime Minister Scott Morrison setting out how the coalition will operate and key policy areas.
— AAP
11.15am: Morrison win to spur economy
The Coalition’s victory will boost the economy as tax cuts start to drive spending, say economists. Read more here
John Ferguson 11am: Vic Libs face ballot
Victorian Liberals president Robert Clark set to face challenge amid shifting sands in the party powerbase. Read more here
10.40am: Market hits decade high
The ASX has soared more than 1.5pc in early trade as the banks storm ahead after poll upset. Read more here
10.20am: Sharma out and about
Great to see Dave Sharma, the member-elect for Wentworth, out and about in Paddington last night #Wentworth #WentworthVotes #auspoI #2019election pic.twitter.com/ntYoL08wWc
— Christine Forster (@resourcefultype) May 20, 2019
Jessica Cortis 10am: ALP’s bush bashing
Veteran Labor MP Joel Fitzgibbon may run for leader if the contender doesn’t put “regional Australia on the agenda.” Read more here
Richard Ferguson 9.30am: More Labor finger pointing
West Australian Premier Mark McGowan has distanced himself from Labor’s disastrous performance in the west, despite being front and centre of Bill Shorten’s push there.
Mr McGowan has labelled Mr Shorten’s agenda “too grandiose” and lacking a core theme.
“Clearly, federal Labor had an overly ambitious policy agenda and allowed themselves to be attacked … They put it out there years in advance and it was targeted very successfully by the Liberal Party,” the premier told WAToday.
“I think what federal Labor did was they painted a huge target on themselves. Their policies were way too grandiose, way too many, they didn’t have a core theme to them.
“As a party we need to appeal to everybody and that includes people in business and in small business.”
Mr McGowan’s face was plastered all over Labor leaflets in Perth and even the WA version of the Bill Bus, and was considered a huge campaign plus by Labor strategists.
WA Labor failed to pick up any seats on Saturday, despite heavily targeting five electorates, and actually saw a swing away from it in the Perth suburbs.
Luke Griffiths 9.15am: Another win for Libs
The Liberal Party has won the marginal South Australian seat of Boothby.
Labor candidate Nadia Clancy this morning called incumbent MP Nicolle Flint to concede.
With 78 per cent of the vote counted, Ms Flint leads Ms Clancy 51.2-48.8 per cent on a two-party basis.
Uncounted pre-poll and postal votes are expected to favour Ms Flint. Ms Clancy, 32, said this morning that she would not make up the difference. “I’m sad,” she told ABC radio.
It is a particularly sweet victory for Ms Flint and the Liberals after the first-term MP was heavily targeted by GetUp and the unions.
Matthew Denholm 8.40am: Hanson fires up
Pauline Hanson has blamed “the left” for the apparent torching of a One Nation campaign van in Hobart last night.
The vehicle, emblazoned with One Nation election material including pictures of Ms Hanson and her two Tasmanian Senate candidates, caught fire while one of those candidates, Adam Lambert, was buying groceries.
“It is amazing how the left call for tolerance but act like they’re above the law when you don’t agree with their ideologies,” Ms Hanson tweeted, further alleging that someone was seen torching the car.
Tasmania Police confirmed the fire, in the eastern suburb of Howrah, was being investigated and treated as “suspicious”.
Shoppers in the area said they heard a loud explosion and police urged anyone with information about the incident to contact Crime Stoppers.
A bar worker at the nearby Shoreline Hotel told the ABC she saw flames bursting from the car park and called police soon after 5pm. Three fire crews attended the scene and extinguished the blaze.
Richard Ferguson 8.25am: PM followed Howard’s way
Scott Morrison has put down his election win to fighting the “politics of division” and gently ribbed commentators who did not expect him to succeed on Saturday.
“We don’t want to have this sort of country where he hold some people down to hold others up. We don’t want to have that politics of division,” he told Sydney’s 2GB radio.
“As we start out again, they just want us to get back to work. They don’t want to have politics in their face.”
When asked about the doubts of many he would win the election and some commentators saying he did not win any of the debates with Bill Shorten, the Prime Minister made note of the experience of another Liberal leader — John Howard.
“John Howard reminded me over the course of the campaign he said: ‘I just won one debate in 1996’. He was our second longest serving prime minister. It’s interesting what people think over the course of the campaign.
“There weren’t many people who thought this was possible eight months ago.”
Richard Ferguson 8.15am: Energy plan won’t change
Scott Morrison says there will be no changes to his energy policies after his election win, and has not committed to building a new coal-fired power station.
“We set out all of our energy policies before the election and that’s what I’m going to do,” the Prime Minister told Sydney’s 2GB radio.
“It will include a continuation of coal-fired power as part of the baseload power, it also included hydro, it included gas.
“So there’s no change to our policies there. What I took to the election is what I’m going to do.”
Richard Ferguson 8am: Franking credits ‘mistake’
Former Victorian Labor premier Steve Bracks has called on Labor to dump its controversial tax policies after its shock election loss.
“I think the fact that in franking credits, they didn’t grandfather the existing people who were collecting the benefit already was a mistake,” he told ABC News this morning.
“And I think, now, Labor probably has to dump those policies, move on and look at the sort of policies of fairness and redistribution in a different way.”
Labor frontbencher Joel Fitzgibbon has also called for the party to shift back to the centre.
Sid Maher 7.45am: Libs edge closer in Wentworth
Scott Morrison could finish with 77 or 78 seats — enough for a working majority after furnishing a speaker in the 151-seat House of Representatives — after the Liberals consolidated a winning lead in the inner-eastern Sydney seat of Wentworth.
Liberal candidate Dave Sharma has opened up a 1751 two-party-preferred lead over sitting independent Kerryn Phelps, who took the seat last year after the dumping and retirement of former Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull.
Sky News has reported that Dr Phelps is about to concede defeat in the seat.
Wentworth takes the Coalition’s tally to 75 seats while the Liberals also hold slender leads in two other close contests.
The Liberals hold leads in the Victorian seat of Chisholm (166 on a two-party preferred basis) and Bass (437 votes on a two-party preferred basis).
Labor holds a lead of 312 seats in the NSW seat of Macquarie. If the Coalition can run that down it would take Scott Morrison’s tally to 78 seats.
NSW Liberal Arthur Sinodinos said he was “optimistic’’ the Coalition could obtain a majority and it would be good for stability.
Richard Ferguson 7.30am: Labor ‘too ambitious’
Labor frontbencher Joel Fitzgibbon says Labor must shift back to the centre and be “less ambitious” after he suffered a nearly 15 per cent swing against him in his Hunter Valley seat.
“We took what you can fairly describe as a light touch climate policy into this election but once again, in many parts of the country, it was rejected and you can see that in my vote in the Hunter Valley,” he told ABC radio.
“The Labor Party must reconnect with its blue collar base and get back to the centre, and be less ambitious with its pace of change.
“People are inherently conservative in Australia and any change has be orderly and steady.”
Pauline Hanson’s One Nation achieved a more 20 per cent swing to it in Mr Fitzgibbon’s seat.
PM to hit the ground running
Scott Morrison will move swiftly to reconvene parliament and demand passage of his $158 billion income tax cut plan, claiming the Coalition has a mandate for its budget reforms following a historic election victory that is poised to deliver it majority government.
Opening talks with independents yesterday as counting continued in five seats that remained too close to call, the Prime Minister said among his first priorities would be implementing tax cuts, securing “urgent” counter-terrorism legislation and addressing failures in the National Disability Insurance Scheme.
Counting continues
The Liberal-National coalition is edging closer to a majority but could still need the support of crossbenchers in a hung parliament, AAP reports.
As counting continues, the coalition appears to be on 75 seats — two seats short of a majority in the lower house — with Labor on 65 seats and six crossbenchers.
Of the five seats still in doubt, the Liberals are ahead in Bass and Chisholm while Labor was ahead in Cowan, Lilly and Macquarie.
Wentworth now looks like being called for the Liberals’ Dave Sharma over high profile independent Kerryn Phelps and Boothby in Queensland will likely be retained by the Liberals.
The first sitting of the new parliament could occur before June 30, with the federal government seeking to deliver tax cuts of up to $1080 into the pockets of Australians earning up to $126,000.
“We’re going to get on with our economic plan, with our job creation plan. We will seek to legislate our plans to reduce the tax burden on Australians as soon as we possibly can,” Trade Minister Simon Birmingham told Nine’s Today program today.
The coalition’s plans also include improving mental health services, social media content laws and drought recovery policies.
“We want to support you … but not pretend to be a government that has answers for all of your problems, we want to support you instead to support your families and your lives,” Senator Birmingham said.
Mr Morrison also needs to fill a number of spots in his ministry due to retirements, including indigenous affairs, industrial relations and human services.
While the seat count continues and the government gets back to business, Labor is set for a month of introspection with a leadership ballot.
Frontbencher and former leadership challenger Anthony Albanese on Sunday became the first to formally announce a tilt at the top job, following what he described as a “devastating result”.
Deputy leader Tanya Plibersek will on Monday announce she will run for the leadership and shadow treasurer Chris Bowen is also expected to put himself forward.
Bill Shorten will be the interim leader while a postal ballot process is conducted.
The Labor national executive will gather for a teleconference on Monday to discuss the process.
— AAP
What’s making news
• Paul Kelly writes: The most astonishing election result since World War II is attributable to two forces.
• Selling the message — a look at how the unwinnable election was won.
• Janet Albrechtsen writes: How the Left gave a leg-up to its ideological rival.
• Chris Mitchell writes: Twitter warriors believe bias is anything not of the Left.
• Broadcaster Alan Jones has a message for Bill Shorten.
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