Federal Election 2019: Bill Shorten sneaky, tricky on climate costings, Scott Morrison says
Scott Morrison accuses the Labor leader over his carbon abatement policies.
- McKibbin report shows up ALP
- ‘I misunderstood super tax question’
- Shorten’s ‘lies’
- Gearing info still ALP no-show
- Christensen’s $3000 travels
- Lib hopes lifted in Bass
Hello and welcome to PoliticsNow, The Australian’s live blog on Day Seven of the federal election campaign.
Bill Shorten has crabwalked away from his claim there would be no new taxes on superannuation if he becomes prime minister, declaring he misunderstood the question which caused his $34 billion gaffe.
The Opposition Leader has also put the cost of natural disasters as a result of climate change at $18 billion as he claimed Labor’s 45 per cent carbon emissions reduction policy would cost the economy no more than the Coalition’s more modest policy.
Remy Varga 8.22pm: Banks backs down on Newstart
Julia Banks has backflipped on the Newstart payment, saying her earlier comments had been taken out of context.
The Independent MP caused controversy in May last year when she said she could “live on 40 bucks a day knowing that the government is supporting me with Newstart looking for employment”.
Ms Banks was a Liberal MP at the time and has since quit the party after Malcolm Turnbull was rolled in a messy leadership, citing bullying and misogyny.
Ms Banks tonight said that she never said the Newstart rate shouldn’t be raised and instead said that she had been taken out of context.
“A quote of mine was completely taken out of context,” she said. “Newstart usually includes the core amount as well as other benefits.
“I certainly do not think that anyone can live on $40 a day,” she said.
“That is not my position at all.”
“I strongly believe Newstart needs a deep dive review because I don’t believe anyone in Australian society should suffer or live below the poverty line.”
The payment is currently $270 a week for a single person.
The member for Chisholm is running in the federal seat of Flinders and made the comments at a meet the candidates forum in Dromana in the Mornington Peninsula.
Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt, who is the incumbent member for Flinders, also attended.
He was followed in by Stop Adani protestors and a man wearing a massive Peter Dutton paper mache head.
Mr Hunt currently holds the seat by a margin of 7.8 per cent.
Labor candidate Josh Sinclair, independent Susie Beveridge and Greens Nathan Leslie also attended.
Rosie Lewis 7.43pm: PM meets locals at a pub
Scott Morrison has dined at a local Devonport pub, telling young diners he planned on being around for the next election after learning they were only 16 and unable to vote next month.
The Prime Minister shouted a Richmond supporter a Boags Red and ordered himself one too, reminiscing about the season-opening Richmond vs Carlton clash he attended with Josh Frydenberg.
“He’s a big Carlton fan,” Mr Morrison said of the Treasurer, while again insisting he didn’t have an AFL team.
They joked about getting a “leave pass” to attend matches.
The PM asked if the man had “popped the question” to his partner before talking about 30 years of marriage with wife Jenny.
“Never regretted a day. I can highly recommend it,” Mr Morrison said.
A parma was the meal of choice for the man hoping to keep the top job.
While chatting to two girls Mr Morrison asked if they knew about the May 18 election. They informed him they were only 16.
“Next time. I’m planning on being around for the next one too,” Mr Morrison responded.
With AAP
Greg Brown 4.50pm: Greens ‘high on hypocrisy’
Resources Minister Matt Canavan has attacked Bob Brown for likening coal miners to heroin dealers, declaring the Greens were “high on hypocrisy”.
Senator Canavan ridiculed Mr Brown and the Greens for taking party in a “Stop Adani Convoy” in north Queensland over the Easter weekend.
“Bob Brown and the Greens are high on hypocrisy. These are the same people who want to introduce drug testing facilities at music festivals and the have the hide to call coal miners drug dealers,” Senator Canavan said
“This coal-fired powered convoy will use coal-fired power to charge their phones and use coal tax revenues and royalties to fund their mad cat Greens spending policies.
“And they live in a country were coal is the nation’s highest export.”
Greg Brown 4.39pm: Tax cuts ASAP: PM
Scott Morrison says he intends to legislate new income tax cuts “at the earliest possible opportunity” but would not commit to recalling parliament in June to make them law before July 1.
“What happens traditionally with the tax office is where there is a bipartisan commitment to matters that they can often go ahead and administer the tax arrangements on that basis. There are plenty of measures when they’ve been able to do that,” the Prime Minister said.
“It is certainly our intention to legislate them. When I introduced the tax relief in last year’s budget, and people said we weren’t going to be able to do that. And the Labor Party tried to break it up and deny the full implementation of our tax plan.
“Now, we were successful in legislating that. Just as we were successful last time, we will be successful again.”
Greg Brown 4.34pm: Shorten ‘sneaky, tricky on climate’
Scott Morrison has accused Bill Shorten of being “sneaky and tricky” by refusing to outline the costs of his 45 per cent emissions reduction target.
“We’ve seen just in the last two days the Leader of the Opposition, Bill Shorten, being sneaky and tricky on the taxes of superannuation, and we’ve seen him again today being sneaky and tricky when it comes to the cost to Australians of his carbon abatement policies,” the Prime Minister said.
“What Bill Shorten is refusing to do is tell you what his policies are and how much they are going to cost you. There is a big transaction cost for Australians. There is a big cost to changing governments.”
Energy Minister Angus Taylor said Mr Shorten’s policy would wipe $470 billion from the economy over the next decade.
“We have seen independent modelling from BA Economics which has told us what the impacts will be. A loss of 336,000 jobs across Australia, trashing wages by $9000 a worker, and a $470bn hit to the economy,” Mr Taylor said.
Michael Roddan 3.35pm: Housing slide biggest risk to economy: Treasury
The sliding housing market is the key risk to the health of the economy that will be inherited by the government in the 46th parliament, according to Treasury’s pre-election forecasts, which reveal the deficit for the current financial year has blown out by $100 million following the federal budget energy assistance payment backflip.
Read more here
Ben Packham 1.30pm: McKibbin report shows up ALP climate costs
Professor Warwick McKibbin’s 2015 report to the Abbott government on the impacts of various climate change abatement scenarios found that a 26 per cent emissions reduction on 2005 levels would cut GDP by 0.4 per cent 2030, while a 45 per cent would slash 1 per cent from GDP.
His report forecast average annual GDP growth would continue to be above 2 per cent under either scenario, noting that “stronger targets have larger economic impacts”.
In 2017, Professor McKibbin dismissed claims by Labor energy spokesman Mark Butler that his modelling shows the cost of almost halving Australia’s carbon emissions by 2030 would be “largely negligible”.
He said the raising the target reduction from 28 per cent to 45 per cent would almost double the cost to the economy.
“If you go for a steeper target, you get an increase in investment for a couple of years because you have to rebuild the system — it leads to a GDP gain upfront. But by 2030, you’re well and truly worse off. It is twice as costly for twice the target,’’ Prof McKibbin told The Australian in 2017.
Professor McKibbin said although the difference between a 28 per cent and a 45 per cent target was small in any one year, it was cumulative and built to a significant difference.
Chris Kenny 1.00pm: Dumbest campaign in history
If the election has any regard for facts and science it must reflect the obvious fact that neither Labor nor the Coalition plan will improve the climate.
To read the article in full click here.
Caroline Overington 12.25am: Bill’s women problem
Does Bill Shorten have a problem with female voters? Will they have a problem voting for him, as prime minister?
Put your ear to the ground, there’s a bit of chat out there — on the hustings, around the place — that women don’t much like the Opposition Leader, and the reason he is so rarely seen in public without a woman by his side is that the ALP knows it. This is despite the ALP proudly being the more feminist of the two parties.
To read the article in full, click here.
Greg Brown 11.52am: ‘No cost’ to emission target
Bill Shorten claims there will be no economic cost to his 45 per cent emissions reduction target.
“I don’t accept the characterisation that it is a cost. We’re going to grow. And we’re going to grow because we are going to move to a lower carbon pollution economy,” the Opposition Leader said.
.@billshortenmp: We’ve given hundreds of talks about our policy on climate change, and we think it’s an important issue in this election. Inaction on climate change is going to cost Australians in the future.
— Sky News Australia (@SkyNewsAust) April 17, 2019
MORE: https://t.co/XDlvROtOqW #newsday pic.twitter.com/RLKlowEJmD
Greg Brown 11.46am: Super ‘won’t hit wage growth’
Bill Shorten has denied lifting the superannuation guarantee will hit wage growth, as forecast by the Grattan Institute.
“The empirical evidence shows that over time, when there’s an increase in compulsory superannuation, it hasn’t affected wages growth. So I’m familiar with what they say, but I don’t accept it based on previous evidence,” the Opposition Leader said.
Mr Shorten has weaponised the Grattan Institute’s analysis that the government would need to cut spending by $40 billion a year to afford its income tax cuts.
Greg Brown 11.40am: ‘I misunderstood super question’
Bill Shorten has crabwalked away from his claim there would be no new taxes on superannuation if he becomes prime minister, declaring he misunderstood the question which caused his $34 billion gaffe.
The Opposition Leader said he thought yesterday’s question was referring to new taxes that had not been announced.
“I thought I was being asked if there were unannounced changes to superannuation and we’ve already made the announcements of the changes we’re going to make. But obviously we have changes which we outlined three years ago,” Mr Shorten said.
“I should have picked the words better, no question.”
He denied the measures, to raise $34 billion, were tax increases, instead saying Labor was cracking down on “loopholes”.
“I do dispute it as a tax increase. I absolutely do,” Mr Shorten said. “What happens when you give a concession to someone is that’s a tax expenditure. If I was to give you a concession on something, that is money that we take out of the tax system, which you get.”
.@billshortenmp: Yesterday, I thought I was being asked if we have any unannounced changes to superannuation. Obviously, we have changes we outlined three years ago. We have no proposals other than what we’ve announced previously.
— Sky News Australia (@SkyNewsAust) April 17, 2019
MORE: https://t.co/nRUR02OPTY #newsday pic.twitter.com/i299ArOAZp
Greg Brown 11.35am: Shorten ‘going after tradies’
Scott Morrison has accused Bill Shorten of going after tradies with Labor’s superannuation tax hikes, as he ridicules the Opposition Leader for claiming he had no plans for tax hikes on the sector.
The Prime Minister said small business owners would be among those hit by Mr Shorten’s $34 billion changes to superannuation.
“He was caught out yesterday, as you know, making a commitment not to put increased taxes on superannuation but has $34 billion of higher taxes on superannuation right across the country,” Mr Morrison said.
“One of those he’s taxing more is self-employed people more for what they put into their superannuation: tradies, home-based businesses.
“He’s going to rip away their ability to make contributions to their superannuation, simply because they work for themselves rather than work for someone else. That’s not fair.”
.@annelisenews: How much does the $387b figure relate to people earning over $180,000 a year? @ScottMorrisonMP: The Labor Party is trying to say this is for people on high income, but this for people earning as little as $45,000 a year.
— Sky News Australia (@SkyNewsAust) April 17, 2019
MORE: https://t.co/OyUkTRdU8p #Newsday pic.twitter.com/UUJBTQ6ysz
Greg Brown 11.30am: Natural disasters ‘to cost $18bn’
Bill Shorten has put the cost of natural disasters as a result of climate change at $18 billion as he claimed Labor’s 45 per cent carbon emissions reduction policy would cost the economy no more than the Coalition’s more modest policy.
The Opposition Leader, campaigning in Perth today, quoted modelling by Australian National University professor Warwick McKibbin, who argued Labor’s policy would cost the same as the Coalition’s 26 per cent target.
The higher emissions reductions could be achieved without additional cost because Labor’s policy allowed access to international carbon credits.
The claim comes after Mr Shorten was confronted by a journalist yesterday after he refused to say the cost of his 45 per cent target.
Greg Brown 11.12am: Christensen refers himself to IPEA
Nationals MP George Christensen has referred himself to the Independent Parliamentary Expenses Authority to examine claims he used $3000 of taxpayer funds to subsidise his private travel to the Philippines.
“I am absolutely confident that the travel was undertaken within the rules,” Mr Christensen said in a statement.
“But to remove any doubt I will refer the matter to the Independent Parliamentary Expenses Authority today so this issue does not distract from the things which matter to Dawson.”
Scott Morrison used the referral to avoid questions about the issue.
“George has referred all of those inquiries to the independent commissioner on this issue. That’s why we set the independent process up,” the Prime Minister said.
“George has referred himself to that, and he’s happy to have himself subjected to that independent scrutiny and that’s why we have such a commission, to inquire into exactly these questions. So that will be done, that will be assessed and then I have no doubt George will abide by the ruling handed down.”
Luke Griffiths 10.35am: SHY rules out DiNatale challenge
Sarah Hanson-Young has ruled out challenging Richard Di Natale for the Greens’ leadership, regardless of how the party performs at the upcoming election.
The South Australian senator yesterday said she had “absolutely no ambition” to become party leader and that Senator Di Natale was doing a “great job”.
The pair will today launch the Greens’ environmental policy in Adelaide, which is expected to revolve around Australia becoming a “renewable energy superpower”. This includes a move to 100 per cent renewables by 2030.
To read the article in full, click here.
Troy Bramston 10.24am: Shorten’s worst day yet
The combination of Scott Morrison and Josh Frydenberg has done what Malcolm Turnbull never could: lay a glove on Bill Shorten.
The Labor leader makes no apology for taking a suite of major policy changes to the election, flagging them well in advance and hopeful that he receives mandate for change. He hopes that being bold will pay a political dividend.
But Shorten’s big-target strategy was always high risk. Until this week, he had largely got away with it. The Coalition has struggled to punch any holes in Labor’s policies. Even Morrison as Treasurer was not the campaigner he is now.
Coalition and Labor figures say privately that yesterday was the opposition’s worst day in years as the attacks on a raft of policies, aided by questioning by journalists, saw the usually confident Shorten on the back foot.
But are voters listening?
To read the article in full, click here.
.@ScottMorrisonMP declines to try one of his freshly pulled carrots #AusVotes2019 @australian “Tony Abbott would have,†a journo offers, pic.twitter.com/BLHeDYvRbK
— Rosie Lewis (@rosieslewis) April 17, 2019
Perry Williams 10.15am: Energy users call for Canberra intervention
Energy users have called for the creation of a public gas company to act as a wholesale producer and reduce the power of monopoly incumbents, as a drastic measure to stave off high prices which threaten the closure of industrial facilities.
Commercial and industrial users of gas are approaching a “tipping point” with a looming price shock and shortage of gas on the east coast predicted to result in many companies closing or cutting production if the extra costs can’t be passed onto customers, the Energy Users Association of Australia has warned today.
To read the story in full, click here.
10.10am: Burston sues Hanson, staffer
United Australia Party senator Brian Burston has launched defamation action against One Nation leader Pauline Hanson and former staffer Wendy Leach. Senator Burston told AAP he denied any and all allegations of sexual harassment and mistreatment made against him by Ms Leach and repeated by Senator Hanson, along with other “defamatory and false statements”.
“I have no recourse but to pursue damages to bring Ms Leach and Ms Hanson to account for these reckless and plainly false comments clearly designed to cause me personal, professional and political damage,” he said.
AAP
Greg Brown 9.50am: Shorten’s “lies” to voters
Finance Minister Mathias Cormann has accused Bill Shorten of “trying to hide the impact of his high taxing agenda”, after Labor deleted detailed information of its negative gearing policy from its website.
“Bill Shorten is trying to hide the impact of his high taxing agenda on the economy, on jobs and on working families around Australia,” Senator Cormann told Sky News.
“The Labor Party has deleted a number of their tax hikes off their websites. But quite frankly it is not good enough. They should wipe their $387bn in higher taxes altogether.”
.@MathiasCormann: Bill Shorten is trying to hide the impact of his high taxing agenda on the economy. Labor has deleted a number of tax hikes off its website. It’s not good enough. It will make our economy weaker and put jobs at risk.
— Sky News Australia (@SkyNewsAust) April 16, 2019
MORE: https://t.co/pUCAfPweXk #amagenda pic.twitter.com/7CqHZ2QK7P
Senator Cormann said Mr Shorten “lied” to voters by promising no new taxes on superannuation.
“He said Labor was not planning any tax increases on superannuation when that is manifestly untrue,” Senator Cormann said.
“He is planning $34 billion in higher taxes on superannuation, which of course comes on top of $57 billion in higher taxes that target retirees.”
.@MathiasCormann: Bill Shorten yesterday lied when he said Labor wasn't planning tax increases on super when that is manifestly untrue. Labor is planning $34billion in higher taxes on super and $57billion in higher taxes targeting retirees.
— Sky News Australia (@SkyNewsAust) April 16, 2019
MORE https://t.co/pUCAfPweXk #amagenda pic.twitter.com/EUikBm7Sqj
Greg Brown 9.44am: Gearing info still no-show on ALP website
Labor is yet to republish detailed information on its negative gearing policies, which disappeared from its website yesterday.
The party previously had almost 100 paragraphs posted on its housing policy, including charts and diagrams explaining the negative gearing and capital gains wind back, but this was reduced to just 10 paragraphs yesterday.
Bill Shorten said the details were removed because the party was “updating the documents”.
Richard Ferguson 9.35am: New face on Bill Bus
The Bill Bus has a shiny new face on it — WA Premier Mark McGowan.
The west coast version of Bill Shorten’s election mobile is emblazoned with the faces of the WA Premier, the Opposition Leader and Labor deputy leader Tanya Plibersek.
The regular Bill Bus — still travelling the east coast with Labor Senator Kristina Keneally — is running a few too many states to put east coast premiers’ faces on it.
But the West Coast Bill Bus shows how Mr Shorten plans to tap into Mr McGowan’s popularity as he aims to take several seats off the Coalition in Perth.
The bus also has the slogan “A Fair Go for WA” on it — a sign Mr Shorten knows how to play to the uniqueness of WA voters.
Rosie Lewis 9.27am: ScoMo magical mystery tour
For nearly a week now journalists have been following Scott Morrison on the campaign trail in what is really a magical mystery tour. Unlike in the Shorten camp, the Prime Minister’s office does not brief travelling media on where they’re going until just before they arrive at the location and event. This was also the case following Malcolm Turnbull in 2016, although as the weeks went on his staff were a little more relaxed with detail.
Why so secretive? A number of reasons. Mr Morrison doesn’t want to give away where he’s going to the other side. There’s an advantage in keeping Labor guessing as he moves around the country. It also means protesters don’t have time to organise themselves and show up at events. The only decent group of protesters we’ve seen so far was at the seniors forum in Drysdale yesterday, after flyers were put up around the electorate advertising the Corangamite town hall-style meeting. Mr Morrison was not mentioned on those flyers, only Liberal MP and local member Sarah Henderson.
Plus there are security concerns. The less people know of the PM’s whereabouts, the safer he is.
The lack of detail frustrates journalists, who should be trusted not to leak information ahead of time, but makes for endless speculation on the ScoMobile bus. Occasionally the media is helped out by politicians like Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack, who was so eager to flag his visit to Tasmania with Mr Morrison today he announced it on local radio before the wheels of the PM’s plane had even left the ground in Melbourne.
.@ScottMorrisonMP’s plane touches down in Devonport. We’re in Labor-held Braddon, one the most volatile electorates in the country #AusVotes2019 pic.twitter.com/ijpH9I7PqB
— Rosie Lewis (@rosieslewis) April 16, 2019
Richard Ferguson 9.25am: Labor adds experimental drugs
Bill Shorten will open up access to experimental drugs in a $20m plan to battle blood cancer.
The Opposition Leader will be at St John of God Hospital — in the Liberal-held electorate of Hasluck — today to continue his health cash splash.
Mr Shorten says his plan will give nearly 2000 blood cancer sufferers a chance to try new and “emerging treatments” and he will also set up an advisory group on further ways to tackle the disease.
“Our $20 million commitment will give around 1,800 blood cancer patients access to new and emerging treatments specific to the genetic markers for their disease — potentially five to 10 years before they would be available under traditional clinical trial schemes in Australia,” he said.
“It will also establish the Right to Trial framework and a Ministerial Advisory Group for Blood Cancers.
“The Ministerial Advisory Group for Blood Cancers will bring together leading blood cancer clinicians, researchers and patient support organisations like the Leukaemia Foundation, to help us understand the challenges for this complex set of diseases and reduce the number of people dying from blood cancers, which as a group, are the second most frequently diagnosed cancer in Australia.”
Health, and particularly cancer, has been the laser focus on the Shorten campaign ever since the election was called.
Mr Shorten will leave Perth later today for an unknown location.
Greg Brown 9.10am: Christensen’s $3000 Philippines trips
Labor has leapt on allegations Nationals MP George Christensen spent more than $3000 to subsidise his private travel to the Philippines.
Queensland MPs Jim Chalmers and Murray Watt have called on Scott Morrison to declare if he approves of Mr Christensen’s use of taxpayer money.
Melbourne’s Herald Sun this morning reported that Mr Christensen charged taxpayers to fly from Canberra to other cities in Australia, from where he then travelled to the Philippines for private reasons.
It came after the newspaper revealed the member for the north Queensland seat of Dawson spent nearly 300 days overseas in the past four years.
“Spending almost 300 days out of his electorate on personal overseas trips is bad enough — charging the taxpayer to help him get overseas is even worse,” Mr Chalmers and Senator Watt said in a joint statement.
“The evidence is mounting that Mr Christensen‘s priority is his overseas trips, rather than fighting for his electorate.
“Every day Mr Christensen spent in the Philippines is a day he wasn’t stopping the LNP’s cuts to Mackay Base Hospital, or fixing the rampant casualisation of work across his electorate.”
Finance Minister Mathias Cormann said the travel was within the rules of parliamentary entitlements.
“My advice is that all of the travel undertaken by George Christensen was within relevant rules on work expense arrangements,” Senator Cormann told Sky News.
“In the end these are not matters for me to comment on they are for George to explain.”
Greg Brown 8.40am: Greens up pressure on ALP
The Greens will demand Bill Shorten adopt a carbon tax and spend $2 billion of its proceeds on environmental initiatives including protecting native species from extinction.
Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young said the party would demand a future Shorten government adopt stronger policies on climate change and the environment in any negotiations to get legislation through the Senate.
The Greens are pushing for 100 per cent renewables by 2030, which includes a banning on the export of coal.
“If Labor were to win on May 18, the Greens are putting up very clearly that climate action and protecting our environment are going to be key priorities,” Senator Hanson-Young told the ABC.
“It’s all very well and good to say we want to protect the environment. We need to ensure there’s laws in place that make that happen.
“And then we need to have the funding there to actually do it. There’s no point just paying lip service
Rosie Lewis 7.55am: Big Mack, ScoMo show
The ScoMobile is on the move from Melbourne to northern Tasmania. How do we know this? Not because the Prime Minister’s office has given us the heads up, that would go against protocol, but because Michael McCormack has called in to local ABC radio revealing he would be with Scott Morrison in the island state today. They’re announcing more than $100 million for stage three of an irrigation project. This will be the first Big Mack and ScoMo show of the election campaign.
Greg Brown 7.35am: Libs hopes lifted in Bass
Scott Morrison will be buoyed on his trip to Tasmania today by a new poll showing the Liberal Party is on track to pick up a seat from Labor.
A poll of 847 voters in the Labor-held seat of Bass, published in the The Mercury this morning, show the Liberals leading Labor 54-46 per cent on a two party preferred basis.
Labor MP Ross Hart holds the seat on a margin of 6.4 per cent and is being challenged by Liberal candidate Bridget Archer.
The poll was commissioned by the peak forestry body, Australian Forest Products Association, and has a 3 per cent margin of error.
Mr Morrison will today campaign in the electorate of Braddon, where Labor’s Justine Keay just held on in last year’s by-election.
The seat of Lyons is also in play, held by Labor’s Brian Mitchell on a margin of 2.4 per cent.
What’s making news:
Bill Shorten was blindsided yesterday when Labor’s official campaign website deleted reams of information explaining his signature reforms to negative gearing and capital gains tax, and re-posted simplified “fact sheets” with key details stripped out.
Labor Party figures have warned that the party’s handling of the Adani coalmine project is damaging Bill Shorten’s hopes of winning marginal Coalition-held seats in regional Queensland.
More than six million Australians claimed $2.3 billion worth of deductions in 2016-17 to cover the cost of managing their tax affairs, and Scott Morrison has warned Labor would change the rules to deny relief to people “during a divorce or following the death of a family member”.
Labor is backing away from a proposal for an economy-wide training levy on business to help workers adjust to technological change amid a backlash from business over the prospect of a new “robot tax”.
Emergency tariffs on imports could be imposed on Australia’s trading partners if Labor wins the election, with opposition industry spokesman Kim Carr also warning that Donald Trump’s policies could lead to a “flood” of cheap metals being dumped in Australia.
Peter Dutton last night accused his Labor opponent, Ali France, of being “ashamed to be an Australian” during their heated first debate in the marginal Brisbane seat of Dickson.
The Migration Council of Australia has called on the incoming government to overhaul the immigration portfolio amid warnings that mismanagement of the migration program will have a “profound impact on our economy and our social cohesion”.
Liberal MP Sarah Henderson, who holds a seat so marginal it is notionally Labor’s, has just five business days left to convince voters of Corangamite she should be re-elected before pre-polling opens, in what is shaping up to be one of the Coalition’s toughest fights.
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