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PoliticsNow: Campaign Day Six: Morrison defends embattled Lib candidate Gladys Liu

The PM rejects suggestions embattled Liberal candidate Gladys Liu is homophobic.

Greg Brown and Richard Ferguson
19 min read
4:42PMApril 16, 2019.
Updated 8:28PMApril 16, 2019
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Prime Minister Scott Morrison plays pool with some of the residents during a visit with aged care residents at The Vue at Luson Health, Grovedale. Picture: Gary Ramage
Prime Minister Scott Morrison plays pool with some of the residents during a visit with aged care residents at The Vue at Luson Health, Grovedale. Picture: Gary Ramage

Hello and welcome to PoliticsNow, The Australian’s coverage of day six of the federal election campaign.

4.57pm: Morrison defends embattled Liu

Scott Morrison has rejected suggestions an under-fire Liberal candidate for the Victorian seat of Chisholm is homophobic.

Gladys Liu is under pressure for describing LGBTI issues as “ridiculous rubbish” and arguing same-sex marriage is “against normal practice”.

Mr Morrison has backed Ms Liu’s claims that she was simply reflecting the views of her community while making the anti-gay remarks in 2016.

The prime minister said Ms Liu had led an “amazing Australian life” and he was proud to launch her campaign.

“As she said at the time when she was campaigning for the previous Liberal candidate, and now current member in Chisholm, she was simply saying that these were the views of that community,” he said on Tuesday.

In recent days, Ms Liu has claimed stories about her comments were “fake news” and not representative of her views.

Opposition Leader Bill Shorten said the prime minister’s handling of her comments would be a test of his leadership.

“He needs to make up his mind on a couple of questions,” Mr Shorten told reporters in Adelaide.

“Whether he wants as a candidate for the Liberal Party someone who said such hurtful things about her fellow Australians.

“And two, whether he wants as a candidate for the Liberal Party someone who stood in front of the media and said it didn’t happen when clearly it did.” — AAP

Greg Brown 4.30pm: Shorten ‘cruel’ on cancer: PM

Scott Morrison has accused Bill Shorten of a “cruel” campaign of “lies” on cancer funding, which he claims made people think cancer services were not available for free at a public hospital.

“Bill Shorten wanted people to believe that you could go to a public hospital for cancer treatment and that it wasn’t covered. He knows it is. Ninety nine per cent of the pathology services that are provided out of hospital are actually covered by Medicare,” the Prime Minister said.

“But I think to suggest to people that are suffering with cancer that somehow there aren’t cost-free services available in public hospitals, or that these and other tests that are referred by your doctor and not covered by Medicare, I think that’s very misleading. And in its worst case, it’s actually quite cruel.”

Greg Brown 3.15pm: Farmers, not Notre Dame, need help: PM

Scott Morrison has slapped down Malcolm Turnbull’s call for a government fund to help contribute to the restoration of the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris.

“There will be more than enough opportunities, I would have thought, (to donate) if that’s what people want to do. But I’m not going to mandate it from anybody,” the Prime Minister said.

“France is a very prosperous nation and I’m sure they’ll be able to cover that. There’s already been a massive donation made today by a very significant French philanthropist.

“I’m focused on supporting Australian farmers in drought; Australian farmers and graziers and pastoralists up in North Queensland. They’re the ones, frankly, who desperately need our help at the moment.”

Greg Brown 3pm: PM laughs off Abbott leadership

Scott Morrison has laughed off Tony Abbott’s suggestion he would return to the leadership if he was drafted.

“I think Tony was responding to a question that was very hypothetical,” the Prime Minister said.

Meanwhile, Deputy Liberal leader Josh Frydenberg said Mr Abbott is focused on winning his seat at the federal election instead of the prospect of returning to the party’s leadership, AAP reports.

“Tony Abbott has got his hands full in his own seat and that is where his focus is and that is where it should be,” Mr Frydenberg told ABC TV.

The former prime minister is fending off independent candidate Zali Steggall in his seat of Warringah on Sydney’s northern beaches.

Speaking at an event in the electorate on Monday night, Mr Abbott said he would be willing to return to the top job but only if he was invited to do so and if nobody was running against him.

“It will be up to the party room. If they want me they will need to invite me. But I am not expecting that,” he said in answer to a question.

2.40pm: I’ll go another 12 years: Katter

Bob Katter says things are looking up for his party after polling showed support for Pauline Hanson’s One Nation dipped to it lowest point since 2016.

“That strengthens obviously the position of parties like ourselves,” he said. Along with holding onto his seat of Kennedy, Mr Katter says the Katter’s Australian Party is also eyeing the lower house seats of Dawson, Leichhardt and Herbert. As for his own political career, the 73-year-old says he has no plans to leave politics anytime soon.

“I’ll probably go another 12 years,” he said.

His comments came as a former Queensland council official who wants to see more federal government funding for remote indigenous housing was announced in second place on the senate ticket for Katter’s Australian Party.

Mr Katter announced former Napranum Aboriginal Shire Council chief executive and his “very famous” friend Greg Wallace would stand.

Mr Wallace said indigenous communities in the state were going backwards after the federal government failed to renew a remote housing funding agreement. He says a decline in local jobs in Cape York communities and the fade of the cattle industry there needs to be restored, along with greater certainty for households around title deeds.

“We’ve got a lot of work to do,” he said.

“It’s not just the Cape, but I’m looking at the west as well, the rural communities, they’re slowly dying, we want to regenerate these communities.” — AAP

Bob Katter, left as Katter's Australian Party Senate candidate no. 2 Greg Wallace speaks to the media. Picture: Glenn Hunt/AAP
Bob Katter, left as Katter's Australian Party Senate candidate no. 2 Greg Wallace speaks to the media. Picture: Glenn Hunt/AAP

Richard Ferguson 1.30pm: No-one is above law: Shorten

Bill Shorten will not intervene to have a recently fined union heavyweight sacked from Labor’s National Executive.

Labor powerbroker and CFMEU National Vice-President Michael Ravbar has been ordered to pay $5000 for his role in ordering the blockade of a crane hire company he tried to coerce into entering a union workplace agreement.

Mr Shorten said today in Adelaide that “no-one was above the law” but he let the National Executive to make a decision on Mr Ravbar.

“That will be a matter for the national executive,” he said.

“No-one is above the law: unionist, banker, Clive Palmer. No-one is above the law.

“In terms of the national executive matter, I will leave that to the Labor Party.”

The Australian has approached the ALP National Executive for comment.

Greg Brown 12.55pm: No new taxes on super: Shorten

Bill Shorten has ruled out new taxes on superannuation if he becomes prime minister.

“We have no plans to introduce any new taxes on superannuation,” Mr Shorten said, before confirming he was ruling it out.

Greg Brown 12.45pm: Negative gearing policy ‘updating’: Shorten

Bill Shorten says Labor has removed the details about its negative gearing policy from its website because the party is “updating the documents”.

“We put our negative gearing policy out from the Sydney Town Hall in about February, March, of 2016. As new numbers come to light, we update them,” he said.

Rosie Lewis 12.10pm: PM visits aged care home

The ScoMobile rolls on to an aged care home in Corangamite, The Vue at Luson Health in Grovedale. There are 113 residents and 120 staff here. This is Scott Morrison’s first visit to an aged care home during the election campaign.

Rosie Lewis 11.20am: PM attacks franking credits crackdown

Scott Morrison has lashed Labor’s franking credits crackdown, warning self-funded retirees Bill Shorten was coming after Australians’ money, and starting with them, as he pledged a Coalition government would never increase taxes on superannuation.

At a public forum in Drysdale, in the federal electorate of Corangamite, which is notionally Labor after a redistribution, the Prime Minister fielded questions from local residents and even some Liberal Party members who had driven from Melbourne.

“Every time Bill Shorten runs out of money in his own pocket he comes after the money in yours and he’s starting with you, he’s started with self-funded retirees,” Mr Morrison said as he honed in on Labor plans to abolish cash refunds on excess franking credits.

“50,000 pensioners (will be) hit by Labor’s retiree tax, not just self-funded retirees, not just those in self-managed super funds, I mean they’re getting hit by more than $10,000, but the average is about $2300 for all of those impacted.

“This is serious money that actually pays for essentials Australians rely on to get treatment, their healthcare, what they want to do in their community, even the donations they put in on a Sunday morning at church or down at St Vinnies or what they might do with UNICEF.”

Mr Morrison also pledged a Coalition government would not seek to impose higher taxes on superannuation declaring “no new taxes on super ever’’.

“It’s just not fair and it’s just not right so today I’m saying under my government there will be no higher taxes or no new taxes on superannuation … Not now, not ever,” he said, to applause.

Attendees of the seniors forum were not vetted but invited by local member and Liberal MP Sarah Henderson.

There were several Liberal Party members The Australian spoke to after the event.

There were also flyers put up around Corangamite.

Mr Morrison was not pictured on Ms Henderson’s corflutes at the Springdale Community Centre or on flyers inviting residents to attend.

Greg Brown 10.50am: ScoMo raises spectre of death taxes

Scott Morrison has questioned whether Bill Shorten would do a deal with the Greens to introduce death taxes if it wins government, after calls from unions for the policy.

“It is important to say what the unions are proposing and what the Greens are proposing because that is where the Labor Party will take their cues in government,” Mr Morrison said.

“I can tell you who Bill Shorten will be relying on to get his $387 billion worth of taxes … he will be relying on the Greens, Richard Di Natale, who not only support all of his taxes but more, including death taxes.

“So what will be the price of this bargain?”

Greg Brown 10.30am: ‘Canberra bubble’ no excuse on leadership

Scott Morrison has been asked by a punter about the August leadership change, meaning he could not avoid it by calling it a concern of the “Canberra bubble”.

“I can only repeat what Malcolm himself said when he confirmed, as you’ve just said, that I was supporting him and there was a change but when these things happen you have to focus on the future,” the Prime Minister told a forum in Corangamite.

“You’ve got to focus on the future and the choice at this election is between Bill Shorten as prime minister or myself as prime minister.

“Both of our parties have now changed our rules. That means that whoever you elect as prime minister at this election, that’s who you get for the next three years.”

Greg Brown 10.15am: PM talks up power plans

Scott Morrison has talked up his “big stick” divestiture power plans, arguing it was needed to lower energy prices.

The Prime Minister lashed Bill Shorten for opposing laws that would give the government power to force big energy companies to sell assets if they acted uncompetitively.

“The Labor Party are opposed to it. They didn’t want to give the government the power to take these big energy companies on and we have been doing that. We have been seeking that power,” Mr Morrison said at a people’s forum in the marginal Victorian electorate of Corangamite.

Scott Morrison strides into the public forum with senior members of the Corangamite community. The forum focused on issues that are significant to seniors and retirees, including Labor's retiree tax. Picture Gary Ramage
Scott Morrison strides into the public forum with senior members of the Corangamite community. The forum focused on issues that are significant to seniors and retirees, including Labor's retiree tax. Picture Gary Ramage

“At this election, should we be successful, we will pursue that. We’re taking this to the election so we can ensure we keep the energy companies at the table, to ensure they address these legitimate issues. To be at the table, you need a big stick.”

The government first aimed to pass the laws last year but shelved them because of a lack of support in parliament.

Greg Brown 10.05am: PM’s ‘secret’ cuts plan

Opposition finance spokesman Jim Chalmers says Scott Morrison has a “secret plan” to cut money out of schools and hospitals.

Mr Chalmers said cuts were on the way under the Coalition after the Grattan Institute released a report claiming the government would need to reduce spending by about $40 billion a year to keep the budget in surplus under its tax plans.

“This is Scott Morrison’s secret plan to cut hospitals and schools to pay for tax cuts to the top end of town,” Mr Chalmers told Sky News.

“Scott Morrison needs to come clean today and say: what are these $40 billion a year of cuts? Where will they impact: hospitals, schools, aged care, the NDIS? Where will these cuts happen to pay for his tax cuts down the track?”

Mr Chalmers dismissed Mr Frydenberg’s claim there would be no cuts to services as the Coalition was saving money by creating jobs.

“They have doubled the debt in the life of their government, so we will take their promises on paying down debt with a grain of salt,” Mr Chalmers said.

Greg Brown 9.23am: PM dodges cathedral fund

Scott Morrison has not endorsed Malcolm Turnbull’s call for a government fund that would help pay for the restoration costs of the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris.

While Bill Shorten endorsed Mr Turnbull’s proposal, the Prime Minister dodged questions of whether he thought it was a good idea.

Mr Morrison said there would opportunities for Australians to contribute to the restoration process.

He visited the cathedral with his wife Jenny more than 30 years ago.

“It is a very special place and to see it in flames today was just really sad,” Mr Morrison told 5AA radio.

Greg Brown 9.15am: PM ‘mindful’ of ISIS kids

Scott Morrison says national security “always comes first” as he comes under pressure to allow the children of dead terrorist Khaled Sharrouf into Australia.

Mr Morrison said he was working behind the scenes to assess the orphans of Australian terrorists who are stuck on refugee camps in warzones in the Middle East.

ABC’s Four Corners last night followed the plight of Karen Nettleton, the grandmother of Sharrouf’s children, who are without parents in a refugee camp in Syria.

Screengrabs from ABC Four Corners shows Karen Nettleton reunited with her grandchildren after they spent five years with Islamic State. Picture: ABC.
Screengrabs from ABC Four Corners shows Karen Nettleton reunited with her grandchildren after they spent five years with Islamic State. Picture: ABC.

“Khaled Sharrouf was a terrorist, he declared war basically on Australia, and what he and his wife did to their children is despicable, by taking them into that war zone,” Mr Morrison told Adelaide radio station 5AA.

“Of course we are not putting any Australians at risk in terms of going into these conflict zones. I don’t think anyone would expect us to do that.

“But we have been working quietly behind the scenes with International Red Cross, we are taking each and every case on its merits.

“Australia’s national security always comes first but I am very mindful we are dealing with children here.

“What I am not doing is getting drawn into any final decisions here, at this point, we just take this process one step at a time.”

Bill Shorten said a Labor government would “work on” bringing the orphans to Australia.

“I think you’ve got to work on that. We’ve got to make the kids safe,” the Opposition Leader said.

“It’s difficult. We’ll work with the security agencies but I don’t hold the kids responsible for the mistakes of their parents and I think that’s just the humane thing to do.

“What I don’t understand is what on earth possessed the parents, one, to pursue this hateful ideology of the terrorist ISIS organisation but dragging your kids into the middle of a war zone, no parent who loves their children would do that.”

Richard Ferguson 9.11am: ‘Whistle blown’ on tax

Bill Shorten says the “whistle has been blown” on the Coalition’s tax cuts. Picture: Kym Smith
Bill Shorten says the “whistle has been blown” on the Coalition’s tax cuts. Picture: Kym Smith

Bill Shorten says the “whistle has been blown” on the Coalition’s tax cuts after new analysis alleged it will need to cut $40bn a year in spending to achieve them.

“The whistle has been blown on the Government’s secret cuts to spending in the Budget,” he said in Melbourne today.

“This Government is promising tax cuts in five years’ time for some people, but it’s doing it on the basis of $40 billion worth of cuts.

“The secret’s out, this is a government with secret cuts to spending in its Budget to fund its promises on the never-never, for tax cuts.”

A report from the Grattan Institute today says current spending projections by the government to pay for personal income tax cuts are “heroic”.

The analysis also states the government would need to make large spending cuts by 2030 in order to achieve their tax relief plan and keep the budget in surplus.

Both Josh Frydenberg and Finance Minister Mathias Cormann have dismissed the analysis, and the Treasurer says his tax cuts are “non-negotiable.”

Rosie Lewis 9.10am: Protesters await PM town hall forum

Union protesters are already waiting for Scott Morrison in Corangamite, where he’ll attend a town hall retiree forum. Expect to hear about Labor’s franking credits crackdown. The PM will speak at the forum and take questions from the floor.

Greg Brown 8.40am: Cathedral ‘belongs to the world’

Bill Shorten has backed Malcolm Turnbull’s proposal for Australia to create a fund that would help pay for the restoration of the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris.

“I would like to echo something Malcolm Turnbull has just said: I think Australia should contribute to a restoration fund,” the Opposition Leader said.

“Notre Dame doesn’t just belong to Paris or France it belongs to the world.

“I think all of us who have enjoyed that architecture, that history, should perhaps rally around and help Paris and Notre Dame.”

Greg Brown 8.31am: GetUp doing Labor’s ‘dirty work’

Josh Frydenberg says GetUp was doing Bill Shorten’s “dirty work”, with the left-wing lobby set to cold-call voters in his Melbourne electorate of Kooyong.

“GetUp was helped funded by Bill Shorten and now they are doing his dirty work. So I have no time for them. They are not impartial. We’ve been talking to lots of people in the electorate and the feedback is very positive,” Mr Frydenberg told ABC radio.

The Australian Workers Union gave GetUp about $100,000 when Mr Shorten was its leader.

Mr Frydenberg is being challenged in his blue ribbon seat by Greens candidate Julian Burnside and independent climate change activist Oliver Yates.

“The people understand what I have delivered for my community, that I continue to work hard for my community, that a vote for the Greens is a vote for inheritance tax, a vote for the Greens is a vote for dismantling that US alliance as we know it,” Mr Frydenberg said.

Greg Brown 8.30am: Tax cuts ‘non negotiable’

Josh Frydenberg says the government’s income tax package is “non-negotiable” as he rejected claims spending would need to be cut by $40 billion a year to keep the budget in surplus under his plan.

The Treasurer said a Coalition government would not review or change its proposal — which would see most workers with a top marginal tax rate of 30 per cent — if commonwealth revenues were hit in an economic downturn.

“These tax cuts are non-negotiable because they actually strengthen the economy. But the second point is they are not mutually exclusive from the record spending on essential services that we have actually guaranteed,” Mr Frydenberg told ABC radio.

Mr Frydenberg said the Grattan Institute was wrong to claim the government would need to slash spending by $40bn a year to pay for the tax cuts and keep the budget in surplus.

“They are wrong. What we are doing is getting more people into work and therefore government spending is less. That is the key point,” Mr Frydenberg said.

“Where our savings, where our budget surplus has come from, is actually by getting a record number of people in work and the proportion of working age Australians who are on welfare is the lowest in 30 years. That is the great story.”

Rosie Lewis 8.12am: PM heads to most marginal seat

Scott Morrison is heading to Geelong to campaign in the Coalition’s most marginal seat of Corangamite, held by Liberal MP Sarah Henderson. The electorate is notionally Labor after a redistribution, with a wafer thin margin of 0.3 per cent. It would be a huge victory if the Liberal Party was able to hold this seat, with both major parties believing it is likely to fall to Labor.

Richard Ferguson 8.10am: Shorten to unveil blood test plan

Bill Shorten is headed to Adelaide today for the first time in this election campaign.

He will campaign in the Liberal-held electorate of Boothby, currently occupied by government MP Nicole Flint on 2.7 per cent.

He will attend an oncology lab to unveil his $200m plan to give free blood tests to older Australians and cancer patients.

Mr Shorten is expected to head to Perth later this afternoon.

Greg Brown 7.55am: ‘Set up Oz fund for Notre Dame’

Malcolm Turnbull has called on Scott Morrison and Bill Shorten to agree to establish a fund that would help pay for the restoration of Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris.

“Our heartfelt sympathies are with the people of Paris as their ancient Notre Dame Cathedral is engulfed by flame. I have no doubt that Emmanuel Macron will make it his mission to ensure the Cathedral is restored as so many other great churches have been after devastating fires,” the former prime minister tweeted.

“Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Opposition Leader Bill Shorten should today agree to establish an Australian fund to support the restoration of Notre Dame so that Australians can show their solidarity once again with the people of France.

“A fund of this kind would have (deductible gift recipients) status and would enable individual Australians and foundations if they wished to make a contribution.

If the Australian government wished to make a direct contribution it could do so as well. Many precedents.”

Richard Ferguson 7.30am: ‘Schools, hospitals cut for tax handouts

Labor has leapt on new analysis today showing Scott Morrison would need to cut spending by $40m a year to afford his tax cuts.

A report from the Grattan Institute today says current spending projections by the government to pay for personal income tax cuts are “heroic”.

The analysis also states the government would need to make large spending cuts by 2030 in order to achieve their tax relief plan and keep the budget in surplus.

Opposition finance spokesman Jim Chalmers said the Grattan Institute analysis was proof of upcoming “cuts” to public services.

“The only way the Liberals can pay for their tax handouts to the top end of town is by cutting schools and hospitals,” he said.

Finance Minister Mathias Cormann told the Australian Financial Review today his spending projections were on track.

“23.6 per cent would still be 0.5 percentage points higher than the equivalent figure in the last year of the Howard government,” he said.

“It is an entirely reasonable projection based on Treasury and Finance advice.”

Richard Ferguson 7.25am: ‘Notre Dame brought joy’

Bill Shorten says the Notre Dame inferno is a sad day for Paris and the world.

“Notre Dame brought so much joy to so many souls,” he tweeted.

“A sad day for Paris, for France and for people all around the world.”

Rosie Lewis 7.15am: PM ‘so sad’ over Notre Dame

Scott Morrison has tweeted his sadness at the news of the fire engulfing Notre Dame. “So sad to see this beautiful cathedral in flames, this morning,” he wrote. “Our thoughts are with the people of France and emergency services who are fighting this fire. They will rebuild”.

What’s making news:

Bill Shorten will promise to fund $200 million worth of free blood tests for cancer patients and older Australians as he moves to reignite the bitter clash over pathology bulk billing that erupted during the 2016 Labor Medicare scare campaign.

Kim Carr, the senator who will head Labor’s bid to restart car-making in Australia led by electric vehicles, has previously warned they posed serious social issues and would require a one-third expansion in electricity production.

Labor’s $17 billion crackdown on trusts has come under attack from business groups and commercial finance brokers who have urged a rethink of the policy and warned the shake-up could punish about 350,000 small to medium enterprises.

Labor will not shift on its opposition to Scott Morrison’s planned tax cuts for higher income Australians, as the government yesterday piled pressure on Bill Shorten, warning bracket creep would take between $500 and $4000 off nurses, teachers and police officers unless the Coalition’s tax plan was adopted.

Bill Shorten is under renewed pressure to haul anti-Israel Labor MPs into line as an outbreak of pro-Palestinian sentiment within the opposition threatens to disrupt his election campaign.

The Queensland secretary of Clive Palmer’s United Australia Party has endorsed speeches made in parliament by Fraser Anning and has shared social media posts calling for a ban on immigration from the Middle East.

GetUp’s crusade to oust the Coalition government will zero in on at-risk Victorian marginal seats in coming weeks, as it rolls out a brazen campaign designed to paint Treasurer Josh Frydenberg and Health Minister Greg Hunt as disloyal and Kevin Andrews as a supporter of “cruel gay conversion therapy” who “only cares about himself and his hard-right factional mates”.

Oliver Yates, a former Liberal Party member and independent challenger to Josh Frydenberg in the Melbourne seat of Kooyong, sat on the boards of two companies seeking to benefit from the government’s energy underwriting scheme but trashed the program on Twitter as an “election stunt”.

Robert Gibbs fought fires in country Victoria for more than a decade, has been fighting cancer for four years and yesterday took on Bill Shorten.

Pauline Hanson claims the publicity generated by One Nation’s scandalous donation drive with the US pro-gun lobby prompted a spike in party membership.

The Victorian Liberal Party’s best marginal-seat parliamentary fundraisers are tipping in about $2 million to three electorates to try to hold back a Labor onslaught.

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Original URL: https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/politics/politicsnow-campaign-day-six-bill-shorten-in-adelaide-pm-in-melbourne/news-story/7a7944239a0f5362852ab1c5da29a340