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PoliticsNow: Day Five: Gyrating Captain GetUp slammed

A cancer sufferer has challenged Bill Shorten on how he’ll fulfil promises to help cancer patients.

Greg Brown, Richard Ferguson and Rosie Lewis
22 min read
4:51PMApril 15, 2019.
Updated 5:58PMApril 15, 2019
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Scott Morrison and Bill Shorten.
Scott Morrison and Bill Shorten.

Hello and welcome to Politics Now, The Australian’s coverage of Day Five of the federal election campaign. A cancer sufferer has challenged Bill Shorten on the campaign trial, asking Mr Shorten how he’ll fulfil promises to help cancer patients.

Richard Ferguson: 5.53pm: Shorten wraps up his day

Bill Shorten’s last meeting for his day in Melbourne was a private catch-up with a family struggling to deal with the National Disability Insurance Scheme.

Mr Shorten met with 15-year old Elias Anderson, who has severe cerebral palsy, and his mother Margie Anderson.

Ms Anderson told the Oppostion Leader about the problems they have been facing with the NDIS, including a two-year wait for a wheelchair.

Mr Shorten’s campaign will leave Melbourne early tomorrow for a stop over in a mystery location, and then it is understood he will head to Perth.

Rosie Lewis 5.04pm: PM takes to Facebook Live

Greg Brown 4.25pm: Gyrating Captain GetUp slammed

Deputy Nationals leader Bridget McKenzie has slammed conservative lobby group Advance Australia, after its mock superhero Captain GetUp gyrated against a poster of independent Warringah candidate Zali Staggall.

“I don’t think, typifies the type of political tussle that I’m a part of, that my party’s interested in having,” Senator McKenzie told the ABC.

“This sort of behaviour by these types of organisations at the margins are not helpful when we are actually having one of the most serious and potentially impactful political decisions being made over the next few weeks for our nation’s future than we’ve seen in many decades.”

Captain GetUp accused of sexism with billboard

2.50pm: Outspoken preacher heads climate party

Outspoken NSW preacher Rod Bower is spearheading a new political party which he hopes will put an end to divisive politics and lead to serious action on climate change.

The Anglican leader has achieved notoriety for dedicating the sign outside his Central Coast church to political commentary — including on Australia’s offshore detention regime, the Adani coal mine and gay rights.

Fr Bower hopes to win an upper house seat in May’s federal election as part of Independents for Climate Action Now — a party which wants to work with both sides of politics to push Australia towards renewable energy. “In the Senate, we will insist on climate-informed policy,” the Christian leader told AAP in Sydney on Monday.

“We are here to ensure the future of our grandchildren by addressing climate change with scientific-based policy.” — AAP

Senate candidates Gosford Anglican priest Father Rod Bower, Environmental Scientist Jim Tait and farmer, artist and mother Annette Schneider. The trio today launched their bid for a Senate seat as part of the Independents for Climate Action Now. Picture: Paul Braven/AAP
Senate candidates Gosford Anglican priest Father Rod Bower, Environmental Scientist Jim Tait and farmer, artist and mother Annette Schneider. The trio today launched their bid for a Senate seat as part of the Independents for Climate Action Now. Picture: Paul Braven/AAP

Richard Ferguson 1.45pm: “How are we supposed to believe you?”

A cancer sufferer and volunteer fireman hijacked Bill Shorten’s press conference today and questioned whether he would fulfil his promises to help cancer patients.

Robert Gibbs, 48, from Cowwarr in regional Victoria asked the Opposition Leader how he could trust his $2.8 billion cancer commitment when the Country Fire Authority has run into clashes over contracts with Labor Premier Daniel Andrews.

“Mr Shorten, how are we supposed to believe your potential Government when Mr Andrews has done nothing but make my life hard and of other people, volunteers, with cancer?” Mr Gibbs asked.

“Like, honestly, Bill, it’s just hard to believe that you’re saying going to help out with cancer and everything else for people.

“I’ve spent the last four years in and out of hospital that long that my daughter is worried that is her dad ever going to come home. I have a six-year-old daughter.”

Mr Shorten spoke to Mr Gibbs before and after the press conference, and took his details to keep in touch with him.

“I can’t speak for Mr Andrews. I can pass on your disappointment to him but I can’t speak for him,” the federal Labor leader said.

“I haven’t been Prime Minister in the last four years but if I am Prime Minister I do want to reduce your out-of-pocket costs.

“If you’ve had a very fortunate experience, everything’s been free, that’s great. But I can tell by the shaking of your head that that’s not happened.

“I apologise for what you’ve had to go through. I want to better … you’re a volunteer, you’re in the battle of your life.

“Rob, you don’t have to believe anyone but I’m going to have a chat to you. I just want to understand because, to me, what you’re talking about is the exact reason why I’m running for Prime Minister.”

After the conference, Mr Gibbs — who is wheelchair-bound by his leukaemia — said he still had apprehensions about trusting Mr Shorten, but said he would have asked the same questions to Scott Morrison.

“Why can’t they work together for the country,” he said after talking to Mr Shorten privately.

“It was all me … I was having coffee and I thought no, I’ve got to say something,” he said after speaking to Mr Shorten.

“Hopefully Mr Shorten will take that on board.”

Australian Opposition Leader Bill Shorten speaks to cancer patient Rob Gibbs at the end of a press conference outside Casey Hospital in Melbourne. Picture: Lukas Coch/AAP NO ARCHIVING
Australian Opposition Leader Bill Shorten speaks to cancer patient Rob Gibbs at the end of a press conference outside Casey Hospital in Melbourne. Picture: Lukas Coch/AAP NO ARCHIVING

Rosie Lewis 1.40pm: PM launches Liu campaign

Scott Morrison has launched Liberal candidate Gladys Liu’s campaign, saying she’s “bursting to serve the people of Chisholm”.

Greg Brown 1.25pm: High end cars hit on emissions

Bill Shorten says luxury cars will be forced to comply with a crackdown on emissions in the transport sector.

News Corp this morning reported that high-end cars such as Maseratis and Rolls Royces would escape the proposed emissions standard of 105g CO2/km because they sell fewer than 2500 vehicles per year.

The Opposition Leader today said all cars have to be fuel efficient, despite the Climate Change Authority advice recommending low selling cars be exempt from a tougher standard.

“You have to be fuel efficient and we’ll sit down with industry and work on it,” Mr Shorten said.

“Somehow if the government is trying to say that Labor has a secret plot for more Rolls-Royces in the garage, that’s absurd.”

Greg Brown 1.15pm: ‘We’ll go over $2.8bn’

Bill Shorten says Labor would be prepared to spend more than $2.8 billion if it is needed to bring federal government hospital funding to 50 per cent.

The Opposition Leader said $2.8 billion over five years was Labor’s “best estimate” and it would be prepared to spend more if needed.

“We’ve said we will work towards 50-50 so the answer is yes,” Mr Shorten said, when asked if Labor is prepared to tip in more funds.

“Our best estimates is this has been a cut of $2.8 billion.

“It means in the next five years we can stop the cut of $635 to Victorian hospitals which this government is proposing.”

The Coalition has committed to funding 45 per cent of the cost of public hospitals, compared to 50 per cent promised by the former Labor government.

Mr Shorten attacked Scott Morrison for claiming Labor’s cancer package had a $6bn package, despite last week saying the procedures were already available for free in public hospitals.

“I noticed that the government, having initially said there was no problem, have now said that Labor is not funding it enough,” Mr Shorten said.

“You have got to love these guys, they are the cheeky brigade of Australian politics. They are either saying we are not doing enough or we are doing too much.

“The fact of the matter is there are literally hundreds of thousands of our fellow Australians in the fight of their lives. And one of the greatest concerns they have isn’t recovery, it’s how will their family cope with paying the bills. We want to take that burden away from Australians.”

Richard Ferguson 1.10pm: Shorten forced to act on Israel remarks

Bill Shorten has moved to contain a growing Labor split over Palestine by saying two MPs who criticised Israeli checkpoints and the Israeli lobby back his support for the Jewish State.

Fremantle MP Josh Wilson told an ALP conference fringe event last year that Israeli checkpoints where Palestinians “go to die” while Senator Lines hit out at Australia’s Israeli lobby.

Mr Shorten today said that both Mr Wilson and Senator Lines are on board with his policy to maintain the status quo with Israel and working towards a Palestinian State.

“Firstly, Mr Wilson and Senator Lines have reconfirmed this morning they support Labor Party policy,” he said in the Liberal-held seat of La Trobe today.

“For the sake of clarity, the Israeli ambassador representing the Australian Government said they could work with both sides of politics.

“Labor Party policy is very clear, and all my candidates have signed up … We support a two-state solution and the aspirations of the Palestinian people for statehood.”

The controversy over Mr Wilson and Senator Lines comes after ALP Curtin candidate Melissa Parke quit after she made claims a pregnant Palestinian woman was forced to drink bleach by an Israeli soldier.

Palestine has been a divisive issue in the Labor Party for decades and recently, multiple state Labor conferences have called on Australia to formally recognise a Palestinian State immediately.

Attempts at the ALP’s national conference last year to make the federal party hold a similar commitment were halted with Mr Shorten’s support.

Rosie Lewis 1.08pm: PM at Chisholm campaign launch

Scott Morrison will attend the campaign launch for the Liberal Party’s Chisholm candidate, Gladys Liu, at the Box Hill golf club. Chisholm was a Liberal seat until Julia Banks, who held the seat on 3.4 per cent, defected to become an independent. Ms Banks will contest Greg

Hunt’s seat of Flinders, not Chisholm.

History was made yesterday in Chisholm when Ms Liu debated Labor candidate Jennifer Yang in Mandarin

Ean Higgins 12.55pm: Phelps ‘should quit’

Kerryn Phelps. Picture: Justin Lloyd.
Kerryn Phelps. Picture: Justin Lloyd.

Barnaby Joyce has called on independent NSW MP Kerryn Phelps to drop her bid for re-election after the revelation she has continued to treat patients as a general practitioner.

The NSW Nationals MP claimed Dr Phelps was in breach of section 44 of the Constitution, which holds that individuals are ineligible to sit as MPs if they receive financial benefits under an agreement with the federal government.

“Are your patients claiming Medicare? The answer is ‘yes’,” Mr Joyce told The Australian yesterday.

“Is Medicare from the government? Yes it is.”

“It may be a pain in the neck, but it’s the law.”

To read the article in full, click here.

Rosie Lewis 12.17pm: Speaker fights for his seat

Tony Smith, the Speaker of the 45th parliament and the Liberal member for Casey, was with Scott Morrison for the Deakin roads announcement.

His hold on Casey was cut from a 6.1 per cent margin to 4.5 per cent in the redistribution.

Mr Smith said he took nothing for granted and was campaigning hard to get re-elected in the seat he has been a member for since 2001.

“It’s a large electorate, Casey, it’s 2500 square kilometres. I’m making all sorts of announcements, they’re all there in the local papers, we’ve announced closed circuit television cameras and all that sort of thing,” he said.

“I wear two hats, I’m the Speaker of the House of Representatives but I’m also a local member and I only campaign one way and that’s flat out.”

If Bill Shorten wins the election Labor will be allowed to pick the speaker for the 46th parliament, but Mr Smith said it was too early to be feeling nostalgic.

“I don’t think about things like that, I think about my campaign and the other things I’ll be doing throughout the course of the day and the week,” he said.

“I’m focused on the future. I’m not going to look through the rear view mirror, we’re looking through the front windscreen literally on a roads announcement like this. Like every other candidate I work flat out to try and get re-elected. I never take anything for granted at all.”

Greg Brown 11.57am: Frydenberg’s electric car

Eyebrows have been raised in Melbourne as Josh Frydenberg’s face was plastered all over an electric car, promoting the Treasurer as “delivering for Kooyong”.

Mr Frydenberg looks to be promoting his climate credentials in the Melbourne seat, where he is facing a challenge from Greens candidate Julian Burnside.

The government has been highly critical of Bill Shorten’s 50 per cent electric vehicle target by 2030, with Scott Morrison saying it will “end the weekend”.

Richard Ferguson 11.53am: Anti-Bill bus arrives

The Anti-Bill Bus has arrived at Casey Hospital in the marginal seat of La Trobe.

A van with a big picture of Mr Shorten which reads “The Bill Australia Can’t Afford” drove up and down the street while the Labor Leader was inside touring medical facilities.

It is the second time the Anti-Bill Bus has followed Mr Shorten.

It first appeared when Mr Shorten campaigned in Mitcham on Friday, the day the election was called.

Rosie Lewis 11.50am: ScoMobile in Croydon

The ScoMobile has wound its way through Deakin to Croydon North, where Scott Morrison will announce $154.5 million in funding for upgrades to Dorset and Canterbury Roads through the $4 billion urban congestion fund.

The Prime Minister will be joined by Michael Sukkar, the Liberal member for Deakin, and Tony Smith, whose electorate of Casey is next door.

Expect to hear the PM say this infrastructure announcement will help locals get home sooner and safer.

Rosie Lewis 11.47am: Cancer package ‘unravelling'

Scott Morrison is leaving himself room to match Labor’s investment in bulk-billing specialist cancer consultations or to introduce a similar policy, but says Bill Shorten’s $2.3 billion cancer package is “unravelling”.

Labor has pledged $433m to introduce a new Medicare item so more private cancer patients can be bulk-billed for consultations with oncologists and surgeons.

Under the plan, which is still missing a lot of detail, doctors would bulk-bill patients and then receive $150 back through Medicare.

It is not clear if this applies to all consultations or only follow up consultations.

“What I said at the time (when the Labor package was announced) is we’d take a close look at what Labor is promising and what we’ve found is as each day has passed is the policy has unravelled more,” the Prime Minister said.

“We’ve already put $9bn into 130 cancer medicines on the PBS because we know how to manage money and we know how to manage the health system. We’re going to continue doing that.”

Richard Ferguson 11.45am: Shorten to unveil wait time plans

Bill Shorten has arrived at Casey Hospital where he unveil his plan to slash waiting times for elective surgeries.

The Opposition Leader will have a quick tour of the hospital and then a briefing from doctors and the hospital’s leadership.

The hospital is in the key Liberal-held seat of La Trobe, currently occupied by government MP Jason Wood on 3.2 per cent.

Greg Brown 11.35am: McCormack defends Christensen

Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack has defended Nationals MP George Christensen for spending 300 days in the Philippines in the past four years.

Mr McCormack said he “had a chat” to Mr Christensen over the revelations and noted the Queensland MP hadn’t been overseas since July last year.

“He’s concentrating on his electorate and jobs on his electorate. That’s what I want my members to be focused on, in their electorates, concentrating on jobs,” Mr McCormack told the ABC.

Rosie Lewis 11.15am: ’Clear electorate wants Scott’

Michael Sukkar (L) with Scott Morrison at Daisy’s Garden Supplies in Deakin.
Michael Sukkar (L) with Scott Morrison at Daisy’s Garden Supplies in Deakin.

Victorian Liberal MP Michael Sukkar, who voted for Peter Dutton over Scott Morrison in the August leadership spill, has endorsed the Prime Minister’s leadership and declared the election visit to his electorate “absolutely” helped his campaign.

Labor is targeting Mr Sukkar in his seat of Deakin, which he holds on 6.4 per cent, with a new attack ad against the Home Affairs Minister that highlights Mr Sukkar’s support for him.

Mr Morrison and Mr Sukkar toured a family-owned garden supplies business in Deakin this morning after Bill Shorten kicked off his election campaign in the seat last Thursday.

Mr Sukkar was forced to defend his relationship with Mr Morrison today, saying they had worked very closely together when he was assistant treasurer.

He would not say if he felt bad campaigning with Mr Morrison when he had supported Mr Dutton in the leadership coup.

“We have a choice in the next few weeks. The choice is between Scott Morrison and Bill Shorten. It’s very clear to me what my electorate wants and that’s Scott Morrison’s leadership,” Mr Sukkar said.

“It’s great having Scott here, he’s always been very generous with his time with visiting the Deakin electorate.”

Mr Sukkar also refused to weigh in on the Labor attack ads, saying he was focused on winning the election.

“I’m very focused between now and the election on ensuring we have a Morrison government continuing because I think he’s the person to lead us. We have the policies I think are going to benefit my community,” he said.

“I tell you what assists me, having the Prime Minister visit, things like today, visits to this business.”

Nick Cater 11.05am: Greens in ALP policies like virus

Cartoon: Eric Lobbecke.
Cartoon: Eric Lobbecke.

Few desires are as insatiable as the hunger and thirst after righteous. No sooner has one progressive crusade run its course than a new one must be found.

Which is why many of us felt our spines chill at the sight of lawless livestock liberationists marauding across paddocks the other day.

Could LGBSP be the new LGBTI? How long before creatures who identify as lambs, goats, bovines, swine or poultry are counted in the census of the oppressed? How long before the Human Rights Commission’s brief embraces non-human as well as human beings?

As the perennial early adopters of cuckoo campaigns, the Greens have already signed up. Their 2019 federal election manifesto demands a parliamentary declaration affirming animal sentience, thus stamping a decisive full stop at the end of the centuries-old debate between philosophers, theologians, ethologists and neurologists that many of us thought had some way to run.

To read the article in full, click here.

Jared Owens 10.50am: Palmer: I’ll repay workers

Clive Palmer says he will pay back “millions of dollars” owed to workers at Queensland Nickel more than three years after the Townsville refinery company collapsed, as he tries for a political comeback amid a looming Supreme Court case.

To read the article in full, click here.

Rosie Lewis 10.45am: ‘It’s show and tell time Bill’

Scott Morrison has doubled down on his attack against Bill Shorten’s economic management credentials, declaring it was “show and tell time” for the Opposition Leader.

The Prime Minister has used a series of media interviews this morning to question key Labor policies, including its plan to have 50 per cent of cars electric by 2030 and its $2.3 billion cancer package.

“When Bill Shorten won’t explain to you what the cost (of his plan is) to your job, to your economy, to your wage, to the small and family business of Australia, to the car that you want to drive, then why would you want to vote for him?” Mr Morrison said.

“It’s show and tell time Bill, we’re here in the election campaign. You’ve had five-and-a-half years to explain these things to the Australian people and they’ve still got more questions to ask of you then you’ve been able to explain in the last five-and-a-half years. You can’t make it up in five weeks.”

Mr Shorten yesterday said Australians would be able to pay for all of their cancer treatment with their Medicare card, but cancer doctors and health economists have warned against promising it will be free because private patients will still have to pay for numerous services.

Greg Brown 9.45am: ‘I’m not a phony’

Scott Morrison has told footy-mad Victorian voters he does not have an AFL team, despite already being exposed as a Western Bulldogs supporter.

The Prime Minister said he did not want to be “inauthentic” by pretending he has an AFL team, as he tries to woo voters in Melbourne where the government is expected to lose seats.

“I don’t have a team, my team is the Cronulla Sharks up in Sydney,” Mr Morrison told 3AW radio.

“I like AFL but I am not a phony. I’m not going to go around pretending I’m something I am not. I grew up in NSW, a suburban boy, I’ve been following (rugby league) ever since I was a kid and I am who I am.

“I’m never going to be someone I’m not. I’m not going to be inauthentic. What you see is what you get.”

When Mr Morrison first claimed he did not have an AFL team shortly after becoming prime minister, The Australian uncovered a series of tweets from 2009 when he showed his unbridled passion for the Western Bulldogs.

Mr Morrison even bragged he was singing the Western Bulldogs’ theme song after the team had a win in 2009.

“(Scott Morrison) is singing sons of the west, red, white and blue, we’ll come out snarling bulldogs thru and thru (sic) go doggies,” Mr Morrison tweeted.

He said he supported the Victorian team instead of the Sydney Swans because then Bulldogs coach Rodney Eade introduced him to the “great game”.

“And loyalty counts,” he tweeted.

Greg Brown 9.15am: ‘You can’t trust Shorten’

Scott Morrison has intensified his attack on Bill Shorten’s character and leadership credentials, saying the Opposition Leader flip flops and can’t be trusted to manage the economy.

The Prime Minister said the central choice of the election was who could be trusted to manage the nation’s finances.

“What it is about, at the end of the day, is who can Australians trust to manage money?” Mr Morrison told 3AW radio.

“Because if you can’t manage money — which I think Australians think Labor can’t and that is their record — if you can’t manage money you can’t run the country; you can’t run a health system,” Mr Morrison told 3AW radio.

“We have seen that today with the blowout of $6 billion on their latest health policy.

“People matter. And that is why managing money matters. That is why we are so focused on achieving that and that’s what we have done by bringing the budget back to surplus.”

Rosie Lewis 9.05am: PM kicks off in Deakin

Scott Morrison is heading to Daisy’s Garden Supplies in the Liberal-held Melbourne electorate of Deakin on stop one of day five of the federal election campaign, spruiking the government’s instant asset write off for businesses and its company tax cuts. This is the seat in which Bill Shorten began his campaign and is held by former Liberal frontbencher Michael Sukkar on 6.4 per cent (a redistribution actually boosted Mr Sukkar’s margin, unlike some of his other Liberal colleagues). Daisy’s Garden Supplies is family-owned and employs 60 people.

Greg Brown 8.55am: ‘I appreciate you’

Bill Shorten is addressing workers at the West Gate Tunnel project in Melbourne’s Yarraville.

“The first thing I wanted to do today is say I wanted to meet you and say I appreciate the job you’re doing,” the Opposition Leader said.

“You will be able to look back at the end of this job and say you were part of building something which really helped de-congest Melbourne, unlock it, get it moving again.”

Greg Brown 8.40am: Bowen dodges tax questions

Chris Bowen and Kristina Keneally in Sydney at the weekend. Picture; Kym Smith.
Chris Bowen and Kristina Keneally in Sydney at the weekend. Picture; Kym Smith.

Opposition Treasury spokesman Chris Bowen has dodged questions about whether the Coalition’s tax plan would leave wage earners on more than $39,105 better off when it is fully implemented in 2024-25.

“On those figures, the government would have to be re-elected twice. I think Australians are flat out working hard to believe a promise about what any of us are saying,” Mr Bowen told ABC radio.

Greg Brown 8.30am: Shorten’s insult to retirees

Scott Morrison has lashed Bill Shorten for referring to cash refunds for franking credits as a “gift”.

“Those retirees who pay taxes all of their lives, the most offensive thing that Bill Shorten said yesterday is he said that they don’t pay tax,” Mr Morrison told 2GB radio.

“He said it was a gift. That is what he said to the retirees of Australia. And he said he was going to take that gift away from retirees right across the country.”

Greg Brown 8.10am: Bowen dismisses black hole claim

Opposition Treasury spokesman Chris Bowen has dismissed the government’s claim there is a $6 billion funding black hole in Labor’s centrepiece cancer policy.

Mr Bowen said Labor’s policy was costed by the independent Parliamentary Budget Office and accused Health Minister Greg Hunt of “making it up as he goes”.

“That claim is so wrong that it is scary that a serving minister would reduce himself to making it,” Mr Bowen told ABC radio.

“Last week the Prime Minister was saying there are no out-of-pocket costs in cancer treatment, saying we had fixed a problem that doesn’t exist.

“Now Greg Hunt is saying there are lots of out-of-pocket costs and admitting the government doesn’t fund it.”

Richard Ferguson 8.03am: Shorten pushing health

Bill Shorten is pushing health again in his electoral sweep of Victoria today.

His main event will be a visit to Casey Hospital in the Liberal-held electorate of La Trobe, currently held by the Liberals’s Jason Wood on 3.2 per cent.

There he will announce $250m to cut waiting lists for elective surgeries like hip and knee replacements.

Mr Shorten will start the morning in Gellibrand, held by Labor MP Tim Watts on margin of 15.1 per cent, to talk to workers on a job site.

Rosie Lewis 7.55am: Shorten ‘coming after your money’

Scott Morrison at an election launch rally in Brisbane over the weekend. Picture: AAP
Scott Morrison at an election launch rally in Brisbane over the weekend. Picture: AAP

Scott Morrison has ratcheted up a scare campaign over tax with the declaration Bill Shorten is “coming after” Australians’ money and will keep “obnoxious” and “sneaky” bracket creep.

The Prime Minister said only his government would deal with bracket creep through its personal income tax plan.

“The big kicker is everyone’s going to pay more income tax (under Labor’s plan),” Mr Morrison told 2GB broadcaster Alan Jones this morning.

“We’re not just reducing income tax for low and middle income earners now, we’ve got a plan to reduce and get rid of bracket creep. How obnoxious has bracket creep been? It’s a sneaky tax. The harder you work, the more tax you pay. For 90 per cent of Australians we’ll make sure that’s history. Bill Shorten wants to keep his sneaky bracket creep because he can’t manage money so he’s coming after yours.

“They want to stop someone earning about $40,000, we want to keep them on (a) 19 cents tax rate, Labor wants to put them up to 32.5 cents. It’s low and middle income earners, it’s all income earners because this is what Labor does.”

Jones derided the “record” $387 billion taxes Labor would raise over a decade — according to Treasury costings asked for by the Morrison government — and said if the figure was wrong the Opposition Leader should come on his show with an alternative costing.

“I’ve invited Mr Shorten on a million times, we’re batting for Australia here, happy to ask Mr Shorten those questions, perhaps he’ll contradict everything that Mr Morrison is saying but Mr Shorten avoids the questions,” Jones said.

“I’m suspecting he’s avoiding the questions because he can’t provide the answers. I’ll say to you Bill Shorten, if the $387bn over 10 years that Treasury says you’re ripping out of the pockets of Australians is wrong, state the figure that’s right today.”

Greg Brown 7.45am: Shorten the real coal risk

Scott Morrison has played down increased concerns China is not buying Australian coal, declaring the biggest threat to the coal industry was Bill Shorten.

The Prime Minister said Chinese officials had assured him the ban on Australian products on certain coal terminals had nothing to do with Canberra stopping Huawei from competing for the 5G network.

“We continue to have a positive relationship and we are managing those issues carefully and still are exporting incredibly (high) volumes to China,” Mr Morrison told 2GB radio.

“But I do know this: the biggest threat to people who work in our traditional industries, in the mining industry, in the forestry industry, the biggest threat to all of them is Bill Shorten.

“If you are working in Gladstone, up there in the Boyne Island smelter, or the Tomago smelter, or the Portland smelter, the biggest threat to your job isn’t outside of this country. It is right inside this country.”

The Australian reported this morning that Chinese state-owned power stations are specifically requesting coal from Indonesia, rather than Australia, as they put out tenders for new supplies.

What’s making news:

Pauline Hanson’s support has nosedived, handing Scott Morrison the equal-best primary vote for the Coalition since just after the last election but also strengthening Labor’s lead.

The magnitude of Labor’s huge gamble on tax policy is revealed by tables released yesterday showing in 2024-25 all wage earners on more than $39,105 are better off under the government than Labor, with the government’s benefits extending across the low and middle income range.

The Coalition has accused Bill Shorten of a $6 billion funding black hole in his centrepiece cancer care policy, with Health ­Department analysis suggesting it would be virtually impossible to fund free access to all cancer-­related items currently listed under Medicare.

Greens leader Richard Di Natale has “reached out” to Bill Shorten and pledged to lobby Labor towards more radical policies on climate change if the opposition grabs power at the upcoming poll.

Labor’s tax rises would eventually leave the economy 0.3 per cent smaller than under the Coalition’s tax cuts, but would provide offsetting benefits in fairness, an analysis by Deloitte Access Economics shows.

Bill Shorten will today promise $250 million to cut hospital waiting lists for elective surgeries, with Labor saying the commitment could stop people from waiting up to two months for knee replacements and cataract removals.

Young Australians have been put at the centre of Scott Morrison’s election pitch, amid warnings the nation would be unable to combat youth suicide, eating disorders, and online bullying without a strong economy.

Street walks for political leaders amid a federal election campaign can be a risky business but Scott Morrison has found his stride, apparently at ease talking to business owners, students, parents, babies and even four-legged canine friends.

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews has been accused of spending taxpayers’ money “to campaign for Bill Shorten”, raising concerns the Premier’s $1 million-plus Our Fair Share campaign contravenes his government’s guidelines that prohibit advertising to create a political outcome.

Pauline Hanson is abandoning One Nation’s 2016 federal election strategy of preferencing against sitting MPs in a move that could boost Coalition stocks in the crucial battleground of Queensland.

Jacqui Lambie — on the comeback trail, determined but so broke she survived on Vegemite for a week — faces an equally straight talking, cashed-up opponent who believes he has her measure.

The Liberal and Labor candidates for the eastern Melbourne seat of Chisholm made history yesterday, conducting the first Australian federal election debate in Mandarin.

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Original URL: https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/politics/politicsnow-day-five-both-leaders-hit-the-streets-of-melbourne/news-story/14602218cc42cfa685195b70777dcc3d