By-election contest between me and Bill Shorten says Malcolm Turnbull

Malcolm Turnbull says the by-election contest will be between him as PM and Bill Shorten as Opposition Leader.

Bill Shorten and Malcolm Turnbull are heading to Longman. Picture: AAP.

Malcolm Turnbull says the by-election contest will be between him as Prime Minister and Bill Shorten as Opposition Leader as the pair head to the Queensland seat of Longman for a day of campaigning.

The contest is close in the seat north of Brisbane, with Labor’s Susan Lamb battling to retain it against the LNP’s Trevor Ruthenberg, having had to resign over dual citizenship.

Preferences from Pauline Hanson’s One Nation flowed to Ms Lamb in 2016, however, Labor has been preferenced second-last by the minor party this time.

“The Longman by-election is obviously a test of the candidates, it’s a test of the parties, but really it is about the people of Longman deciding whether they want to vote for Bill Shorten and his higher taxes, fewer jobs, lower wages, less economic growth,” Mr Turnbull told ABC radio in Brisbane this morning.

“The head-up, the contest is between me and Bill Shorten as the Prime Minister and the Opposition Leader.”

Mr Turnbull highlighted Mr Shorten’s trip to Bribie Island, which is home to many self-funded retirees, attacking Labor over its dividend imputation policy.

“He’ll be able to tell them why he’s going to take up to 30 per cent of their income in one of the most shameless, disgraceful tax grabs,” Mr Turnbull said.

“He is going to fleece those retirees. These are people who’ve got retirement investments, they’re invested in Australian shares, they have for years been able to get in cash refund of the franking credits. If they were wealthy people with big portfolios they’d be able to offset those franking credits against other tax liabilities, but they’ve got modest savings.

“Bill Shorten is going to come after them and take their money. This is what it’s about. Higher taxes is what Shorten is going to Bribie Island to talk about today, and he’s going to be talking to retirees who’ll be saying to him, ‘why are you taking my savings?’, and I’ll be interested to see what he has to say.”

Asked whether he would call a general election should the Coalition win seats in the by-elections on July 28, Mr Turnbull said the election would be next year.

“The election will be next year, first half of next year,” he said.

“I get asked this every day. Would you like to have a general election this year? I think most people like elections to be held when they’re due.”

Mr Turnbull congratulated Queensland on their win in last night’s State of Origin, having watched the game with former premier Peter Beattie.

“I was sitting between Peter Beattie and Peter O’Neill, the Prime Minister of PNG, and next to him was Rick Hou, the Prime Minister of the Solomon Islands, so we had a very diplomatic evening there,” he said.

“We had a good discussion, but gee, what a game. Those two intercept tries. I cannot recall a game of football that was as dramatic as that, where you get an intercept and the player runs the whole length of the field to score, twice. One for each side.

“Look congratulations to New South Wales on winning the Origin series, but as a New South Welshman I have to say Queensland dominated that game and deserved to win.”