Prime minister makes up with radio host Alan Jones as poll finds most people think he is arrogant, but more likeable than Bill Shorten
12.36am BST
Nova Peris’ resignation from the ALP senate ticket for the Northern Territory raised a few eyebrows in the party. Not only was the decision a shock, but the timing was inopportune for Bill Shorten, who was caught on the hop.
National executive will now look for a replacement.
STATEMENT ON NOMINATION FOR NORTHERN TERRITORY SENATE CANDIDATURE
Senator Nova Peris OAM holds an important place in Australia’s history as the first Aboriginal woman elected to the Commonwealth Parliament; and the first Aboriginal Labor member in federal parliament. I will always remember covering the story as a journalist on that historic day as Nova entered the parliament, and the privilege of speaking with Nova and her family.
12.14am BST
Barnaby Joyce continues to get free publicity from Johnny Depp. His obsession with the Nationals leader knows no bounds. He was speaking to Jimmy Kimmel, doing the straight faced delivery on the “badness of my ways”.
Says Jimmy,
Isn’t it heartening in a way to know that we’re not the only dumb country, though. To find out it’s not just us doing stupid stuff, that Australia can make up it seems like one guy in Australia made a big deal out of this. Barnaby Joyce is the guy’s name.
Barnaby Jones...He looks somehow like inbred with a tomato.
I’m turning into Johnny Depp’s Hannibal Lecter, I’m inside his head, I’m pulling strings and levers. Long after I’ve forgotten Mr Depp, he is remembering me. Keep on advertising me Johnny. The Australian people know we did the right thing. When I walk around the streets of Tamworth or the streets of Bundaberg or Martin Place in Sydney, whether they like me or not, they say well, don’t completely like you but you were right on that one. We can’t have rabies coming into the country. Who does the fella think he was?
11.56pm BST
If you are still interested in black holes, Gareth Hutchens has done a handy fact check on the numbers.
11.51pm BST
Good morning,
Today heralds the end of the cold war between the king of the shock jocks Alan Jones and Malcolm Turnbull, the man who had the temerity to knock him back a few pegs in 2014, after Tony Abbott’s first budget.
11.32pm BST
Thanks for joining me, Melissa Davey, this morning. I’m handing you over to Gabrielle Chan in Canberra now.
I’ll leave you with this piece from Fairfax, which says there is trouble brewing in Warringah:
Tony Abbott’s campaign in the Sydney stronghold of Warringah has succumbed to bitter infighting as rank-and-file Liberals complain over strategy and position for “life-after-Abbott”, tipping the former prime minister will quit if left off Malcolm Turnbull’s post-election frontbench”.
Despite his public statements to the contrary, many local Liberals expect Mr Abbott to move on after the election. A popular theory is that he will be offered a prominent diplomatic post such as Australia’s high commissioner to London.
11.24pm BST
The Coalition have just issued a press release detailing its support for Australian dairy farmers who have had their incomes retrospectively cut by dairy processors Murray-Goulburn and Fonterra.
Deputy prime minister, Barnaby Joyce said the Coalition will deliver immediate assistance.
Where a farmer is facing real hardship and we have received the full details, a decision can be made almost immediately. If there is any difficulty obtaining the information we need to assess a claim, Farm Household Case Officers can talk to the farmer’s accountant or financial adviser to help get the information needed.
11.15pm BST
A bit more on that interview of Turnbull by Alan Jones earlier this morning.
Turnbull has refused to talk to Jones since an on-air stoush two years ago. During that interview, Jones grilled Turnbull about his support for an Abbott-Hockey leadership. Turnbull replied: “Alan, I’m not going to take dictation from you.”
A media expert has told news.com.au, the early morning chat has less to do with two finding common ground and everything to do with the man dubbed “Mr Harbourside Mansion” failing to connect with voters in more humble abodes whose tick of approval will be crucial if Turnbull hopes to win the July 2 federal election.
For those of you expecting some kind of brawl, forget it. Won’t happen. This is an election campaign and it is a very serious matter. I will be focusing in this interview, as I always do, on policy.
#politicslive has been up since the wee hours, with @MelissaLDavey Latest: Alan Jones and PM kiss and make up https://t.co/O0HqkQqtlC
11.04pm BST
More on the package for dairy farmers being announced by the deputy PM, Barnaby Joyce, today. He’s just spoken to the ABC’s AM program and says the package will include access to concessional loans at the cheapest rates possible, and welfare payments of up to $1000 a fortnight.
BREAKING: Barnaby_Joyce announces $550m in concessional loans for dairy farmers at 2.66% interest rate from 1 August #ausvotes @abcnews
10.58pm BST
To the front pages, courtesy of Guardian Australia’s audience editor, Dave Earley:
The Financial Review reports that outgoing Reserve Bank governor Glenn Stevens has “warned the bickering political parties that whichever side wins the federal election will face years of hard decisions if they carry through on promises to repair the budget”.
Financial Review front page. Wednesday 25 May 2016. @FinancialReview #ausvotes #election2016 #auspol pic.twitter.com/92F3dFzMCV
Senator Conroy demanded the documents seized from the two premises be sealed and delivered to the Senate in Canberra.
“I will write to the clerk of the Senate, Dr Rosemary Laing, to commence an action to seek a ruling from the Senate on the claim,” Senator Conroy wrote.
ABC News front page. Wednesday 25 May 2016. @abcnews #ausvotes #election2016 #auspol pic.twitter.com/8jePza9jt2
But Labor has rejected demands to stop using its “putting people first” slogan and pointed out the bank has close ties to the Liberal National party in Queensland.
Heritage Bank donated more than $10,000 to the LNP in 2014 and the bank’s head of banking operations, David Janetzki, is running as the party’s candidate for the byelection in the state seat of Toowoomba South.
The Courier-Mail front page. Wednesday 25 May 2016. @couriermail #ausvotes #election2016 #auspol pic.twitter.com/yY4RikJ9kz
10.46pm BST
Guardian Australia’s photographer, Mike Bowers, has seen many early mornings since the campaign began just over a fortnight ago. Morning Mike. Just under six more weeks of these ahead.
Election dawns top left-Bris,Melb,Syd,Perth,Syd,Perth,Perth,Darwin & Melbourne today @MelissaLDavey @gabriellechan pic.twitter.com/OVbHWd4fC6
10.43pm BST
Alan Jones also asked the prime minister about the government’s crackdown on high-income superannuation tax concessions. Turnbull tells him that high-income earners – like himself and Jones – are the ones who will be affected, and says that’s only fair:
We believe our changes to superannuation are fair and well targeted. The reality is we have to live within our means. The super concessions are very generous. What we’ve done is dial them in a bit, so people like you and me are paying more tax.
There is no substitute for very active, involved and engaged parents. We believe parents should be right into it.
10.35pm BST
The prime minister has just been interviewed by Alan Jones on 2GB. Jones went straight into this week’s Newspoll, which showed a boost to Shorten’s popularity. Turnbull tells Jones that voters have a “very clear choice” come polling day.
We are presenting a national economic plan, every element of which is promoting economic growth and jobs. We need a clear economic plan. On the other hand, you’ve got Labor offering higher taxes, bigger deficits and there is nothing in what they’ve proposed that will create jobs or drive economic growth. What we’re doing is the opposite. We’re promoting jobs and promoting growth.
It is a slog, there is no doubt about that. But the absolute key to this is growing the economy. You’ve got to grow the economy faster than expenditure.
Now what constrains supply is local government and state government, and what we have said in our cities policy is we are no longer going to be just a passive ATM that hands out money to the states. I approach these things as a businessman. I believe we have to look at our investments in cities that maximises the benefit to the people living. That includes increasing housing supply.
A key part of our national economic plan is living within our means. When we talk about funding for health, education, rail, roads, all of those commitments are fully funded.
10.04pm BST
Coming up shortly:
Prime Minister @TurnbullMalcolm will be interviewed by Alan Jones after the 7am news. Listen here https://t.co/9CH8iZfOdK #ausvotes
10.03pm BST
Black holes within black holes. The Coalition’s botched attack on Labor over the size of the black hole in their budget costings is continuing to make news today.
Michelle Grattan writes for The Conversation that:
“Black holes” are part of the meat and potatoes of election campaigns – and often of the early days of new governments too, though the Charter of Budget Honesty has made them harder at that stage.
Just as with border protection, Labor is usually thought to be vulnerable on its spending plans, so it wasn’t surprising when Morrison and Cormann launched the assault.
9.50pm BST
The Salvation Army’s Major Paul Moulds has told ABC News 24 that the voices of those who are most marginalised “tend to get overlooked in elections”. A new report from the Salvos found one in five of its customers are homeless or living in temporary accommodation, and some are living off less than $16 a day after expenses. Moulds says:
This report, taken from 1,600 people who have approached the Salvation Army for help, really gives an insight into their lives. And year after year we release this report and it’s amazing that in five years of releasing it, we really haven’t seen any great progress being made. That’s because I think no one’s prepared to really tackle the hard issues that we need to look at as regarding poverty in Australia.
There’s a whole lot of people out there that don’t have the income to get into a lease property. They’re living in insecure tenancy so they’re getting room shares off Gumtree, places like that, they’re living in boarding houses.
These are the people we want to participate in the economic jobs thing that the government’s talking about, but they can’t. It’s really hard to do that when you don’t have secure accommodation. The rents are just so difficult to match that they resort to moving between places so quickly. So it’s an insight, I think, into how difficult it is for people in the housing market.
Interesting to see implications of this for the education of children living in these circumstances https://t.co/CTBean9XnS
9.37pm BST
Turnbull and Shorten will both be in Melbourne today.
Also in Melbourne, 3AW is reporting that political signs promoting Turnbull and local candidate Julia Banks have been stolen from the front yard of a home in Melbourne’s east. Scandal.
9.19pm BST
Budget black holes have dominated week three of the election campaign.
Yesterday, the Coalition, namely Scott Morrison and Mathias Cormann, attempted to discredit Labor’s budget costings, saying the opposition’s budget would blowout to $67bn over four years, which would reach $200bn in 10 years. But by yesterday afternoon after some scrutiny and questioning, this figure had come down to $32bn.
The most spectacular road crash remains the Coalition’s insistence there is a $19.27bn cost to Labor’s commitment to returning foreign aid to 0.5% of national income.
Morrison and Cormann persisted with this on Tuesday, despite Labor’s Tanya Plibersek releasing a policy on Sunday limiting the increase to just $800m more than the Liberals over the next four years, and that the Coalition’s own policy is also for a return to 0.5%.
9.07pm BST
The first official debate of the campaign between Turnbull and Shorten will take place on Sunday night, Fairfax reports. Chris Uhlmann, the ABC’s political editor, is expected to moderate the debate.
The hour-long debate at the National Press Club in Canberra is expected to be broadcast live at 7.30pm on the ABC and made available to commercial networks.
An announcement of the debate is expected on Wednesday, following negotiations between the two campaigns.
8.54pm BST
We’re almost halfway through the week but barely a quarter of the way through this election campaign. Welcome to Wednesday, our live politics coverage, and yet another poll to ponder.
Melissa Davey with you this morning, I’ll be handing over to Guardian Australia’s deputy political editor, Katharine Murphy, at 8.30am. Katharine was yesterday announced as Guardian Australia’s new political editor and will be taking on the position next month when Lenore Taylor takes on the role of editor of Guardian Australia.
Very, very pleased to say @GuardianAus new political editor is @murpharoo and chief political correspondent is @gabriellechan #auspol
Voters considered Mr Turnbull far more likeable, even though his standing fell three points to 68% and Mr Shorten rose nine points to 57%.
While both men are former ministers leading their parties for the first time in an election campaign, Mr Turnbull was judged to be a more experienced leader at 74%, down three points. Mr Shorten’s score rose five points to 62%.
The chances of her being elected are remote – the Greens won only 6% of first-preference votes in 2013, well behind the Nationals’ Kevin Hogan, who narrowly beat the incumbent, Labor’s Janelle Saffin. Both are standing again.
The Greens hope to make some inroads. At the 2015 New South Wales state elections of 2015, the Greens came a close second to the Nationals in Lismore, which is part of the Page federal electoral district.
Especially because of the timing, apparent lack of warning, and confusion surrounding it when opposition leader Bill Shorten initially could not reach her to clarify the situation.
Shorten told a news conference Peris had been a “trailblazer” both on the athletics track and in the Senate.
However, the Australian understands she is not the presumptive candidate for the hotly contested role, which is expected to be filled within weeks.
Johnny Depp on Barnaby Joyce: ‘He looks inbred with a tomato’ https://t.co/KDjW4xzFGI
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