Opposition leader says Labor won’t repudiate existing contracts after Anthony Albanese casts doubt on federal funding. All the campaign news with Katharine Murphy, live
8.46am BST
Bit of cut-through on one of the key issues of the day from my colleague Lenore Taylor – regardless of all the posturing, neither side (this far at least) is ruling out governing in the event of a hung parliament (as opposed to taking us all back to the polls).
All the talk about who will or won’t do post-election deals with independents and minor parties misses the point – they might reject formal “deals” but neither Malcolm Turnbull nor Bill Shorten has yet ruled out leading a minority government reliant on winning enough crossbench support for each bill they try to legislate.
Despite the spectacle of both leaders signing a “solemn pledge” drafted by the Daily Telegraph ruling out a “deal or alliance” with the Greens, neither has ruled out seeking to govern in the event of a hung parliament if enough of the crossbench agreed to the two basic prerequisites – to support the money bills needed for the government to function and not to support a no-confidence motion moved by the other side.
8.38am BST
A great deal to like about this picture.
8.29am BST
The ABC is reporting that Woy Woy-based chiropractor and osteopath Chris Nelson, 64, has been arrested at his business this afternoon, and charged with using a carriage service to cause offence. Nelson is allegedly responsible for posting racist comments on the Facebook page of outgoing Labor Senator Nova Peris. Peris shared the offensive post through her social media accounts, which said: “You were only endorsed by Juliar because you were black. Go back to the bush and suck on witchety grubs and yams.” The incident, unsurprisingly, has prompted widespread condemnation. Nelson has apparently denied he is responsible, saying his account was hacked.
8.17am BST
Readers with me last night know that Mike Bowers produced the image of debate night – Australian Financial Review political editor Laura Tingle watching on with an emotion that could be best characterised as *meh*.
Debates therefore have become a classic exercise in tactics conquering strategy. Political spinners will argue after a debate how each leader got their big message across. But unfortunately, having made themselves dull as dishwater, a declining number of people are actually listening to those messages.
Wise heads will say the exercise is about getting in and out in one piece. But if this is the case, what is the point in being in politics in the first place?
8.11am BST
Meanwhile, on a glass-bottomed boat.
8.05am BST
Malarndirri McCarthy, a former minister in the Northern Territory government and ABC presenter, has won preselection to replace Labor senator Nova Peris. On Monday Labor’s national executive selected McCarthy to top the ALP Senate ticket in the Northern Territory. McCarthy beat a field of four women: the Yothu Yindi Foundation chief executive, Denise Bowden, NT Labor staffer Cathryn Tilmouth, former NT Labor minister Marion Scrymgour and Peris’s chief of staff, Ursula Raymond.
7.48am BST
Back briefly to WestConnex, the Coalition has issued a statement to correct Bill Shorten’s comment this morning that the money has already been allocated.
This from the minister for major projects Paul Fletcher.
If we’re going to be successful in this you’ve got to analyse things as they are, rather than as you would like them to be...The fact is this is a state coalition government project and the way to stop this project, regardless of who is elected federally, is to get the state government to stop this project. The fact is if I am the transport minister there will be not one dollar from the federal Labor government for this WestConnex project.
7.00am BST
A bit more on will you or won’t you form a minority government after July 2 if that’s what the voters deliver, this time with the Coalition campaign spokesman, Mathias Cormann.
Q: Minister, your deputy leader Julie Bishop says the party would be willing to negotiate with independents to form a minority government if the circumstances arose, which independents and minor parties would be acceptable in your mind.
We are working hard every single day to win the trust of a majority of people in a majority of seats. Our ...
Our focus in on winning the trust and confidence of a majority of the Australian people in a majority of seats. That is why, every single day in this campaign, we have been and will continue to, promote the importance of our plan for jobs and growth, the importance of our plan to promote stronger growth at this point for the Australian people.
What I agree with, is that every single day we are campaigning to win the trust of a majority of people in a majority of seats. That we are campaigning to win this election so that we can continue to implement our plan for jobs and growth. That we can continue to implement our plan to secure the successful transition in our economy, which is currently taking place.
We have always said that this election will be close. What that means is that every single vote matters. Every single Australian at this election has a very clear choice. They have a choice between our plan for jobs and growth, our plan to put Australia on a stronger foundation for the future. Or the alternative Labor approach which would bring with it political instability, which would bring with it higher taxes, which would bring with it fewer jobs and weaker borders. Because a Labor Green government led by Bill Shorten will not be stable, it will lead to higher taxes, which will hurt jobs and growth and will lead to weaker borders, because even just in the Labor party, which is deeply divided when it comes to Border protection, about 34 Labor Members and candidates have come out against Australia’s strong border protection policies. Labor doesn’t believe in our strong border protection policies. They are talking tough before an election, the same as Kevin Rudd did in 2007. Remember what Kevin Rudd did after the 2007 election? He put the people smugglers back into business.
The focus right now is on doing everything we can, every single day to persuade the Australian people that this is the time to keep going with our comprehensive plan for the economy, with our plan for jobs and growth. That this is not the time to take risks. This is not the time for political instability. This is not the time for Labor’s higher taxes which would lead to fewer jobs, and weaker borders. That is what I am focussed on. That is what all of my colleagues are focussed on every single day.
Everybody knows what we are campaigning for. We are campaigning for our plan for jobs and growth. It is the Labor party that is on a unity ticket with the Greens on an anti-business, anti-success, anti-investment, anti-jobs and growth, weaker borders agenda. Don’t take my word for it. That is what senior Labor figures are saying and that is what everyone across Australia can see.
It is very, very clear. We are campaigning to win the trust of a majority of the Australian people in a majority of seats. That is what we are focussed on. Australia right now needs the Turnbull government to continue to implement our plan for jobs and growth. That is what we have been doing over the past three years or so. That is what we would like to do over the next three years. That is what we are asking the Australian people to allow us to do when they cast their vote on the 2nd of July.
Again, our focus is on winning a majority of seats. Our focus is on persuading a majority of Australian people in a majority of seats to give us their trust to continue to implement our plan for jobs and growth.
6.46am BST
Strange too that I’m spending more time talking to people on the phone and in the office than updating the live coverage. Wickedness. This must change.
6.23am BST
Quite a strange day, this.
Campaign chaos @craigreucassel offers Tony Abbott to Turnbull as woman yells about aged care #ausvotes @australian pic.twitter.com/Ptmgknv6NV
5.49am BST
It’s one thing to think about what the Coalition might seek in terms of a crossbench deal in the event of a hung parliament, but another to consider what independents might be prepared to deliver. Thus far the major independents active in this campaign have been at pains to say they aren’t interested in deals like Tony Windsor and Rob Oakeshott did in the 43rd parliament. They’ve been talking considering legislation case by case.
5.38am BST
Fortunately a transcript has arrived so I can now review the prime minister’s entire press conference from earlier today. I mentioned this in the lunchtime summary: that various government folks are now being pressed on their position in the event the voters deliver a hung parliament. Malcolm Turnbull was certainly pressed on his position. The relevant quotes are marked out in bold.
Can I just say to you that we are totally focused on winning this election and continuing to govern, delivering our national economic plan. The only party that is likely to do a deal with independents and in particular do a deal with the Greens is of course the Labor party. The Greens are their political brethren. The Greens and the Labor party are there on the left of the spectrum. You can see Labor getting closer to the Greens all the time in the course of this election, moving further and further to the left in order to protect electorates, seats like Mr Albanese’s and Tanya Plibersek’s and so forth. The forgetful Mr Feeney, he’s got to protect his seat from the Greens, that’s one thing he is not going to forget to do that. So Labor moves to the left and we’ve seen it before. You don’t have to – this is not a theoretical thing. Labor will find its friends on the left. If they were to fall over the line in this election they would end up governing with the Greens just as Julia Gillard did.
Look can I just say to you this is a theoretical possibility. The independents, you’re basically talking about the Greens here. The Greens are a leftwing political party somewhat to the left of the Labor party. Although the Labor party keeps on moving closer to them, so the difference is diminishing. But if there is any government put together on that basis, we know from experience – again we don’t have to theorise – it will be done between Labor and the Greens. You’ll end up with a Labor-Green government with all of the chaos that ensues. I mean consider this, consider this contrast. You saw last night, I set out the key elements of my government’s national economic plan and why it’s important, we need a strong economy. We need a strong economy to pay for all of the great things that we do. The education services, the programs like this, our hospitals and defence. Right across the board. So we need a strong economy, we have a plan for that. It’s quite clear that Mr Shorten does not. He has nothing to say on that subject, just a series of complaints interspersed with a few personal attacks and his trademark zingers. That’s the best he can offer.
Now on the other hand, what you have with the Greens, is a party that is drawing Labor to it, magnetically drawing Labor to the left. You know what will happen if Labor, after the election, if Labor were to win, Mr Bowen has told us. He said that there will be a 100-day period during which Labor puts together a mini-budget. So we’ve seen Mr Shorten do a backflip on an absolutely irrevocable promise to restore the Schoolkids Bonus. We’ve seen him do that backflip. If they were to win the election we would have 100 days of complete chaos when we would not know what was going to be their economic policy as they formulated a mini-budget, no doubt with even higher taxes than the ones they are proposing, and do so of course with their coalition partners or their likely coalition partners in the Greens.
What, rule out doing a coalition with the Greens? Of course! There is no way!
Yes what is the question?
Well I’ve made it very clear. I’ve made it very clear before and I’m surprised that you would imagine it was possible that we would be doing deals with the Greens or independents.
Julie Bishop was talking about how we would respond, how the Coalition would respond were we to lose the election, to legislation in the Senate. Of course that – she said – is judged on its merits, as it always is. Indeed there is nothing new in that.
The simple fact of the matter is we will govern in our own right. We expect to win this election because we believe the Australian people will back our national economic plan for jobs and growth. What Labor is seeking to do is to distract you all from the very clear reality that Labor is a party of the left. You saw the policies that they are laying out now, this is the most leftwing, anti-business agenda that’s been laid out by a Labor party leader for many, many years. What Mr Shorten is doing is attacking business. He is complaining about the support we’re giving to business. He seems to think that the Australian economy will just continue to grow, notwithstanding everything he proposes is designed and calculated to slow that growth, if not turn it back.
Well Michael this is all hypothetical. It would depend very much on the circumstances. It would depend on the legislation that we were putting forward.
This is a double-dissolution election as you know, and so our anticipation is that when the Australian people make their decision as to who they want to govern the country, who they trust to govern the country, we would then, on this assumption that we were able to win the election, we would then go to a joint sitting of both houses of parliament to pass two very important pieces of economic and productivity-enhancing measures: the restoration of the Australian Building and Construction Commission, and the laws that make union officials as accountable as company directors are. So those are two very important pieces of legislation. That’s the first thing that we would do, have a joint sitting of the Senate and House of Representatives.
5.21am BST
Meanwhile, to our north. Well, my north. If you are reading in Darwin it will be to your south.
5.04am BST
Crikey has the most marvellous tale of Helen Dale (nee Darville, and also known under the pseudonym Helen Demidenko) as reporter Josh Taylor puts it – departing the political staff of the Liberal democrat Senator David Leyonhjelm.
Dale has departed the position because ... well .. creative differences. Crikey has obtained an email from Leyonhjelm which sets out the story.
Helen Dale resigned from my staff yesterday. She got upset on Wednesday at being subjected to oversight on Facebook stuff, spent Thursday “working from home”, and quit yesterday.
First of these is writing. She is an excellent writer and a reliable copy-editor. I’m surrounded by staff who can’t punctuate and who put capital letters in the wrong places, so I’m going to require someone for that role (Duncan and I can do it, but we’re both pretty pushed). I’m hoping I can hire someone on a short-term contract for the rest of the campaign. If you have any thoughts as to who might be suitable, let me know asap.
We’ll ignore tax etc. I could possibly put him on the taxpayer’s payroll but it would be a lot of paperwork. I’ve discussed it with him and he’s willing and available, and understands he’s not driving the strategy.
Also just confirming I did not leak that letter from David, simply because I haven't been around to leak anything. @JoshButler @joshgnosis
Also confirming I am an excellent shitposter and do not need to be told how to do it :) @joshgnosis @JoshButler
I too have had the awkward 'teach old people about dank memes' conversation. It's... difficult. @joshgnosis @JoshButler
4.48am BST
I have a pathological fear of rodents, so I certainly don’t want to look, but in the event you want to see Malcolm Turnbull pat a rat in a Westfield, be my guest.
We've seen it all. @TurnbullMalcolm pats Splinter the rat at Westfield Penrith @australian #ausvotes pic.twitter.com/cG6CEV7p1U
4.37am BST
One for all fans of The Princess Bride.
4.36am BST
While I was attempting to wrestle WestConnex to the ground the Greens leader Richard Di Natale, who is announcing his party’s arts policy today, has ruled out supporting the Coalition in a minority government situation.
Q: So if you were given the opportunity to ... join with them in a minority government with the Coalition, would you go down that path?
These are always going to be questions for our party to make, and we will make a decision collectively as a party, but my own view is that it would be inconceivable to support this government.
4.29am BST
I mentioned in the lunchtime summary that I wasn’t fully across Labor and WestConnex. I’ve been attempting to correct that over the last little while. This morning, a front page story in the Daily Telegraph suggested that Labor may not fund the motorway if the ALP wins the election on July 2, because Anthony Albanese is an opponent of the project.
To understand this properly we need to work through this step by step.
If we’re going to be successful in this you’ve got to analyse things as they are, rather than as you would like them to be ... The fact is this is a state Coalition government project and the way to stop this project, regardless of who is elected federally, is to get the state government to stop this project. The fact is if I am the transport minister there will be not one dollar from the federal Labor government for this WestConnex project.
3.47am BST
Ah, now we can get the cut of The Chaser’s jib. The prime minister is being followed in Penrith by a giant cardboard cut-out of Tony Abbott.
PM being followed at Westfield Penrith #ausvotes pic.twitter.com/ezI4Rw5fzS
3.41am BST
And we have tears. I note the very close proximity of the prime minister’s super advancer, Vince Woolcock, who is the suited gent in the sunglasses.
PM @TurnbullMalcolm meets Anne who is overcome with emotion #ausvotes pic.twitter.com/eydEQUybEf
3.39am BST
Looks like The Chaser is out and about on the hustings, and there’s a man down.
Here's The Chaser's Chas getting manhandled after a stunt as the PM was leaving #ausvotes pic.twitter.com/9iWohSoEj6
3.37am BST
Let’s stop and assess the morning.
3.17am BST
Just a heads up while I’m stocktaking, street walk now in progress in Penrith.
PM meeting shoppers at Westfields Penrith #ausvotes pic.twitter.com/URDKk6DXge
3.15am BST
Time to take stock, a summary next.
3.09am BST
3.07am BST
Bit unfulfilling that we haven’t got the full Turnbull press conference as yet, only bits. I will catch you up when that’s possible.
3.07am BST
OK then, take two.
Q: How much money have you extracted from PwC and can that make up the education shortfall your government is promising?
I refer you to what Simon said about the question about shortfall. We are spending more money on school education every year.
3.05am BST
OK then, say the reporters.
Q: $234m has been cut from the electorate of Lindsay?
The commitment of spending here and the commitment to this electorate is very substantial, particularly in terms of infrastructure.
3.04am BST
There’s a question on the reef and a question about the reported death of an Australian soldier fighting in Iraq.
Turnbull won’t comment on the soldier and on the reef he says the government is acting but the solution to global warming is an international one. Australia is playing its part in the global community on emissions reductions, he says.
We are doing an education announcement.
You should come with us on our street walk shortly and we will be with Fiona meeting many of your fellow residents of this electorate.
This is the way we are making this announcement, with myself and the minister. Because we are dealing with questions, regrettably none of you have shown any interest at all in the announcement, none of you have shown any interest in this school, in education ... None of you have asked any questions about it.
I would be delighted – what about this? Why don’t we have two questions on P-Tech and technology in schools.
2.56am BST
Back to Sydney now and the prime minister.
Q: Do you commit to holding a gay marriage plebiscite by the end of the year and what would the question say?
We will hold it as soon as possible after the election. Given that the election is on 2 July, we do have ample time between then and the end of the year. So I would expect it to be held this calendar year.
2.55am BST
Reporters persist on the funding for today’s $500m. Where is it coming from?
Mark Butler says the policy was costed by the Parliamentary Budget Office “and it is fully funded through savings that have already been announced by the opposition, including savings from this portfolio”.
As I think you know, we have decided to dispense with the taxpayer-funded emissions reduction fund which pay big polluters to reduce their pollution using taxpayers’ dollars. Through that saving, it’s one example in my portfolio, we have been able to fund a doubling of the Indigenous rangers program.
Today we are announcing we have been able to add $302m over the forward estimates to the announcement made in the last budget by the Turnbull government to restore the Great Barrier Reef, one of the seven natural wonders of the world, to health. Now this is a fully costed, fully funded package, fully funded announcement.
2.51am BST
Bill Shorten is asked whether he would contemplate another debate with Malcolm Turnbull where he would throw away the talking points “and genuinely engage in a cut and thrust debate with the PM?” Shorten then proceeds to invoke the campaign talking points, amply answering the question.
2.48am BST
The Labor leader is asked whether he’ll reduce spending or increase taxes to offset it if he wins the election and finds there isn’t enough money in the kitty. Bill Shorten doesn’t answer that either in substance. He talks about Labor’s plan versus the alternative.
2.46am BST
Bill Shorten is asked whether Labor will scrap the government’s Reef 2050 plan. Shorten says he won’t, he’ll build on it. He’s asked how today’s policy will be funded. He doesn’t answer that specifically.
2.43am BST
Bill Shorten is accompanied by his climate spokesman, Mark Butler. He’s asked why there wasn’t a cap put on farm pollution running into the reef in today’s announcement – was that something you considered and if so why was it ruled out?
Butler takes the heavy lifting on that question. He says a cap was recommended by the water science task force. He says he’s open to caps.
The report, the scientists who wrote it made it clear the only way we will achieve those reductions is with a range of initiatives, funding of the type we are announcing today and market-based mechanisms that may include a cap and trade scheme that may operate at an entire reef level or catchment by catchment, because there are about 35 catchments in the reef area.
We are open to this. But the report was only handed down a few days ago. It wasn’t got costings associated with it.
2.39am BST
First question in Cairns is on WestConnex in Sydney.
Q: Anthony Albanese said last night that under a federal Labor government there would not be federal funding for WestConnex. Do you agree with that position and what is your view of that motorway?
But we have said, Anthony and I, the WestConnex project isn’t appropriate because it doesn’t go to the ports and the city.
The funding of this project has been paid. The truth of the matter is the government has paid the money and they are trying to work out where the project goes.
2.36am BST
This reef needs our protection and it needs it now. That’s why I’m pleased to announce if Labor is elected on July 2 we will protect our Great Barrier Reef. We will invest in direct environmental management, we will invest in science and research, we will invest in proper reef management.
All of these measures over the next five years, we will put aside a fund of $500m because this reef is worth saving. And if we do not act, it is in serious danger of being irreparably damaged. If we do not act, our children will rightly ask us why didn’t we. This is not a problem that I’m inclined to pass on to future generations. By contrast, the Liberals are not leading, they have their head in the sand.
This is Bill Shorten, reef side.
2.33am BST
There’s been some audio problems with Malcolm Turnbull’s press conference this morning but there seems to be a feed now. At the moment the prime minister is making observations about Labor’s drift to the left. I assume he’s just been asked about a hung parliament. Turnbull says this is a theoretical observation that could only possibly apply to the Labor party forming an alliance with the Greens. Ah, audio gone again. I’ll tune into the Labor leader in Cairns and we’ll catch up with Turnbull in due course.
2.18am BST
Just a city boy/Born and raised in south Detroit/He took the midnight train goin’ anywhere ...
2.02am BST
Regular readers of Politics Live will know I’m keenly interested in comprehensive reform of Australia’s seriously pathetic donations and disclosure regime. In that spirit The Conversation has posted a handy info-graphic collating key facts about the level of donations per party and the disclosure regimes that exist around the country. Just for your reference, in the event you, too, are interested in this issue.
1.52am BST
Still in economy budget territory, Fairfax columnist Ross Gittins (who took the government’s company tax cut = growth mantra to task in fine detail over this past weekend) is looking at spending today.
Gittins harks back to the Reserve Bank governor Glenn Stevens pointing out a week or so ago that whomever wins government in July will have a job of work to do in restoring the budget to fiscal health. He says the attempts at paring back to date have amounted to “pollies taking the path of least resistance: picking on only those interest groups that lack political clout and public sympathy”. Public servants, the aid budget, welfare recipients.
Point is, if screwing the politically defenceless is the best you can do to control government spending you’re never going to make it. They don’t have enough to cut.
Until you’re prepared to take on the powerful interest groups with their hands in the taxpayer’s pocket – starting with the doctors, chemists, drug companies and private health funds, then moving on to the mining companies and even, dare I say it, the farmers and the self-seeking “self-funded retirees” – you won’t make a dent.
1.47am BST
Wheels down in Cairns, the cameras need a moment to defrost.
Welcome to the tropics - where the cameras need time to sit in the sun and acclimatise to the weather #ausvotes pic.twitter.com/mAIV8fqLka
1.41am BST
I mentioned in my opening post this morning the Labor leader, Bill Shorten, used last night’s debate to try and deliver a sound bite on Labor’s approach to economic growth – fair growth, which is an acknowledgment that the party’s social capital agenda is about more than equity.
My colleague Greg Jericho is in this territory today with his latest blog post. Greg notes that for Malcolm Turnbull “the election is all about jobs and growth and a belief that a company tax cut and reducing government spending is the way to achieve both. But in light of the failures of such standard economic thinking after the GFC to provide economic growth, new research is finding that policies that fail to consider other aspects such as inequality are actually undermining long-term economic performance.”
1.29am BST
Still with Liberals in NSW, BuzzFeed’s Mark Di Stefano has been following a factional/personality fight in the state. I’ll let him take up the story.
BuzzFeed News has obtained an email from the NSW Liberal party director, Chris Stone, which was sent to 21 members of the executive on Sunday afternoon. In it, Stone calls for a meeting to be held this Tuesday night at the party’s headquarters. “There is a requirement for an urgent face to face meeting of State Executive to discuss and resolve a joint ticket for a full Senate election,” the email reads.
The meeting will decide the order of the party’s NSW senate ticket.
1.12am BST
Waiting for the PM- students at McCarthy Catholic College in Emu Plains, Sydney #ausvotes pic.twitter.com/n1mOViueWH
1.08am BST
If you weren’t with us since first light, a quick hustings update: Malcolm Turnbull is back in western Sydney today with a schools-focused announcement. He’s in the seat of Lindsay (Liberal held, margin 2.99%) – and Bill Shorten is in Cairns talking $500m for Great Barrier Reef protection.
12.57am BST
The ratings are in from last night’s election debate. The head-to-head between Malcolm Turnbull and Bill Shorten yielded 529,000 viewers. It was number 10 on the list of programs, just edging out Family Feud Sunday (there’s a Family Feud on Sunday??).
It is hard to get ratings if you aren’t screened on commercial free-to-air networks. #JustSaying
12.50am BST
Meanwhile in Tasmania, the status update is mildly passive aggressive with the Liberal MP Andrew Nikolic.
My new mate Yuli! What was that about friends & politics? #auspol pic.twitter.com/BMZblvMhvN
12.38am BST
The treasurer says the government is hopeful that the Senate will be different post-election. He hopes there will be fewer moving parts in the Senate.
Scott Morrison is asked about the Liberal candidate in the seat of McEwen, who exploded over the weekend.
You’ve all got your fair share of dills!
I’m not going along with you there ...
We are very proud of our team.
Yeah, yeah, good.
12.33am BST
Ray Hadley is still on his crusade about the government’s super changes being unfair. There’s a specific case study, Scott Morrison says he’ll come back to him.
Ray wants to know what the Coalition will do in the event of a hung parliament.
I just don’t think that’s a proposition that comes to us, Ray.
12.31am BST
Ray tells Scott Morrison what he told his listeners earlier on, the two leaders are underwhelming. Scott, Ray thinks, isn’t underwhelming, he’s a bit more exciting than the other people I mentioned.
Morrison doesn’t have time to be pleased. Ray then adds Morrison is about as exciting as Ray himself. A measured sort of bloke.
12.28am BST
Scott Morrison is now speaking to Ray Hadley. Who won the debate, Scott, Ray wants to know, except he sounds deeply bored.
Scott Morrison:
Even Quentin Dempster from the ABC called it for the prime minister!
12.25am BST
One of Labor’s campaign spokesmen, Tony Burke, is speaking to journalists in the Mural Hall.
Q: Do you take heart from the analysis of Newspoll in the Australian today that shows you look like you are on track to win enough seats to form government?
I take heart from the conversations I’m having in the community of people having hope that when they hear what Labor is talking about, it speaks to their needs, their aspirations for Australia. But I’m under no illusions. When you get more than a 20-seat head start in an election campaign, that makes you automatically the frontrunner. That’s where Malcolm Turnbull is.
I know we are the underdogs in it but I also know that the fight here is close and the reason it’s close is where Malcolm Turnbull has drawn the dividing line of this election campaign. He hasn’t drawn it through the middle of Australia, he’s drawn the dividing line here at the absolute top end and said the plan for all of us is to send all the wealth up there and somehow Australia will benefit with slower broadband, a less-trained workforce and lacking investment in basic health like Medicare. That’s not the sort of plan for Australia that I think most people want.
I sat there. I’m enmeshed and engrossed by the policy detail. I’m not going to pretend that’s a story for every Australian.
If you were looking for the big moments of clash, the fiery moments when people speak over the top of each other, there weren’t many of those. Sometimes when I watch debates considered to be more fiery, you have two people talking over the top of each other, I can’t hear either of them so a bit of civility will help.
12.12am BST
Labor’s deputy leader, Tanya Plibersek, in Canberra for the debate last night, is campaigning today with Labor’s candidate in the seat of Eden-Monaro, Mike Kelly. I don’t think Bill Shorten has been to Eden-Monaro yet this campaign, and he also hasn’t been to Tasmania yet. It’s interesting he’s back in north Queensland today.
The treasurer, Scott Morrison, is coming up for his (mostly) weekly fireside chat with Ray Hadley on 2GB. I’ve got Hadley in one ear. The radio man is clearly bored with the campaign. He’s telling his listeners now he watched last night’s debate without much enthusiasm. We’ve never had a battle from two less inspiring leaders, Hadley says.
11.59pm BST
Mathias Cormann has strolled around to the Sky News studios to follow up from his press conference. He’s being pressed on the company tax cuts – how does that boost economic growth? Cormann says it’s “self-evident” that a tax cut boosts growth. He’s pressed on specifics, and says the Treasury work says the tax cut delivers a permanent increase 1% in the size of the economy. How long will that take? “A period of up to 20 years.” Cormann is told that Labor says the tax cut is funded by ripping money out of schools. “Well, that is wrong.”
11.40pm BST
The Coalition’s campaign spokesman, Mathias Cormann, is doing his morning media conference.
We’ve said all the way through this campaign that Bill Shorten and Labor in this campaign are running on a unity ticket with the Greens pursuing an anti-business, anti-success, anti-investment, anti-jobs, anti-growth agenda. That is not what Australia needs. We have exciting opportunities in front of us but we are also facing continuing global economic headwinds and uncertainty in the global economy. Right now we need to secure our plan to secure a successful transition in the economy to broader drivers of growth in a strong, diversified economy. We don’t need the instability that would come from a Shorten-led Labor/Green government, a return to the same old Labor of the past, a return to the same old bad days that we experienced as a nation under the Rudd and Gillard Labor governments.
It's so cold today here even @MathiasCormann is wearing a woolly hat #ausvotes pic.twitter.com/OAd4oCwRhw
11.36pm BST
Good morning everyone and welcome to Monday. As I mentioned last night in the live coverage of the election debate, in normal circumstances, today would be the beginning of the campaign. But this campaign is a distance away from normal circumstances, which is part of what makes it interesting.
I continue to completely reject the idea that this contest is dull. It’s long, particularly when you measure it out in 10-minute increments, which is the peculiar joy of the live blogger, but it’s interesting. One of the peculiarities of this contest is this sense of nothing much sticking. Malcolm Turnbull and Bill Shorten are like a couple of rock climbers ascending parallel to each other – not much intersection, hardly any crossover, resting in equal measure to climbing. Tempo is a factor here. The question for this week is will the tempo change now we have crossed over into the conventional five-week stretch?
11.29pm BST
Melissa Davey signing off and handing over to Murph and the team in Canberra now.
I’ll leave you with this pic from photographer Mike Bowers, which pretty much sums up the sentiment from last night’s debate in one shot.
This one of @latingle from @mpbowers pretty much sums it up. 'Look, I tried.' pic.twitter.com/3HBwjEDq7p
11.21pm BST
If you were bored by last night’s debate perhaps this quiz will prove more exciting.
Who said it: Bill or Mal? Test your political smarts with our #LeadersDebate quiz https://t.co/PgTr4qxlvy #ausvotes pic.twitter.com/zfOiICoyBH
11.15pm BST
The finance minister, Mathias Cormann, has been asked if we can expect another leaders debate before polling day in about five weeks’ time.
That will be a matter for others to determine. We have had two debates now. Let’s see.
That is wrong. The Labor party policy so-called on negative gearing just will make it harder for people across Australia to get ahead. Negative gearing allows people to leverage the value of their house and also their existing income into additional investment into income producing and appreciating assets, whether that’s a small business, whether that’s a commercial property, whether that’s shares or whether that is indeed a residential investment property.
That is an opportunity that people have been able to use and we believe should continue to be able to use to get ahead. When it comes to government debt as a share of GDP, it is much lower than it would have been if we hadn’t controlled expenditure growth compared to what we inherited from Labor.
11.07pm BST
The Western Sydney Labor MP Jason Clare has taken aim at the Coalition for not confirming candidates for five seats in the key area of the west. He just told the Seven Network:
There are five seats in western Sydney where the Libs haven’t picked a candidate yet and we’ve got less than five weeks until the election.
11.00pm BST
Get ready for “the mother of all scare campaigns”.
The former leader of the Liberal party John Hewson and the former Labor minister Craig Emerson have just spoken to Radio National, and both say to expect a large scare campaign over the issue of asylum seekers as the election campaign enters its final weeks. Hewson says:
The government is going to run hard on border protection for the last two weeks of the campaign. What worries me is we have 1,600 people sitting in those two detention centres on Manus and Nauru and neither party has any resettlement strategies.
Get ready for the mother of all scare campaigns. [Malcolm Turnbull] is going to present himself as hard as Tony Abbott and as hard as Peter Dutton [on asylum seeker policy]. It will have some downside in inner city areas ... but in other parts it will work.
I can rule out any of the detainees coming to Australia. Labor taught all of us a very, very harsh lesson. They proved what happens if you abandon secure borders. Thousands of arrivals, deaths at sea, the people smugglers back in business.”
Whoever forms the government after 2 July, there will be no change in policy about our determination to defeat the people smugglers, the criminal syndicates who play and prey upon people, taxi them out to sea and in too many tragic cases drown.
10.42pm BST
More on that Julie Bishop interview on AM from Guardian Australia political reporter Paul Karp:
Asked if the Coalition would respect Labor’s mandate if it won the election, Bishop replied: “We don’t intend to lose the election – I intend to be part of a government that can implement the economic plan we’ve laid out so carefully for the Australian people.”
10.38pm BST
Not sure how representative Twitter users are of the Australian population but according to the Huffington Post almost six in 10 Twitter users have not decided who they will vote for on July 2.
The report says that 56% of Tweeters are undecided. HuffPo says:
The Coalition is leading the votes on Twitter – just – with 33% support on the social media platform. Labor comes in close with 31% while Green supporters on Twitter stand at 14%.
Jonathon Harley, Director of Media Partnerships at Twitter, said there are effectively ‘millions of votes up for grabs’.
Peak moments on Twitter during the #LeadersDebate last night. #ausvotes stats from @govAU pic.twitter.com/0t9zdePTxh
10.31pm BST
The Liberals’ deputy leader, Julie Bishop, has just spoken on the ABC’s AM program, where she unsurprisingly praised Malcolm Turnbull’s performance during Sunday night’s leaders’ debate. Despite talk that the past three weeks of the election campaign had failed to engage voters, Bishop said Turnbull had succeeded in getting his vision for “jobs and growth” across:
The prime minister has been criss-crossing Australia, laying out the economic plan he has for the country, a vision for the future. I think the last three weeks have been very useful in setting out clearly our economic plan for the future and that’s precisely what the prime minister did last night. He led the debate like he leads the nation, with a vision for the future.
I’ve known Malcolm Turnbull for 30 years, and Malcolm Turnbull as prime minister is the Malcolm Turnbull that I know. He’s strong, he’s determined, he’s principled. Last night he spoke about his business background, his ability to see opportunities where others may not. Malcolm Turnbull knows what it takes to run this country, to run the economy, and I think Bill Shorten’s performance last night was a very lacklustre, a performance that had a long list of grievances but no plans for the future.
I think Malcolm’s focus on innovation as being key to the future of Australia. Providing tax cuts to enable small business to grow more, his focus on innovation and science, shows he understands how we will be competitive and how to advantage Australia in a way where we will see new industries and new jobs and traditional industries being made more contemporary by the use of innovation and technology.
10.10pm BST
Bill Shorten will be on his way to Cairns and warmer weather from icy Canberra, as soon as the plane is defrosted:
Canberra in winter-Shorten media plane gets de-iced @MelissaLDavey @murpharoo @GuardianAus #politicslive pic.twitter.com/SPEJdLxg9l
10.07pm BST
Some more details on where in NSW the Turnbull campaign is headed. According to AAP, the prime minister is headed back to the key battleground of western Sydney to announce funding to link students with science and technology jobs.
He’ll be hoping for a more successful visit than when he was last in the electorate about two and a half weeks ago with the Coalition MP Fiona Scott. While the pair were in Penrith, Scott was quizzed by reporters over whether she voted for Malcolm Turnbull or his predecessor in the Liberal spill last year.
Mr Turnbull is headed to the marginal seat of Lindsay on Monday, where he may finally get around to that street walk he cancelled in Penrith during the first week of the campaign.
He’s expected to do a mall walk with local coalition MP Fiona Scott, who holds the seat by a margin of 3%.
9.55pm BST
As mentioned earlier in this blog, neurosurgeon Assoc Prof Brian Owler on Friday stood down as his two-year term as president of the Australian Medical Association came to an end.
Owler was a vocal critic of health policies such as the GP co-payment, asylum seeker policy and its harm to the health of detainees, and the extended freeze on Medicare rebates.
That might be worthwhile. If you ever hear me talking about it, I’ll be talking about the health of asylum seekers, I won’t be talking about broader asylum seeker policy.
There’s always room for negotiation with the government. There’s always rooms for discussion with all parties in the middle of an election campaign.
I think that the AMA should always try and be constructive when it criticises policies of government or opposition, and should try to to come up with alternatives.
The new Aus Medical Association president, Dr Michael Gannon, has just told ABC he will tone down criticism of gov's asylum seeker policy.
9.33pm BST
Shorten is off to Cairns right about now, where environment will be the focus of the day. Bowers tells me: “Cairns, Green Island and a glass bottom boat is on the agenda today.”
Sounds almost enjoyable.
Shorten media plane boards in a light Canberra fog bound for Cairns @MelissaLDavey @GuardianAus #politicslive pic.twitter.com/zj9oCOyrOt
9.29pm BST
To health policy now, and a television campaign funded by GPs and which went to air last night takes aim at the federal government’s extended freeze on Medicare rebates.
The catchline is: “Your wealth should never affect your health.”
The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners president, Frank Jones, denied to AAP that the campaign was a political one, saying it was more about emphasising the “wonderful care” GPs provided to the community.
Speaking at the peak medical body’s national conference on Friday, Owler said his presidency, which began in 2014, coincided with ‘a turbulent time in Australian politics’ including the government’s budget announcement of a patient co-payment for GP visits.
Owler also accused the health portfolio of being run by Treasury and finance rather than by health. He spoke of his concerns about public hospital funding cuts, saying Turnbull’s recent announcement of an extra $2.9bn in funding was not enough to sustain the system long-term.
Powerful stuff from the AMA's Associate Professor Brian Owler; https://t.co/MPJkKhf87l
9.17pm BST
Just received this text message from our photographer Mike Bowers, who is on the Shorten bus today:
We are off to Cairns and they are promising us ‘a great day’.”
A campaign week in pictures; why @mpbowers (here accompanying Bill Shorten) is master of his domain https://t.co/xrfFHD3eDJ
9.08pm BST
Bill Shorten is in Cairns today, and Guardian Australia political reporter, Gareth Hutchens, writes that Labor is promising to invest $500m to boost scientific monitoring and management of the Great Barrier Reef over five years as it unveils its biggest environmental policy of the election campaign so far.
It says it will adopt every recommendation in the Great Barrier Reef water science taskforce final report, released last week.
Among the key recommendations is the commitment to meeting the water quality targets of reducing nitrogen runoff to the reef by up to 80%, and sediment runoff by up to 50% by 2025, in key catchments such as the wet tropics and Burdekin.
An average of 35% of coral was now dead or dying in the northern and central sections, according to the surveys led by the Australian Research Council’s Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies.
But in good news for tourists and the tourism industry, only 5% of coral has died on reefs south of Cairns.
8.43pm BST
Good morning and welcome to Monday 30 May, which should be the day this election campaign actually began – the minimum time required by law for an election campaign is 33 days, and we have five weeks to go until we hit the polls on July 2.
But no, we’re already three weeks in. The polls are pretty much neck-and-neck, though Labor is pulling ahead slightly. Fresh off the back of Sunday nights leaders debate and with polling date finally, if only vaguely, in sight, we’ll see if the prime minister and opposition leader start ramping things up and breaking from the script this week.
The Debate is live come join us @GuardianAus for #politicslive with @murpharoo pic.twitter.com/EuCnlMMr9q
Malcolm Turnbull conceded bipartisanship on climate change was desirable and committed to meet higher targets if set by the global community in the second leaders’ debate of the Australian election campaign.
But the prime minister failed to outline how Australia would reach the 2030 emission reduction targets agreed to in Paris. Bill Shorten, the Labor leader, baited Turnbull, asking: ‘Whatever happened to the old Malcolm Turnbull on climate change?’
"Whatever happened to the old @TurnbullMalcolm on <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/cl