Category Archives: Coalition

Australia news live update: Australian man dies in Ukraine; Coalition ‘dropped the ball’ on Pacific engagement, Albanese says as Samoa signs China agreement

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Prime minister says Labor ‘won’t drop the ball’ as Samoa signs agreement with China; the Greens’ Stephen Bates claims victory in seat of Brisbane. Follow all the day’s news

Nationals MP Darren Chester reportedly told Barnaby Joyce of his intention to challenge him for the leadership in the party’s group chat.

May we all strive to have such chaotic group chat energy.

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Labor one seat from claiming majority as Liberals launch review of election defeat – as it happened

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New foreign minister tells Fiji ‘I hope I will be here often’; Jane Hume and Brian Loughnane to review Liberal party’s election campaign; Labor retains Tasmanian seat of Lyons; nation records 71 Covid deaths. This blog is now closed

The PM is asked what he thought of Tanya Plibersek saying Peter Dutton looks like Voldemort, and reiterates that he wants to “change the way politics operates”:

It was a mistake. It shouldn’t have been said. We all make mistakes from time to time.

What we need to do is to move on from them and it is how we respond to them. Tanya Plibersek responded appropriately. I want to change the way that politics operates.

Quite clearly, one of the issues that came up, we might have discussed it in previous weeks on this program, is we couldn’t tell from opposition where all the pots of money had been stored by this government.

They abused the process of the contingency reserve to create funds for use during the election campaign. We will go through those line by line because it is taxpayers’ money, not Liberal party or National party money that was being allocated in the billions, frankly, during this campaign.

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Election 2022 live: Dai Le dismisses eligibility concerns; doctors welcome Covid booster expansion as 41 deaths recorded

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Eligibility for fourth dose of Covid vaccine extended; ‘don’t think we’ve got a better choice’ for Liberal leader, Dave Sharma says of Peter Dutton; at least 41 coronavirus deaths recorded. Follow all the day’s developments

The SMH has some interesting lines from the Liberal candidate in Gilmore, Andrew Constance, who says his party were punished for being “too focused on themselves”.

While Gilmore remains on a knife-edge, the former state government minister said he was not surprised by the outcome of the election, warning the Liberal party that it needed to refocus on community concerns:

The party has been too introverted and too focused on itself.

It has to recognise its broad-based appeal is not sectional interest. The party exists for the community … there’s no such thing as a “heartland” in Australian politics.

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Election day press release about asylum seeker boats ‘a disgrace’, Richard Marles says

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Acting prime minister says information released by Liberal party about Sri Lankan boats being intercepted should not have been made public

The acting prime minister, Richard Marles, says the issuing of an election day press release about the interception of an asylum seeker boat was a “disgrace” and has demanded an explanation from public servants.

The media release paved the way for a last-minute scare campaign run by the New South Wales Liberals, which pushed texts to voters across key electorates, warning them the only way they could maintain secure borders was by voting Liberal.

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Nationals could dump Barnaby Joyce over net zero stance with Peter Dutton set to lead Liberals

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Sussan Ley or Jane Hume likely to be deputy Liberal leader as Coalition continues to grapple with election fallout

The National party will spill its leadership positions next Monday as the Liberals debate whether Peter Dutton’s deputy should be Jane Hume or Sussan Ley.

As the Coalition continues to grapple with the fallout from Saturday’s election rout amid conflicting views about how to reposition in response, Anthony Albanese was sworn in as Australia’s 31st prime minister before leaving for Tokyo and his first meeting with Joe Biden and key regional allies.

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Pollsters breathe sigh of relief after accurately predicting Labor’s election victory

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Major polling companies changed methods after 2019 failure but two-party preferred measure misses Greens and independents

Australia’s major opinion polls all accurately predicted Saturday’s Labor election victory, in a boost to pollsters’ reputations after the industry-wide failure at the 2019 election.

Surveys measuring voter sentiment throughout the campaign pointed to a Labor win, with the polls tightening in the final week before Saturday’s election.

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PM has ‘frank and very positive’ call with Johnson – as it happend

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Anthony Albanese has spoken to the British prime minister on his flight to the Quad meeting in Tokyo after being sworn in, along with four senior ministers; Monique Ryan says ‘work begins anew’ after Josh Frydenberg concedes; Dave Sharma concedes Wentworth; nation records at least 11 Covid deaths. This blog is now closed

And lastly, Ryan is asked what her view will be if Peter Dutton wins leadership of the Liberal party:

From my point of view, I’m a sort of centrist politician and I have been elected in that way by the people of Kooyong.

Taking the Liberal party further to the right I don’t think would resonate well in Kooyong. And I think members of other electorates around Australia would have that concern as well.

I think that the population of Australia expects better from its government.

This is a government that hasn’t held women safe in its own workplace. It’s a government that has seen an increase in homelessness from women over 50.

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Western Australia goes all in on red – and it could deliver Labor majority government

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Large swings in WA meant the Liberals lost Hasluck, Swan, Pearce and Tangney and will have just five seats – down from 10 – after the election

It wasn’t quite the bloodbath the Liberal party suffered in Western Australia’s state election in 2021, but a huge 11% swing to Labor has proved crucial to the Coalition’s federal election defeat.

The “red wave” in the west was the biggest swing nationally and could deliver Labor a parliamentary majority.

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Anthony Albanese claims election victory over Scott Morrison in 2022 federal election – as it happened

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Anthony Albanese arrives for speech; Scott Morrison to step down as leader after conceding defeat; ‘Liberal family suffered a terrible day,’ Peter Dutton says; Labor claims Reid; Zoe Daniel claims victory in Goldstein; Allegra Spender wins Wentworth from Dave Sharma. This blog is now closed

I’m a fairly big footy fan, but not sure how much all these analogies mean to the rest of voters (and I believe kicking into the wind can actually be an advantage in rugby union sometimes?)

On Weekend Today, Scott Morrison managed to turn a question about whether he has BBQ sauce on his democracy sausage into a stump speech about jobkeeper and co-funding the hospital system during the pandemic. We can’t fault him - those are more important issues than what he was asked.

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Federal court orders removal of anti-Labor signs in three Victorian electorates

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Labor sought urgent injunction to remove misleading campaign material in Higgins, McEwen and Hawke that used Greens colours and read ‘For our future, put Labor last’

The federal court has ordered the removal of anti-Labor campaign material appearing across three electorates in Victoria, including the ultra marginal seat of Higgins.

Labor on Saturday sought an urgent injunction to remove campaign material appearing in Higgins, McEwen and Hawke, which used the Greens’ party colours and read “For our future, put Labor last”.

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Guardian Australia readers: who do you think is going to win the federal election?

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So far we’ve had a dugong, a crocodile, a turtle, betting agencies and multiple polls try to predict the result of the 2022 election. Now it’s your turn to tell us who will win

With the polls tightening in the final days of the campaign, Saturday’s election is expected to be a close match.

Labor is desperately hoping the widespread anti-Morrison sentiment will be enough to deliver victory and polls suggest they are in front, but the party is still scarred by the experience of 2019, when polling pointed to an ALP win, only for its advantage to evaporate on the day.

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Final polls roll in as Albanese and Morrison hit campaign home stretch – as it happened

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Roy Morgan poll puts Labor ahead; Greens hopeful of picking up Senate seats; eligibility for telephone voting formally changed; health authorities give monkeypox update ; Julia Gillard says Labor would be ‘a government for women’; at least 52 Covid deaths recorded. This blog is now closed

The voting issue is gaining momentum.

Between Covid, problems for some people overseas, coronavirus impacting the available workforce and the ability to open up booths, particularly in rural and regional communities, and the impact of floods in northern NSW, voting has been a very fraught issue this time round, and the AEC has been working overtime trying to plug the gaps.

That is up to them. I have always respected the decisions of Australians, those quiet Australians as I refer to them, they are out there working hard every day and they are considering their choice very carefully.

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Cabinet committee blocked plan to double Australia’s support to Pacific, election-eve leak reveals

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‘Extraordinary’ revelation about national security decision shows the government is ‘falling apart’, Labor says

The Morrison government has been hit by an election-eve leak that cabinet’s national security committee blocked a proposal by the foreign affairs minister, Marise Payne, to double Australia’s support to the Pacific.

Labor said the “extraordinary” pre-election leak, first reported by the Australian newspaper, showed the government was “falling apart”, while Scott Morrison insisted the committee was “extremely tight”.

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Who will win? The seats Labor and the Coalition need for victory in Australia’s 2022 federal election

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The magic number for majority government is 76 lower house seats. Here are the possible scenarios in the Australian election

With the polls tightening in the final days of the election campaign, both major parties are preparing for a tight contest on Saturday.

Labor, after carrying the scars of the 2019 loss which it was widely expected to win, is being more cautious about predicting wins from the Liberal party this time round.

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Australian federal election 2022 live: Plibersek says Albanese has a ‘tough job’ as polls tighten

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AEC concedes some Covid-positive Australians ‘may not be able to vote’: prime minister responds after Labor announces policy costings; Covid and illness lead to drop in working hours; nation records at least 52 Covid deaths. Follow all the day’s developments live

Scott and Jenny Morrison are visiting Whitemore in the Labor-held electorate of Lyons in Tasmania this morning.

Brian Mitchell holds Lyons on a margin of 5.2%, although his buffer was inflated by the disendorsement of his Liberal opponent mid-campaign in 2019 for anti-Islamic social media posts. Morrison is still on the offence, seeking gains to offset expected losses elsewhere.

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Government claims of 7% real wage rise since in office disputed – as it happened

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Katy Gallagher disputes prime minister’s claims on real wage growth; nation records at least 53 Covid deaths. This blog is now closed

National party deputy leader, David Littleproud was feeling upbeat this morning while speaking to ABC Breakfast TV:

We have achieved a lot together, in fact we have done more than any other nation in the world if you look at an economic and health front. We should be proud but we need to shift gears and make sure we look after those cost of living inflation pressures and who is best to handle that and to drive the economy and to guide the economy. I think that’s where the Australian people are looking at it when the opposition won’t tell them how much of their money they’re going to spend, they’re taking them as mugs. We got to be open and honest and transparent.

We think an upward surprise of 1% q/q growth in [today’s] WPI could be enough to get the RBA over the line for 40 basis points, though if it comes in at our forecast of 0.8% q/q that prospect will recede.

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Real incomes shrink as wages growth of 0.7% in March quarter falls behind inflation

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Labor says figures released by the ABS show gap between wage growth and cost of living increases in Australia is now the largest in more than two decades

Australian wage growth barely budged in the March quarter, with salaries increasing at less than half the headline inflation rate, stoking concerns pay packets continue to shrink in real terms.

During the first three months of 2022, the seasonally adjusted wage price index (WPI) rose 0.7% from the December quarter to be 2.4% higher than a year earlier. Economists had tipped a quarterly and yearly rise of 0.7-0.8% and 2.5%, respectively.

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Public sector cuts worth $3.3bn would not result in job losses, David Littleproud claims

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Nationals frontbencher describes cuts as ‘sensible management’ but unions say they will result in thousands of job losses

Nationals frontbencher David Littleproud has claimed that spending cuts imposed across the public sector to deliver $3.3bn in savings to pay for the Morrison government’s election commitments will not result in job losses.

Littleproud at first told the ABC erroneously on Wednesday morning that “governments don’t employ people, businesses do”.

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Scott Morrison tells A Current Affair ‘jobkeeper saved the country’ – as it happened

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Prime minister tells Tracy Grimshaw ‘I could have been more sensitive at times’; nation records 66 Covid deaths. This blog is now closed

Ita Buttrose:

We will retain an internal system of editorial complaint handling. We accept the recommendations, but we have amended one already. The review recommends that the ombudsman should report directly to the board. We should report to the board and the managing director, but the directors felt that this would simply be continuing the system we already have and we wanted a different more independent approach. So the ombudsman will report directly to the board and the process will be separate from editorial management.

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‘Hello it’s John Howard calling’: former PM says Liberal party asked him to ‘campaign extensively’

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The current prime minister is unpopular in city marginal seats, so the Coalition is banking on robocalls and letterbox drops from Howard to sway voters

Australians might have been sitting down for dinner about 7pm on Monday, or tuning in to the news, but for those living in marginal seats there was a chance they were interrupted – by the former prime minister John Howard.

“Hello it’s John Howard calling from Sydney for the Liberal party,” were the words voters in seats such as North Sydney, Wentworth and Hughes heard when they answered their landlines and mobile phones.

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