Category Archives: Bill Shorten

The fact the Liberal launch won’t be about the party exposes its emptiness | Katharine Murphy

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This election for the Liberals has always been Morrison or bust because the party has nothing much left to offer

We are going to have to wait and see what Scott Morrison bowls up at his official campaign launch on Sunday, but the forward sizzle before the event has been, how can I say this politely? Unusual.

Over the past 24 hours, we’ve had the Liberal party leader and the campaign spokesman both out to stress that Sunday’s set-piece will not be about the Liberal party, which is odd, given a campaign launch is traditionally an event to launch the Liberal party’s campaign for re-election.

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Federal election 2019: Scott Morrison egged by protester in Albury – politics live

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Prime minister blames ‘cowardly activists’ after egg misses his head. The economy is again in the spotlight, as both parties wait to hear if the bank will cut interest rates. All the day’s events, live

Prime Minister attacked by a protester at the Country Women’s Associations meeting in Albury. The egg missed his head, but the vision shows that her hand did not. @9NewsBorderNE #9NewsAt6 pic.twitter.com/Bvg0rITray

AAP has also reported the woman accused of attempting to egg the prime minister was protesting against the government’s asylum seeker policies:

Outside the venue, the protester told reporters she didn’t mean to knock the other woman down.

“I don’t want to give a report, no thank you. I’ve got to go to work. No comment,” she told reporters.

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Federal election 2019: Shorten stands by security agencies after Keating comments – politics live

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Labor leader says he doesn’t share former PM’s concerns that the nation’s spy chiefs are damaging our relationship with China. All the day’s events, live

Well that looks like it answers that question

Don’t expect people like Peter Dutton and Tony Abbott at the Liberal campaign launch - they are busy defending their seats says @JoshFrydenberg who is on tv with me very soon #auspol19

It’s amazing the differences an election campaign can make to people’s positions.

From ABC Adelaide, where Georgina Downer is again trying to take the seat of Mayo off Rebekha Sharkie:

Mayo Liberal candidate Georgina Downer says the minimum wage is “about right” after previously pushing for it to be abolished along with penalty rates.

In an interview with ABC Radio Adelaide this morning, Ms Downer backtracked on comments she made while working at the Institute of Public Affairs about the role of the Fair Work Commission.

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Former PMs bury the hatchet in show of unity at Labor campaign launch | Katharine Murphy

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With Bill Shorten a key player in the demise of both Rudd and Gillard, it’s a message that needs reinforcing

It wasn’t clear from our vantage point up the back how Kevin Rudd and Julia Gillard reacted to the sequence of homilies at Labor’s 2019 campaign launch designed to tell voters the party had learned from the mistakes of the last period in government.

The former combatants walked into Bill Shorten’s event together, projecting tranquility and geniality, the joint entrance a modest mic drop executed in the low key spirit of show, don’t tell.

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Federal election leaders’ debate: no clear winner as Bill Shorten and Scott Morrison clash

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The second debate of the campaign produced more sparks than the first, with the Labor leader branding the PM ‘a classic space invader’

Scott Morrison and Bill Shorten have clashed over their tax and climate policies in the second debate of the election campaign.

In a wide-ranging discussion between the two leaders in Brisbane on Friday night, undecided voters put questions to the leaders ranging from support for veterans to climate change.

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Federal election 2019: Littleproud distances himself from Liberal candidate’s ‘Islamophobic’ posts – politics live

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Minister grilled about Lyons candidate Jessica Whelan, who claims her Facebook page was doctored. Meanwhile, the climate policy debate heats up. Follow all the updates, live

Pre-poll is happening in droves.

About 375,000 people have cast a pre-poll vote after three days of early voting, running at approx 125,000 votes per day so far. This compares to a total of 225,000 votes at the same stage of the 2016 federal election. #ausvotes #auspol

Asked about preference deals, and whether the Coalition, being a coalition, had to accept blowback for their partner’s choices, David Littleproud had this to say:

I hardly see it’s disingenuous where we have a democracy, where the Australian people decide. They walk into the ballot box, not me, and they get to determine where they put each number on that ballot paper. And that’s the way it should be. This is merely a way that parties have come to an agreement around where they believe they should go, the least worst possibility, if you don’t want to vote for us. But the reality is, it is and always will be the gift of the Australian people. And it’s something we should always fiercely protect.”

Related: At the mercy of minors: Labor and LNP wrestle for hyper-marginal Herbert

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Federal election 2019: Liberals ‘riddled with rightwing extremists’, Shorten says – politics live

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Opposition leader stresses Labor unity as Victorian Libs dump candidate over anti-Islam comments. All the day’s events, live

Not politics, but because we all need some light relief from time to time – Chris Kenny has quit twitter for about the third time.

It really, really is just the day for it.

The Sydney Morning Herald has a breaking story on another Victorian Liberal candidate facing the sack – this time for comments he made about his would-be party room colleague Tim Wilson because he had the temerity to be born gay.

The candidate’s comments came in response to a post by another commentator, Michael Taouk, who said he was not in the Liberal party, calling for the “Liberal grassroots” to “remove preselection from that notorious homosexual Tim Wilson”.

Mr Taouk wrote: “No true Christian can fight on the same side of that man.”

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Australian election quiz 2019: how much do you remember of this forgettable campaign?

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Did you listen to Barnaby Joyce’s laboured interview – or Turnbull turning up on a reality TV show? Test your knowledge here

According to Captain GetUp – the confusing, supposedly-satirical parody of GetUp, founded by rightwing group Advance Australia – who is Captain GetUp’s biological father?

Richard Di Natale

Adam Bandt

Bill Shorten

Kevin Rudd

What did a voter in Strathfield say to Scott Morrison when he greeted her with “Ni hao” on the first weekend of the campaign?

“Goodbye!”

“Sorry, I don't understand what you mean."

“And a Ni Hao to you too mate”

“I’m Korean”

What is Scott Morrison doing in this picture?

Cheering at a Cronulla Sharks supporters event

Singing in church

Singing the national anthem

Announcing the date of the election

How many times did Barnaby Joyce say "Labor" in his 30 minute interview on water buybacks with Patricia Karvelas?

22

47

65

80

What is between Scott Morrison’s teeth in this picture?

Spinach

A bit of meat pie

A fly

Raw onion skin

What is Jenny Morrison reacting to in this picture?

The full audio of Barnaby Joyce’s Patricia Karvelas interview

Scott Morrison describing his tips for maintaining a healthy marriage

A candidate describing Labor's franking credits policy

A voter who just told her he wants an electric car

Which newspaper columnist was photographed in a Tony Abbott campaign shirt, and uploaded to Abbot's own Instagram and Twitter, on the first weekend of the campaign?

Andrew Bolt

Piers Akerman

Peter Fitzsimons (with matching bandana)

Gerard Henderson

Sydney barrister Bridie Nolan made news when she gave a 300 word statement to the Daily Telegraph criticising Warringah candidate Zali Steggal – who is the former wife of Nolan’s husband. On her website, what did Nolan describe herself as?

"Ruthlessly accomplished"

“Lethally competent”

“Devastatingly experienced”

“Extremely experienced and incredibly devastating”

What baffling question did Bill Shorten ask of an adult man in an Adelaide shopping centre during week 2?

“What do you want to be when you grow up?”

“Hope you’re having an OK school holidays”

“What was your ATAR?”

“Do you like Bluey?”

Just before the close of nominations on 23 April, the prospective Nationals candidate for the seat of Whitlam had to withdraw because he was a British dual citizen. What was his incredibly British-sounding name?

Stephen Walker-Jones

John Buckingham-Peters

James Harker-Mortlock

David Mountbatten-Maguire

What Channel 10 reality TV show did former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull turn up on – for some reason – in week 2 of the campaign?

Bondi Rescue

Bachelor in Paradise

Gogglebox

I’m a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here

The day the election was called, Tasmanian Labor senator Helen Polley posted a baffling homemade video where she:

Wore a large sombrero, then waved it in the air saying “Adios amigo!”

Put a banana on her head and said “The Liberal government has to split!”

Started playing a small snare drum, saying Tasmanians were going to "drum the Liberals out of town."

Rode past the camera on a skateboard and said "Cowabunga!

In week 3, John Howard took to the streets to campaign for Liberal candidate Fiona Martin in the seat of Reid. When asked, he admitted he hadn't met her before, but had "heard" good things. What positive thing did he say?

“I heard that she won every vote in the pre-selection in her local branch."

“I heard that every business owner on this street loves her and knows her name."

“I heard that she attended Santa Sabina school in Strathfield, which I know quite well."

“I heard that she was a captain of the Strathfield Strikers, a local football club."

13 and above.

12 and above.

11 and above.

10 and above.

9 and above.

8 and above.

7 and above.

6 and above.

4 and above.

3 and above.

2 and above.

1 and above.

5 and above.

0 and above.

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Federal election 2019: Clive Palmer rounds on Labor as he defends Coalition preference deal – politics live

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Scott Morrison also defends deal as Coalition attacks Labor’s childcare plan as ‘communist’. All the day’s events, live

Both campaigns are now in debate prep mode, so we are going to power down for the moment.

But it’s just a break, not goodbye. We’ll be back just before 7pm eastern time to bring you the blow-by-blow of the first leaders’ debate.

On what he would do in terms of climate policies (given his history on the subject with the Gillard government):

It was Tony Windsor and I who forced the changes. Both sides have the ability to get on with embedding climate change into the processes of government. At the time we did have world-leading legislation.

I concede we lost control of the politics and that Tony Abbott, as the alternate prime minister, came in on a wave of, you know, that carbon tax message, which even his chief of staff, you know, after the event, has admitted was more about the politics than anything to do with policy.

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‘You will get up with fleas’: Bill Shorten attacks Liberals’ deal with Clive Palmer

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Scott Morrison says Labor and the Greens present far bigger threat to the economy and jobs than the United Australia party

Bill Shorten has criticised the Liberal party deal to exchange preferences with Clive Palmer’s United Australia party.

Speaking in Hobart on Saturday where he announced that a future Labor government would invest $120m into Tasmanian tourism projects, the opposition leader did not deny that Labor officials had held discussions with Palmer over the course of the campaign, but said they would not risk preference swaps with the potential kingmaker in Queensland.

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Federal election 2019: senior Liberal warns Morrison against Palmer preference deal – politics live

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Former WA premier Colin Barnett cites businessman’s ‘appalling’ record while Shorten rebuffs the Greens on climate policy. Follow the day’s news live

Mikey Slezak, of the ABC (oh how we miss him), has a story overnight regarding the last minute sign off by the Morrison government on a controversial uranium mine one day before calling the federal election.

Then there was a sneaky “public announcement” by the environment department when it uploaded the approval document the day before Anzac Day.

I want to find out what on earth has happened. The minister made no comment, no announcement beforehand. It looks like it might have been rushed. We don’t know....The reason I can’t tell you I’m on this side or the other side, we need to know what on earth she has done and what her reasons for it and the minister has gone missing.

Tony Burke was also asked about Labor’s very specific, siloed commission of inquiry that only looks a the one water buyback conducted under Barnaby Joyce as minister from Eastern Australia Agriculture.

What we have announced is there is a specific transaction from Barnaby Joyce that is different to anything that Simon Birmingham, David Littleproud, Bob Baldwin, different to anything that any other minister has engaged with. And anything else … can be dealt with properly by the Australian national National Audit Office. This one, there was no tender. There [are] arguments about conflict of interest. And it has links all the way back to the Cayman Islands, where there is complete secrecy about who is involved. Everything else you don’t need coercive powers.

In terms of making sure that we’ve got probity, we will establish a national integrity commission and there will be an ongoing watchdog on probity. In terms of the purchases by Penny that you referred to, they went fully through the National Audit Office, a report in 2011 [and were] given a complete bill of health. If I was arguing that things should apply to every other member of the government who has been involved, then the government’s characterisation would be fair. The point is no other purchase is like this.

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‘A right wing minority’: Malcolm Turnbull re-enters the fray with Neg spray

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Former PM warns electricity prices will be higher because the Coalition dumped the national energy guarantee

The former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull has returned to the fray to warn dumping the national energy guarantee – a decision taken by Scott Morrison – will drive up power prices.

Turnbull took exception to a column at the weekend characterising the national energy guarantee as “Malcolm Turnbull’s Neg”, pointing out the policy had strong support within the cabinet, “including and especially the current PM and treasurer”.

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Coalition faces calls for inquiry into Murray-Darling deals signed by Barnaby Joyce

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Sarah Hanson-Young demands a royal commission as Bill Shorten urges prime minister to produce all documents

The Coalition is facing calls for an inquiry into the Murray-Darling Basin plan water contracts signed off by the former agriculture minister Barnaby Joyce.

As the Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young called for a royal commission on Saturday, Bill Shorten also weighed in, saying there were now “question marks about the probity” of the “nation’s biggest water purchase”.

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‘Malicious’: Shorten and business groups defy Coalition’s assault on climate policy

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High-quality international offsets should be part of any credible policy, industry says

Business groups are defying the Morrison government’s political assault on the use of international permits, arguing a credible climate policy should include access to high-quality international offsets, because they are a key mechanism to help Australia meet its Paris target.

With climate change persisting as a significant campaign flashpoint, the chief executive of the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, James Pearson, told Guardian Australia international permits were part of the toolkit for mitigating climate change in a cost-effective way.

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Federal election 2019: Coalition surplus forecasts ‘heroic’, thinktank says – politics live

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Analysis from Grattan Institute says government ‘probably’ on right trajectory for next year but deficit likely later. All the day’s events, live

Does Scott Morrison think he is popular in Victoria, given he has spent two days campaigning there?

There will be two choices after May 18 - there’s myself and Bill Shorten. Both of our parties have changed our rules. Not before time, but we both have. And those rules mean that whoever you elect as prime minister on May 18 - they will be your prime minister for the next three years. So if you vote for Bill Shorten, you’ll get Bill Shorten.

And if you vote for me, and the Liberal and National parties, you will get me to serve you as your prime minister for the next three years, and to pursue the stronger economy that guarantees rely on for essential services.”

On whether Sam Dastyari has any connection to Labor’s pathology announcement:

Well, this would seem to be the suggestion today - that Sam Dastyari was on Bill Shorten’s campaign bus at the last election and the suggestion now is he’s on Bill Shorten’s gravy train when it comes to this latest announcement. Let’s just see what happens there, I suppose. I mean, I have no knowledge of that. But it’s something for Bill Shorten to explain - from the campaign bus to the gravy train - that’s quite a passage for Sam Dastyari. But, you know, if anyone was gonna be able to do it, I suspect it was him.”

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Julian Assange should be extradited to Australia, father says

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WikiLeaks founder’s father says Australian government should ‘do something’ after his arrest in London

The father of the WikiLeaks founder, Julian Assange, has called on the Australian government to help his son and suggested he could be brought back to his home country.

John Shipton, who lives in Melbourne, urged Australia’s prime minister, Scott Morrison, to step in following Assange’s arrest in London last week.

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Have we, Australia, become a country that breeds mass murderers with our words? | Richard Flanagan

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We are better than our politicians’ dark fears. We are not their hate. We are optimistic about a country built on openness

I have only ever heard Behrouz Boochani’s voice through speakers. One day, he will stand here before us, and we will hear and see him in the flesh. As a free human being. And I am here today to say that day is coming.

Because change is coming. You can feel it, you sense it. It is coming and it will not be denied. But it needs us to fight for it and to keep fighting for it, and we need to fight for it, not only for the refugees of Manus and Nauru, but for our own salvation.

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Peter Dutton apologises to Ali France as Kristina Keneally calls minister a ‘thug’

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Labor senator launches scathing attack on home affairs minister, saying he’s the most toxic man in the Liberal party

Peter Dutton has apologised for accusing his Labor challenger, Ali France, of “using her disability as an excuse” not to move to the electorate during the campaign.

The apology came a little over an hour after a blistering attack by Labor senator Kristina Keneally, who called Dutton “mean and despicable”, a “thug”, and the “most toxic man in the Liberal party”.

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Bring back children of Syria Isis fighters, Save the Children urges Australia

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Aid group publishes open letter to political leaders, asking them to act on their words if elected

Save the Children has called on Scott Morrison and Bill Shorten to publicly commit – if they win the election – to bringing home the children of Australian foreign fighters in Syria.

In a letter published on Saturday, the aid organisation demanded that the major parties pledge to “stop the war on children” and repatriate those who were brought to the Syrian conflict or were born there to Australians who chose to fight with Islamic State.

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Tony Abbott: ‘So-called’ climate science isn’t settled’ – politics live

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Day two of the 2019 Australian election campaign is under way, with an opening salvo from the government. All the day’s events, live

The AEC has laid out its plan for counting the 16 million or so votes the federal election should bring in:

Following years of planning, fine tuning and improvements to AEC systems – plus the experience gained from running nine by-elections since 2017 – the AEC expects to:

Bill Shorten and the former AMA president, Brian Owler, the Labor candidate for Bennelong, is announcing Labor’s key policy for today: $125m for cancer research.

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