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What does the campaign’s final week have in store?
By Angus Dalton
That’s where we’ll leave our live election coverage today. Thanks for your company.
We’ve almost made it. This time next week, the majority of Australians will have cast their votes and the tallying will begin.
If you’d like to get across what the deciding week of the election campaign has in store, and what the major developments were this week, read our week five campaign wrap up.
Much like a Shakespearean play, the election campaign has been full of drama, theatrics and conflict.Credit:Monique Westermann
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Checking in on critical battleground seats a week out from polling day
The regional Victorian seat of Nicholls isn’t a typical election battleground, but the retirement of popular sitting Nationals MP Damian Drum has sparked a tight contest that’s likely to result in an independent win. That’s despite a 20 per cent margin held by the Nationals.
“I do think it’s one of the most likely to be won by an independent, it’s a stronger chance than some of the urban seats,” says the ABC’s election analyst Antony Green.
Independent Rob Priestly has gathered steam in a campaign dominated locally by water policy, write Tom Cowie and Benjamin Preiss.
In the seats of Kooyong, Goldstein and Higgins, shifting demographics increasingly favour Labor, data analysis shows.
“Older, conservative voters in these seats are being replaced by tertiary-educated younger voters, particularly in Higgins and Goldstein,” writes Paul Sakkal. “Additionally, high-income voters are voting Labor more commonly than in previous decades – a trend experienced by centre-left parties around the western world.”
Treasurer Josh Frydenberg and Liberal MP Tim Wilson are relying on personal popularity to keep their seats despite the demographic shift.
Read more about the data analysis.
In Tasmania, an increase in homelessness and disillusionment with the major parties is affecting the fight for two must-win seats, Bass and Braddon, writes Tony Wright.
National COVID-19 numbers are in as hospitals brace for winter ‘crisis’
There are about 380,000 active COVID-19 cases in Australia and just under 3000 in hospital as one Sydney hospital’s emergency specialist said bed shortages are the worst they’ve seen in decades and Victoria braces for a winter COVID-19 “crisis”.
Australia has the second-highest rate of infections among countries with a population of more than one million.
There were 48,421 new cases nationwide today, 2956 people with COVID-19 in hospital and 53 deaths.
Here’s what happened in each state.
- NSW - 19 deaths and 10,954 new cases.
- VIC - 22 deaths and 12,160 new cases.
- QLD - five deaths and 6130 new cases.
- WA - two deaths and 13,162 new cases.
- SA - five deaths and 3816 new cases.
- NT - no deaths and 273 new cases.
- TAS - no deaths and 925 new cases.
- ACT - no deaths and 1001 new cases.
‘Should be a bipartisan proposition’: Labor continues to back 5.1 per cent wage rise
Returning to comments made earlier today, Labor MP Anika Wells joined colleague Tony Burke in backing a 5.1 per cent wage rise, confirming Labor would make a formal submission to the Fair Work Commission to lift the minimum wage if they win government on May 21.
Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese set off a political battle this week by saying he “absolutely” backed a 5.1 per cent wage increase.Credit:Alex Ellinghausen
“There would only be a few days to get a submission in and that relies on a majority government and all these things have to play out, but we will put in a submission,” Wells said.
“I actually find it staggering that we are having a conversation about whether it is controversial that wages keep up with cost of living. That should be a bipartisan proposition in the Federal Parliament.”
Earlier this week Labor leader Anthony Albanese said he “absolutely” backed a 5.1 per cent increase to the minimum wage before the Labor campaign softened its stance on a wage rise that met inflation and refused to confirm whether they’d make a submission to the Fair Work Commission.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison labelled the Labor leader a “loose unit on the economy” after Albanese signalled support for a pay increase.
Asked whether Labor was concerned the wage increase could exacerbate rising inflation, Wells said “it is about getting the balance right”.
“Ultimately, while people like me will fight for our workers to get a pay rise and federal Labor can put in a submission, it is up to the Fair Work Commission to decide.”
An increase of 5.1 per cent would lift the minimum wage by about a dollar per hour.
‘This bloke is negative’: Morrison sells aspirational message after Albanese criticism
By Angus Dalton
The day after Labor leader Anthony Albanese said the prime minister put forward “nothing positive” about the future, Scott Morrison sought to sell a more aspirational message about his government and Australia’s future as the campaign is dominated by national security and Morrison’s characterisation of himself as a “bulldozer”.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison sought to sell a positive vision for his government during a visit to Norwood Football Club in the seat of Deakin.Credit:James Brickwood
This morning Morrison described the last few years as “the hardest years we’ve seen in the country since the Great Depression and the Second World War”.
He said there “hasn’t been the time” during years of crisis to “undergo the broad scale consultation and engagement, which is my preference”.
Voters have “had a gutful” of governments “interfering with their lives” Morrison said after vowing a more empathetic approach to his prime ministership.
“Where we’re going next is a good change where we’re securing opportunities and we’re realising the ambitions and aspirations that Australians have for their future,” Morrison said.
“The opportunities ahead light me up every day.”
Eyeing the campaign’s finish line from Fitzroy Island off Cairns yesterday, Albanese told this masthead that voters could see Morrison was “desperate”.
“They recognise the essential character of this bloke is negative and what we need is a positive vision for a better future for Australia,” Albanese said. “Labor’s offering that. This guy isn’t even trying.”
Today’s campaign at a glance
By Angus Dalton
Good afternoon, Angus Dalton here taking over our live election campaign coverage from Ashleigh McMillan. Thanks for your company.
Here’s what’s playing out in the campaign today.
- Labor leader Anthony Albanese criticised Prime Minister Scott Morrison for waiting to brief the opposition on the AUKUS deal until the day before the defence pact was announced. This masthead revealed today that four months before the pact was signed, the Biden administration insisted it would only pursue the project if it had support from both major parties. Albanese said Morrison breached “faith and trust with our most important ally” by not briefing Labor sooner.
- Prime Minister Scott Morrison refused to go as far as Defence Minister Peter Dutton in calling the presence of a Chinese ship off Australia’s west coast an “aggressive act”. Asked to comment on Dutton’s characterisation, Morrison said “freedom of navigation is permitted all around the world and no one’s made any suggestions that any rules were breached in relation to the International Law of the Sea”.
- Policy announcements made today include a $20 million plan from the Coalition aimed at getting 700,000 teenagers into sport, and an extra $1 billion funding for Medicare from Labor if elected.
- The stage three tax cuts supported by the Coalition and Labor will cost $22 billion more than forecast, adding pressure on a federal budget that is expected to remain in deficit for the rest of the decade.
- Read how homelessness, sea changers, a drift from the major parties and a chocolate-brown alpaca are impacting the election campaign in two critical neighbouring seats in Tasmania.
One Nation candidate Ludo Mineur, walking his alpaca Pedro through the streets of Burnie, says neither Prime Minister Scott Morrison nor Labor’s Anthony Albanese speak to his concerns any more.Credit:Joe Armao
‘We’ve had a decade of no leadership’: Scientists back ALP on climate action plans
By James Massola, Nick O'Malley and Laura Chung
Labor’s climate policies are significantly superior to those offered by the Coalition, say a group of leading scientists, while the nation’s former top public servant says Australia has lacked a coherent climate policy for a decade.
Former Treasury secretary Martin Parkinson said Australia had been let down over climate by the federal government for a decade. He called for an economy-wide climate compact that would bring together business, unions, farmers and environment groups to coordinate a whole-of-economy approach to reducing carbon emissions more rapidly.
“Australia hasn’t had a coherent, comprehensive climate policy impacting across multiple sectors since the abolition of the ETS by the Abbott government,” he said.
Parkinson stressed he was not seeking to take sides in the political debate but said: “a climate compact as a concept may be a way to allow the parliament to discharge its responsibilities because we need a seat of policies across all sectors to which the parliament is committed over multiple decades.”
Former Treasury head Martin Parkinson. Credit:Louie Douvis
Parkinson’s view was broadly shared by 10 leading Australian scientists approached by the Herald and The Age, all of whom agreed Australia had been failed on climate policy since the Coalition took office in 2013.
All ranked the Coalition last on climate policy after Labor, Greens and independents, and all saw a significant difference between Labor and Coalition policy, though many agreed policies put forward by Greens and independents were superior. Some asked not to be named so they could speak more freely.
Sydney Liberal MP says performance of the government more important than Morrison’s likeability
By Ashleigh McMillan
Trent Zimmerman, the Liberal MP for North Sydney, has denied that Scott Morrison’s potential unpopularity is going to lose the federal election for the Coalition, saying the “performance of the government and how we keep the economy strong” will be more important.
When asked about Morrison’s comments that things “are going to have to change” with the way the prime minister operates post-election, Zimmerman said it was Morrison reflecting on the return of “normal decision-making processes”.
North Sydney MP Trent Zimmerman.Credit:Alex Ellinghausen
“Over the last two years we have seen circumstances that no government has faced in our lifetime, and that has meant there has been crisis decision-making ... so that has required very firm and strong leadership by the prime minister in a process that you would not normally expect to see happen in the normal run of affairs,” he told ABC News on Saturday.
“I think the point the prime minister was making was that the next term of parliament, we will be going back to the normal decision-making process so long as we are out of the woods with the pandemic.”
When asked whether Morrison had stayed away from the seat of North Sydney because he was seen as a ‘liability’, Zimmerman said he would be “happy” for the PM to join him out on the hustings.
“Of course, (Morrison) puts his head down on a bed in my electorate every night that he is in Sydney,” he said.
“But my campaign has really been a grassroots campaign, and I am focused on talking to voters about what we are going to offer them in the next parliamentary term and also what I am offering them locally.”
WeChat developer says ‘violations will be dealt with’ after reports of misinformation
By Nick Bonyhady
The Chinese tech giant Tencent has issued a statement responding to reports of political ads and misinformation circulating on its marque platform WeChat, which is hugely popular in the Chinese Australian community that both major parties are courting in key seats.
“Our terms of service prohibit the dissemination of fake news and misinformation,” a spokesman said.
Images circulating on WeChat during the 2022 election.
“We also restrict paid political advertising and violations will be dealt with in accordance with our terms of service.”
Referring to a report in The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age last week that showed images circulating in large private discussion threads with false claims about the Labor Party, Tencent’s spokesman emphasised that they were from group chats.
“These are private conversations and are not part of any social media feed. If a user sees any questionable material, we ask them to report it to us and will handle in accordance with our terms of service.”
Albanese says electoral rules should be upheld after Parramatta candidate address bungle
By Rachel Clun
Labor leader Anthony Albanese said he expected electoral rules to “always be upheld” but would not say whether he would take further action against Labor’s Parramatta candidate after it was revealed by The Daily Telegraph that he listed a rental owned by his wife as his place of residence.
Albanese previously called on Prime Minister Scott Morrison to do more after the Coalition’s candidate for Lilley, Vivian Lobo, was reported to the Australian Federal Police by the Australian Electoral Commission for allegedly providing false details about his home address.
Labor candidate for Parramatta Andrew Charlton.Credit:Alex Ellinghausen
“This is a really serious issue, and the prime minister needs to respond as to what action he will take on this issue,” Albanese said about Lobo.
When asked if he would take action in relation to Labor’s candidate for Parramatta, Andrew Charlton, Albanese said he expected AEC rules to apply evenly.
“The (Australian) Electoral Commission took action on that issue and referred the candidate for Lilley to the AFP, I expect the rules to always be upheld,” he said.
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2022-05-14 08:53:13Z
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