Key posts
Debate revealed leaders’ ‘true characters’: moderator
The moderator of last night’s fiery leaders’ debate says voters saw the “true character” of both Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese through their exchanges.
The men clashed bitterly in the second debate of the campaign, yelling and accusing each other of misleading voters. Morrison at one point held his hand out at the moderator, Nine journalist Sarah Abo, because he wanted her to stop interrupting while he questioned Albanese.
“Strangely in the studio it was calm, everyone is talking about how shouty it was, how combative it was, but in that room it was calm,” Abo said on Nine News this afternoon.
“We had an expectation that the two leaders would come to the party. Too often with debates you fall into this pattern where it becomes too much of a statement from each of the opposing leaders.
“Ultimately they’ve made this election a test of character, so we needed to see their character.
“I think last night we saw the true character of both men.”
Morrison earlier today rejected suggestions that he had behaved dismissively towards the female moderator, labelling it a spirited debate.
Morrison waves wand metaphor over wages
By Angus Thompson
Let’s rewind a few hours, when Prime Minister Scott Morrison used his press conference in NSW’s Nowra to wave his “magic wand” metaphor over Labor’s promise to raise wages after Anthony Albanese declined to guarantee they would increase under his leadership.
“He’s been banging on about this for the last three years ... but when push came to shove, and he had to answer the question, ‘can you increase wages?’, he can’t,” Morrison said.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison campaigning in Nowra on Monday. Credit:James Brickwood
“There’s no magic wand to increase wages. There’s no magic pen that makes it happen. Voting at this election for the Labor Party doesn’t automatically make your wages go up,” he said.
The Reserve Bank forecast last week that wages would continue to go back in real terms until December 2023, with Morrison saying on Saturday it was “a reality of the global economy”.
Asked during the press conference whether Australians had to “grin and bear it”, Morrison said wage growth was caused by low unemployment.
“Businesses can make wages go up. When businesses are doing well and when unemployment is going down, then wages go up. That is how it works,” he said.
PM’s ‘red line’ rhetoric not having much effect: Wong
By Angus Thompson
Labor’s foreign affairs spokeswoman, Penny Wong, has said Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s talk of a “red line” in the Pacific doesn’t appear to have had an effect, following reports of a draft maritime infrastructure agreement between China and the Solomon Islands.
Wong said that “if true”, the report in The Australian today about wharves, shipyards and submarine cables promised by Beijing for the island nation “demonstrates the seriousness of what has occurred on Mr Morrison’s watch”.
“It also demonstrates that the sort of tough words he’s talking about, or trying to use, about red lines, don’t appear, if the reports are correct, to be the way forward, or appear to have much effect,” Wong said at a press conference this afternoon.
Last month, Morrison said the establishment of a Chinese military base in the Solomon Islands represented a “red line” in the Pacific, implying Australia would react forcefully to such an eventuality.
He has since denied that such rhetoric puts Australia at greater risk from foreign threats.
Wong said Pacific diplomacy would take “a lot of work” to repair if a Labor government were elected.
Earlier, at a press conference in NSW’s Nowra, Morrison said there wasn’t “any great secret” about China’s plans for expansion.
“I am very concerned, as many other Pacific leaders are, about the interference and intrusion of the Chinese government into these types of arrangements and what that can mean for the peace, stability and security of the south-west Pacific,” he said.
Australia records lowest COVID-19 death toll since December
By Daniella White
Australia has recorded its lowest daily COVID-19 death toll since Boxing Day last year.
Across the country, there were 37,807 new cases and three deaths reported on Monday.
There are 3139 people in hospital with the virus, of whom 129 are in intensive care units. All deaths were recorded in NSW.
Here’s a breakdown of the cases by state or territory:
NSW: 7793
Victoria: 10,031
Queensland: 4750
Western Australia: 10,394
South Australia: 2984
Tasmania: 841
ACT: 812
Northern Territory: 202
Albanese urges PM to respond to allegations against LNP candidate
By Angus Thompson
Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese has challenged the prime minister to respond to allegations that his candidate for the Queensland seat of Lilley may have committed electoral fraud.
The Australian Electoral Commission revealed on Sunday it had referred Vivian Lobo, the LNP’s candidate for the Labor-held seat, to the Australian Federal Police following an investigation.
On his nomination form, Lobo allegedly gave the AEC a residential address in Lilley at which he had not been living.
In a statement released last week, Lobo said: “I enrolled in the electorate as I had signed a lease in Everton Park with the intention to move in straight away.”
“However, due to my campaign commitments and difficulty with getting tradespeople to the home, I was delayed moving in,” he said.
Albanese said the situation was “a really serious issue, and the prime minister needs to respond as to what action he will take on this issue”.
Albanese makes SA health pledge at second press conference of the day
By Angus Thompson
Anthony Albanese has begun his second press conference of the day, announcing an upgrade to the Flinders Medical Centre in the Adelaide seat of Boothby if Labor is elected.
He is joined by recently elected South Australia Premier Peter Malinauskas, as well as Labor’s foreign affairs spokeswoman, Penny Wong.
“I would say to South Australians that what they will have in Anthony Albanese is what you always need in a partner in Canberra, a prime minister who is prepared to work with us, not one who wants to divide the states and territories,” Wong said.
She added that voters had a chance to elect a Labor MP for the first time in 70 years in Boothby, with candidate Louise Miller-Frost running in the seat.
Malinauskus said the promised $400 million medical centre upgrade would add more mental health facilities and operating theatres, as well as 160 new beds.
Morrison powers up energy scare campaign
By Mike Foley
Prime Minister Scott Morrison has doubled down on his scare campaign against Labor’s climate change policy while campaigning in the marginal seat of Gilmore, on NSW’s south coast.
He reiterated disputed claims that Labor’s plan to invest $20 billion into the poles and wires electricity network would increase retail power bills by $560 a year.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison campaigning in Nowra on Monday. Credit:James Brickwood
“If you increase the investment unwisely ahead of time in places where it’s not needed yet, you are asking customers to pay higher prices. That is the consequence of their policy,” he said.
Morrison cited Labor’s policy document, which said its $20 billion investment would attract $53 billion more in private investment, and argued the full $73 billion would be invested in the electricity network and customers would be responsible for footing the entire bill.
Labor has rejected this claim, arguing its investment in the electricity network would enhance the system and attract private investment into the batteries sector and wind and solar farms, not more power lines.
The party has said its investment would be based on advice from the independent Australian Energy Market Operator.
Labor claims its plan will bring cheaper renewable energy to the electricity grid, which would cut power bills by $275 million by 2025 – a claim that is also disputed by experts.
Energy Minister Angus Taylor kicked off the election campaign when he first mentioned the $560 figure, which he appears to have arrived at by dividing the full $73 billion figure among all bill payers.
PM says last night’s debate was ‘spirited’
By Angus Thompson
Prime Minister Scott Morrison has defended last night’s debate as “spirited”, saying that’s what Australians expect from their leaders.
His reflection was more generous than that of his campaign spokesman, Simon Birmingham, who described it as “scrappy” earlier today.
“It was a pretty spirited debate, I’m sure everybody will agree,” Morrison said from Nowra.
“These are passionate topics. This is a big choice: [the] future of the country, future of our economy, the ability to pay for important services like Medicare, aged care, all of these things.”
One reporter put to Morrison that he had behaved dismissively towards the debate’s moderator, Nine journalist Sarah Abo. Morrison replied that gender didn’t come into it.
“Both Anthony and I, I think, are completely respectful, have always been respectful of females in the workplace, and certainly when we work professionally with them in an environment like that.”
WATCH: Opposition leader holds press conference
Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese held a second press conference this afternoon.
You can watch a replay below:
‘Australia may look to the US, but we never leave it to the US’: PM
By Angus Thompson
The prime minister is in Nowra today, on the NSW South Coast, with the Liberals’ candidate for Gilmore, former NSW transport minister Andrew Constance.
The Coalition is launching its “safe and secure Australia” policy at the HMAS Albatross military base in a pitch that combines two core themes: jobs and national security.
“Australia may look to the US, but we never leave it to the US,” Scott Morrison said of Australia’s defence ties and capabilities, which have come under scrutiny since the Solomon Islands recently signed a defence pact with China.
The policy promises the biggest rebuild of Australia’s defence force since World War II, including 54 new naval vessels.
And as mentioned earlier today, the Australian government will acquire more than 40 new helicopters which will be rolled out by 2025.
Most Viewed in National
https://news.google.com/__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?oc=5
2022-05-09 07:13:06Z
1404502398
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "Election 2022 LIVE updates: Scott Morrison, Anthony Albanese clash over wages and corruption; campaign enters its final fortnight - Sydney Morning Herald"
Post a Comment