Policy was lacking on day 30 of the campaign, but there was plenty of talk about the carbon tax as the Reserve Bank kept interest rates steady at 2.5 per cent.
Meanwhile, the Australian Electoral Commission says almost one million people have already cast their votes in early-voting booths – the pain for them is over!
Labor policy announcement
- No policies today (yay), but a strong pledge to block any attempts by a Coalition government to repeal the carbon tax.
Coalition policy announcement
- No policies today (yay), but Tony Abbott sent a double-dare to Labor that it would head to a double-dissolution election if Labor, in opposition, blocked its legislation to repeal the carbon tax in the Senate. So many hypotheticals!
- Mr Abbott has acknowledged for the first time that his $3.2 billion “direct action” carbon abatement policy may not reach its promised 5 per cent cut in emissions by 2020 and will not be strengthened with extra money.
Tony Abbott meets workers at Austral Bricks in Launceston #ausvotes #tennews pic.twitter.com/lmOfGQh3UW
— Matt Moran (@mattmoran10news) September 3, 2013
Must read
The Coalition’s failure to release detailed costings – at time of publication – has been one of the key talking points this campaign.
A piece in The Guardian, perfectly captured the negative of delayed costing announcements – and not just from a political point scoring perspective.
As the article aptly describes, it’s like voting blind.
Quote of the day
Tony Abbott visited Pencrice Soda Holdings in Adelaide, where he said: “”You guys don’t have to break the habit of a lifetime and love the Coalition.”
Pure gold.
Tweet of the day
It’s all about re-election pitches this campaign.
This one from the former Labor, now independent, MP, Craig Thomson.
Proud to have had all my printed election material printed here on the Central Coast. No other candidate can claim this #proudlylocal
— Craig Thomson (@DobellThommo) September 3, 2013
Slip of the day
We’re not sure if the actual comment or the attempted cover-up is the slip, but we’ll let you make up your mind.
Fiona Scott, the Liberal candidate for the marginal western Sydney seat of Lindsay, told the ABC’s Four Corners program on Monday:
“[Asylum seekers are] a hot topic here because our traffic is overcrowded,” she said.
“Go sit on the M4, people see 50,000 people come in by boat – that’s more than twice the population of [western Sydney suburb] Glenmore Park.”
Tony Abbott then defended Ms Scott’s comments.
“Obviously when you’ve got something like 50,000 illegal arrivals by boat that’s a big number.”
Except of course, there are really only a few thousand refugees in the area.
Wrap by Liam Quinn and Erdem Koç. Follow them and send them tips on Twitter – @Quinn_LP and@erdemkoc
