lev.lafayette's blog

Day 24 and 25 of the Federal election campaign, and the big news items are the second leader's debate and a number of policy announcements coming from Labor's official campaign launch. Again our independent and publically-owned ABC (which the IPA finds troubling) provides a fact-check on the debate, which, on sheer volume of dubious claims made, don't look good for the Prime Minister. Looking even less good was Scott Morrison gesticulating wildly towards Bill Shorten, with the latter describing him a "space invader".

Day 22 and 23 of the Federal election campaign, and the major policy announcement of the day has been $2 billion dollars of Federal funding for the Victoria's Melbourne Metro Tunnel. The project costs $11 bn overall and the Andrews government has been trying to get the Feds to cough up money previously allocated to infrastructure, but they want it to be spent on projects of their choosing (like the East-West Link).

Day 20 and 21 of the Federal election and on the policy front Labor again takes the charge with a pledge of $1 billion worth of solar panels for schools which will feed back into the grid, reducing power costs for the schools (obviously) but also reduce prices overall with an increasing energy supply. On-cue the Climate Council released a report outlining government cuts to climate science funding, the rejection of scientific advice, and cuts to CSIRO.

Day 19 of the Federal election campaign and we had a leader's debate. General assessment was that the night was won by Bill Shorten, partially because he had big policies to defend and actually did so, and showed that Morrison policy cupboard consists of "stop the boats" and "tax cuts" (for the rich; $77 bn actually, but people aren't talking about that). Hilarious gaffe (in my opinion) was Morrison's closing statement that the election comes down to... who do you trust to manage the economy?

Day 18 of the Federal election campaign and the big policies come out. Labor has a massive hit with a $4 billion plan to increase the childcare subsidy available to families with household incomes under $175,000 a year (since the Coalition took office in 2013, childcare costs have climbed by 25 per cent), plus free dental work for pensioners.

Scott Morrison promises to freeze the refugee intake. Personally, I find it odd that someone who professes to be a Christian would have put the baby Jesus and his family behind barbed wire on a remote island during a typhoid outbreak.

Day 17 of the election campaign and the big item of discussion is the LNP-UAP preference deal with the smell of PHON around as well. Bill Shorten has come out with the blunt assessment "A vote for Scott Morrison is a vote for Clive Palmer and Pauline Hanson... if they are successful, of the most extreme right-wing government in Australia's history", and it's hard to fault that claim.

Day 16 of the election campaign and the mass media has paid scant regard to the big announcement of the day by the opposition for an extra $332 million for early intervention, frontline services, emergency accommodation, and legal support, for domestic violence victims. You would think that that would be a matter of some importance, but I guess there was some interesting footage elsewhere.

https://www.sbs.com.au/news/labor-vows-to-double-coalition-funding-for-d...

Day 15 of the Federal election campaign is a slow news day, presumably because ANZAC day is a truce in politics. Pity there can't be more truces in armed conflicts. Still, there is one significant item of note and that's the preference deal between Australia's biggest dead-beat, Clive Palmer and his United Australia Party and the LNP.

Day 14 of the Federal election campaign

The big ticket policy item has been a promise by Labor to give Australia's 2.6 million casual workers an easier pathway to full time employment. Employers, who always prefer workers to have less power, are "wary" and even "nervous". As Shorten said: "Too often, long-term casual work is used as a mechanism to pay workers less, deprive them of leave, and make them easier to sack". I guess this is what employers are wary and nervous about.

Day 13 of the election campaign and oh my goodness that #watergate issue has become quite a big deal! I present to you, the former Deputy Prime Minister of Australia, in one of the amazing train-wreck interviews of all time.

https://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/drive/barnaby-joyce-respon...