Party faithful hear leaders’ gospel in final poll push
Poppy Johnston and Tess Ikonomou |
With less than a week to go until election day, leaders have tried to win over the increasingly small pool of undecided voters with starkly contrasting pitches to the party faithful.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has been trying to drive home Labor’s health message, while painting Opposition Leader Peter Dutton as someone who will cut government jobs and services.
Meanwhile, Mr Dutton has tried to tie the government to a struggling state counterpart, while suggesting it has allowed living costs to run out of control.
He told attendees at a Liberal rally in the west Melbourne seat of Hawke not to believe what they heard from the “hate media” – echoing US President Donald Trump railing against “fake news” – about the outcome of the May 3 poll.
Polling throughout the five-week race has consistently shown Mr Albanese cement his lead as preferred prime minister over Mr Dutton as the coalition has similarly fallen behind in voter surveys.
The latest polling from YouGov, released on Friday, showed Labor ahead of the coalition by 53.5 per cent to 46.5 per cent on a two-party preferred basis.
“I have no doubt in my mind we can win this election, forget about what you have been told by the ABC, in The Guardian and the other hate media,” Mr Dutton told his supporters on Sunday.
The coalition needs to gain 21 seats to secure a majority, a figure its leaders insist is still achievable.
At a rally in the marginal seat of Parramatta in Sydney, the prime minister’s green and gold Medicare card got another outing as Labor sought to keep health care in the headlines.
A promise to build on and rebrand the existing Healthdirect hotline through a 24/7 nationwide health advice and after-hours GP telehealth service was unveiled at the event.
“Life isn’t nine-to-five,” an upbeat Mr Albanese declared.
“With 1800 MEDICARE, neither is health care.”
Labor has been pitching itself as the better choice to protect government health services, despite the coalition matching its signature multibillion-dollar commitment to bolster bulk-billing.
The party has also been repeatedly accused by the coalition of running a repeat of the notorious 2016 “Mediscare” campaign, targeting voters with fears of future budget cuts.
The prime minister accused Mr Dutton of overseeing costly defence and nuclear energy policies without talking about where the money would come from.
“He’s going to get it by ripping into health, education and childcare,” Mr Albanese said.
The opposition leader in turn branded the prime minister a liar who had failed to deliver on promises to lower power bills and other living costs.
“Does anybody believe that our country is better off today than we were?” Mr Dutton asked the crowd, most of whom wore blue Liberal t-shirts.
He warned of the risk Labor would be re-elected with the support of the Greens, which would “make it even worse than the worst government in Australia at the moment, the (Victorian Labor) Allan government”.
The opposition leader will go head-to-head with Mr Albanese in the fourth and final leaders’ debate on Sunday evening, to be held by Seven.
The two leaders have already previously clashed three times, with two of the debates held in western Sydney, where political analysts believe the election could be decided.
Australians will head to the polls on May 3, while more than 2.4 million votes have already been cast nationwide at pre-poll centres.
AAP
