The latest in our election ad series: the Greens hit Grindr:
From Ollie Neas in New Zealand:
New Zealand’s deputy prime minister, Grant Robertson, has responded to a swipe by Scott Morrison about the rising cost of living in New Zealand.
On Tuesday, Morrison told reporters his government’s cost of living policies had “ensured that what others are experiencing in other countries has not happened to the same extent here. Those almost 7% inflation rates in New Zealand could have been here.”
This afternoon, Robertson noted that, “looking at the latest quarterly numbers, Australia’s inflation rate is rising at a faster pace than in New Zealand”.
He told the Guardian:
We don’t comment on elections in other countries. What I would say in general terms is that inflation is rising around the world driven by global factors such as the Ukraine war, supply chain disruptions and the ongoing pandemic and there is a number of reasons why inflation is at a particular level in each country.
I would note that this impacts at different times in countries.
Note to journalists: Questions to relevant minister on critical matters may result in accusations of trashiness. Daniel Hurst seems to have irked the defence minister, Peter Dutton, today:
In case you missed this earlier from Katharine Murphy – the Jacqui Lambie Network will preference Labor in two seats but not in a third:
A lot of the election rhetoric implies (or outright says) that the pandemic is behind us. And then there are statistics, brought to you here by the epidemiologist Adrian Esterman:
There were another 54,868 cases diagnosed in Australia today and 56 deaths. The Reff is now 1.04, up from 1.01. This is the 5th increase in a row. There are 3,131 people in hospital (up 27) and 71 in ICU (down 3). pic.twitter.com/7JhGAJJVk9
— Professor Adrian Esterman (@profesterman) May 5, 2022
A bum-breathing turtle is just the (ahem) breather we all need right now (sorry, no video):
‘Toxic miasma of division’: Monique Ryan on Morrison government’s legacy
It’s now the closing statements for the treasurer, Josh Frydenberg, and the independent candidate Monique Ryan in this Kooyong debate.
Ryan says the legacy of the federal government will be a “toxic miasma of division, disappointment and debt”. “We need to do better,” she says. “This government has done nothing good for us in the past nine years.”
“Politics for me is about people,” Frydenberg responds, giving an NDIS case study. “It’s about small business (another case study). “It’s about my local community.”
He says Australia has “very big issues” including climate change, the pandemic and an unstable region. “I have a lot of work still to do,” he says.
The next question is about federal-state relations in the pandemic. Josh Frydenberg has a crack at the Victorian premier, Daniel Andrews, for Covid restrictions, adding: “And yet, it was the federal government that was picking up the bill.”
National cabinet tried to find common ground, he says, but the states had a lot of the power.
The states stepped up “because there was a leadership vacuum at a federal level”, Monique Ryan says.
And now, it’s getting quite personal. Josh Frydenberg is repeating his story that Monique Ryan’s mother-in-law told him she would vote for him. You can read that story here.
“She feels she was misquoted by him,” Ryan says:
My mother-in-law has been subjected to some harassing and distressing phone calls and responses. She’s found it really difficult.
Ryan says families should be left out of politicking, and that she signed a pledge about integrity in the campaign, and then Frydenberg says her letterboxing materials attacking him do not show integrity.
On a policy for nuclear weapons (I think the questioner was in favour), Monique Ryan says she’s in favour of federal legislation against nuclear weapons.
Josh Frydenberg is also not in favour (it would be a big story if he was).
