Cut-down crossbench boosts PM

Original article by Rosie Lewis
The Australian – Page: 3 : 20-May-19

Political strategist Glenn Druery expects the Coalition to have 33 or 34 seats in the new Senate, compared with 30 in the previous parliament. The Coalition’s prospects of passing bills in the upper house are also likely to be enhanced by a significantly smaller crossbench, which is expected to be reduced from 12 to six in the new Senate. Druery says the Coalition’s Senate voting reforms in 2016 have made it harder for ordinary Australians to win seats in the upper house.

CORPORATES
LIBERAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA, NATIONAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA, ONE NATION PARTY, LIBERAL-NATIONAL PARTY OF QUEENSLAND, PALMER UNITED PARTY, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, AUSTRALIAN GREENS, CENTRE ALLIANCE, AUSTRALIAN CONSERVATIVES

Albo, Plibersek to fight it out

Original article by Ben Packham, Greg Brown
The Australian – Page: 5 : 20-May-19

Bill Shorten has indicated that he is keen to have a seat on Labor’s frontbench after stepping down as Opposition leader following the federal election loss. Deputy leader Tanya Plibersek intends to contest the leadership, as will fellow Labor Left faction member Anthony Albanese. Shadow treasurer Chris Bowen and finance spokesman Jim Chalmers – both members of the Right faction – are also considering a tilt at the leadership, with the latter advising that he will wait to see what Bowen decides to do.

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AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY

Messiah from The Shire

Original article by Simon Benson
The Australian – Page: 1 & 2 : 20-May-19

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has identified a number of immediate priorities for the Coalition’s third term in office. They include the income tax cuts package, counter-­terrorism legislation and fixing shortcomings in the National Disability Insurance Scheme. Morrison wants to reconvene federal parliament as quickly as possible, saying the election win has given the Coalition a mandate for its Budget reforms. He says the election result came down to the final week of campaigning. The Coalition currently has 75 seats in the lower house, one short of being able to form a majority government; five seats remain in doubt.

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AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET, LIBERAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA, NATIONAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, ONE NATION PARTY, AUSTRALIAN GREENS

Scott Morrison wins surprise Federal Election

Original article by Gary Morgan, Michele Levine, Julian McCrann
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 20-May-19

Saturday’s Federal Election results shows the L-NP Government will likely be returned with a small majority. Analysis of the polls show all polls significantly underestimated the L-NP primary vote. The Roy Morgan Poll a week before the Federal Election had L-NP support at 38.5% – 2.9% lower than their actual vote of 41.4%. Roy Morgan throughout the election campaign period showed from survey data that: The Federal Election would be close – even a ‘Hung Parliament’ was possible. There will be many views and reasons posed for why Saturday’s election result was a victory for the Morrison led L-NP. The question still to be answered is whether: All polls were wrong in underestimating the L-NP (38.5% vs. 41.4%) vote during the whole election campaign (the Trump Factor), or did electors change their minds in the last week – after the death of former ALP Prime Minister Bob Hawke (much loved) and Shorten who on the last day raised the ‘ghost’ of Gough Whitlam ignoring electors concerns of bad economic news resulting in a fall in the $AUD and the escalation of the US/China ‘trade war’. Morrison never changed his message that a Coalition Government would ‘Cut taxes’ while Labor would ‘Increase tax’ on Incomes, Capital gains and ‘Super’, eliminate Franking credits and cut Negative gearing. The revenue raised would then be used to increase wages and massive Government spending on Health, Education and other areas including ‘Climate Change’. Morrison refused to be drawn into the debate on ‘Climate Change’ like Fraser in 1975 refused to be drawn into the debate on the ‘Dismissal’ – both issues having no relevance to ‘day-to-day’ living costs which easily concerned the electorate the most – as it did in 1975. While preferences from One Nation (vote 3%) and Palmer’s United Australian Party (vote 3.4%) enabled the Coalition to win sufficient seats to retain Government the ALP vote was at a low 33.9% – down 1.1% on the last Federal Election. View full release here.

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MORGAN POLL, ROY MORGAN LIMITED, LIBERAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA, NATIONAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, ONE NATION PARTY, UNITED AUSTRALIA PARTY

State MPs poison to Labor’s campaign

Original article by Michael McKenna, Charlie Peel
The Australian – Page: 6 : 17-May-19

State Labor MPs in regional Queensland say they have been abused while issuing Labor’s how-to-vote cards during the federal election campaign, due to the State Government’s handling of the Adani mine issue. Indeed, federal Labor MP Cathy O’Toole is said to have told local state Labor MPs not to hand out how-to-vote cards in her ultra-marginal seat of Herbert because of local anger over delays to the mine. However, local state Labor MP Scott Stewart has denied that O’Toole asked him not to hand out how-to-vote cards.

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AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, ADANI MINING PTY LTD

Seat-by-seat battles point to narrow win

Original article by Andrew Tillett, Tom McIlroy
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 1 & 6 : 17-May-19

Labor must gain four seats to secure the 76 seats in the lower house that it needs to form a majority government, while the Coalition must gain three seats at the federal election. Strategists from both sides of politics expect Labor to win the election with a majority of 3-4 seats, although a senior Labor strategist notes that nearly 20 seats could be won by either party. The seats of Reid and Corangamite are amongst those that are tipped to determine the outcome of the election.

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AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, LIBERAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA, NATIONAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA

Bouris calling with a warning about Labor

Original article by Simon Benson
The Australian – Page: 8 : 17-May-19

Wizard Home Loans founder Mark Bouris has attracted scrutiny from the Australian Electoral Commission for targeting voters via a robo-calling campaign. Bouris, who is not a candidate in the federal election, used automated phone calling technology to contact 200,000 households in marginal electorates. He warned that Labor’s proposed negative gearing and capital gains tax reforms would see house prices fall. Bouris has stressed that he was not acting on behalf of any political party.

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AUSTRALIAN ELECTORAL COMMISSION, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, WIZARD HOME LOANS, YELLOW BRICK ROAD HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX YBR, LIBERAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA

Shorten draws on spirit of ‘It’s time’

Original article by Andrew Tillett
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 4 : 17-May-19

Opposition Leader Bill Shorten echoed the words of former Labor prime minister Gough Whitlam in a speech at Bowman Hall in Blacktown on 16 May. The Sydney venue was the scene of Whitlam’s iconic ‘It’s time’ speech 47 years ago, and like Whitlam in 1972, Shorten described the 2019 election as a choice between the ‘habits and fears of the past’ and the ‘demands and opportunities of the future’. Shorten used his speech to reiterate Labor’s key polices, including action on climate change and reversing penalty rate cuts.

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AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY

Not time to risk Labor: Morrison

Original article by Joe Kelly
The Australian – Page: 9 : 17-May-19

Prime Minister Scott Morrison used his last major speech before the election to emphasise that voters want a government that they can trust and rely on. Addressing the National Press Club in Canberra, Morrison warned that Labor’s policies of increased taxes and government spending would stifle wages growth, dampen consumer confidence and impede economic growth. He said the Coalition’s policies will create 1.25 million jobs and 250,000 new small and medium enterprises.

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AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY

Two-thirds of Australians think the ALP is set to win tomorrow’s Federal Election

Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 17-May-19

A special Roy Morgan SMS Poll conducted over the last few days shows a large majority of 66% of Australian electors think the ALP will win this week’s Federal Election compared to only 34% that think the L-NP Coalition will win. ALP supporters are particularly confident with 81% saying they think the ALP will win, while a bare majority of 53% of L-NP supporters think the L-NP will win. Greens supporters are even more confident about an ALP victory with 84% expecting an ALP victory while 64.5% of supporters of Independents/Others expect an ALP win. Young Australians are more confident of an ALP victory than their older peers with 80% of 18-24 year olds expecting an ALP victory compared to 74.5% of 25-34 year olds, 65% of 35-49 year olds, 61.5% of 50-64 year olds and 59% of those aged 65+ years old. Click here for full details

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MORGAN POLL, ROY MORGAN LIMITED, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, LIBERAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA, NATIONAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIAN GREENS