Labor leader Anthony Albanese has bounced back after his stumble yesterday. Photo / Getty Images
OPINION:
Labor leader Anthony Albanese has fought back today after an embarrassing stumble on the campaign yesterday and more than recovered his equilibrium.
"I'm in charge," he said when reporters tried to shout out questions in a different order to his wishes.
He had been flummoxed yesterday after being unable to detail Labor's policy on the national disability insurance scheme (NDIS) - and there were questions about whether he was fit enough after contracting Covid.
He ran a commanding press conference this morning in Sydney's inner West in which he outlined his extensive programme yesterday; he talked more about the NDIS and in relation to his mother's disabilities; he greeted a stray child who wondered into the presser; he interacted with a group of Afghani refugees; and he trounced several combative questions from reporters on the NZDIS and whether he would guarantee not to cut it, or education or health.
Yesterday he had to be handed a folder containing policy detail on NDIS. It might not have been as jaw-dropping as Albanese's first-day gaffe when he didn't know the national unemployment rate, but the optics were bad.
His weakness for detail was reinforced and the potential for damage was greater because it much closer to the election.
His recovery was important because in the absence of major policies from wither side, whether he is up to the job is one the biggest debating issues this campaign.
This is how 9News covered it.
There are doubts surrounding how well Anthony Albanese knows his brief, following today's election campaign blunder.
— 9News Australia (@9NewsAUS) May 5, 2022
It comes as Scott Morrison faces problems on national security and the economy - two fronts he is trying to fight the election on. @ccroucher9 @jekearsley #9News pic.twitter.com/8Sg4EEMwbU
The start of the week was a happier time for Anthony Albanese when he officially launched Labor's campaign in Perth, including a Labor ad featuring the throaty tones of New Zealand-born actor Russell Crowe.
He also had two former Labor Prime Ministers there in support: Kevin Rudd and Paul Keating.
Great to sit down with @MrKRudd and Paul Keating – two Prime Ministers who left lasting legacies, who changed Australia for the better, and who never said, “it’s not my job”. pic.twitter.com/yTd6xYsTEk
— Anthony Albanese (@AlboMP) May 1, 2022
Most candidates want front-page coverage although Andrews Charlton, Labor's candidate in Parramatta, probably got more than he deserved.
He couldn't name his three favourite restaurants in an interview with Pawan Luthra on IndiaLink and the awkward interview has been widely picked up.
That is possibly because he is a wealthy economist, a former adviser to Kevin Rudd, with a PhD in economics from Oxford who lives in a fabulous house in the eastern suburbs and has been parachuted into Sydney's west to try to keep the marginal Parramatta seat from a retiring Labor MP.
He struggles to name a third, while standing right in front of one. No wonder Scott Morrison's visit to a Lebanese bakery yesterday marked his fifth visit to the seat during the campaign.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison has been dealt a few blows on the campaign given the Coalition's two strongest selling points are national security and the economy.
The Chinese Government threw a hand grenade into the second week of the six-week campaign, announcing it had signed a security deal with the Solomon Islands.
And the rising inflation rate last week was met this week with a rise in the cash rate from 0.1 to 0.35 per cent by the Reserve Bank, its first rise since 2010.
The West Australian had a retro take on it: "You call that a rate hike!" - featuring an old codger who said it was hardly the end of the world – he used to pay 17 per cent.
The Daily Telegraph was more alarmist, telling readers homeowner had been "hit by a rate train".
Scott Morrison's response was a blend of sympathy for those will face higher mortgage rates – about $80 extra a month on a $600,000 mortgage – and a lesson in how much worse off people would be without the "shield" the Government provided through Covid.
"…What that shield has done has ensured that what others are experiencing in other countries has not happened to the same extent here. Those 8.5 per cent interest rates, those 8.5 per cent inflation rates in the United States could have been here. Those almost 7 per cent inflation rates in New Zealand could have been here…"
Journalist: We don't live in New Zealand.
Morrison: You're right. You don't live in Canada and you don't live in New Zealand. And what we have avoided in Australia is what is happening in those countries.
The National Press Club in Canberra has hosted two big debates this week, the first debate between Treasurer Josh Frydenberg and shadow Treasurer Jim Chalmers, and yesterday's debate between Defence Minister Peter Dutton and Labor defence spokesman Brendan O'Connor.
Scott Morrison and Anthony Albanese have two more televised debates. The next is this Sunday on Nine, and another next Thursday on Seven.
Morrison has snubbed the state broadcaster the ABC.
One of the most anticipated debates was between Josh Frydenberg and Monique Ryan, one of the leading so-called independent candidates who is threatening the Treasurer's hold on Kooyong in Melbourne.
They are a loose coalition of mainly left-wing women candidates who are funded by Australian businessman Simon Holmes a Court and are campaigning on more ambitious climate change policy.
They must have studied New Zealand First's Winston Peters closely because none will say before the election whether they will support, oppose or abstain on confidence and supply in order to allow Labor or the Coalition to govern - although no one in their right mind would believe they would support the Coalition remaining in power.
Former Liberal Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has all but endorsed the independents in a speech today in Washington DC.
"If more of the 'Teal' independents win, it will mean that the 'capture' of the Liberal Party will be thwarted by direct democratic action from voters – people power you might say."
The most anticipated poll, The Australian's Newspoll survey, published on Monday this week had Labor's primary vote on 38 per cent and the Coalition on 36 per cent. Support for minor and independents was a whopping 26 per cent in the poll published at the half-way point in the six-week campaign.
Labor was ahead of the Coalition on the two-party preferred rating (which bases its preference flows on recent federal and state elections), 53 to 47. Scott Morrison was preferred Prime Minister by 45 per cent compared to Anthony Albanese on 39 per cent.
• "If only you could pay your mortgage with Scott Morrison's excuses."Labor shadow Treasurer Jim Chalmers.
• "It's a secret ballot and I'll keep that to myself." Former Liberal Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull refuses to back his own party and hints to Sky News he'll back the Teals.
• Labor's Anthony Albanese: 7 out of 10 - He stumbled yesterday but bounced back better today, doing what he does better than fighting Tories, fighting the press pack.
• Scott Morrison: 7 out of 10 - Sailed through this week's increase in the cash rates and appears to be getting into his stride.
'The Expressway will reopen once the clean-up is complete, which may take a few hours.'