COALITION PUSH ON JOBS; ALP ON HEALTH

PM spruiks 1.3 million new jobs target

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has launched into a strong offensive on employment, promising to create 1.3 million new jobs over the next five years. The PM can be expected to campaign heavily on his government’s jobs record, claiming a national unemployment level at a 48-year low. Mr Morrison started his campaign in New South Wales, focusing on the marginal western Sydney seats of Parramatta (Labor) and Lindsay (Liberal), and the south coast seat of Gilmore, which the Coalition lost to Labor in 2019. The PM then moved into Victoria, seeking to regain the former south-west Liberal seat of Corangamite, and to Tasmania, where the Coalition must defend its marginal seats of Braddon and Bass.

Labor plays Medicare card

Labor Leader Anthony Albanese has opened his campaign playing to the party’s familiar policy ground on Health. The Opposition Leader said Labor would invest $135 million on urgent care, bulk-billed Medicare clinics in at least 50 sites across Australia, to take the pressure off hospital emergency departments. Labor has also promised to spend up to $23 million on a new national nurse and midwife health service to retain and support nurses in their job. Earlier in the week, Mr Albanese kicked off his campaign in Tasmania, where Labor is defending the marginal seat of Lyons and seeking to regain Braddon and Bass, lost to the Liberals in 2019. He continued his campaign in inner Melbourne and then travelled to the NSW Hunter Valley.

Greens pledge tax hikes on billionaires, companies

Greens Leader Adam Bandt has promised to introduce a corporate super profits tax, or ‘tycoon tax’, to raise about $8 billion a year. In a speech to the National Press Club, Mr Bandt said a tax on billionaires in Australia would tax six per cent of their wealth every year. A corporate super profits tax would force corporations that presently did not pay any tax to hand over any excessive profits they made over $100 million. Holding just one Lower House seat, the Greens are unlikely to hold the balance of power after May 21, but with nine current seats in the Senate, the party may have a major hand in the passage of legislation.

Unemployment remains at four per cent

Australia’s unemployment rate remained at four per cent, seasonally-adjusted, in March, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics. In a sign of the tight labour market, the rate of underemployment – measuring people who want to work more hours – fell to 6.3 per cent. Western Australia and the Australian Capital Territory recorded unemployment at 3.4 per cent, while South Australia had the highest rate of unemployment rate, at 4.9 per cent.

Pre-poll voting on the rise

Saturday May 21 will be Federal Election day but official voting is likely to almost be half-over by then, with pre-poll and postal votes having already been cast. A report to Federal Parliament on the 2019 Federal Election revealed that total pre-poll votes comprised more than 40 per cent of all votes counted, or about 4.9 million votes. Postal votes accounted for eight per cent of total votes counted. This election, almost two weeks of pre-poll voting will start on May 9 – one week shorter than the pre-poll period of 2019.