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| Bill Shorten fronts voters at a people's forum in Brisbane – politics live | Bill Shorten fronts voters at a people's forum in Brisbane – politics live |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| 9.36am BST | |
| 09:36 | |
| Shorten says Labor has ticked the boxes of being a strong opposition. Now, tonight, he wants to present Labor as a strong alternative government. | |
| The Labor leader says he’s here to outline positive plans on schools and health and the NBN and housing affordability. He says he’s also here so voters can get to know him better. Shorten says he’ll learn from what voters are interested in. | |
| 9.33am BST | |
| 09:33 | |
| Bill Shorten kicks off with opening remarks | |
| I’m here tonight because I think we need to change politics in this country. | |
| Shorten opens proceedings on that sweeping note. He says he doesn’t know what’s coming but he’s happy to take all questions. He notes he’s accompanied by wife Chloe, who is a Queenslander. | |
| 9.30am BST | |
| 09:30 | |
| Folks are seated in the venue now. Very close to kick off. | |
| 9.18am BST | |
| 09:18 | |
| "I’m not afraid of meeting people." | |
| Campaigning in Brisbane today, Shorten was asked what he expected out of tonight’s event. This was his answer. | |
| Q: What are you expecting out of the people’s forum in Petrie tonight? It’s the most marginal in Australia. | |
| Bill Shorten: | |
| I’m looking forward to attending the people’s forum which is being covered by Sky and the Courier Mail and to answer people’s questions. | |
| A lot of Australians feel that their individual involvement in politics isn’t worth doing because they feel they can’t change things. I’m not afraid of meeting people. I don’t need to go to sanitised events where the Liberal party tick off who can come and who can’t. We’re happy that Galaxy’s picked a whole lot of people who are undecided voters; they can come and ask me any question. | |
| I don’t expect that every answer I’ll give them will be the exact answer that everyone wants to hear. But people are making assessments about what is the character of the leader or the person who wishes to lead a government. I’m prepared to demonstrate to people that I’ll work hard, that I’ll answer their questions honestly. I won’t always get everything done exactly in the way in which everyone wants, but no-one will have any doubt that what I say is what I mean and that I’m in touch with the needs of everyday Australians. | |
| That is why Labor has the best policies for Aussie jobs, for a properly funded health care system where it’s your Medicare card not your credit card that determines the level of health care. That’s why we are the only party offering to properly fund our schools and our universities and TAFE sector, that will take real action on climate change through prioritising renewable energy. And by the way we believe in a fair taxation system so that first home owners can compete to buy their first home on a level playing field with property speculators going for their tenth property. | |
| 9.12am BST | |
| 09:12 | |
| Labor’s internal research also suggests voters don’t know a whole lot about Bill Shorten. He had a relatively high profile as a trade union leader before entering parliament, but these days that only gets you known among people who engage with politics regularly. Shorten was only a cabinet minister briefly in the last Labor government, he hasn’t been treasurer or deputy leader – so from the point of view of the average voter, he’s something of a blank slate. | |
| Again it will be interesting tonight (from my perspective at least) to see if these folks seek more information about Shorten as a person and a politician, or if they are more issues focussed. | |
| Updated | |
| at 9.13am BST | |
| 9.06am BST | 9.06am BST |
| 09:06 | 09:06 |
| I’ll be quite interested to see the weight of the questions tonight – the level of voter interest in Labor’s policies will give us an insight into how much various issues are cutting through. Normally you’d expect to see a lot of interest in health, education, mental health, foreign investment and aged care at events like this. I’ll be interested to see whether Labor’s negative gearing policy gets much of a workout. | I’ll be quite interested to see the weight of the questions tonight – the level of voter interest in Labor’s policies will give us an insight into how much various issues are cutting through. Normally you’d expect to see a lot of interest in health, education, mental health, foreign investment and aged care at events like this. I’ll be interested to see whether Labor’s negative gearing policy gets much of a workout. |
| 8.51am BST | 8.51am BST |
| 08:51 | 08:51 |
| Good evening good people of blogue | Good evening good people of blogue |
| Hello and welcome to tonight’s pop up Politics Live, it’s most delightful to be back with you all. With the scent of an election wafting assertively in our flaring nostrils, we gallop tonight into live coverage of the Labor leader Bill Shorten who will face a group of undecided voters in BrisVegas in a town hall style Q&A, minus Tony Jones and that set that vaguely resembles a crime scene. | Hello and welcome to tonight’s pop up Politics Live, it’s most delightful to be back with you all. With the scent of an election wafting assertively in our flaring nostrils, we gallop tonight into live coverage of the Labor leader Bill Shorten who will face a group of undecided voters in BrisVegas in a town hall style Q&A, minus Tony Jones and that set that vaguely resembles a crime scene. |
| The Labor leader will address 150 people identified by the polling company Galaxy as swinging voters at the Redcliffe RSL. Tonight’s forum is taking place in the marginal Brisbane electorate of Petrie, which is currently held by the Coalition on a margin of 0.5%. Petrie is the government’s most marginal seat. Tonight’s broadcaster is Sky News, and the event is also sponsored by the Courier Mail. Kick off is at 6.30pm eastern time, so there is still time to refresh your beverages, and crack open the corn chips. | The Labor leader will address 150 people identified by the polling company Galaxy as swinging voters at the Redcliffe RSL. Tonight’s forum is taking place in the marginal Brisbane electorate of Petrie, which is currently held by the Coalition on a margin of 0.5%. Petrie is the government’s most marginal seat. Tonight’s broadcaster is Sky News, and the event is also sponsored by the Courier Mail. Kick off is at 6.30pm eastern time, so there is still time to refresh your beverages, and crack open the corn chips. |
| Just a little bit of scene setting. | Just a little bit of scene setting. |
| This will be obvious to politics tragics, but if you are a reader who tends to ration your exposure to politics in the interests of preserving your sanity: we are now firmly in the faux campaign period, where both sides of politics are road testing their machines and their messages before the big election battle. | This will be obvious to politics tragics, but if you are a reader who tends to ration your exposure to politics in the interests of preserving your sanity: we are now firmly in the faux campaign period, where both sides of politics are road testing their machines and their messages before the big election battle. |
| Shorten right now has the luxury of not having to cloister himself away prepare a budget, so he’s been out and about on the hustings in recent weeks. Perth earlier this week. Brisbane today. | Shorten right now has the luxury of not having to cloister himself away prepare a budget, so he’s been out and about on the hustings in recent weeks. Perth earlier this week. Brisbane today. |
| Labor was also given a psychological boost earlier this week with a Newspoll showing the Coalition falling behind on the two party preferred measure for the first time since Malcolm Turnbull took the leadership from Tony Abbott last year. | Labor was also given a psychological boost earlier this week with a Newspoll showing the Coalition falling behind on the two party preferred measure for the first time since Malcolm Turnbull took the leadership from Tony Abbott last year. |
| Shorten has done a few of these town hall style hustings over the period he’s been opposition leader but to my best recollection this is the first one that’s been televised. Inevitably, as we move into the campaign proper, both leaders will do more forums like this one, town hall things in marginal seats, as well as head-to-head debates. | Shorten has done a few of these town hall style hustings over the period he’s been opposition leader but to my best recollection this is the first one that’s been televised. Inevitably, as we move into the campaign proper, both leaders will do more forums like this one, town hall things in marginal seats, as well as head-to-head debates. |
| Let’s crack on with our evening’s business. | Let’s crack on with our evening’s business. |
| The Politics Live comments thread is now wide open for your business, so get into it. You know you want to. You can also talk to me on Twitter or Facebook if that’s your preference. You can find me on the twits @murpharoo and my Facebook politics forum is here. | The Politics Live comments thread is now wide open for your business, so get into it. You know you want to. You can also talk to me on Twitter or Facebook if that’s your preference. You can find me on the twits @murpharoo and my Facebook politics forum is here. |
| Plump up your bean bags. Here comes the people’s forum. | Plump up your bean bags. Here comes the people’s forum. |