FEDERAL ELECTION CAMPAIGN: DAY 17
WHERE THE LEADERS CAMPAIGNED
* Prime Minister Scott Morrison: North Dubbo and Gilgandra, NSW
* Labor leader Bill Shorten: Tasmania
WHAT THE COALITION WANTED TO TALK ABOUT
A promise of an extra $54.7 million in drought assistance for farmers, which includes restocking and replanting concessional loans, a trial counselling service for rural businesses and changes to the farm household allowance.
WHAT LABOR WANTED TO TALK ABOUT:
A pledge of$120 million into key Tasmanian tourist attractions to manage growing visitor numbers and to unlock employment opportunities.
WHAT MADE NEWS:
* Scott Morrison has defended the coalition's in-principle preference deal with Clive Palmer's United Australia Party, but Labor's Anthony Albanese said the prime minister has done a deal with a "tosser".
* Outgoing Indigenous Affairs Minister Nigel Scullion has slammed a proposal by Labor's senator Pat Dodson's proposal to hold a referendum for constitution recognition for Australia's First People with only a guide as to how a "voice to parliament' may work, calling it the "height of stupidity".
* A new analysis by the McKell Institute shows workers will be $2.9 billion worse off from cuts to penalty rates during a three-year term under a Liberal government.
* Former Liberal cabinet minister Amanda Vanstone believes a royal commission should be held into Australia's water system with a focus on the Murray-Darling Basin plan and the eastern seaboard. Deputy Labor Leader Tanya Plibersek said she wasn't surprised the former South Australian senator is concerned about government's mismanagement of the plan.
THEY SAID WHAT?
"There's an old saying, and I think that Mr Morrison is going to learn the truth, if you lie down with dogs, you will get up with fleas."
- Shorten on preferences row.
"The honest truth is Labor and the Greens present a far bigger threat to the Australian economy, to people's jobs than the UAP does. That's just a simple fact."
- Morrison on preferences.
