Pollie waffle: latest updates from the election trail

Today the election trail sees Tony Abbott start the day in Melbourne, announcing $100 million for the Coalition's New Colombo Plan to encourage more Asian students to study in Australia, and vice-versa.

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Welcome to day 26 of the election campaign.

Today the election trail sees Tony Abbott start the day in Melbourne, announcing $100 million for the Coalition's New Colombo Plan to encourage more Asian students to study in Australia, and vice-versa.

Kevin Rudd is campaigning in Perth, where he will announce strategies to tackle traffic congestion and a shortage of local jobs.

Last night, the PM continued his social media campaigning with an "Ask Me Anything" session on Reddit. The PM fielded questions on the NBN, housing prices, mental health services and Australia's relationship with China (apparently "singing in the shower" helps with the tones in learning Mandarin).

Labor has denied lying about a $10 billion 'black hole' in the Coalition's costings, after Treasury and Finance distanced themselves from the claims by Kevin Rudd and Treasurer Chris Bowen.

Labor's claims followed the release of figures by the Opposition showing proposed savings of $31.6 billion, which the ALP said mounted to a "fraud" on the Australian people. It claimed the savings only added up to $20 billion.

But with Treasury and the Department of Finance denying costing Coalition policies, Shadow Treasurer Joe Hockey says Labor's credibility has taken a massive blow. Chris Bowen is standing by the claims.

And the costings battle continues today, with Penny Wong claiming Labor has submitted 46 of its policies to the Treasury and Department of Finance, while the Coalition has submitted none.

Meanwhile, a Liberal Party candidate in Western Sydney has apparently claimed the burqa is a sign of opporession,  Fairfax media reports.

Ray King, a former Liverpool police commander standing against Treasurer Chris Bowen in McMahon, is said to have made the claims back in May, and was warned they could prove embarrassing for the Coalition.

But Labor has its own woes in Western Sydney. A Newspoll shows the swing against the ALP in the area's marginal seats is three times worse than anywhere else in the country.

The poll, in NewsCorp's The Australian newspaper, puts the ALP's primary vote at 34 per cent, while the Coalition is up nine points to 52 per cent.

While Kevin Rudd leads Tony Abbott as preferred prime minister nationally, he trails the opposition leader in Western Sydney by 40 per cent to 46 per cent.

The poll was taken in the electorates of Greenway, Lindsay, Banks, Reid and Parramatta, which are all held by margins of less than five per cent.

News Corp itself is the subject of a political campaign, with online activist organisation GetUp creating an ad slamming the company's allegedly "biased" reporting.

Mumbrella reports News Corp's CEO Julian Clarke has responded to the allegations, calling them "baseless".

What's in a name? Broadcaster John Laws wants to know, asking PM Kevin Rudd's wife  Therese Rein why she hadn't taken her husband's surname in an interview that set social media alight.

Many in the Twittersphere were delighted with Ms Rein's answer, although it seemed she was not so keen on the fuss, taking to Twitter to ask why the focus was on that part of the interview.

 


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