TRANSCRIPT
With less than a week left before a by-election is held in the Melbourne seat of Dunkley on March the 2nd, both Peter Dutton and Anthony Albanese are making their final pitches.
Prompted by the passing of Labor M-P Peta Murphy, who died from breast cancer in December, the election is set to be the government's first major ballot-box litmus test.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese made a visit to the outer Melbourne electorate this weekend.
"This community was devastated by the loss of Peta so young, at age just 50 to cancer. But Peta Murphy was a fighter. Peta Murphy was someone who stood up to this electorate and Peta Murphy was someone who identified Jody, as someone who could carry on her legacy in this community. "
The Labor candidate for Dunkley, Jodie Belyea, is not a career politician but was recruited by Ms Murphy and in 2018 founded the Women’s Spirit Project, a grass roots project focused on empowering vulnerable women in and around Frankston.
Peter Dutton made his visit to the electorate last week, where he pitched the successes of Liberal candidate and Frankston Mayor Nathan Conroy.
"If you want a champion to represent this local community in Canberra, if that's what this election is about, We have the perfect candidate. He's a person who as mayor has the confidence of his colleagues over three years in an unprecedented way, they voted him in because they know that he's got the plan, and he's rolling it out for his local community. "
The stakes of the Dunkley by-election are high, with a loss for Labor indicating a likely struggle in twelve other more challenging seats.
Whereas a loss for Liberal will suggest that Peter Dutton's strategy in Victoria is failing, particularly after the recent arrival of two asylum seeker boats and twelve successive rate rises.
Both the Liberal and Labor campaigns are claiming the status of underdog, with Labor currently holding the seat by a 6.3 per cent margin and the average swing in government held seats being around 7 per cent.
However, Shadow Home Affairs Minister James Patterson told Sky News this morning that he expects a smaller swing due to the circumstances of the by-election.
"The average swing is much less when it's the case of a departing foreign member who is deceased as the case of Peta Murphy than when a member resigns. I've been on the pre poll booths in Dunkley, there's no anger towards the government for this by election which is obviously understandable. "
Meanwhile, ahead of parliament's sitting again tomorrow, tax cuts remain at the top of the governments agenda, while the opposition is continuing to drill down on border protection.
With the Government keen to push through its stage three tax cuts legislation, Queensland M-P Graham Perrett says his community are in need of the relief.
"Look, people are doing it tough, businesses telling me they're doing it tough, and certainly door knocking in the last few weeks about the changes people are very keen, a very supportive of them. Looking forward to it. It's a sensible response to a cost of living crisis. "
Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister Richard Marles is back from a recent visit to Indonesia, where he discussed cooperation on defence and action on people smuggling.
Two issues at the focal point of the oppositions current targets.
Shadow Home Affairs Minister James Patterson says the government is not taking the issues seriously, accusing Mr Marles of weak leadership.
"Well I think leadership starts from the top and Richard Marles has been a weak deputy prime minister and a weak defence minister. The extra funding that was announced this week for the surface fleet of only $1.7 billion over four years, is the first dollars that Richard Marles has been able to get out of the expenditure review committee in two years. Following a defence strategic review which said that our strategic circumstances are the worst they've been since the end of World War Two. "]]
Richard Marles told Sky News that the opposition's criticisms are baseless.
"The government has increased expenditure on our border, no ifs no buts. It's a matter of record, and the fact that the opposition is desperately trying to say otherwise says more about the way in which the opposition goes about it's business than it does about the reality of border protection in this country. "
And finally, following his resignation from politics last month, former Prime Minister Scott Morrison will take his seat in the House of Representatives for the last time this week.
The former PM spent sixteen years in Parliament, he says its now time to spend more time with his family.
