This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

Bill Shorten has officially launched Susan Lamb’s campaign in Longman, framing the contest not as a choice between him and Malcolm Turnbull but a vote for “your family and your health”.

At the Caboolture RSL on Sunday Shorten said Labor was the underdog leading into Saturday’s byelection but suggested it was finishing hard. Lamb went a step further and predicted she would win.



A loss in either Braddon or Longman could open questions about the Labor leadership. Frontbencher Anthony Albanese has indicated he is ready to serve and the government is framing the campaign as a referendum on Shorten.

Labor has been buoyed by a ReachTel poll in Braddon, commissioned by the Australian Forests Products Association, showing it leading 52% to 48% in two-party preferred but is down 51-49 in Longman according to a separate ReachTel poll.

At a press conference in Townsville Turnbull played down expectations the Coalition would achieve the historically rare feat of taking a seat off the opposition in a byelection. He told reporters the two contests in Longman and Braddon were “very close” when Labor “should be streets ahead”.

In contrast to Labor’s promises for higher spending on health and education, Turnbull framed the contest as a vote on the Coalition’s $144bn personal income tax cut and economic record. He cited strong jobs growth – 50,900 new jobs created in June, one quarter of which were in Queensland.

“A vote for Justine Keay in Braddon is a vote for Bill Shorten and his higher taxes,” Turnbull said. “A vote for Susan Lamb in Longman is a vote for Bill Shorten and his higher taxes.”

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Shorten rejected that frame, suggesting the prime minister was preoccupied with him by noting Turnbull had said “Shorten” 11 times in a visit to Longman on Saturday but failed to mention schools or hospitals once.

“I’m different – I don’t think actually this byelection is about him or me,” Shorten said.

“I say this to the voters of Longman, it’s not about Malcolm Turnbull or Bill Shorten – it’s about you.

“It’s about your families, it’s about your healthcare – that’s what motivates Susan Lamb and Labor.”

In a nod to the fact Labor had trailed the Coalition going into the Longman campaign, Shorten said what mattered was “not how you start, it’s how you finish”, promising to “run all the way to the finish line”.

Shorten noted Labor trailed in both Longman and Braddon according to bookmakers, and accused the Liberal-National party in Queensland and One Nation of teaming up to knock Labor off.

In addition to Labor’s pledge to restore the energy supplement if it is repealed, Shorten also promised an extra 50 staff at Centrelink centres on Caboolture.

Earlier, Lamb said she needed the help of the Labor faithful to deliver on promises including a $10m chemotherapy unit in Caboolture hospital and an urgent care clinic at Bribie Island.

“We have just six days to go until election day – there are still conversations we need to have, people we still need to convince and there are votes we still need to win,” she said.

“Friends, together I know we will win. Because we are not done yet but – I tell you what – Longman is done with Malcolm Turnbull.”

The shadow employment minister, Brendan O’Connor, played down the risk posed to Shorten by the byelections, telling Sky News on Sunday he “will be the leader at the next federal election”.

O’Connor suggested the byelections were as much a test of Turnbull because the Liberals aren’t “going to get anywhere near winning back” Mayo, which he described as a blue-ribbon safe seat.

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In Mayo the Liberal candidate Georgina Downer trails Centre Alliance’s Rebekha Sharkie. While Longman and Braddon remain on a knife edge, Labor is expected to easily retain its seats of Perth and Fremantle.

Earlier on Sunday the Liberal senator Eric Abetz talked up his party’s chances in Braddon, noting that at the state election its voters had given 56% of the primary vote to the Liberal party.

Abetz told the ABC’s Insiders that since the election of the Hodgman government, the Tasmanian economy had been “turbo-charged” with unemployment falling from 8.1% to 5.9%.

He said the byelection “won’t be able to change the government” but could give the people of Braddon a voice in the government party room.

Nevertheless Abetz said the government had “no doubt” about the difficulty of winning back Braddon because the average swing against governments in byelections is 5%.