Ad focuses on new PM’s voting record and claims he is ‘out of touch’ with middle Australia

This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

Labor has responded to the elevation of Scott Morrison to the Liberal party leadership by releasing a new online attack ad that focuses on his voting record.

The short 30-second ad will be rolled out across Facebook from Monday. It marks the start of a drawn-out campaign that will last until the election.

Prime minister Morrison announced his new ministry on Sunday, characterising it as a “new generation” team that could put last week’s tumult behind it.

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“This is a passionate team, ambitious and hungry for the next election”, he said on Sunday.

But Labor’s ad attempts to undermine Morrison’s message of renewal by reminding voters of his voting record, deliberately reattaching him to the recent past.

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“You may think Liberal leader Scott Morrison hasn’t done very much, but that’s not true. He’s done plenty,” the ad says.

“He’s spent every waking hour trying to give the banks a $17bn tax cut, cut $17bn from schools, cut $700m from local hospitals. He supported cuts to penalty rates, voted to raise the pension age to 70, and cut the pension. And Scott Morrison voted against the banking royal commission 26 times.

“When it comes to what matters to middle and working class Australians, Scott Morrison is out of touch and only for the top end of town.”

Labor claims it was able to capitalise on last week’s Liberal leadership turmoil by hauling an extra $80,000 in small online donations, to be used for political advertising in coming months.

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The Labor leader Bill Shorten, and the deputy leader, Tanya Plibersek, will be visiting a Melbourne hospital on Monday to remind voters of health funding cuts that occurred while Morrison was treasurer.

“Scott Morrison was the architect of all the policies that proved Malcolm Turnbull was only for the top end of town,” Plibersek said.

“[He] wouldn’t know a fair go if he tripped over it. This is the bloke who cut schools, cut hospitals, cut pensions, all so he could give a tax cut to the big banks.”