I wasn’t able to watch the Today interview for a variety of technological reasons, and am relying on a transcript from a feed service which is sometimes hilariously inaccurate. Please shout if you see any horrendous errors here.

Turnbull has reaffirmed that Tony Abbott will not be given a cabinet position.

“The ministry that I take to this election is the ministry I will have after the election.”

Lisa Wilkinson asks if it’s not better to have Abbott inside the tent, so to speak.

The election is not about the personality of people. It is about the personality of 24m Australians. When I get out in the community what Australians are talking about is their families. The future of their families, their kids, their grandkids. That is what I’m focused on.

On a GST rise to 15%, Turnbull is forthright.

“We rejected it. We said why we rejected it. Because it would be inequitable. Seriously, we looked at it very carefully. We did not kick it into the long grass for political reasons. There will be no changes to the GST and we have explained why there won’t be.”

He is less forthright on the matter of bulk billing, as Wilkinson asks five times if he will guarantee no more cuts to it.

“The bulk billing is at an all-time high. We have kept the Medicare rebate where it is over the forward estimates. We have done that in order to be able to spend more money on health bring lifesaving drugs on the PBT, being able to increase your funding for front line mental health service like more Head Spaces and suicide prevention trials. What we are doing is making the health dollar go further. But we are absolutely committed to your high levels and growing levels of health funding and absolutely committed and guaranteeing Medicare.”

But no more cuts. Do you guarantee no more cuts to bulk billing?

“Lisa, there are no cuts to bulk billing. Bulk billing is growing.”

But as of today, as of July 1 there is no more bulk billing for blood tests and X-rays?

“With great respect that is not right. There is bulk billing is continuing, it is continuing right across the board.”

But not for blood tests or X-rays?

“The report that we have... Lisa, there is support for bulk billing from the doctors. Bulk billing from the doctors. Bulk billing has never been higher and bulk billing is continuing following the agreements that Susan Ley has reached with those particular specialists and consultations. Bulk billing is continue and in fact they are the highest levels of bulk billing in our history. That is a fact.”

 

read more: https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/live/2016/jul/01/australian-election-2016-polls-deadlocked-one-day-to-go-politics-live

Meanwhile the Bullshit Betoota Advocate tells us that:

 

Former Prime Minister Tony Abbott has criticised his successor’s election campaign, saying the focus has strayed in the final days because Malcolm Turnbull hasn’t focused on the “big issues” in this election.
Abbott believes Turnbull is too caught up in political populism to address the issues currently faced by old people in Sydney’s Upper North Shore who don’t believe in Climate Change
Mr Abbott told Sky News last night that it had been an election campaign “where a lot of big issues have been touched on without really being developed”.
“Malcolm has not been saying ‘boats’ enough. It’s almost like he wants it to be a close race,” he said.

http://www.betootaadvocate.com/entertainment/abbott-says-turnbull-should...


This morning Peter Dutton obliged and linked refugees with terrorism...

 

 

 

In Sketch, SMH, 4th July, Tony Wright tells us that "Turnbull left looking a lot like Gillard".

This could not be further to the truth.

Gillard was facing a massively hostile press for having removed golden boy Rudd and an incredibly hostile Tony Abbott. Both the press and Tony Abbott lied against her before, during and after the elections. She managed with grace, despite being pilloried for her attire and her voice, as well.

Gillard had far better negotiating skills than Tony Abbott and than Turnbull for that matter. Gillard was offering hope of better social equity on most fronts, while Turnbull was offering more cash for the rich and more pain for workers. 

Despite the shrieking claims to the contrary by the Liberals (CONservatives), he was also planning the destruction of Medicare through progressive privatisation. Since it had been tried again and again through the Abbott years, with various devious schemes, most decent journalists could see what was happening under Turnbull on this subject, but few were ready to blow the whistle. 

Turnbull got far and large a free run in the mass media — even in the Daily Telegraph. The media, including the SMH lied in favour of Malcolm Turnbull, before and during the elections — even promoting Malcolm in its last editorial prior to the elections. A media dream run, though the polls showed the electorate would not buy more crap. 

When Turnbull removed Tony Abbott, most of the media applauded, although there were grumbles at the merde-och press for removing their golden boy Abbott, who could do no wrong, despite being a little shit. but even the merde-och press had to come to term that Tony Abbott going to poll this year would have been a far greater disaster for the Libs (CONservatives) than Turnbull. So they supported Malcolm with a hope he would bring the Libs (CONservatives) back in government for Tony Abbott — who lied in favour of Malcolm during the elections to protect his crappy policies continued by a smiling Malcolm —  to take over once more. No need to read between the lines. it was obvious.

On this score, Amanda Vanstone today is urging the Libs (CONservatives) not to return to the extreme right policies of Tony Abbott, should they form government. I don't think they can. She says:

"It's just nonsense to imagine that people voted for Labor candidates because the Liberals weren't right-wing enough. Government members need to recognise that to get anything done they need Xenophon."    

Xenophon is a small l Liberal independent, with more social values understanding and is more left than the right wing of the Labor party.  

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Here I will leave the last word to a reader of the SMH:

How dare Malcolm Turnbull in his spit-the-dummy speech in the early hours of Sunday morning imply that the reason I did not vote for his government was that I was somehow hoodwinked by Labor's "scare campaign". A true leader would have acknowledged and accepted the message sent by the electorate that things need to change to retain their support. Instead we saw intransigence and a puerile temper tantrum. Come on, Turnbull, we just demanded better than this.

Louise Hogan Merimbula