Julia Gillard's election bid in deep trouble, Tony Abbott declares
Nicola Berkovic, The Australian, August 04, 2010 1:40PM
HALFWAY through the campaign, Tony Abbott has declared Labor's re-election bid in "deep trouble".
The Opposition Leader, buoyed by a Newspoll in today's The Australian showing the Coalition trouncing Labor in Queensland and NSW, appears to be increasingly optimistic about his prospects of becoming Australia's next prime minister.
Mr Abbott is still claiming underdog status, but said the election was “winnable” for the Coalition.
However in a slip of the tongue, he referred to the Gillard government as the “former government”.
“Make no mistake, her campaign is in trouble, it is in deep trouble,” Mr Abbott said in outer Brisbane, where he has this morning unveiled new policies for older Australians.
“All of this charade of the last few days of `I'm throwing away the minders, I'm going to be myself' - she was told by the minders and the faceless men to say precisely that.”
Related Coverage
Mr Abbott today launched an all-out sales pitch to win the aged vote, unveiling a raft of new policies in the marginal seat of Dickson, which the LNP's Peter Dutton is fighting to retain at the next election.
Accompanied by Opposition seniors spokeswoman Bronwyn Bishop, Mr Abbott revealed a Coalition government would introduce new job incentives for the over 50s, index the seniors health card, scrap age limits on the superannuation guarantee and introduce grants to make seniors' homes safer.
Together, the policies cost a modest $32.5 million.
Mr Abbott said that providing employers with incentive payments of $3250 for hiring older workers would not cost taxpayers a cent, because only people already claiming unemployment benefits would be eligible.
No comments:
Post a Comment