Australian federal election declared for May 3

The Australian federal election will take place on Saturday May 3. After months of unofficial campaigning, the announcement leaves us with five weeks and one day before we go to the polls.

During Albanese’s announcement he recognised that the cost of living for the average Australian is challenging, but said that if the Liberal-National Coalition had been in government the average Australian would be worse off than they are today.

‘People would be $7,200 worse off if Peter Dutton had had his way. There wouldn’t have been cheaper medicines, no cheaper childcare, no energy bill relief, no tax cuts for people on low incomes and middle Australia would not have been the great beneficiaries of our tax cuts. Real wages would not have been growing. We want people to earn more, and to keep more of what they earn,’ said Albanese.

‘We have inflation down to 2.4 per cent from the six per cent that we inherited. Real wages are up five quarters in a row compared with the five quarters of going backwards that we inherited. As Labor Prime Minister, there is nothing more important than jobs, 1.1 million of them created on our government’s watch, more than at any time any government since Federation, an average unemployment rate lower than any time during the 1950s.’

Nuclear power

While Opposition leader Peter Dutton had only mentioned his nuclear plans once in his budget response yesterday Albanese was clear that the Coalition had no way to rise the $600 billion needed to fund their nuclear program other than to cut services like Medicare to Australians.

‘The Liberals are promising to increase income tax for all 14 million Australian taxpayers. And because Peter Dutton needs to find $600 billion to pay for nuclear reactors, it’ll provide 4 per cent of Australia’s energy needs sometime in the 2040s, that money has to come from somewhere. Everything in Peter Dutton’s record tells us that he will start by cutting Medicare, and he won’t stop there. He will cut everything except your taxes. No one will get any power from the Liberals’ nuclear reactors for two decades, but every Australian will get the bill right away.’

Shifting boundaries

Following the announcement, the ABC’s veteran election analyst Antony Green said there will be many people who will not be quite sure which electorate they are in after the boundaries have changed.

‘There hasn’t been a poll for a while that hasn’t shown a hung parliament,’ said Green.

He was clear that a swing of one per cent against Labor would risk its majority in government but that the Coalition need a ‘three-and-a-half percent to get more seats and Labor, but the swing needs to be above five per cent to get a coalition government’.

‘It’s not Labor versus the Coalition. We saw 16 seats won by the crossbench [in the last election]. The decline of the major party vote is creating a lot of oddities in terms of how the election is resulting. If under preferential voting, one of the major parties goes out, the major party’s preferences determine who wins the seat. It determines the composition of the crossbench. So it’s a very much a complex, dynamic situation, but what will win in the old days – where one party lost seat votes, the other side gained them – just doesn’t work that way anymore.’ 

Richmond a marginal seat

The Richmond electorate will see the main fight for the seat between incumbent Labor member Justine Elliot and Greens candidate Mandy Nolan. Other declared candidates at 28 March are Kimberley Hone running for the Nationals and Ian Mye representing One Nation. 

The seat of Richmond was historically a National Party heartland seat but has seen a shift to the left and has been held by Labor for the last 20 years as the population dynamics have shifted. The seat runs from Ballina to Murwillumbah and Tweed Heads on the Queensland border, including the towns of Lennox Head, Mullumbimby, and Byron Bay.

The Greens candidate Mandy Nolan is a comedian, community activist and mother-of-five, who’s lived and worked in the Northern Rivers for three decades.

Mandy needs a swing of around 1.8 per cent to win the seat of Richmond from Labor’s Justine Elliot. The ABC puts it even closer: ‘Labor’s margin against the Greens in Richmond is now just 1.3 per cent’.

‘Mandy has been campaigning hard for this election, making headlines and raising funds for community groups. She’s been supporting the local nurses campaign for a long-overdue pay rise, and talking with a leading local dentist who backs the plan to bring dental into Medicare,’ said a Greens post-election announcement press release. 

‘She’s been calling for more diversionary programs for at-risk youth, to help to genuinely prevent local crime, driven in part by floods, the housing crisis, and de-funding of a vital education program.’

‘We don’t take donations from corporations and billionaires,’ said Mandy Nolan. ‘We are a grass roots party powered by people like you.’

‘If I’m elected and have the privilege to serve the people of Richmond, I will work with Independents and Labor to push for an end to native forest logging and fossil fuel approvals, for dental into Medicare, and for the Greens’ Robin Hood taxes on corporations and billionaires.’

Justine says, ‘You can count on me and I’m asking for your vote to keep delivering for our community. This election is a clear choice – a choice between building Australia’s future with the Albanese Labor government or taking Australia backwards with Peter Dutton and the Liberals and Nationals, leaving us all worse off.

‘Labor is delivering real cost-of-living relief for locals – tax cuts for every taxpayer, energy bill relief for every household, cheaper childcare and medicines, free TAFE, more rent assistance, student debt relief, and a crackdown on supermarkets to get a fairer deal for farmers and families.

‘Labor is strengthening Medicare, with more bulk billing and training more doctors. At the same time, I’m delivering a new free bulk-billed Medicare Urgent Care Clinic and a new free bulk-billed Medicare Mental Health Centre, ensuring locals can get the care they need. I’m also delivering a crime action plan to fund crime prevention infrastructure like CCTV, keeping our community safe.

‘This is all at risk under Peter Dutton and the Liberals and Nationals. They opposed every single one of Labor’s cost of living measures, and they even voted against tax cuts. When Peter Dutton cuts, we all lose,’ she said.

‘When Peter Dutton was health minister, he wanted to scrap bulk billing and introduce a tax on every single visit to the GP, he started a six-year freeze on Medicare rebates, and he cut $50 billion from our hospitals.

‘Now Peter Dutton’s Liberals and Nationals say they will cut public services, which will affect Medicare, bulk billing, cheaper medicines, veterans’ claims and the age pension. Peter Dutton himself said that there are “too many free Medicare services”,’ she said.

National Party’s Kimberley Hone was contacted for comment but has yet to respond.

Seat of Page

The seat of Page includes the Lismore, Kyogle, Richmond River and Clarence River local government areas as well as Wardell and parts of Ballina and Alltonville and then down to the City of Coffs Harbour. 

The sitting member is National Party member Kevin Hogan who has held the seat since 2013 and is running again in this election. The seat has been held primarily by the National Party since it was created in 1984 with Labor taking the seat in 1990, 1993, 2007 and 2010. 

Currently there is no Labor candidate.

The Greens candidate is Dr Luke Robinson while conservative, right-wing group Family First is running Andrew Grady and the Australian Citizens Party is running Jennifer Baker. 

Dr Robinson (Greens) works as a specialist doctor in the emergency departments of Lismore, Casino and Ballina hospitals, having also recently worked at Grafton and Maclean.

‘In my work I care for a broad cross-section of our community, with a deep appreciation of the medical and many other life challenges my patients and their loved ones face,’ Dr Robertson told The Echo. 

‘I know that we are stronger and better able to face these when we are connected and work together. One of the most important ways we can achieve this is through well-funded and well-run public services, paid for through a fair and progressive taxation system. Government should be working for us all – but we have to demand it and vote in representatives with the vision and ambition to make it so.

‘Together, through our government, we can have the world-class public healthcare and public schools that a rich country like ours should have. We can stand up for ordinary people and guarantee secure work with decent pay. We can once again have affordable housing. We can make the big end of town pay its fair share of tax and play by the rules we set. We can support workers and communities in their transition to new industries, rather than pretend that change isn’t happening or leaving people to the vagaries of the market. We can treasure and protect our unique and irreplaceable natural home. And we can be proud of the ancient and enduring cultures of our First Peoples across this continent. To care for each other and to care for country is what motivates me to represent you,’ he said.

Incumbent Kevin Hogan from the National Party has said he is all about putting families, parents and pensioners first and says that the Coalition government is about getting ‘Australia back on track’.

‘We will deliver cheaper energy with a mix of renewables, gas and zero-emissions nuclear energy,’ says Kevin Hogan. 

‘Provide real cost-of-living relief, including halving the fuel excise. This will save families $1,500 over 12 months. Build more affordable housing, by funding critical infrastructure and restricting foreign investors. Ensure quality healthcare, with more doctors, lower PBS co-payments, and better regional services. Create safer communities, by cracking down on crime and antisemitism, and restoring pride in our nation,’ he said.