Shorten attacks Prime Minister for deliberately delaying election

Opposition Leader Bill Shorten says that Prime Minister Scott Morrison is delaying the election on purpose so as maximise Government access to taxpayer advertising money.

It is understood that unless Mr Morrison asks the Governor General this weekend, a previously predicted May 11 election date would not be possible. This has meant that May 18 and May 25 are likely dates, but the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) has said this delay would make counting votes harder before they are obligated to return results.

When asked about a specific date, Mr Morrison has only said that the election ā€œwill be called in April and Held in May.ā€

Because the Government needs to seek Opposition approval to continue political advertisements after election writs are issued, Mr Shorten says that the Prime Minister is dragging his feet so that he can spend ā€œtens of millions in TV advertising to pump up their own tyresā€.

Laborā€™s Anthony Albanese has accused the Government of wasting taxpayer money. Labor has put out figures showing that Government has spend around $250 million on advertising since last January.

The Government has called these figures false as they referenced tender documents and not the final price.

Mr Morrison said that was ā€œnot going to take lectures from the Labor Party that defied every single convention that has been known to Australian elections, when they ran taxpayer-funded ads during the 2013 caretaker period,ā€

He added that ā€œthese arrangements are done according to strict guidelinesā€ as well as supervised by ā€œimpartialā€ departments.

In a television appearance on the ABC Insiderā€™s program, Federal Treasurer Josh Frydenberg said that all of the government spend on advertising was ā€œin accordance with approved processes, and thatā€™s all transparent.ā€

Christian Woods
Christian Woods
Christian is a morning reporter and technology columnist for Best in Australia. Christian has worked in the media since 2000, in a range of locations. He joined Best in Australia in 2018, and began working in Melbourne in 2019.
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