In an eventful and at times dramatic day of campaigning, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull was confronted with rats and comedians from The Chaser as the Liberal campaign returned to western Sydney in a push for marginal seats.
Mr Turnbull traveled by train to the key marginal seat of Lindsay, where the focus was on a technology training program that uses employer mentoring.
At a local primary school, $5 million was promised for the P-Tech program in a bid to boost educational resources.
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In Mr Turnbull’s last visit to the seat a walk through the local shopping centre was cancelled after a press conference with local MP Fiona Scott went awry with questions about former prime minister Tony Abbott.
This time, the street walk went ahead, with the prime minister mingling with locals and even patting a rat.
It’s the second time the seat has been visited by Mr Turnbull in as many weeks, indicating just how important it is for the Coalition to hold.
Lindsay is regarded a bellwether seat, meaning it’s always won by the party that forms government.
Comedians from The Chaser also followed the Prime Minister with a cardboard cut-out of Mr Abbott.
When asked by SBS News why he was following Mr Turnbull comedian Craig Reucassel said Mr Turnbull “told me to come”.
“[Mr Turnbull] said he looks better if he’s got Abbott around him,” he said.
Fellow comedian Chas Licciardello attempted a ‘trust fall,’ collapsing in front of the Prime Minister, before being moved along by the Australian Federal Police.
Meanwhile, Opposition Leader Bill Shorten was in far north Queensland and made a $500 million promise to protect one of Australia’s most famous and under-threat landmarks, the Great Barrier Reef.
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“This reef needs our protection and it needs it now,” Mr Shorten said.
Labor has promised to invest $500 million into the Great Barrier Reef to improve water quality, for reef specific research from the CSIRO and universities and to overhaul management of the Reef.
New research released by the Australian Research Council’s Centre for Excellend for Coral Reef Studies revealed more than 35 per cent of coral in central parts of the Great Barrier Reef was dead or dying.
“The reef is important environmentally, and it is also important economically,” Mr Shorten said.
Both parties have committed funds to support the Great Barrier Reef.
A re-elected Turnbull government would invest $6 million for an additional control vessel to tackle crown-of-thorns starfish on the Reef.
“We have increased funding for the protection of the reef in the last budget,” Mr Turnbull said.
