It was also in stark contrast to the Morrison government’s summer break which was beset by resignations, pre-selection stoushes and other distractions which many believe was a reflection of the Coalition’s chance in the likely May election.
“We haven’t put a foot wrong. It was the best start for an election year. The contrast with the Coalition couldn’t be clearer,” a senior ALP insider told AFR Weekend.
While Mr Shorten has dived into the national issues of the day via televised press conferences, it’s been the front-page coverage in the local media which they are expecting to pay the biggest dividends on polling.
The leaking of the day’s major announcement to the local daily newspaper – and the Opposition leader’s meticulous cultivating of relationships with editors – has paid dividends with positive front-page coverage in every city and town they visited.
Labor has focused on targeted policy announcements, such as the new hydrogen industry in Gladstone or a ring-road for Mackay, rather than the opening of a new sports oval which federal politicians often focus on when they visit the regions.
Mr Shorten has also held 28 town hall meetings in Queensland, including two (Yeppoon and Bundaberg) this trip.
But questions about Adani and Labor’s luke-warm support for the mining project – a blatant pivot to help them win green preferences in inner-city seats – have followed the Opposition leader throughout his trip to Queensland.
The Palaszczuk Labor government’s go-slow on approvals for the Carmichael mine is starting to frustrate some communities who want to take advantage of jobs in the frontier Galilee Basin.
Much had been made of former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull’s failure to cut through in Queensland, with Labor playing on the former investment banker’s “Mr Harbourside Mansion” stereotype. With the ascension of Scott Morrison to the nation’s top job in August last year, Labor has doubled-down on its grass-roots campaign in Queensland and highlighted the Prime Minister’s lack of time in Queensland.
Mr Morrison’s “bus trip” through Queensland late last year was ridiculed because the Prime Minister flew from city-to-city and only joined the bus for short spells when in the relevant town.
The “jobs, not cuts” theme for the Queensland trip has tapped into Queenslander’s anger about former Liberal National Party premier Campbell Newman’s one-term state government.
Apart from an exclusive fund-raising event in Brisbane, Mr Shorten has been using his Queensland bus tour to rev-up loyal Labor supporters and volunteers ahead of the official election campaign.
On Wednesday night, Mr Shorten fired up 100 party volunteers in Mackay, a city in which Labor has struggled in the past to get enough boots on the ground.
“We’re not cocky about our prospects, but we’ve done the hard yards up here,” another ALP insider, who has been on the bus, said. The party insider pointed out Mr Morrison had been to Mackay once since 2008.
Labor is targeting the eight Queensland seats under 5 per cent, while also eyeing other seats on bigger margins.
from news Viral City http://bit.ly/2Wp0bYe
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