Bill Shorten and Malcolm Turnbull are both making last-gasp bids to sway voters in the Tasmanian seat of Braddon this morning.
The Labor leader failed to campaign yesterday in any of the five by-elections, while the Prime Minister appeared in Longman but was heckled.
Mr Shorten was out electioneering today, urging voters in the ultra-marginal seat to back his candidate Justine Keay.
Mr Turnbull highlighted Mr Shorten’s absence yesterday, suggesting the Labor leader wanted to avoid questions.
Labor sources have moved to counter the perception that Mr Shorten has been dodging appearances by pointing out he has spent 29 days in by-election seats.
In a sign of how tight the contest is, both men campaigned today in the north-west Tasmanian seat.
It is a re-run of the 2016 contest where Ms Keay narrowly defeated Liberal Brett Whiteley, who held it for the previous three years …
• William Bowe, Pollbludger, Analysis and discussion of elections and opinion polls in Australia: Newspoll: 51-49 to Labor in Longman and Braddon As Super Saturday dawns, The Australian brings us perhaps the two most heavy-duty seat polls yet published in Australia, with Newspoll surveying 1015 respondents in Longman and 1002 in Braddon between Tuesday and Thursday. In both cases Labor records a lead of 51-49, putting them at the high end for Labor’s polling record throughout the campaign. Labor is credited with a solid improvement on the primary vote compared with the 2016 election result, from 35.4% to 40%, while the Liberal National Party is down from 39.0% to 36%. This gives Labor the buffer it needs to deal with One Nation, up from 9.4% to 14%, and their stronger flow of what I presume are respondent-allocated preferences to the LNP. The Greens are on 5%, compared with 4.4% in 2016. In Braddon, the primary votes are Labor 40% (unchanged on 2016), Liberal 43% (up from 41.5%), the Greens 5% (down from 6.7%) and independent Craig Garland 8% …
