15 July 2013
Subjects: Election campaign, election date, Neilson poll, Greens policy on unemployment entitlements
E&OE…
MARIUS BENSON Julie Bishop, good morning.
JULIE BISHOP Good morning Marius.
MARIUS BENSON The ads are up and running. Fair to say the election campaign is on really now.
JULIE BISHOP Except that we need an election date. Labor nominated the 14th of September as the election date and Kevin Rudd has given no reason why the election won’t go ahead on that date. So why isn’t the election on the 14th of September? It was announced six months ago and people expect it to be on that day.
I know many people who have made their plans around an election on the 14th of September. So while Kevin Rudd procrastinates about a date there’s more uncertainty for business, for families, for the country generally.
MARIUS BENSON The guessing game this morning involves one guess in The Daily Telegraph which suggests there’s a Caucus meeting next Monday at which the Caucus members are expected to endorse Kevin Rudd’s changes to party rules, reforms of the party and that after that Kevin Rudd will announce a date, either August 24 or August 31. Is an earlier election better?