Three days down, 31 to go and the election tracker is kicking into gear. Team Real Action has covered 2,798 clicks so far, while Team Moving Forward has indeed been moving forward, clocking up a huge 4,496km. However, according to the tracker, it looks like our contenders are still refusing to leave the safe confines of the eastern seaboard. Come on guys, what’s wrong with Adelaide and Perth?

tracker21-7-10If stunts and blunders are any guide the campaign is heating up (but not hot enough for the leader’s debate to knock MasterChef from its 7:30pm Sunday timeslot). Here’s what happened on day 3:

Gillard:

  • Julia Gillard was in the seat of Macquarie yesterday in western Sydney, where she promised that an elected Labor government would introduce a national trades cadetship scheme. Speaking at Richmond High School, Gillard said the scheme would help young people move into a trade. The $3 million program would enable vocational education and training to be recognised at school and count towards future qualifications.
  • Team Gillard then flew to Melbourne, where she attacked Abbott’s mixed WorkChoices messages during an address to the trade union faithful in Melbourne last night. “Tony Abbott believes in Work Choices and he will expose Australia to its worst elements,” she said to deafening applause. Gillard was attending a farewell dinner for former ACTU boss Sharan Burrow at the Melbourne Museum.

Abbott:

  • Tony Abbott started day 3 in Melbourne, where he announced $1.2 billion in spending cuts. Flanked by his economic team of Joe Hockey and Andrew Robb, Abbott announced Australia’s bid for a seat on the UN  Security Council and community cabinet meetings would be a victim of the proposed cuts.
  • He then flew to Brisbane where he’ll campaign today before heading back south. Abbott was due to appear on the 7.30 Report last night but cancelled because he was too busy.

S-x Party:

  • The Australian S-x Party launched its election campaign at Miss Libertine nightclub in Melbourne yesterday. Fiona Patten, the party’s number one Victorian Senate candidate, unveiled a “real action” plan  (yuk yuk) that would rival the major parties.

Any giant novelty cheques?

  • The stunts are coming thick and fast from the Abbott camp after it was revealed by Channel Nine the opposition leader would appear on Hey Hey It’s Saturday tonight. Abbott will appear alongside Kylie Minogue on a bumper Red Faces panel.

How about stuff ups?

  • Abbott made a bit of a blunder when he took the opportunity to press the flesh with fruit store owner Hayden Tran in East Ringwood, only for it to be revealed after the photo op was over that Tran had sought asylum from Vietnam by boat in 1986. “We are actually boat people but we did not want to refer to it today,” he said.

Quotable:

  • Joe Hockey produced a couple of pearlers at a press conference in Melbourne yesterday: “The last time Labor had a surplus, was in 1989 when The Bangles were on top of the charts … Wayne Swan is to surpluses what Paris Hilton is to celibacy.”

Baby watch:

  • Julia Gillard was snapped with yet another baby yesterday, this time in the crucial area of west Sydney:

julia baby

Where are they moving today?

  • Gillard fronts up to the battleground of western Sydney, teaming up with local candidate Michelle Rowland in the marginal seat of Greenway. The Liberals hold the seat, but a redistribution radically altered its demographic make-up giving Labor a 5.7% margin.
  • As for Abbott, he’s campaigning in Brisbane today, before flying to Melbourne where he’ll head for Studio 9 for an already-much-maligned appearance on Hey Hey It’s (Not) Saturday. As AAP reported yesterday: “The politician who once described climate change theory as crap will be a guest on a show that has a toilet brush called Dickie Knee as a regular.”
  • Bob Brown, in Melbourne, is warming up for an appearance on Channel Ten’s female-friendly The Circle at 11am, before crossing town to launch a Greens’ policy for a junk food and alcohol advertising levy at Treasury Gardens. He’ll return to Hobart later today.

What is the tracker?

Crikey tracks each leader’s amazing race across the country via our Election Tracker. Each day we’ll plot the leaders’ movements, feeding in the key policy announcements and spending commitments, the best media coverage and social media chat, plus the campaign stunts and bloopers. You can also use the tracker as a hub for the best Crikey coverage.

Click on the tabs across the top to watch how many kilometres Gillard and Abbott have clocked up, the movements of other key players and finally our bloopers and stunts bonanza on the right. You can click on each stop to see what they’re up to, with links to extended coverage and detailed electorate information.