Election Tracker: Day 20, 21 and 22

Happy Monday everyone and welcome to week four of this most surreal of election campaigns. The pace has begun to really pick over the last few days, as Julia Gillard was forced to deny that she was intentionally calling her opponent ‘Mr Rabbit’. Meanwhile, Tony Abbott officially launched the Coalition campaign on Sunday in front of a packed house of party faithful.

However, all the media focus was on the awkward soapie-esque moments shared between Gillard and her former leaders, Mark Latham and Kevin Rudd.

So, after 22 days of forced smiles and fake handshakes, Julia Gillard’s Soap Opera Society has covered a tear-jerking 27,599km, while Tony Abbott’s Fair Go Freight Train has rocketed along to a record-breaking 31,048km. Together, that’s a gruelling 58,647km — the equivalent of more than 150 million average-sized rabbits.

Gillard:

• Julia Gillard was in Melbourne on Friday, where she joined Jon Faine for an interview on ABC Radio. Amongst other questions, Faine directly pressed Gillard on her propensity to refer to her opponent as “Mr Rabbit” instead of “Mr Abbott”. “Mr Rabbit? What do you mean,” she said when asked by Faine about her diction. “I’m sorry. I will try and be more precise … having been counselled to do so.”
• Gillard flew to Brisbane and headed for Scarborough in the seat of Petrie on Saturday, where she announced that pensioners would be able to earn up to $6500 a year and keep their full benefits. However Gillard’s pitch for the grey vote, worth $94 million, was overshadowed by her awkward meeting with Kevin Rudd earlier in the day. To make matters worse, former ALP leader Mark Latham also reappeared on the trail, this time as a self-loathing Channel Nine journalist.
• Gillard then put some space between herself and former Labor leaders in Darwin on Sunday, where she announced funding for affordable housing in the Top End, the introduction of a ‘No School, No Play’ initiative and an extension of the national chaplaincy program.

Abbott:

• Tony Abbott was in Devenport in Tasmania on Friday, where he promised to set up an $85 million health infrastructure fund. Abbott said the fund would help fill gaps in local health services that were “usually” created by state Labor governments. “The health infrastructure fund is the kind of fund that I always wished I had had when I was the health minister in government,” he said.
• Abbott was in Kinglake West on Saturday, where he pledged to support all recommendations of the Bushfires Royal Commission and promised $10 million towards a fire early warning system. Abbott then flew to Brisbane were he met Nauru President Marcus Stephen to discuss plans to reopen an asylum seeker processing centre on the island.
• At the Coalition campaign launch on Sunday Abbott made a broad pitch for election on the platform of a stable and drama-free government. There was little in the way of substantial policy announcement at the launch, however Abbott did set out his plan for the first 90 days of a Coalition government.

Latham:

• Mark Latham wasted no time getting acquainted with his new profession as a reporter for Channel Nine on Saturday, as he confronted Julia Gillard at a press conference in Brisbane: “Can I just ask you why the Labor Party made a complaint about me working for Channel Nine?” he said as he shook the prime minister’s hand.

Quotable:

• ”This is a national soap opera, not a government. Forget The Bold and The Beautiful and The Young and the Restless, try the Vain and the Ruthless.” — Julie Bishop cracks a gag at the Coalition campaign launch.
• “He’s not a journalist; he’s still full of bile and settling old scores. I don’t really think it does 60 Minutes or the network much of a favour really to have him posing as a journalist.” — Laurie Oakes on Mark Latham’s career change.

Stunt Watch:

• Julia Gillard was all about the games on the weekend, as she happily tried her hand at billiards, hockey and shuffleboard:
  

(Source: ABC)

Where are they today?

• Julia Gillard has crossed the Nullabor for a second time to campaign in Perth. Today she’ll announce a plan to pay bonuses of up to $100,000 for schools that can demonstrate improvement in attendance and student results. This afternoon she’ll fly to Adelaide for an appearance on the ABC’s Q&A program.
• After yesterday’s party launch, Tony Abbott was hitting the airwaves in interviews for Nine and the ABC and will remain in Brisbane to work that city’s crucial marginals.
• Bob Brown is in Hobart, but will head to Queensland later today to meet with farmers in Toowoomba.

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.