Pork was well and truly on the menu yesterday as the leaders made spending commitments on the east coast. Julia Gillard became the first leader to visit Tasmania during the campaign, stopping in at Launceston General Hospital to hand out some funding for emergency departments. Meanwhile, Tony Abbott was up north in Brisbane where he was doling out the dough for childcare at the Sesame Lane Day Care Centre. Thankfully, we can all rest easy now as the size of Julia Gillard’s ear lobes have finally hit the news agenda.

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After an eternity nine days of campaigning, Tony’s End The Waste Armada has traversed a total of 14,047km, while Julia’s Moving Forward Motorcade is lagging behind on 8,561km. Together the pair have negotiated a total of 22,608km — the equivalent of more than one billion average sized ear lobes.

Gillard:

Abbott:

  • Tony Abbott was in Kippa-Ring in Queensland yesterday, where he offered families $300 a year per child under a plan to reintroduce indexation to the childcare rebate. Abbott was flanked by wife Margie at the presser, which was held at a day care centre in Brisbane’s north. “This is an area that I feel very passionate about. An opportunity like this, to herald early learning and quality care, is an opportunity I couldn’t let slip,” said Mrs Abbott.
  • Abbott made the trip from Brisbane to Sydney to appear on the 7.30 Report. Abbott was fairly polished during the gaffe-free performance, with Kerry pressing hard on ‘ending the waste’, WorkChoices and Tony’s political heroes.

Gaffe Watch:

  • Speaking at the Launceston General Hospital yesterday, Gillard told reporters the emergency doctor and nurse training commitment was new money. She was later forced to admit that the funding was actually first allocated as part of an updating of this year’s budget, under the heading of “decisions taken but not yet announced”.
  • In further Labor news, the Courier Mail is reporting today former PM Kevin Rudd has dumped the word ‘Labor’ from his campaign posters. “A month after being deposed as prime minister, Mr Rudd’s campaign signs are devoid of any reference to the party he once headed,” the report says.

Partner Watch:

  • Margie Abbott joined the campaign trail yesterday, as her husband Tony announced an increased childcare rebate in Brisbane. Mrs Abbott, who works in child care, has typically avoided politics in the past, however she could perhaps take more of a role as her hubby tries to increase his appeal with women.
  • Julia Gillard’s partner Tim Mathieson is yet to appear publicly during the campaign — and probably won’t, Gillard said yesterday.

Quotable:

  • Julia Gillard on the absence of her partner Tim: “He is not a Labor Party official, he is not a candidate or a minister, so you won’t see him out on the campaign trail in that sense but obviously he will be [supporting me].”

Where are they today?

  • Julia Gillard is in Brisbane, where she will hit the hustings on health.
  • Tony Abbott will be in central Queensland, where he’s likely to discuss the mining tax. He will be back in Sydney later tonight.
  • Bob Brown will remain in Canberra today, where he will launch the Greens small business policy.

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.