Crunch time … without onions

FORMER prime minister Tony Abbott’s taste for Tasmanian produce has continued with a follow up to his famous onion-munching three years ago.

On a tour to boost the chances of Liberal candidate Brett Whiteley in the Braddon by-election, Mr Abbott turned to a more palatable option to the raw onion he took a bite out of during 2015.

“Brett said to me ‘onion last time, carrot this time, I want a bit of variety in your Tasmanian diet’,” Mr Abbott said before munching on a carrot at Harvest Moon operations in Forth.

Labor’s Justine Keay is going head to head with Mr Whiteley in one of five byelections to be held on super Saturday, July 28.

Yesterday, a Sky News/ ReachTel poll revealed the Coalition had a two-party preferred 54 to 46 lead in Braddon.

“Only once in the whole history of our federation has an incumbent government won a seat off the Opposition at a by-election,” Mr Abbott said.

“Here in Braddon I think that we are very competitive.

“But I think because of the history, I think we are the underdogs but nevertheless a victory in Braddon or Longman [Queensland] would be very dangerous for Bill Shorten because, let’s face it, we all know there are colleagues with their knives out for him right now,” he said.

Mr Abbott talked up the Abbott Government move to expand the Tasmanian Freight Equalisation Scheme that allowed northbound exports to receive a subsidy of $700 a container for the Bass Strait crossing.

“In my time there was $400 million for the Midland Highway, $440 million for Hobart International Airport, there was $100 million for irrigation schemes as well as about $200 million for the freight equalisation scheme,” he said.

Ms Keay said the poll did not reflect what her team was hearing from Braddon electors when doorknocking.

“They are very, very angry with Malcolm Turnbull’s tax cuts to the big banks — especially considering their behaviour in the royal commission into banks,” she said.

“Something that Brett Whiteley, a former banker, voted six times against establishing.

“What the people of Braddon are telling me is they would much rather those funds going into our hospitals.”

She said that there would be 39,000 people in the electorate that would benefit from Labor’s policy for personal income tax cuts.

“That will actually inject $30 million straight into the local economy, supporting those businesses and jobs — something that Malcolm Turnbull cannot deliver,” she said.

Polling analyst Kevin Bonham said that seat polls were not very reliable.

“I still think that there is such a strong historical pattern of governments not winning by-elections that you need very strong evidence to overturn that,” he said.

UTAS political analyst Richard Eccleston said there was a lot at stake for both Bill Shorten and Brett Whiteley.