About

As we enter the penultimate week of the campaign, Paula, Margo and Wes get together to unpack the big events defining the playing field as pre-poll votes already begin to flow in. We start with the Facebook Leaders debate, which saw Bill Shorten and Malcolm Turnbull head to what host Joe Hildebrand called the “Facebook bunker” to answer questions from within the room and online, as punters evaluated their responses via “reactions”. It seemed like the loosest we’ve seen both leaders but did the format add anything new? Next we turn to the Labor launch, which saw famous past leaders (with the notable exception of Kevin Rudd) sit down with current party faithful to finally officially launch the campaign. Bill Shorten gave the pep talk of his career but is it enough to put gas in the tank for the final few weeks? With twitter and news sites abuzz about an ad featuring an allegedly fake trade (who, as it turns out, is not fake) we turn to a wrap up of an analysis of the ads that defined the week. Has wheeling out Bob Hawke and getting interviewed by his wife helped Bill’s prospects? And will a Wolf Creek turn help Bob Katter’s prospects? Finally, we have a bit of biffo over the allegations from the Labor party that a Turnbull government is (or was) planning to sell Medicare. Is there anything in it? And if not, is this the ALP running on a lie or just slightly stretched half-truth? Remember to follow @pidginpolitics on twitter so you can respond to our call-out for questions each week. And subscribe to us on iTunes or Stitcher to get the podcast fresh in your listening stream every week.