Labor prepares smear campaign against Abbott

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Labor prepares smear campaign against Abbott

By Josh Gordon

LABOR'S election campaign is set to enter a new aggressive and negative phase designed to exert maximum pressure on Tony Abbott by highlighting his ''extremist'' past rhetoric.

After a collapse in support following a series of leaks, Labor will be using its new underdog status to turn the blowtorch back onto Mr Abbott, warning voters to take a closer look at the man who could be prime minister.

Labor is preparing a smear campaign drawing attention to Mr Abbott's controversial past rhetoric. The Sunday Age has been given an extensive dossier containing dozens of comments by Mr Abbott on issues such as industrial relations, abortion, teenage sex, marriage, and climate change. It includes extensive material on Mr Abbott's hardline attitudes to women and abortion, including a 2006 statement that there was ''a bizarre double standard in this country where someone who kills a pregnant woman's baby is guilty of murder but a woman who aborts an unborn baby is simply exercising choice''.

Small Business Minister Craig Emerson yesterday said Labor would turn up the pressure by highlighting Coalition plans to slash spending in areas such as health and education.

''Let's just see how Tony Abbott deals with pressure,'' Dr Emerson said.

''He didn't respond very well to pressure in the first week. We are halfway through the second quarter in this match and there will be plenty of pressure coming on to Tony Abbott and let's just see how he responds to it.''

The more aggressive approach follows a collapse in support for Prime Minister Julia Gillard, with an Age/Nielsen poll yesterday showing Labor trailing the Coalition 48 to 52 per cent in two-party-preferred terms. Ms Gillard said the nation now faced a stark choice, warning that Mr Abbott remained committed to cutting health and education and bringing back WorkChoices.

''I would say to Australians, imagine waking up on the 22nd August and there is Mr Abbott there as prime minister with all of the risks that entails to our economy for the future.''

Ms Gillard also brushed aside as ''offensive'' a report that she had disregarded national security by sending a staff member, Andrew Stark, to national security committee meetings in her place.

She said she took the issue very seriously and attended as many meetings as possible. When she could not attend, she said, Mr Stark attended to take notes and brief her later on what had occurred.

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Mr Abbott, while announcing more funding yesterday to provide free basic medical and dental care to defence families, continued to claim underdog status despite his surge in the polls.

''I am very much the underdog in this election campaign,'' Mr Abbott said. ''I think that what I really should be focusing on and I think what the public are focusing on is the field evidence and this is a government which has terribly disappointed people, this is a government which has turned out to be good at politics but hopeless at government.''

Labor will also attempt to portray Mr Abbott as having views out of step with mainstream values and to urge voters to scrutinise what he believes in as the next potential prime minister.

The extensive file offers a litany of quotes from Mr Abbott during recent years.

It includes numerous comments that highlight Mr Abbott's changing position on industrial relations, comments on Ms Gillard's lack of ''a broader lifetime experience'', and sceptical comments about global warming.

In a further negative onslaught, Labor is also stepping up warnings that Mr Abbott as prime minister would wield ''a great big axe'' on vital services.

The dossier also includes Mr Abbott appearing to reject Coalition policy on pension increases.

In February 2009 he said: ''Many pensioners are doing it tough, but $35 a week increase is an enormous hit on the revenue. We're talking here about possibly $6 billion a year. The economic circumstances of Australia are much different now than they were 12 months ago.''

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Dr Emerson yesterday said that 94 per cent of the policies submitted to Treasury and Finance by the Coalition for costing comprised service cuts, including cuts to GP super clinics and trade training centres.

''[Mr Abbott] is going to wield a great big new axe on every service you use,'' Dr Emerson said.

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