Australia’s No.1 family newszine The Bug continues its exhaustive and exhausting coverage of the federal election campaign, with its crack team of journalists starting to wonder if the Governor-General might have the power to call a halt to proceedings and order the federal poll this weekend.

A since-discredited US media report sparked a brief incursion by foreign affairs into the federal election campaign on Tuesday.

The report in a defence industry journal claimed Russia was seeking to establish a military air base in the Indonesian province of Papua.

The province borders Papua New Guinea and the proposed base was reportedly to be just 1,200 kms north of Darwin.

The erroneous report gave Opposition Leader Peter Dutton the opportunity act tough on defence by repeating the erroneous claims and erroneously stating that its source was the Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto.

Mr Dutton was quick to tell reporters travelling with him on the campaign trail that Russia and its leader, President Vladimir Putin, were not welcome in the region and that he would not tolerate such a base if he were elected prime minister.

“I’ll shirtfront Mr Putin. You bet you are. You bet I am,” Mr Dutton said while visibly transmogrifying before reporters’ eyes. (main picture)

A Liberal Party campaign official rejected suggestions that Mr Dutton had blundered by wrongly claiming that the fake news story arose from an official announcement by President Subianto.

“It certainly is fake news,” the official said. “By fake news I am referring to you and your fake claim that Peter was wrong to repeat the original fake news.”

***

The US report was exposed as false yesterday afternoon when Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister, Richard Marles, made a short, sharp, clear, and unequivocal statement rejecting the suggestions that Russia was seeking to establish a Papuan air base.

His intervention caused a sensation and was widely reported not just because it clarified the reports that had sparked the story but more because, unlike any other statement Mr Marles has ever made, it was short, sharp, clear, and unequivocal.

***

Also on Tuesday while visiting seats in Victoria the Opposition Leader Peter Dutton trialled a new approach to campaigning by answering questions he was asked on Monday.

On Monday he was joined at a news conference promoting his housing affordability policies by one of his sons whom Mr Dutton referred to variously at times as either “Don Junior” or “Eric”. (below)

At the Monday event Mr Dutton’s son spoke of how difficult it was for young people like him to buy a home but the Opposition Leader himself ignored follow-up questions until yesterday when he said he would lend his children a financial hand if needed when they sought to buy a home.

A Liberal Party spokesperson said Mr Dutton was pleased with his new arrangement of delaying answering questions for at least a day or possibly more.

“Peter is so happy with the new approach that he now plans to use that technique for the rest of the campaign,” the spokesperson said.

“That means we’ll be proving full and detailed answers to questions about the cost of our nuclear power plants, public sector cuts, and many other policies on Sunday 4 May.”

***

Anyone out there in BUGland got any idea why the LNP’s election odds blew out to billy-O yesterday?

We’re scratching our heads a bit … unless the punters and the online agencies took a while to respond to the fresh opinion polls that lobbed since Sunday night.

It had to be more than that. Was Bridget McKenzie spotted at Office Works buying some new spreadsheets and multi-coloured markers for any upcoming LNP government community grants rorts? Did someone leak Jacinta Price’s DOGEy plans, including an end to the aged pension? Back in Australia briefly, did Scott Morrison offer to campaign for the LNP? Has Peter Dutton decided to have his son beside him for the next two-and-a-half weeks? Or perhaps an unnamed senior member of Dutton’s shadow cabinet was caught outside a pre-school with his pockets full of boiled lollies? Or captured on camera in a public park doing something to a dog that normal people might only think of doing.

Those polls. Yesterday’s campaign review missed the fact that the latest Guardian Essential poll had also lobbed, making it four since Sunday night. We’re sorry to have missed that one but do you know how much we’re being paid to compile this daily report, far better than any being cobbled together by the lame mainstream media?

And seeing we’ve finally got a handle on how Essential does things with its “two-party-plus” measure and how they come up with a 2PP figure of 53-47 to Labor after the undecideds are allocated, it reports a significant swing around since their last survey.

If our maths is correct, the average of the polls we are monitoring now has Labor a neat 53 to 47 2PP.

And as to those bookie odds, at around 9.40pm last night (Tuesday), here are the odds from the betting agencies that we are monitoring, compared with 24 hours earlier!

Sportsbet: Labor $1.20 ($1.29 ); Coalition $4.60 ($3.62)
Ladbrokes: Labor $1.18 ($1.30 ); Coalition $3.50 ($3.50)
TAB: Labor $1.22 ($1.27); Coalition $4.25 ($3.80)
bet365: Labor $1.20 ($1.28) Coalition $4.60 ($3.75).
Neds: Labor $1.18 ($1.30); Coalition $4.75 ($3.50).

***

And this one’s an absolute doozy, right Ned?

***

Here’s the text that Sky LNPNews ran in their online plugs. Caution: do you have some extra-strength kimbies on as you’ll probably piss yourself laughing.

Sky News host Chris Kenny claims the ABC is targeting Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price in a “shocking case” of racial discrimination and double standards.

“A shocking case of racial double standards in this country, racial discrimination, promulgated by the ABC, yeah, the ABC you pay for, the taxpayer-funded supposedly objective national broadcaster pushing racial division,” Mr Kenny said.

Need to go to the bathroom and clean yourself up? We’ll wait.

Back? Good. That’s right. Kenny, of the non-news platform that along with just about the rest of the MSM championed the racist and divisive No campaign in the Voice referendum, has come to the rescue of the black white supremist senator, who along with black white supremist Warren Mundine, led that racist and divisive No campaign with a pack of lies.

According to Kenny’s cooked mind, anyone who criticises a First Nations person for any reason is guilty of racial discrimination and double standards.

Do you BUGgers out there wonder, like we do, if Kenny ever blushes when he comes out with shit like this?

BREAKING OVERNIGHT: The Chris Kenny mentioned above is now in the running for The Bug’s election campaign Goebbels Goblet. Read all about it in a separate post being uploaded today.

Want to be alerted immediately a new blog hits Australia’s longest running and most offensive satire site? Simply click on the Follow sign or the link below to be emailed new yarns the moment they are uploaded! The very second we go far too far – and trust us we will – you can then quickly unfollow via the three dots!

Follow The Bug Online on WordPress.com