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It is the great Green dream — Labor and the Liberals want to annihilate the Greens in the three seats they hold. In all good blockbuster sequels it’s payback time, argues Joe Hildebrand.
View in browser 29th March 2025
 

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Joe Hildebrand
Federal election correspondent

The election campaign has kicked off in earnest with the first full day on the hustings in — as the old tourism jingle once trilled — where else but Queensland.

The capital of the Sunshine State was pouring with rain and a hard rain also fell on Anthony Albanese and Peter Dutton as they were both yelled at by hecklers in two separate incidents.

But why have both leaders decided to hit Brisbane on Day 1 when all the hype has been about Victoria and NSW as the key battleground states? It is the great Green dream — that is the dream of annihilating the Greens in the three surprise seats they won at the last election.

READ MORE: Deal or no deal? Aussies deserve answer from Labor, Greens

imageCartoonist Peter Broelman's humorous take on the predicament many voters face.

These are Brisbane and Ryan, which Labor expected to pick up from the Libs, and Kevin Rudd’s old seat of Griffith which the Greens actually stole from the ALP’s Terri Butler.

How very dare they! So now, like in all good blockbuster sequels, it’s payback time.

CLICK HERE FOR JOE HILDEBRAND'S FULL ANALYSIS

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VIDEO OF THE DAY

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'Nukes and lies': Hecklers strike on day one of campaign

Hours into the first official day of the election race, Anthony Albanese and Peter Dutton have been heckled as they fight to win key seats in Queensland. Mr Albanese’s press conference was derailed after a member of the public interjected shouting: “I can’t get rentals, I can’t get housing anymore.” A protestor gate crashed Mr Dutton’s first campaign stopp at the XXX brewery accusing the him of “lying” about the cost of his nuclear energy policy. CLICK HERE TO WATCH BOTH VIDEOS

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