Kevin Rudd and Therese Rein turn the tables on their interviewers as Tony Abbott passes the ball
Quotes of the day
So many quotes. So little time. Some questions faced by the Rudds on Thursday ...
Kevin Rudd with Red Symons, of ABC Melbourne:
Symons: "I sense you've been a little bit negative about Tony Abbott. If you're negative about a negative person, does that make you positive?"
Rudd: "I take it that you've done one of those propositions in science and maths like me in about year 11 – is that right? The two negatives equal a positive."
Meanwhile, Rudd's wife, Therese Rein, was batting off her own bizarre questions from John Laws.
Rein: "Good morning, John."
Laws: "A lot of people say – why isn't she Therese Rudd?"
Rein: "Really?"
Laws: "Yeah."
Rein: "Well, why isn't Kevin, Kevin Rein?"
Laws: "[Laughs]. No, I can't accept that. We're talking about tradition. Why do you choose not to be Therese Rudd?"
The big questions ...
Tweets of the day
Following on from the quotes, Rein let us know she did not take offence. Obviously she is battle hardened.
Prop of the day: the Vegemite files
After his daughters testified as to their father's view of netball as "rugby in skirts", the opposition leader promised $6m to complete the construction of a Netball Centre of Excellence and to support netball in the lead-up to the 2015 Netball World Cup in Sydney. In a little bit of Kath & Kim, Abbott was presented a netball top.
Stat of the day
$1.5m Paid out in bets by Sportsbet on a Coalition win, nine days out from the election. So confident are they of a Coalition landslide.
Candidate of the day
Christopher Pyne gets the award for batting on in the face of adversity at an education forum, where he debated his counterpart, education minister Bill Shorten. A teacher asked him if he was aware of the "gloom" descending over some in the education sector at the prospect of a Coalition government and of Pyne as minister, particularly his ideas of copying the private school system. "I think there's a fair bit of verballing in there," Pyne said. "I apologise for all my failings which you have gone through in great detail. I'm happy to say I value public education. I'm the product of public schooling. I think they do a marvellous job. I just want them to be even better."
