“Where will the money come from, they’ll have to cut Medicare, just like they did in the past” is the catch-cry from government ministers and Labor acolytes from Prime Minister Anthony Albanese down to election hopefuls on the hustings.

The lie has been clearly exposed during debates between Albanese and Opposition Leader Peter Dutton, Treasurer Jim Chalmers and Shadow Treasurer Angus Taylor – as well as an excellent but largely overlooked National Press Club speech by Nationals leader David Littleproud.

UNCHALLENGED

But it persists and goes largely unchallenged by the legacy media or the press pack accompanying Albanese on his election whistle-stops.

According to independent experts Frontier Economics – which Labor too has relied on for cost studies – the Liberal energy plan: “…is about $10b per annum on average over the modelling period, or 44 per cent cheaper.

“As well as nuclear being cheaper than a power system made up almost entirely of renewables and energy storages, it is also likely to be as economic, or even more economic, as replacing the fleet of existing coal generators that must retire between now and 2050 with new coal generators.

“Including nuclear power could also help lower the economic costs imposed on rural and regional Australians by avoiding the loss of amenity from having so many wind and solar farms and new and augmented transmission networks on their land.”

Regarding “Mediscare Mark II”, the Coalition has pledged to match Labor’s funding and will invest $8.5b to boost bulk billing, which it points out has fallen under Labor by 11 per cent nationally.

But that doesn’t stop the lies, or the PM from waving his Medicare card in the air and proclaiming that for medical treatment, “All you need is this little green card”.

Well, I literally have skin in this game and can shoot Albo’s claims down in flames following a recent medical procedure involving an operation on my right hand.

This saw me reduced to typing with two fingers on my left hand and performing a whole range of other tasks with one hand for several weeks.

I’m happy to say I’m back to two hands and a few more fingers these days but the wallet is much lighter to the tune of about $1500 thanks to gap charges by the surgeon, anaesthetist, a hand therapist and a one-off hospital excess charge, on top of the thousands of dollars already paid to our health insurance fund.

A trip to our busy GP clinic also left me about $50 out of pocket, so yes, Albo, we really do need more than that “little green card” as many Australians are well aware of.

It is obvious he also obfuscated about falling off a campaign stage when the video is there for all to see, then more recently telling a reporter “That was just a joke. Chill out!”

We can forgive the stumble, but the aftermath seems to fit a pattern which some commentators have likened to a line from George Costanza’s character in the hugely popular ’90s sitcom, Seinfeld:

“It’s not a lie if you believe it, Jerry!”

But given all this and more, why is Labor ahead in the polls at this stage, after trailing the Opposition just a short time ago?

Some of my contacts have suggested it’s the “Trump factor”, which Dutton has been unfairly but successfully saddled with.

NEGATIVE

I think it’s just one of several aspects but certainly not the main one. For me, it is Labor’s constant lying, its negative advertising plus a very biased stance taken by the media during policy announcements and campaign visits around the nation.

Last week we saw a perfect example when Dutton was announcing (belatedly) his $21b budget defence boost, backed by former ex-SAS officer and Shadow Defence Minister Andrew Hastie.

Dutton was attacked over where the funds would come from, what would be slashed and what they would be spent on, while Hastie was heckled repeatedly by a couple of vocal females over a private statement he made seven years ago that it would be safer to exclude females from front line combat roles – even though he clearly stated that official Coalition policy was not to exclude them but to maintain high standards of qualification, which seems perfectly reasonable.

Can anyone really imagine an average woman being able to pick up and carry a soldier the size of Ben Roberts-Smith or Heston Russell plus their heavy packs, and carry them over their shoulder if they were wounded?

The focus should have been on our obvious need for stronger defence, particularly in light of such recent events as the unannounced Chinese naval live firing exercises off Sydney.

Not to mention its subsequent circumnavigation of our coastline and then a visit from a Chinese spy ship through Bass Strait and southern waters capable of mapping our vital under sea communication cables.

Then we had reputable military website Janes report that Russia had lodged an official request to base several long-range aircraft at Manhua air force Base in Papua province, prompting the Australian Government to urgently seek clarification from Indonesia.

Indonesian Foreign Ministry spokesman Rolliansyah Soemirat said in a statement that Indonesia would permit foreign military aircraft or vessels on “peaceful missions” to visit the nation.

“Indonesia has never granted permission to any country to build or possess a military base in Indonesia,” the statement read.