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Message: [QUOTE="nopatience101, post: 2522857, member: 1755"] [B]ABBOTT DEFENSIVE ABOUT $5M HANDBALL[/B] [I]By Kieran Campbell and Sarah Blake[/I] [COLOR=#000000][FONT=Arial]OPPOSITION Leader Tony Abbott has passed a [B]$5 million election promise to the Brisbane Broncos[/B] this morning but denied he's trying to soften up voters ahead of the people's forum in the Queensland capital tonight.[/FONT][/COLOR] [COLOR=#000000][FONT=Arial]The Opposition Leader will come face to face with Prime Minister Kevin Rudd for only the second time during the campaign, which reaches its halfway point today.[/FONT][/COLOR] [COLOR=#000000][FONT=Arial]Mr Abbott's funding for the Broncos will attempt to undermine Mr Rudd's status as one of the team's biggest supporters.[/FONT][/COLOR] [COLOR=#000000][FONT=Arial]The club said it had not spoken to Mr Rudd, the Broncos' number one ticket holder, about federal funding before Mr Abbott's announcement this morning.[/FONT][/COLOR] [COLOR=#000000][FONT=Arial]The Coalition's contribution to the[B] Broncos' $50 million project will help the revitalisation of the club's sporting precinct in Red Hill.[/B][/FONT][/COLOR][B] [COLOR=#000000][FONT=Arial]The funds will be used specifically for the construction of a high performance training centre and a sports medical facility.[/FONT][/COLOR][/B] [COLOR=#000000][FONT=Arial]The entire project is expected to create 85 full time jobs during construction and 35 new full time jobs when it is complete.[/FONT][/COLOR] [COLOR=#000000][FONT=Arial]Mr Abbott made the announcement with Premier Campbell Newman and local federal MP Teresa Gambaro, who narrowly won the seat at the last election in the massive shift away from Labor in Queensland.[/FONT][/COLOR] [COLOR=#000000][FONT=Arial]Mr Abbott took time to joke around and pass a football with current and former Broncos before his press conference.[/FONT][/COLOR] [COLOR=#000000][FONT=Arial]Team jokester Sam Thaiday queried where his budgie smugglers were, which Mr Abbott said he was banned from bringing on the campaign.[/FONT][/COLOR] [COLOR=#000000][FONT=Arial]"(His politics) is better than his footy. If he sticks to politics he'll be fine I think," Thaiday said.[/FONT][/COLOR] [COLOR=#000000][FONT=Arial]Mr Abbott laughed off any suggestion the crowd at tonight's people's forum would be loaded with Broncos members.[/FONT][/COLOR] [COLOR=#000000][FONT=Arial]"I suspect Sky News has selected the audience with the usual fairness and impartiality," he said.[/FONT][/COLOR] [COLOR=#000000][FONT=Arial]"I am looking forward to a candid engagement with the people of Australia because in the end this election is not about me, it's not about Mr Rudd, it is about the people of Australia."[/FONT][/COLOR] [/QUOTE]

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