Abbott plays second fiddle on Day 3

A wannabe prime minister and a Tony Abbott impersonator have upstaged the man
himself on the third day of the election campaign.
The day began poorly for the opposition leader when a Newspoll showed Labor had
taken a 55-45 lead over the coalition on a two party preferred basis.
Mr Abbott's own score as preferred PM also reached its lowest ebb since he became
Liberal leader.
From the get go he was forced to defend his new position on workplace relations
laws, which he now says won't be changed.
The move to leave Labor's Fair Work Act alone will disappoint small business, which
was previously promised a reprieve from unfair dismissal laws under a coalition
government.
Mr Abbott repeated his promise the Howard government's Work Choices legislation was
"dead, buried and cremated".
He even signed a makeshift contract with words to that effect for Fairfax Radio host
Neil Mitchell, but at the same time muddied the situation by admitting that he
couldn't guarantee regulations wouldn't change.
"Work Choices is dead, it's buried, it's cremated," Mr Abbott said.
He had to clarify this further with reporters, assuring them later, "you can't bring
back Work Choices through regulation".
Campaigning in Melbourne, he told the Australia Israel Chamber of Commerce he
believed relations had been "weakened" under Labor.
A coalition government would understand that all countries make "mistakes" from time
to time, he said, alluding to Labor's decision to take a dim view of Israel's raid
on a Gaza-bound aid flotilla, and expel an Israeli official over the Mossad
passports affair.
But his speech, focusing on economic management, was well and truly overshadowed by
a spirited vote of thanks from former coalition treasurer Peter Costello.
Mr Costello mocked Labor's "Moving Forward" slogan, appearing to parody Prime
Minister Julia Gillard.
He also joked that the sequel to Sunday's "undignified" telemovie on former Labor
prime minister Bob Hawke could be called "Sex and The City 2".
But the lunch could have been even more messy.
Before his former colleague stole his thunder, Mr Abbott almost ended up with his
lunch on his lap, with a waitress dropping his hot plate of kosher chicken on the
table, causing the meal to almost slide off.
From there, Mr Abbott visited the electorate of Aston in the city's east to meet
voters in a shopping mall.
But his stroll was interrupted by a man dressed only in red Speedos - a swimming
outfit Mr Abbott has made infamous - for the second day running.
The man yelled, "Do you like the cut of my Speedo, Tony?" before making a hasty
exit, pursued by security guards.
Mr Abbott took the incident in his stride and pressed on with his walk.
It has been a low key start for the coalition, which is yet to announce any new
policies.
This is in contrast to Ms Gillard, who has announced funds for affordable housing in
regional areas, and went to Townsville in north Queensland on Monday to promote the
plan.
But Mr Abbott said there would be fresh ideas to come.
"You will certainly have all sorts of new policies," he said.