As One Nation rises, Victoria’s Labor and Liberal parties promise to make abortions free. Is the timing pure politics?

Facing the prospect of election defeat, Labor is hoping to make abortion a defining issue as the Liberals attempt to stave off claims they would oversee a rollback Follow our Australian politics live blog for latest updates Get our new political email , free app or daily news podcast Victorian Labor’s plan to make abortion free has been years in the making.

But make no mistake: the timing of the announcement is pure politics.

On Thursday morning, the state’s health minister, Ingrid Stitt, announced if re-elected in November, Labor would invest $30m over four years to remove the out-of-pocket cost of abortion care, which can quickly add up to more than $1,000.

Benita Kolovos is Guardian Australia’s Victorian state correspondent Continue reading...