Quotes from the by-elections hustings

QUOTES FROM SUPER SATURDAY OF BY-ELECTIONS

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"Let's be fair dinkum about it. Labor should be miles ahead." - Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull.

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"It was nice of him to turn up." - Labor candidate for Braddon Justine Keay, who shook hands with the PM outside a polling booth.

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"I never give up." - Labor leader Bill Shorten.

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"I put a second mortgage on our house two years ago. People said that was crazy. I just felt I had to do it." - Centre Alliance candidate for Mayo, Rebekha Sharkie.

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"GetUp are an extreme left-wing organisation who engage in dodgy practices." - Queensland Liberal senator James McGrath backs an investigation into GetUp's conduct in Longman.

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"I think the medals controversy certainly messed up our message across Longman." - Government frontbencher Christopher Pyne on the controversy that consumed the Liberal candidate for Longman Trevor Ruthenberg.

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"Come on PM. Call an election. You know you were thinking about it yesterday. Wasn't this a contest about leadership?" - Labor frontbencher Tony Burke on Twitter.

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"At this point I'd much rather be in our position than theirs but there are still a couple of big booths to come." - Labor frontbencher Julie Collins in Braddon

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"If (Malcolm Turnbull) can't win Braddon or Longman, he can't win a general election. There are serious questions to be asked about his leadership." - ACTU Secretary Sally McManus

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"After results today the problem is that people seem to actually prefer Bill Shorten over Malcolm Turnbull. Blood moon ... portent of doom or harbinger of change?" Ex-Liberal and now Australian Conservatives leader Cory Bernardi.