Labor is furious after five make-or-break byelections were scheduled to coincide with its National Conference.

Votes will be held on the 28th of July, a so-called Super Saturday, after being delayed due to new regulations and school holidays.

Labor Senator Penny Wong has accused the Electoral Commission of making a partisan decision.

The party’s Deputy Leader Tanya Plibersek tells Alan Jones the clash with their conference is irritating, but it’s not their main concern.

“First of all, why would you leave them unrepresented for so long?

“Secondly, does anybody really living in these electorates want to face a 79-day campaign, with people knocking on their doors and ringing them campaigning for all of that time.

“It’s a very difficult to understand decision.”

Alan also grilled Ms Plibersek on the opposition’s boats policy, asking for a guarantee that Labor wouldn’t “dismantle what Abbott and Turnbull and Dutton have put in place?”

“We don’t have any plan to close those offshore detention centres, we have said that we would turn back boats where it’s safe to do so.

“We don’t want to send any signal that would give people smugglers any hope at all because they are wicked people who are running the biggest criminal enterprise in the world right now.

“We won’t be any part of that, we will not restart their business, their business is evil.”

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