Hello readers, and welcome to today’s election edition of Afternoon Update.
It’s day 11 of the campaign and Peter Dutton has hit the milestone of visiting five petrol stations in five days to tout his passion for the Coalition’s fuel excise cuts.
Over in the Labor camp, Anthony Albanese was also passionate – becoming visibly emotional during a press conference announcing a major mental health policy.
Both leaders were in Sydney on Tuesday, gearing up to go head to head in the first debate. The economy is expected to be front and centre this evening amid wild swings on global markets amid the Trump administration’s tariff chaos.
Today’s big stories
Albanese struggled to remain dry eyed as he recalled the mental health struggle of a family friend who lost their life. He was launching Labor’s $1bn commitment to boost access to treatment and counselling.
Elsewhere, Dutton painted a dire picture of the economy, claiming the federal government “hasn’t prepared” for a recession, which he said the treasurer “obviously … sees coming”.
That’s despite Treasury modelling finding a global trade war won’t plunge the economy into a recession, and Jim Chalmers saying Australia is “better placed and better prepared” than other countries to weather the coming storm.
And if you wanted to know how deep the Greens’ roots are in Brisbane, these three seats tell the tale.
What they said
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“It’s a witch-hunt because they didn’t want me there.”
Ben Britton, dumped by the Liberal party as candidate for Whitlam after his controversial views were revealed by Guardian Australia, took to the 2GB airwaves on Tuesday. He accused factions of the NSW division of conducting a “witch-hunt” because he “wouldn’t be controlled”.
He told host Ben Fordham he would continue to run as an independent and that he held no animosity towards Dutton.
Speaking to media on Tuesday, Dutton said there were a “number of issues” not just those made in public in relation to Britton and wished him well.
How social media saw it
Journalists on the campaign trail are warned to expect the unexpected – receiving little to no notice as to where they’ll be heading next. That is, unless you’re with Dutton’s camp, in which case expect a daily petrol station visit.
The opposition leader ticked off his fifth pump of the bowser in five days on Tuesday while visiting the seat of Werriwa – held by Labor on a margin of 5.3%. One thing’s for sure – that campaign bus won’t be running out of gas anytime soon.
The big picture
The Nationals are off on the “wombat trail”, which was coined by the press gallery to describe their election tour in the 1970s and has just sort of stuck.
On Tuesday, the party leader, David Littleproud, got into the spirit of things by mounting a motorcycle in the electorate of Cowper alongside Bridget McKenzie and the sitting MP Pat Conaghan.
In 2022, Conaghan faced a tough contest from the independent Caz Heise, who reduced his margin to 2.4%. She is re-contesting in 2025, so this is one seat to watch.
Watch
Healthcare has been front and centre for Labor today, both federally and in NSW, where doctors launched a three-day strike.
The doctors say they have the worst wages and working conditions of doctors anywhere in the country. One urogynaecologist said she had walked off the job for “safe working hours as ‘my children don’t get to see me’”.
And in other news …
Judge used ‘arguably archaic’ definition of consent in Lehrmann defamation case, Wilkinson argues
Stella prize 2025: shortlist entirely women of colour for the first time in award’s history
US supreme court allows deportations under 18th century law with limits
Matildas in ‘limbo’ as Football Australia’s coach search drags on
South Korea sets snap election date after President Yoon’s removal from office
Daily word game
Today’s starter word is: OPS. You have five goes to get the longest word including the starter word. Play Wordiply.
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