What we learnt, Tuesday 1 April
Many thanks for joining us on the blog today. Here are the main takeaways from another whirlwind day on the campaign trail:
Anthony Albanese kicked off day five of the campaign in Adelaide and continued his focus on healthcare, pledging $150m for a new centre at Flinders hospital.
Peter Dutton, meanwhile, visited Victoria and pledged an extra $1.5bn to the Melbourne airport rail link – saying he would cancel the $2bn federal commitment to the state’s suburban rail loop.
Victoria’s premier, Jacinta Allan, said the announcement is akin to a cut and would hurt commuters and workers.
Dutton also promised to change the “serviceability buffer” to make it easier for first home buyers to enter the housing market.
On the United States potential tariffs, the prime minister said the three areas of concern – the news bargaining code, pharmaceuticals and bio-security – were “not up for negotiation”.
This comes as former PM Malcolm Turnbull warned against Australia engaging in a race of “sucking up” to Trump.
Dutton has suggested the federal government should put conditions on education funding for the states that students not be taught a “woke agenda”. The treasurer, Jim Chalmers, labelled his comments as being “right from the Doge playbook.”
The Albanese campaign flew to Victoria in the afternoon for the first time in the election campaign, pledging $5.45m in upgrades for the Drysdale football netball club.
The Reserve Bank of Australia left rates on hold at 4.1%.
Labor has ticked ahead of the Coalition on a two-party-plus basis in the first Guardian Essential poll of the election period.
The first leaders debate is scheduled to take place on Sky News next Tuesday.
Krishani Dhanji will be with you bright and early tomorrow morning, where all the action will continue. In the meantime, take care.
Updated
Wong marks one year since Zomi Frankcom killed by Israeli airstrike
The foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, has marked one year since Australian Zomi Frankcom was killed by an Israeli airstrike while volunteering in Gaza.
The 43-year-old from Melbourne was working with the NGO World Central Kitchen and was one of seven people killed last April when a convoy of cars was hit by an Israeli airstrike.
Israel’s defence force conducted an investigation into the incident, which resulted in two officers being dismissed and three others being reprimanded. But Mal Frankcom, her brother, said at the time he did not feel this was an adequate response.
In a statement this afternoon, Wong said her sympathies remain with Frankcom’s family and loved ones.
Ms Frankcom was driven by passion and a purpose. Aid workers like her, and the civilians they help, must always be protected. Gaza is the deadliest place to be an aid worker with almost 400 killed since Oct 7, 2023. We repeat our call on all parties to abide by international law.
The Albanese government will continue to press Israel for transparency and progress in the investigation into Ms Frankcom’s death - and for there to be full accountability. And we will work with partners as we pursue a new Declaration for the Protection of Humanitarian Personnel.
Updated
Security analysts raises concern about Chinese research vessel’s submarine capability
A security analyst at the Australian strategic policy institute (Aspi) has raised concerns about the technology that may be being used on a Chinese research vessel off Victoria’s western coast.
Anthony Albanese has said he “would prefer” the research vessel Tan Suo Yi Hao was not in close proximity to Australia’s coast line and that authorities are monitoring its movements.
Elizabeth Buchanan, a senior fellow at the defence funded Aspi, said the capabilities of the ship’s research vessel should concern the Australian government.
The vessel itself isn’t the problem - the state of the art submersible it carries is. Fendouzhe is a manned deep sea submersible which most recently conquered the Mariana Trench. It can reach depths of 10,000 metres, has robotic arms, and can sustain itself underwater for 10 hours per dive. It would be mapping the seabed, collecting samples for resource mapping, and likely deploying acoustic sensors or hydrophones to capture [the] future “footprint” of Australian submarines.
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Chalmers responds to report from Asic into superannuation industry’s handling of death payments
Following up from that post on Angus Taylor: the treasurer Jim Chalmers has now responded to the damning report by Asic into the superannuation industry’s handling of death payments.
He issued this statement a moment ago:
The Albanese government expects all superannuation funds to meet the highest standards of governance. We welcome the report and fully support the independent regulator Asic’s work to make sure super funds are doing the right thing.
The government is implementing mandatory and enforceable service standards for superannuation funds in the handling of death benefit claims, insurance claims and communications with members.
These reforms are strengthening the superannuation system by improving member outcomes.
Updated
Shadow treasurer says superannuation sector’s social license at risk after damning report
Angus Taylor has warned the superannuation industry’s social license is at risk after a damning report by the financial regulator found it was having “devastating impacts” on members experiencing “deep grief, vulnerability, frustration and genuine suffering”.
A report by Asic earlier this week found an unnamed superannuation fund took more than 500 days to approve a death benefit payment to an Indigenous woman grieving the loss of her husband and ignored her concerns about financial hardship and a confusing claims process.
A death benefit is the amount of superannuation a person has remaining in their account after they die. This can be transferred to a family member to ensure bills and expenses can be covered. This payment may also include life insurance payments.
Asic’s chair, Joe Longo, said the report “identified a range of issues including excessive delays, poor customer service and ineffective claims handling procedures”. He called on the industry to “take ownership of the problems and flex their muscle to fix the failings”.
Taylor says a Coalition government would demand the sector improve its treatment of members.
Our message is clear: super trustees must support their members, respect those members’ agency over their money, and ensure the funds run in a way that avoids conflicts of interest, with a focus on financial returns not activism. We will not tolerate anything less.
If superannuation is to keep its social license, it must have a relentless focus on the interests of members. Apra and Asic have been warning for months about the need for funds to step up on their retirement income covenant obligations.
Updated
Dutton again accused of ‘borrowing from the Doge playbook’
Labor MP Josh Burns was also on the program, and said Peter Dutton was sounding like “our friends in America when he’s playing these culture wars with the Department of Education.”
What would help our schools … is actually funding them properly … I used to be a teacher’s aide and I have been in the classroom myself. When you have 21 kids you’ve got 21 different lessons. The job of a teacher is extremely difficult, they do amazing work.
Instead of having Peter Dutton’s culture wars and borrowing from the Doge playbook, we need to resource our teachers at our schools so they can help teach wonderful little students all the things they need to excel.
Updated
Liberal MP says teachers shouldn’t bring ‘radical politics into the classroom’
Keith Wolahan, the Liberal MP for Menzies, has accused Labor of running a scare campaign and accusing the Coalition of making cuts to education. He told ABC Afternoon Briefing:
There is nothing controversial about requiring a back-to-basics education.
But is tying funding from the government to what schools teach actually appropriate? Wolahan responded that “what is appropriate is lifting the standards of education in this country”:
Asked if he thinks children are being “indoctrinated” in schools, the Liberal MP said this was “loaded language”, but:
We want to keep politics out of the classroom, whatever side of politics it is. We want kids to be taught the basics they are not … If a teacher or a staff member is bringing radical politics into the classroom, you can bring it in in a subtle way where you can engage in ideas. But if you are telling your students there is only one particular view or only one is acceptable, that’s not fair on the students and it’s not fair on the parents paying taxes for that to be put into schools.
Updated
Is Labor portraying Dutton as Trump-lite?
Katy Gallagher continued her argument, saying there needs to be “policies made in the interest of Australia, not imported from overseas that sound good to conservative governments”.
Asked if the Labor party is attempting to portray Peter Dutton as Donald Trump-lite, Gallagher said the party was “merely drawing a comparison to what we’ve seen in the last few months, but also what has been on offer here”:
We have Peter Dutton who is wanting to put everybody’s taxes up, ban work from home, moving into Kirribilli and measuring up the curtains before he has actually won an election, and then today, coming out and saying he wants to cut Medicare. And there is a real offer for people at this election and I don’t think you wouldn’t expect us to be drawing that to people’s attention.
Updated
Gallagher says government standing for national interest amid Turnbull’s Trump comments
Katy Gallagher was also asked comments from former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull to the effect that current Australian politicians need to “get off [their] knees and stand up for Australia”.
Gallagher said comments from Anthony Albanese over the last few days and “since the Trump administration came to power” show the government “will make decisions in our national interest”:
We are working and communicating with the Trump administration as they go through implementing their agenda. But implementing their agenda doesn’t mean that we’re not going to stand up for our national interests.
She then took aim at the opposition and accused them of “a bit of copying, a bit of cutting [and] pasting from overseas and applying it here”:
[Dutton] is openly saying he’s going to slash 41,000 jobs from public service. This is a cut-and-paste from overseas and not in our national interest.
Updated
Gallagher says global trade tensions causing uncertainty in global markets and in Australia
The finance minister, Katy Gallagher, spoke with ABC Afternoon Briefing just earlier about the RBA’s decision to hold rates at 4.1%.
Gallagher said “no-one was really expecting interest rates to move today” but it showed progress was being made on inflation.
Asked about the significance of “global uncertainty”, as Michele Bullock outlined earlier, the minister said this was “front and centre as we put the budget together”:
That has been a feature of our thinking and getting the budget into better shape and all of the decisions we have taken … I can understand Governor Bullock’s comments. I think everybody’s acknowledging that some of the trade tensions we are seeing play out around the world are causing uncertainty in global markets and of course that will have an impact here.
Updated
Bowen rejects Dutton's claim hosting Cop31 would cost 'tens of billions' of taxpayer funds
The climate change and energy minister, Chris Bowen, has sharply rejected a claim by Peter Dutton that hosting the Cop31 climate conference in Australia next year would cost taxpayers “tens of billions of taxpayers’ dollars”.
The Coalition leader said on Sunday that bidding to co-host the UN summit with Pacific nations would not “bring down power prices” and suggested, in addition to the cost of running the summit, it would lead to Australia under Labor “giving tens or hundreds of billions of dollars out to third party countries”. He said:
It’s madness. That’s not something we’re supporting.
Bowen told a media conference today that Dutton was “wrong and he’s lying” and that the figures the Coalition leader cited were “just made up”.
The guy who says the Pacific Islands don’t care about time when the water is lapping against their door now wants to remove the best opportunity for the Pacific to get the world’s attention on climate change.
Bowen said hosting the conference would be “a great opportunity to sell Australia’s renewable energy resources as a renewable energy superpower.
It’s the world’s largest trade fair. Report after report has shown that it’s got huge economic payoffs for the country that hosts it. We see this as in our national interest.
A decision on who hosts the conference is expected in the second half of the year.
Updated
Bragg says Dutton’s views on net zero, abortion and trans people ‘very different from Trump’
Andrew Bragg said that the Labor party’s “attempts” to present Peter Dutton “as a small Trump” has been “a complete failure”.
And as you see on those issues like net zero and abortion, on trans … he’s got a position which [is] very different from Mr Trump’s.
He was asked to clarify where this difference is on trans issues, and said:
I don’t think he’s chosen to pursue that or go along with any of the positions that Mr Trump has sought to pursue in his agenda in the United States. And same goes for abortion and same goes for net zero. So as you know, Peter is his own man and I don’t think he’ll be taking dictation from Mr Trump on anything.
Updated
Bragg said some schools ‘never touch on good points about Australia’ and focus on negative aspects of history
Moving topics, Andrew Bragg was also asked about comments from Peter Dutton on Sky News yesterday about tying education funding to what schools teach, after being asked about “woke” education.
Bragg said schools need to teach children the “fantastic truth of our time which is that they are very lucky to be Australian.”
There is good and bad in our country’s history, but we’ve got to start with the basic fact that this is an amazing country to have been born into and be in an educated in.
And I do worry that there are parts of the education system that which never, ever touch on his good points about Australia. They are very quick to point out what hasn’t been good in our past, and every country has the fair share of good and bad, but this is a great country and we should be very proud to teach our children how great it actually is compared to almost everywhere else.
Bragg says buffer ‘hurting’ first-time buyers more than investors
Back on the servicibility buffer – Andrew Bragg said the 3% buffer was “hurting first-time buyers more than it hurts investors”.
Asked about this, and whether the issue of them competing should itself be addressed, the shadow assistant minister said no:
No, because investors are providing supply to the market, there is nothing wrong with investing in housing.
But if they’re competing with first home buyers, is that an issue? Bragg continued his argument and said:
They are also providing supply to the market. Wo we got to be careful here – Labor and the Greens’ solution might be to increase taxes. Our solution is defined a clever way to use financial regulation to preference first-time buyers.
Updated
Bragg outlines Coalition move to see serviceability buffer changed
Andrew Bragg, the shadow assistant minister for home ownership, is speaking with ABC Afternoon Briefing about the Coalition’s move to see the serviceability buffer changed.
(That’s the margin banks add to the home loan interest rate when they test if an applicant can afford future repayments.)
Bragg said the Coalition would ask Apra – the bank, insurance and superannuation regulator – to look into a lower buffer for first-time buyers:
If that was 2%, instead of being 3%, then a lot more people would be able to access a home loan compared to today’s position, where they can’t. But also people would be able to borrow more and in addition to that, the changes on mortgage insurance would guarantee cheaper overall …
On a half a million dollar loan, that would give a person another $40,000. And in relation to the lenders mortgage insurance point, if that was priced in a more reasonable way, an Australian on a half million dollar loan would save around $1,000 a year.
Asked what the Coalition would do if Apra looks at this and deems it a bad idea, Bragg said he had “never encountered as a situation where the parliament has been completely ignored by the regulator”.
Updated
Another threat made against Lakemba Mosque in Sydney’s south-west
Another threat has been made against Lakemba Mosque in Sydney’s south-west, with a comment on TikTok warning they want to “blow it up.”
The comment was made under a video from the ABC, covering the Eid prayers at the Mosque, which were held yesterday to mark the end of the holy month of Ramadan.
More comments followed, with some users asking what the “plan” was, and if they could meet up to “discuss them.”
The Lebanese Muslim Association (LMA), which runs the mosque, has called the comments “abhorrent” and reflected the “unabated rise in Islamophobia.”
The secretary of the organisation, Gemal Khier, criticised the Labor government saying he has not seen enough “political will to address” the rising rates of Islamophobia:
The comment is part of the unabated rise in Islamophobia we continue to see, all the while politicians duck and weave, burying their heads in the sand about the problem. And it is frustrating because we don’t see the political will to address this, and that emboldens Islamophobes and racists. It leaves us feeling abandoned.
It comes only weeks after Muslim organisations, including the National Imams Council and the LMA, last week called on federal Labor to address a rise in Islamophobia after similar comments were made on the social media pages of the organisations.
One comment called for a “Christchurch again” – an apparent reference to the New Zealand city where an Australian man killed 51 worshippers in 2019 at a mosque and Islamic centre.
Updated
Dutton campaign in Melbourne announces funding for Maddie Riewoldt’s Vision
Peter Dutton is in the city of Melbourne this afternoon, meeting AFL legend Nick Riewoldt to make an announcement of funding for the Maddie Riewoldt’s Vision foundation – a organisation for patients with bone marrow failure syndrome.
Maddie was Nick’s sister, who died at age 26 following complications from her illness. Dutton has pledged a Liberal government would give $3m to the foundation.
In a statement with the shadow health minister, Anne Ruston, Dutton said:
In Australia, someone is diagnosed with bone marrow failure syndrome every three days. Distressingly, most patients are children and young adults, and 50% will not survive. Thousands more will live with complex and ongoing medical issues and risks to their health, including a significantly higher risk of developing cancer.
The commitment would help grow the centre, expand its outreach and education offerings. Nick Riewoldt said in a statement:
We are incredibly grateful to the Coalition for making a funding commitment of $3m over three years to ensure that no family faces a bone marrow failure syndrome diagnosis alone, and that we can continue to fund vital research in search of better treatments and a cure.
Updated
Albanese visits Corangamite and Lalor in first campaign stops in Victoria
Flying into Victoria for the first time in the election campaign, Anthony Albanese stopped in the seat of Corangamite outside Geelong to pledge $5.45m in upgrades for the Drysdale football netball club.
The Labor MP Libby Coker holds the seat on a notional margin of 7.84%, but the Liberals believe it is winnable.
Standing outside on the netball court, surrounded by children of all ages in the team’s brown and yellow uniforms, Coker said it was “fantastic investment in this club and this community”.
The money will be used to upgrade the courts to make them compliant for the finals of local tournaments and to add two new club rooms and new spectator seating and lighting. Coker said:
For so long this club has not been able to play the finals and we want you to play the finals for the credibility of this club. It brings the town together and attracts people here and gives you pride in your club.
Albanese said he was a “bit jelly” of such a beautiful place to live.
One of the things we are seeing around Australia is more women’s team sports in areas like football.
Albanese is now on his way to the Labor-held seat of Lalor (12.9% margin) in Melbourne’s outer west, where he will visit a Medicare urgent care clinic with MP Jo Ryan.
Updated
Bullock says ‘fundamental problem’ impacting housing is demand and supply
When it comes to housing, Michele Bullock said the “fundamental problem” is demand and supply.
House prices were rising when interest rates are going up. You cannot just correlate one with the other. I guess I don’t have any particular things to say to people who are finding it difficult in the housing market other than to emphasise that there needs to be a supply response.
It’s not as simple as ‘spending up bad, spending down good’ – Bullock
Michele Bullock was also asked about increased government spending – and said it’s not as simple as “spending up bad, spending down good.”
She said there had been an increase in spending for particular areas, and “there are certain things and certain services that people expect the governments to provide and they are providing them”:
The other point is that there is infrastructure spending going on. Ultimately, some of this might be good for productivity of the economy, so there’s a whole lot of considerations there.
I don’t think that you can just sort of say, spending up bad, spending down good. You have to think about it holistically. How does it fit in with the whole economy and also what sort of impetus is it giving to productivity and where is the spending going? … governments have to make these sort of trade-offs all the time.
Updated
Has the RBA lost confidence inflation is turning back to targets sustainably?
A reporter asked Michele Bullock if she has lost confidence inflation is turning back to targets sustainably. She said the RBA hasn’t lost confidence – but “we haven’t got 100% confidence”.
I wouldn’t say that we’ve lost confidence. I would say that we’re gradually getting more confidence, but we don’t have 100% confidence and I think that it is very difficult to be 100% confident.
Bullock continued: “We don’t have to be in the target range to cut rates, but there are some risks on the upside – and the labour market is one of them.”
Not everyone agrees but we still think that there’s tightness in the labour market. And so, at the moment, it seems prudent to wait and get a bit more data … to make sure that we’re continuing to track where our forecasts are saying we’re tracking. And if we’re continuing to track, we just get that bit more confident each time.
Updated
RBA not forecasting recession over next 12 months
Michele Bullock said the RBA is not forecasting a recession in Australia over the next 12 months.
Now, I’ve said that there’s lots of uncertainty in the world economy at the moment. Not just uncertainty, but unpredictability, I would say. So, I would say that certainly, in our central forecasts at the moment, we don’t have a recession baked in there.
Bullock outlines ‘longer-run impacts’ of trade war for Australia
On whether a trade war would pull up inflation or bring it down, Michele Bullock said it would “slow down growth in world trade”.
This is not good for Australia as a small, open economy, she said, with “a world trading system that is fragmenting”. Bullock outlined the “longer-run impacts of this trade war”:
The immediate impacts in terms of fragmentation, stopping of trade, increasing of price levels – they’ll all be felt. But I think the issue of longer-run … the sort of impacts this has, is going to be quite dramatic.
And for us … if China is still doing reasonably well and they lean into the fiscal stimulus, then that will help us in the short run. But ultimately it just will not be good for the world economy as a whole. And that, I suppose, the longer-run thing is much more uncertain.
Updated
The markets previously forecast three rate cuts between now and mid-2026 – is that still likely in a Trump world?
Michele Bullock said “we’re not endorsing the market path.”
We’re not disputing that the markets have a particular view. That’s fine. We’re a little more circumspect, but our job is to be a little bit more cautious because we don’t want to let all of the hard work that we’ve done getting inflation down, to get away from us.
She said what happens “in this Trump tariff trade war” depends on a number of factors, such as how other countries respond – particularly China.
At least at the moment, the Chinese authorities have indicated that they are going to make sure that they keep momentum in their economy. They still have their 5% growth target. So at least our scenario analysis at the moment suggests that if China continue on that path, then yes, there will be a bit of an impact on us in terms of growth, but it’s not going to be as big as some other countries might suffer in these sorts of circumstances.
Updated
Bullock to ‘wait and see’ what the numbers say regarding potential May rate cut
On the prospect of a May rate cut, Michele Bullock said she would “wait and see what the numbers tell me”.
She said it would also depend “very much on what else is going on as well, because there’s labour market data also to come in”.
I’m not suggesting that I’ve made up my mind on May and the board has made up their mind on May … We are just going to wait and see, see what the data draws out and if we’re still on track. And it gives us a bit more certainty, then we can start to consider when it is appropriate to start lowering rates.
Updated
Bullock asked if RBA still has room to cut amid global uncertainty
Our own Patrick Commins asked: does the RBA have room to cut, even amid a period of global uncertainty?
Michele Bullock said the Reserve Bank was “well-placed in a couple of ways”, with inflation coming down and unemployment “still relatively low”:
If it turns out that there is a big growth impact on Australia, we do have room to move the exchange rate to support there.
Now, it does depend on what happens. The exchange rate will also come into play there, it’s likely to absorb some of the impact. And it also depends what’s happening with inflation as well, and that’s a little bit indeterminant, and that the challenging bit might be if growth slows but inflation picks up – and then we’re in a slightly difficult world.
But they’re the two parts to, I’d say, why we’re in a good position.
Updated
Bullock rules out reports of ‘political pressure’ from Chalmers
Michele Bullock was also asked about reports the RBA has come under “political pressure” from the treasurer, Jim Chalmers. She refuted that:
I have a very respectful relationship with the treasurer, and I personally – and the board – have not felt under particular political pressure at all to do anything. We are focused on the job.
Updated
Bullock asked how high government spending impacts on inflation
Asked about the mechanics of how high government spending impacts on inflation, Michele Bullock said that currently, there was a “relatively weak” private sector and the public sector was filling the gap.
And we’re still seeing inflation come down and we’re seeing employment holed up. So at the moment, that all seems to be hanging together.
So I would say, rather than focus on one component, we focus on the totality. And at the moment, our forecasts from February, the budget didn’t tell us anything really different from what we had in February. So our forecast for February really [is] incorporating what was in the budget. That’s already effectively there.
Updated
RBA board didn’t discuss rate cute, Bullock says
Michele Bullock said the RBA board did not discuss a rate cut today, telling reporters:
The board didn’t necessarily discuss a rate cut, but it did talk a little bit about downside risks and including the global downside risks.
But it not discuss a rate cut. So far, the information since February indicate that things are on track and we felt that it was the right thing with the consensus decision.
Bullock outlines RBA thinking amid US tariff uncertainty
Asked how the decision around tariffs from the US is impacting decisions, Michele Bullock outlined two points the board is thinking about:
One is that where you see these things often show up is in commodity prices. The exchange rate is a buffer for us, so when we get … a slowing world economy, the exchange rates helps us to adjust a little bit.
The other point that I would make is that I said earlier: the impact on inflation is less certain because on the one hand, if supply dominates, then you might see a rise in inflation. But it’s also possible that trade diversion might end up with cheaper goods coming into Australia, so there’s competing impacts there. So they’re the sorts of things that the board is thinking about.
Updated
Bullock speaks of ‘uncertain’ global outlook
Michele Bullock acknowledged there was a “lot of uncertainty around the global outlook at the moment”:
One of things we’re cautious about is that policy unpredictability overseas could lead to slower growth. The implications for inflation here, though, in Australia, are less clear.
She said Australia was “not on our own in navigating this period of unpredictability”, and said the RBA has been talking to peers at other central banks to “try to make sense of what is going on now and what we can expect in the next year or so.”
We’re paid to worry, to analyse and to make judgements as new data comes in and as the environment evolves, and that’s what we’ve been doing and will continue to do.
We’ve come a long way and it hasn’t been easy, but we have made good progress on bringing inflation down and keeping unemployment low. This is a good position for the economy to be in as we approach a period of uncertainty. But we have to be careful not to get ahead of ourselves.
Updated
Bullock addresses media following rates decision
The Reserve Bank governor, Michele Bullock, is speaking to reporters following the rate decision earlier this afternoon.
In case you missed it: the RBA has left rates on hold at 4.1%, with the board showing building confidence that inflation is returning to target – even if members remained “cautious about the outlook”. The treasurer, Jim Chalmers, said the decision “reflects the progress” that’s been made on inflation.
You can read more details on this from Patrick Commins:
Speaking just now, Bullock said:
The board’s strategy is to bring inflation down and avoid a big increase in unemployment. And with low unemployment and inflation tracking down, we are well positioned for any shocks that might come our way. Inflation is an ongoing challenge and we’re aiming to get it to the middle of the band of 2% to 3% and keep it there.
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Shadow treasurer responds to RBA rate decision
The shadow treasurer, Angus Taylor, is speaking to reporters following this afternoon’s rate decision.
He said the decision “continues to underscore for Australians is that there’s no fast pathway back to the standard of living they had when Labor came to power”. Taylor took aim at Labor’s track record on the economy:
The Reserve Bank made the point that the balance between supply and demand in the economy is still not where it needs to be in order to bring down interest rates and to raise the standard of living of Australians.
They make the important point that productivity continues to be lacklustre, and the truth is getting interest rates down when there’s no productivity in the economy is extremely difficult. It’s extremely difficult. And the only way that you can do that is to slash the economy – and that’s not what any of us want to see.
So this has been a complete and abject failure by a government that is simply out of touch and out of its depth.
Updated
Biodiversity Council approaching renewed EPA commitment with caution
The director of the scientist-led Biodiversity Council, James Trezise, is approaching Labor’s renewed commitment to an environment protection agency with caution.
Anthony Albanese confirmed yesterday the agency he has promised to establish if re-elected would be a different model to the one the government proposed during this term and would be pursued in consultation with the states, industry and environmental groups. Trezise said:
There is no detail in what was announced by the PM yesterday beyond a loose commitment to further consultation, so we will need to see what Labor actually put on the table.
Generally, the point of an independent EPA is to deal with the influence of vested interests in decision making, but that seems somewhat of a moot point when they appear to have the ear of the PM, whether it’s around salmon farming in Tasmania or the design of a new environmental regulator.
Trezise said what was urgently required was action on the broader reforms recommended by a 2020 statutory review of Australia’s environment laws.
The centrepiece of the Samuel review and the Albanese Government’s own plans was the establishment of national environmental standards – that’s what they need to be accelerating action on.
Good afternoon! Emily Wind here, I’ll take you through the rest of our rolling coverage.
That’s it from me today, thank you all for following along.
I’ll leave you with the fabulous Emily Wind to take you through the rest of the afternoon – and the upcoming press conference with the Reserve Bank governor, Michele Bullock.
Catch you in the morning!
Updated
RBA says Trump tariffs affecting global confidence
The Reserve Bank statement mentioned the impact of Trump’s tariffs increasing global uncertainty. It said:
Recent announcements from the United States on tariffs are having an impact on confidence globally and this would likely be amplified if the scope of tariffs widens, or other countries take retaliatory measures.
Jim Chalmers says the RBA’s statement makes it clear those uncertainties are front of mind for the bank and the government.
He says the budget is designed to address global uncertainty as well as the cost of living pressures at home.
Updated
Chalmers on market predictions of May rate cut
The markets didn’t expect a rate cut today, as my colleague Patrick Commins brought you earlier, but markets are forecasting more rate cuts in May and later this year.
The next meeting of the RBA boards will take place on 19 and 20 May (about two and a half weeks after the election).
Chalmers says he won’t predict what happens next … but he’s happy to share the market’s expectations.
I don’t see this decision in political terms, and I’m sure that the independent Reserve Bank doesn’t see it in political terms either.
I don’t make predictions about the future. But I do remind people that there was almost no expectation whatsoever from the markets and from the economists today of a rate cut, but there is an overwhelming expectation of a rate cut in May, and in subsequent months. That’s the expectation of the market. I don’t get into those sorts of predictions.
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Chalmers says Dutton’s school funding comments ‘right from Doge playbook’
The treasurer, Jim Chalmers, is responding the Reserve Bank’s decision to keeping rates on hold, saying that the decision “reflects the progress” that’s been made on inflation.
Rates have already started coming down this year and that’s a good thing … and this reflects the progress that we’ve made together as Australians on inflation. The Reserve Bank’s statement says that it has fallen and the continued decline in underlying inflation is welcome.
Chalmers also mentions the cost-of-living measures the government has put in place, which he says are easing pressure on households.
You can tell we’re now well into an election campaign, because Chalmers is also talking about Peter Dutton’s nuclear policy (and where the Coalition is going to get the money to pay for it), as well his plan to look at cutting the federal education department.
Today, he threatened cuts to school funding which was right from the Doge playbook. And we also know that he wants to Americanise Medicare as well …
This is Doge-y Dutton, taking his cues and policies straight from the US.
Doge-y? I fear we’ll be hearing a lot more of that.
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Video: ‘Get off your knees and stand up for Australia’ when dealing with Trump, Turnbull says
If you missed it earlier, former PM Malcolm Turnbull had another crack at the Trump administration, and a warning for Australia to not enter a race to “suck up” to the US.
This all comes just a day before Donald Trump’s “liberation day” in the US, with another broad set of tariffs set to be announced.
You can see Turnbull issuing that warning at the National Press Club here:
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Victims of crime speak at Dutton round table
Following on from our last post …
One woman, Jenny Robinson, told the community round table she has felt like being a “prisoner in your own home”.
I used to catch public transport … and come back 10 o’clock at night without any fear for my safety. It has impacted on me, because now I fear for my safety, even coming in and out. It impacts on your mental health.
Harry Hutchinson, who said he owns a shop nearby, said his business has been broken into nine times in recent months. He said he had been assaulted himself, and his store targeted by shoplifters.
He says some criminals have “no fear”, and that he has sometimes slept inside his own shop to try to deter crime.
“There’s something wrong with society today that this is happening,” Hutchinson said. He also spoke of a local butcher and a wine bar having been robbed.
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Dutton attends community round table on crime in Melbourne’s south-east
Peter Dutton is holding a community round table on crime in the Bruce electorate. He’s with their candidate, Zahid Safi, and the La Trobe MP, Jason Wood.
In a neighbourhood RSL centre, Dutton is hearing from victims of crime. There’s about 20 people around the table, and we’ll hear from a few of them.
Dutton said he’s heard from many victims of crime during his travels around the nation. He gives examples of people being fearful of working late shifts at work, for concern of being out at night.
For some victims of crime, it’s obviously traumatic to be able to talk about the experience, and for many people, it’s really one of the most life-changing events to find somebody in your bedroom, to know that somebody’s been rummaging around through your belongings or through things that you really cherish.
And the businesses, a disruption to business, an attack on a business, which results in somebody just causing their confidence to not be able to work the night shift or the afternoon shift.
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RBA keeps interest rate on hold at 4.1%
The Reserve Bank of Australia has left rates on hold at 4.1% in a widely anticipated decision that keeps the independent central bank on the sidelines amid a hotly contested election campaign.
It’s the first time the two new boards – the monetary board and the governance board – have met.
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Peter Dutton will shortly hold an event in the Labor-held seat of Bruce, in Melbourne’s south-east. It’ll be a community round table on crime – we’re told Dutton will hear from residents affected by law and order issues in this part of the state.
Bruce is held by Labor assistant minister Julian Hill on a 5% margin. These outer suburban seats are the kind of electorates Dutton needs to win over if he’s to have a chance of winning government.
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Education minister rubbishes Dutton’s ‘extreme’ bid to place conditions on school funding
Jason Clare, Labor’s campaign spokesperson (and always a strong line deliverer for the party), is out in Sydney, responding to a raft of Peter Dutton’s policies (10 points to you if you guessed that he’s already mentioned the Liberals’ tax-free lunch policy).
Clare, who’s also the education minister, also responds to Dutton’s bid to put conditions to the states for their education funding.
Clare says kids shouldn’t be focused on Dutton’s “extreme” agenda, and points out that the current curriculum was one that was signed off in 2022 by the previous government.
I’m focused on making sure that our kids can read and write, not this extreme agenda of Peter Dutton.
When Peter Dutton started saying today that he’s going to cut funding to health and education, I thought it was an April fool’s, but he said it last night as well. And that should put the fear of God into any Australian that cares about our kids.
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Victoria’s Commonwealth Games bid not feasible and decision to cancel was ‘right one’, inquiry finds
Victoria’s bid to host the 2026 Commonwealth Games was “overly ambitious” and not feasible in the timeframe, according to a report by a parliamentary inquiry.
The report found the proposal for the sport event, axed by the government in 2023, was not feasible due to a lack of appropriate infrastructure in regional areas and logistical issues around the multi-city model. But the inquiry found no evidence the state government investigated an alternative format of the games being held in Melbourne.
The inquiry said the decision to cancel the game was the “right one”.
In July 2023, Daniel Andrews’ government cancelled the state’s Commonwealth Games, citing a cost blow from an estimated $2.6bn to almost $7bn. A report by the state’s auditor general later stated the updated cost was “overstated and not transparent”.
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RBA’s interest rates decision to drop soon
We’re counting down to the Reserve Bank’s interest rates decision at 2.30pm, but mortgage holders shouldn’t be holding their breath.
At the previous meeting in February the RBA governor, Michele Bullock, and her board lowered the cash rate from 4.35% to 4.1% – the first dollop of relief in more than four years.
Even as indebted homeowners and Labor cheered, Bullock warned that there would be no back-to-back cut.
That helps explain why financial markets reckon there’s only a one-in-10 chance of a move lower to 3.85% this afternoon, and even that seems a generous assessment.
A shock rate cut would be a massive win for Anthony Albanese’s re-election campaign, and land Bullock right in the middle of a political maelstrom.
With inflation continuing to fall, experts are more positive on the potential for a second rate cut at the following RBA meeting on 16-17 May. And financial markets reckon there’s a 90% chance of a cut two weeks or so after the election.
Now we wait to see what the board does and says in its statement accompanying today’s decision, and whether there are any hints at what’s next for rates.
We’ll get to hear from Bullock herself at her regular post-meeting press conference at 3.30pm Sydney time.
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Albanese campaign lands in Melbourne
Anthony Albanese’s campaign has landed in Melbourne, a city expected to play a major role in deciding the outcome of the 3 May election.
Victoria’s standing as a Labor heartland is under serious threat in 2025, as the party braces for huge swings against it in suburban Melbourne, driven in part by voter anger at Jacinta Allan’s state government.
Liberal insiders are extremely optimistic about winning back Aston and Chisholm from Labor and fancy their chances in McEwen as well as Goldstein, held by teal independent Zoe Daniel.
The opposition is also targeting the Labor-held seats of Dunkley, Holt, Hawke and Bruce.
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Turnbull says teal movement a ‘healthy thing’ for democracy
Turnbull’s former seat of Wentworth is now held by independent MP Allegra Spender – so what does he think about the so-called teal movement in Australia?
The former PM says the independents are pushing the major parties to do more on climate, and are overall good for a competitive electoral system.
So I think what the teal movement was able to do was to basically say – in this case to the Liberal party, but I think this will happen with independents to Labor too – to say to the major parties, and I had this with Labor, to say you have gone too far in one direction, you’re not doing enough on climate change or whatever …
It’s a healthy thing because you want a competitive, dynamic electoral system. Keeping the big parties comfortable should not be the objective of our democratic electoral system.
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Too many consultants risks deskilling public service, Turnbull says
Turnbull also comments on Dutton’s plan to cut 41,000 public servants.
In 2018 Turnbull set up a review into the Australian public service (APS), which recommended a cap on the number being public servants being removed, to help shore up the capability of the APS.
In terms of Dutton’s planned cuts, he says he won’t “support it or oppose it”, but says when he set up the review it was obvious that there were “far too many consultants” being used by the APS.
Now, I’ve got nothing against consultants. I’m sure many of them are here. Love you all, but you run the risk … of deskilling your APS.
And you say to a young person who wants to do this kind of work, ‘if you want to do really interesting work, get a job with a consultant, don’t work in the APS’ – and that’s a problem.
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Dutton’s Kirribilli plan will be ‘used against him’, Turnbull says
Weighing in on Peter Dutton’s eagerness to live in Kirribilli House in Sydney if he becomes PM, Turnbull says he’s sure Dutton regrets saying it.
But the former PM doesn’t think the admission is, overall, a big deal.
Turnbull, a longtime Sydney resident, lived in his own Point Piper house when he was prime minister.
If I was running in a seat in Brisbane, I wouldn’t be saying the minute I become prime minister I’m leaving to live in Sydney. I don’t think it’s a wise thing to say. Obviously Lucy [Turnbull] and I stayed living in Sydney. We stayed in our own house in our own electorate, in the centre of our own electorate where we’ve been for 30-odd years. I think that will be used against him.
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Turnbull ‘not campaigning for anyone’ this election
Turnbull won’t speak to Peter Dutton’s proposed public sector cuts, but he does say now is not the time to take policy inspiration from Trump.
He says leaving aside the public service cuts, and anti-DEI campaign, Australia should not be considering the protectionism agenda that the US is trying to implement.
On whether Turnbull will make an appearance on election campaign trail, he says he’s “not campaigning for anyone”.
He adds “I don’t miss it”.
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Two sides of politics ‘united in error’ on Aukus, Malcolm Turnbull says
Turnbull, it’s safe to say, is no great supporter of the Aukus agreement (and has been outspoken recently, saying it’s unlikely Australia will get any Virginia-class submarines from the US).
He repeats that again today, saying that Australia needs a plan B, but he’s concerned that no one is considering it.
On this he says Australia is “frozen in bipartisanship” over the commitment from both major parties to Aukus.
At least if you say, all right, the odds are we’re not going to get any subs, let’s acquire some other long-range capabilities that may not be as effective but at least do something.
It is as though the government and opposition are frozen in bipartisanship in fear of admitting the truth. That’s the problem and where the system is failing us. Bipartisanship is all very well but not when the two sides of politics are united in error.
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Malcolm Turnbull warns against ‘race of who can do the most sucking up’ to Trump
Former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull has warned against Australia engaging in a race of “sucking up” to Donald Trump, as the US gets closer to imposing more broad-ranging tariffs across the globe.
Turnbull is at the National Press Club – and he jokes about wearing a blue suit and a red tie – discussing the changing security environment.
Trying to get into a race of who can do the most sucking up, particularly with Mr Trump, as I know from direct experience, is not the way to advance your interests or your nation’s interests. Our best assets for the United States in strategic terms is our geography.
Turnbull, who dealt with the first Trump administration, and secured a tariff carve-out after months of negotiations, has also said he’s concerned about some of the similarities in language between Trump and Vladimir Putin.
There’s an eerie resonance between the language Trump uses about Canada and the language Putin uses about Ukraine – borders are fictional, doesn’t deserve to be a separate country, and so forth. And then I need not remind you of the shameful way Trump has treated Ukraine.
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Liberal senator questioned at eSafety v X hearing
Liberal senator for South Australia, Alex Antic, has taken time out from the election campaign to give evidence at the administrative review tribunal on Tuesday examining the case of the Australian online safety regulator ordering the removal of an alleged bullying tweet by a Canadian activist towards a trans man.
It was a quick appearance by Antic, who gave evidence and was cross-examined for about 10 minutes.
Antic was asked to speak about the public concern over the issue Chris Elston is an activist in – that is, against the trans healthcare of minors.
He said it’s an issue that frequently comes up on social media and when he speaks to members of the public, but it “ebbs and flows over time”.
There is quite a lot of willingness to talk about this issue.
He said much of the correspondence he receives is related to petitions and a private member’s bill on this matter.
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First leader's debate to be held on Sky News next Tuesday
At the end of Dutton’s press conference he’s asked about what will be the first round of debates between him and the prime minister – a Sky News and Daily Telegraph “people’s forum” in Sydney next Tuesday.
Dutton says that he’s offered to do four debates with Albanese over the course of the campaign.
A month or so ago, we offered four debates and we’ve not heard back from the prime minister. The prime minister is now committing to one debate, I think, is he committing to a second? Or a third or fourth? I do not think so.
I’ll be there with bells on next Tuesday night, and it will be a great debate and I am looking forward to it.
The debate, similar to at the last election between Albanese and Scott Morrison, will be with questions fielded from an audience of undecided voters.
Albanese was judged to have won the 2022 debate.
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Albanese visits cafe in Sturt before leaving Adelaide
Things are moving quickly for Anthony Albanese’s campaign, with the press pack trailing the prime minister about to fly out of Adelaide.
After a morning press conference at Flinders medical centre in the federal seat of Boothby, Albanese rushed across town to a cafe in the seat of Sturt.
The traditionally Liberal seat is a tight contest, with Labor, the Greens and a Climate 200-backed independent all eyeing Liberal MP James Stevens’ 0.5% margin.
The PM started the visit by buying a round of coffees. He then spoke to a table of four Christian Ministry workers who regularly hang out at the cafe, first chatting to Mary Ackers about the Red Frogs student association, before joking with her colleague Adrian Blenkeninsop about how his dog Toto liked to chase kangaroos in Canberra.
“She’s not going to win that argument!” he said.
The table described the PM as “warm and personable” and said they appreciated him coming although it was initially “surreal”.
The PM moved next to a table of three women. Zoe Vergone, a teacher, Stella Walls and her daughter Alex Niijima-Walls, a doctor.
They talked about his recent podcast appearances on Abbie Chatfield and Big Small Talk with Hannah Ferguson.
“If you want to have conversations with people, I really like the podcast format because you can really have a chat,” said the PM, adding it got away from the “gotcha format.”
He then joked about his “delulu with no solulu” slogan and how well it had gone down.
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Dutton says he would ‘stand up to’ Donald Trump
There’s no doubt Donald Trump’s “liberation day” for the US on 2 April will make more political waves in Australia on the election trail.
Earlier Anthony Albanese was asked about a trade report, and he said there would be no negotiation by Australia on the news media bargaining code, the PBS or biosecurity.
Dutton says he “agrees” with the PM’s position on leaving those off the negotiating table.
When asked whose fault it would be if Australia doesn’t get an exemption, he says:
The president of the United States will stand up for America, I’ll stand up for Australia. It seems the prime minister is not able to stand up for our national security … I have the strength of leadership and experience to be able to stand up to the president of the United States, or anyone else, if they are acting against our country’s interests.
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Dutton is asked about his announcement today to change the rules to make it easier for first home buyers to enter the housing market.
The buffer is currently at 3% (which means banks have to consider whether potential mortgage holders could make repayments if the interest rate was 3% higher than it currently is), and Dutton says that would be a “decision for Apra” (the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority).
Earlier this morning, Michael Sukkar pointed to the rate potentially being dropped to 2.5%, which he said industry believes could result in tens of thousands more opportunities for potential first home buyers.
Ultimately it is a decision for Apra but our position is to make sure that you can get into housing as quickly as possible.
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Dutton again demurs on releasing modelling for how gas plan will affect prices
When will the Coalition release its modelling on how much prices would drop under their gas plan?
Peter Dutton says he likes that “anticipation is building” which gets a chuckle from Bridget McKenzie, but a protest from reporters calling for him to answer the question.
Dutton promises gas prices will be cheaper under the Coalition, and then refers to the petrol excise cut.
People know that electricity prices will be cheaper under a Coalition government. We are promising a 25 cent reduction in the fuel tax.
He still doesn’t answer when that modelling will be released.
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Dutton asked about comments around making school funding contingent on not teaching “woke agenda”
Our reporter Josh Butler has asked Dutton about his comments on schools, and potentially conditioning funding on students not being taught a “woke agenda”, as well as his comments about the department of education having “thousands of staff but not running a school”.
We have said we want to take waste out of the federal budget and put back into frontline services.
The second point is, I want to make sure our kids, whether they are school or secondary school, or young Australians at universities, are receiving the education their parents would expect them to receive, and our position will reflect community standards in relation to what is being taught at our schools and universities.
Dutton says he doesn’t support children being “indoctrinated” by the agenda of others, and supports them being able to “think freely”.
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Dutton criticises handling of Chinese ship off Australia’s coast
Moving to the Chinese vessel sitting off the coast of Australia, Peter Dutton criticised the government’s handling of the matter and said:
One part of the government is saying the Australian Border Force is monitoring what is happening, the other part saying it is the Australian defence force that is monitoring what is happening. The prime minister himself doesn’t know what is happening.
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Dutton lashes Allan’s handling of Victorian economy
Asked where the savings will come from to fund this commitment, Peter Dutton said they would “take money out of the suburban rail loop” (SRL).
The premier and the prime minister are locked into SRL. This visionary project will never happen while Jacinta Allan is premier and Anthony Albanese is prime minister. I hope the government changes its position in Victoria and we’d be happy to work with them …
Victorians are worried that Anthony Albanese is doing to the national economy what Jacinta Allan has done to the state economy here, and Australians can’t afford that. No Australian can.
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Dutton: airport rail link ‘never going to happen’ under ‘Allan-Albanese relationship’
Speaking to reporters, Peter Dutton said the airport rail link had been “way too long delayed” and was “the missing piece of infrastructure for Victoria”.
It is never going to happen under a Jacinta Allan-Anthony Albanese relationship. Jacinta Allan is obsessed with the suburban rail loop. It’s a $200bn policy which is pie in the sky, it’s not going to happen. And Anthony Albanese is joined at the hip with Jacinta Allan on that project.
We have committed, as Bridget [McKenzie] points out, an extra billion and a half dollars – which takes our contribution to 50% of the $13bn required for this project. And to the credit of Brad Battin, the state opposition here has increased their contribution to $6.5bn as well, and that will make this project a reality.
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Dutton addressing media in Calwell
The opposition leader, Peter Dutton, is speaking with reporters in Calwell, Victoria.
As we’ve reported earlier, the Coalition plans to scrap funding for the suburban rail loop and redirect the money to the Melbourne Airport train line. Josh Butler had more details on this earlier, and Benita Kolovos outlined some of the questions that remain.
The Coalition also announced this morning it wanted to see the serviceability buffer changed (that’s the margin banks add to the home loan interest rate when they test if an applicant can afford future repayments), and would work with APRA – the body that makes the rules – to do that.
We’re expecting Dutton to face questions on both these announcements.
First to speak was the shadow transport minister Bridget McKenzie, who said:
The Coalition will be putting an additional $1.5bn towards the airport rail link … Melburnians and the 40 million passengers that use the airport have waited too long, as one of the great cities of this great country, to have a direct link between our international airport and the CBD.
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Dutton arrives at winery for airport rail link photo op but there’s not a plane in sight
Peter Dutton has arrived at a winery on a hill overlooking a valley in Mickleham in Victoria. This picture opportunity is related to the airport rail link – but we’re quite a long way from the airport, and the link.
Dutton has posed with the opposition infrastructure spokesperson, Bridget McKenzie, and local Liberal candidates for several nearby seats including McEwen, Hawke and Gordon. They’ve been standing alongside a printed map of the rail link.
But where we are, well to the north of Melbourne, isn’t actually on this map and the rail link won’t go this far north. The photo op was apparently chosen for this location because it has a nice view of a valley, and aeroplanes (from the airport, you see) fly past in the distance. One of the candidates says there’s usually more planes flying past – only one or two zoom over as we stand on the hill.
Before Dutton arrives, the local candidates and McKenzie gather around the map, talking about the announcement. The media asks where we are on the map – there’s an awkward moment before one of the candidates concedes our physical location is not on this map.
Another journo asks why we’re here, if the rail link doesn’t go here. “Because that’s what our advancers told us to do,” McKenzie says.
Dutton’s press conference will start shortly.
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More context on Malinauskas nuclear power comments
Just circling back to Peter Malinauskas’ comments about nuclear power to provide a bit more context.
The popular SA premier has previously stated he was not ideologically-opposed to nuclear power and has decried the “culture war debate” that surrounds it.
He does, however, believe the technology is uneconomic for Australia – a position he re-stated firmly today’s press conference.
Malinauskas’ willingness to at least engage in the nuclear discussion sets him apart from his federal Labor colleagues and has drawn praise from the opposition leader, Peter Dutton, whose proposal to build nuclear reactors at seven sites nationwide is friendless among state leaders.
Dutton’s nuclear plan includes a small-modular reactor in SA at the Northern Power Station in Port Augusta. SA has no state-based nuclear bans (unlike other states), meaning a Dutton government would have one less barrier to clear to build that reactor.
But any hope Dutton might have had about working with Malinaukas were dashed today. Malinauskas said:
Why would any premier of any jurisdiction around the country support a plan to make electricity more expensive in households, in business? When we talk about cost of living, there is little doubt that energy is top of mind for all Australians. Peter Dutton has a plan to make it more expensive.
I can’t be clearer about it. His plan would make electricity and energy prices for South Australia more expensive and there is not a month of Sundays we would support a plan to do that.
Canadian anti-trans activist meets with MPs and senators during Australian visit
A Canadian anti-trans activist claims to have met with 20 MPs and senators during his current visit to Australia as he fights the eSafety commissioner about the removal of an X post alleged to have bullied a trans man.
Chris Elston, also known as Billboard Chris, is giving evidence in the administrative review tribunal this morning about the context of his tweet that eSafety ordered X to remove last year.
He was asked about his activism in Australia Trans rights have yet to be a major focus of the election campaign, but Elston told the hearing he had met about 20 MPs and senators in Australia since he arrived in the country.
He said he had encountered physical and verbal abuse, as he walked the streets carrying signs agains trans rights.
Elston says his activism is focused against “gender ideology”, which he says is “a quasi-religious belief that teaches we all have something called a gender identity”.
The hearing continues.
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Labor, Greens warn Dutton’s education comments are from Trump’s playbook
Here’s some more reaction to Dutton’s remarks on Sky last night, that conditions should be put on education funding for the states, and that students should not be taught a “woke agenda”.
Dutton has also questioned why the federal education department has thousands of staff considering the commonwealth doesn’t operate schools.
People ask why [there is] a department of thousands and thousands of people in Canberra called the education department, if we don’t have a school and don’t employ a teacher.
As Josh Butler reported earlier, Dutton’s comments come with a whiff of the Trump administration’s DOGE agenda, which has cut hundreds of millions of dollars from the US federal education department.
The education minister, Jason Clare, says the idea has been copied from the US.
Peter Dutton has no ideas of his own, no plan for Australia, just half-baked ideas imported from the US.
Greens education spokesperson Penny Allman-Payne made similar criticisms.
He’s [Dutton’s] seen what Trump is doing to public education in America and would love nothing more than to import that ideology into Australia. This is seriously dangerous and weird stuff.
The Liberals are fundamentally opposed to public schools – they’d prefer all schools to be fee-charging private schools. They don’t get that education is a right.
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Treasurer Jim Chalmers backs Albanese’s comments about US trade demands
Labor’s compulsory food and grocery code of conduct begins today, and Jim Chalmers is talking about what else the party has done to stem rising food costs (he mentions legislation on mergers, and the commitment for the ACCC and Treasury to look at potential supermarket price gouging).
The code was voluntary, and relates to how supermarkets deal with their suppliers, and that it should be in good faith.
Chalmers is also asked about the three areas of concern Albanese mentioned during his earlier press conference – and that the US administration has singled out in its trade report.
He reiterates Albanese’s line that those sectors and products are not up for negotiation.
The PBS is not up for negotiation. The news media bargaining code is about implementing an existing law that was implemented some years ago by our predecessors. And so we know there’s been a piece of work come out overnight from the US; obviously there will be further developments … I want to make it very clear to every Australian, we will continue to stand up for and speak up for Australia’s interests.
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Dutton lands in Melbourne, expect more about Coalition’s Victoria infrastructure funding plans
The Dutton campaign has landed in Melbourne, and we are heading north from the airport, to the electorate of Calwell – held by retiring Labor member Maria Vamvakinou.
The morning will include a press conference and a photo op, which we assume may be related to the Coalition policy on the airport rail link.
More to come.
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Bradfield independent candidate apologies for allegedly making sexual joke at Sydney hairdressing salon
The independent candidate for Bradfield Nicolette Boele has apologised for allegedly making a sexual joke at a hairdressing salon in Sydney.
Boele, who is standing for the Sydney seat held by the Liberals, and is backed by Climate 200, allegedly told the 19-year-old female hairdresser that her hair wash “was so good and I didn’t even have sex with you”.
2GB radio initially reported the story and said the candidate has been banned from the salon.
Boele has apologised, saying in a statement:
It was a poor attempt at humour and I’ve apologised. Everyone deserves to feel respected in their workplace and I’ll do better.
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Just a hint of Musk: Dutton ponders role of federal education department
Peter Dutton had briefly touched on this topic before, near the end of his budget reply speech last Thursday. He said the Coalition would “restore a curriculum that teaches the core fundamentals in our classrooms. A curriculum that cultivates critical thinking, responsible citizenship, and common sense”.
He spoke more broadly on Monday night, but didn’t use the word “woke”, as the audience member did. He said also the federal government could “try and influence” the state governments about what schools teach.
And I think that’s a debate that we need to hear more from parents on. I think there is a silent majority on this issue right across the community.
Dutton began his answer in saying the federal education department employs “thousands and thousands of people” but “doesn’t own or run a school”.
Which is why people ask ‘why is there is a department of thousands and thousands of people in Canberra called the education department if we don’t have a school to employ a teacher?
He didn’t specifically say he’d cut staff from that department, but questions remain about how the Liberals could meet their pledge to cut 41,000 public servants without touching “frontline” service delivery (such as welfare or support claims processing) as Dutton has pledged.
Dutton’s quote on Monday about the education department has tinges of Donald Trump and his adviser Elon Musk, with their “Department of Government Efficiency” push, which includes the possibility of dismantling the federal education department.
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Dutton implies universities pushing ‘woke’ agenda into school curriculums
Peter Dutton has suggested the federal government should put conditions on education funding for the states that students not be taught a “woke agenda”.
The Liberal leader has alsohinted he could target the education department as part of his plans to remove 41,000 public servants, musing that there are “thousands” of people employed in the federal education department but that the federal government doesn’t “have a school” and doesn’t employ a teacher.
Dutton joined a Sky News “pub test” with host Paul Murray, in his electorate of Dickson in Brisbane, last night. It was his second visit to his electorate in the first three days of his campaign. A Liberal-friendly crowd of supporters asked questions about defence, housing, national security, the economy and the cost of living.
The final question, asked by a woman who described Dutton as “the future prime minister”, was: “what will the Coalition do to tackle the woke agendas that are being pushed through our education system?”.
We do provide funding to the state governments and we can condition that funding, and we should be saying to the states and we should be saying to those that are receiving that funding, that we want our kids to be taught the curriculum and we want our kids to be taught what it is they need to take on as they face the challenges of the world, and not be guided into some sort of an agenda that’s come out of universities,” he said.
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Dutton’s infrastructure funding plans create more questions than answers
We’re waiting for Peter Dutton to touch down in Melbourne but after the Victorian premier, Jacinta Allan, held a press conference we are left with more questions about his plans to scrap funding for the suburban rail loop and redirect the money to the Melbourne Airport train line.
The first question is a simple one: Where’s the money going? Dutton has promised that, if elected, he will withdraw $2.2bn in federal funding that was previously allocated for SRL East, the first stage of the project. Additionally, he plans to pull $2bn from a proposed $4bn upgrade to Sunshine station and its surrounding rail yards – funding that was a joint commitment between the federal and state governments and intended to support the airport rail project.
Allan today described the Sunshine works as “stage one” of Melbourne Airport Rail and vital to connecting the line to regional Victoria as well as the CBD.
So far, that adds up to $4.2bn saved from cutting funding to two projects. But Dutton has only committed an additional $1.5bn to the Melbourne Airport rail project, with the expectation that a future Coalition government in Victoria would match that amount. What happens to the remaining $2.7bn saved?
And, if the Coalition doesn’t win the Victorian state election, how will the funding plan be affected?
Finally, if the upgrade work at Sunshine station isn’t finished, how will that affect the progress of the airport rail project?
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Albanese worried about social cohesion, wants Australia to be a ‘microcosm’ of world’s diversity
Anthony Albanese says he’s concerned about social cohesion, after MPs wereheckled at mosques in recent weeks.
Yesterday, Liberal MP Jason Wood was heckled by protesters at a mosque where he was announcing $6.5m for the Afghan community.
Albanese said he wants Australia to be a microcosm for the world where people of all faiths can “live next door to each other and enrich diversity by the respect that we show to each other”.
I’m concerned about social cohesion. Social cohesion is really important. Elections come and go. Do you know what stays? Our commitment to multiculturalism, our commitment to respect each other.
We live in really uncertain times, and I want us to be a microcosm for the world that can show that people of Catholic, Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist and no religion can live next door to each other.
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Albanese says he will ‘stand up for Australia’s national interests’ in trade talks with US
Back to the tariffs, Anthony Albanese says negotiations are still taking place between the US and Australia.
He says “they have put positions to us, we have put decisions to them”.
But there appears to be no sign so far about what the outcome of those decisions could be, or whether Australia will secure a carve out on the tariffs from the last round on steel and aluminium, or the next round that will be announced in more detail this week.
Albanese reiterates that the three areas of concern are Australia’s news bargaining code, pharmaceuticals and bio security and they are non-negotiable.
There is a lot of cooperation and discussion, a lot of commonality going forward, but I have said, in the document that was released by the United States overnight, just to name three [issues] … pharmaceuticals, bargaining code, bio security, I will stand up for Australia’s national interests.
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South Australian premier rules out support for Dutton’s nuclear power plan
Premier Peter Malinauskas, who has previously been open to the idea of nuclear energy, is asked whether he’d be prepared to work with the Coalition on its plan.
Nup!
Malinauskas says the Coalition’s plan would increase energy prices across the state.
Why would any premier of any jurisdiction around the country support a plan to make electricity more expensive in households, in business? When we talk about cost of living, there is little doubt that energy is top of mind for all Australians. Peter Dutton has a plan to make it more expensive.
I can’t be clearer about it. His plan would make electricity and energy prices for South Australia more expensive and there is not a month of Sundays we would support a plan to do that.
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Albanese takes a dig at Dutton’s work from home policy, says Canberra is the PM’s office not Kirribilli
Responding to Peter Dutton’s announcement he will cancel $2bn in funding for Victoria’s Suburban Rail Loop and invest $1.5bn in Melbourne’s airport rail instead, Anthony Albanese said both projects fit together to help people in Ballarat, Bendigo and Geelong and parts of Melbourne get to the airport.
He then takes a shot at infrastructure funding under the Coalition:
When it comes to infrastructure, as you may well recall, under the former government, at one stage, Victoria is getting between 7% and 8% of national infrastructure expenditure. They represent one in four Australians.
Melbourne was Australia’s fastest growing city and they got completely neglected by three prime ministers who saw themselves as the prime minister for Sydney.
It provides a nice segue to an attack on former Liberal prime ministers who lived at Kirribilli House in Sydney instead of at the lodge in Canberra.
I will give him [Dutton] a tip: working from home is what he says he is against. Well, the office is in Canberra. Parliament House is in Canberra. I live in Canberra.
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Albanese coy about details of next phone call with Trump about tariffs
Tomorrow is so-called ‘liberation day’ in the US when another round of tariffs comes into effect.
A reporter asks Albanese about comments he made in 2017 that “Donald Trump scares the shit out of me”.
Albanese won’t bite on whether he’s still scared, or what exactly scares him and says:
I have a constructive relationship with the president and I have had two very constructive phone calls with him.
On when there will be a third phone call, Albanese says, “The US is putting forward a position, we are putting forward a position. What happens is that phone calls come together when things are agreed.”
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Albanese: news bargaining code, pharmaceuticals and bio-security ‘not up for negotiation’ with US
Next, Albanese is asked about a trade report from the US with a list of grievances the US Trump administration has with Australia.
Albanese says there are three areas of concern: the news bargaining code (which affects US social media companies such as Meta), pharmaceuticals and bio-security.
Albanese says those issues are “not up for negotiation”.
The idea that we would weaken bio-security laws is like cutting off your nose to spite your face. In order to defend the exports that total less than 5% of Australia’s exports, you undermine our bio security system. Not on my watch.
He says discussions are continuing.
Foreign Minister Penny Wong also gets a question on the US after it cut of USAID.
Wong says there was an increase in aid according to indexation.
We have reshaped the aid budget to reflect Australia’s security circumstances we live in and to reflect the reality of the USA cuts. The vast majority of Australian aid goes to the Pacific and south-east Asia because it is in this region Australia’s security interests lie.
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PM responds to Coalition’s announcement on lending rules
Anthony Albanese says it’s “hard” to work out exactly what the Coalition is promising – if you want to see more of the details from the announcement, you can have a look here.
On what Labor is doing for young first home buyers, Albanese says the government has told banks not to take HECS debts into account, and has pledged (if Labor wins next month), to cut student debts by 20%.
He also says the latest tax cut will help young people who are working part-time (the tax cut lowers the tax bracket to between $18,201 and $45,000).
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Albanese spruiks his government’s success in lowering inflation
The first question to Albanese is about interest rates – the expectation is that there won’t be a cut from the reserve bank today.
The PM is asked where this leaves households who are still struggling.
Australians know that inflation had a 6 in front of it when we were elected. It peaked at 7.8% in 2022 and today it’s at 2.4%. It’s in the bottom half of the Reserve Bank band. We have worked hard with the Australian people. Australians have worked hard to get those inflation rates down because we know that it has been punishing.
Albanese plugs his party’s cost of living measures – like tax cuts, free Tafe – and wage increases.
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Albanese reminds voters of Dutton’s health policy history
Despite the copy and paste approach we’ve seen so far on healthcare (the Liberals matching Labor’s commitments dollar-for-dollar, including this morning’s announcement), Anthony Albanese is still trying to paint the Coalition as bad for the healthcare system, and bad for medicare.
Labor has gone in hard, attacking the Coalition’s healthcare policy history with a heavy focus on Peter Dutton’s time as health minister.
Albanese also points to the “stark contrast” between the Australian medicare system, and the US healthcare system.
We know what Peter Dutton thinks about health. When he was the health minister, we had $50bn cut from hospitals. He attempted to introduce a tax every time people visit a GP and therefore abolish bulk billing altogether. He attempted to put in a tax every time people visited the emergency department of a hospital and he introduced legislation to try to increase the cost of pharmaceuticals by $5.
His comments are backed by South Australia’s popular premier Peter Malinauskas .
Malinauskas says this would be the “worst possible time” to have a commonwealth government cut healthcare.
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Albanese: Vital that Medicare be strengthened, not underminded
The PM is speaking now in Adelaide, spruiking the $150m announcement in conjunction with Flinders University, for a facility that will help train health professionals and be able to treat up to 10,000 patients a year.
This is a comprehensive plan going forward …
It is absolutely vital that, at this election, we strengthen Medicare rather than undermine it.
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Allan: Dutton funding cuts will leave train travel and regional passengers ‘stranded at the platform’
Dutton also announced he would withdraw $2bn in funding from a proposed $4bn upgrade of Sunshine station, which Allan says is vital to ensuring Melbourne Airport connects to regional Victoria:
What he’s announced today, amounts to a cut to funding, a cut to the Sunshine station project, and what that means is it will leave train travel stranded at the platform. It’ll leave regional passengers stranded because building Sunshine is all about making sure regional communities can connect to airport rail, and it sends a very loud message to the Melton community that you can forget about electrification under a Peter Dutton government because of his cuts to the Sunshine station project.
Allan says Dutton’s proposal for $1.5bn for the airport also rests on the assumption that it will be matched by a state Coalition government.
She also says the federal Coalition has’t made clear if it will cancel SRL or put it on hold.
Allan says the Coalition has form – it did not provide any funding to the Metro Tunnel, which is set to open this year:
My approach to whoever is in government, will be to fight for Victoria’s fair share of infrastructure funding – that has been how I’ve operated every single day …
We’ve heard this before. We’ve seen this before. What Peter Dutton has announced today is entirely believable because he’s done it before. He took money off Metro Tunnel. We didn’t get anywhere near our fair share of infrastructure funding when Peter Dutton sat at the cabinet table and he’s announced today that he will do it all again.
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Michael Sukkar pushes Coalition position of easing mortgage serviceability buffer
Earlier this morning, the Coalition announced it wanted to see the serviceability buffer changed, and would work with APRA – the body that makes the rules – to do that.
Michael Sukkar was on RN Breakfast explaining the policy and said industry bodies told the Coalition that if the current rate of 3% was lowered to 2.5%, which was the rate before 2001, that could open up tens of thousands of opportunities for homebuyers.
Just a recap here – what the buffer does is make banks consider whether you could repay your mortgage if the rate was 3% higher than it currently is – which APRA describes as a “contingency” if the rates go higher over the period of your loan.
Sukkar said the rules should be more flexible.
I think most Australians could understand a high serviceability rate when the cash rate was 0.1% during Covid but now that we have elevated interest rates, a serviceability buffer that hasn’t remained flexible with those changes is just blocking first home buyers …
Estimates from the industry is that nearly 40% of potential first home buyers are not able to get finance for a loan, and therefore unable to buy a house, because primarily that serviceability buffer is now at 3%.
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Victorian premier: Dutton’s rail loop funding cut will hurt commuters, workers
The Victorian premier, Jacinta Allan, is holding a press conference at parliament this morning following Peter Dutton’s announcement he would cancel $2bn in funding for the Suburban Rail Loop project and spend $1.5bn on Melbourne Airport rail instead.
She says the announcement is akin to a cut. Allan says:
Well, it’s April Fools’ Day today but Peter Dutton’s cuts to Victoria are no joke. Peter Dutton has announced today that he will cut funding to the vital projects that Victorians want, the projects that Victorians need, projects that support jobs.
His cuts will cut thousands of jobs, but those job cuts also mean cuts to the pay packets of those workers, cuts to those families’ household budgets. .
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What do the people of Adelaide want from this election? We find out for you
We’ve been bringing you some great stories about how people are feeling in different parts of the country. Today, we report from Adelaide, where the PM is this morning.
What are the challenges facing people in Adelaide? How are they feeling? Guardian Australia reporter Tory Shepherd visited the city of churches to find out.
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Day five: Albanese kicks off with a visit to Adelaide marginal seat, Boothby
We’re off and running on day five of the federal election campaign, with Anthony Albanese starting in the seat of Boothby in Adelaide’s southern suburbs.
The prime minister will visit also the Flinders hospital precinct this morning to commit $150m for a new healthcare centre.
The shadow health minister, Anne Ruston, quickly matched the pledge this morning, continuing the Coalition’s record of going dollar-for-dollar with Labor on health spending promises this campaign.
Albanese is trying to sandbag Boothby with Labor MP Louise Miller-Frost under threat from Nicolle Flint, who wants her old seat back after quitting parliament in 2021.
The seat sits on a notional margin of 3.2%.
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Julie Bishop: election could result in a hung parliament
Julie Bishop has largely kept herself away from the media pack since leaving parliament, and it seems she’s keen to stay out of the political commentary.
News Breakfast host James Glenday gives it a red hot crack, asking her whether the Coalition has clawed back enough support from female voters.
Bishop says her focus has not been on the election campaign:
If I am to believe the polls – and now that I’m out of politics I can assure you that politicians follow the polls very carefully – it would appear [to be] a close contest, maybe even a hung parliament and there have only been a few of those in federal history. It could be an interesting one to watch.
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Julie Bishop: getting foreign aid into Myanmar could be difficult
Former Liberal foreign minister Julie Bishop, now the special envoy of the special counsel on Myanmar, has joined ABC News Breakfast, and described the earthquake that hit Myanmar.
Bishop says she was in Bangkok at the time (1,000km away from Myanmar), which also declared a state of emergency because.
I was in a high-rise building and it was swaying and creaking and you could hear concrete cracking. It was terrifying. I, along with thousands of others, evacuated all buildings in Bangkok and gathered in a park until the aftershock passed so you can just imagine the impact in Myanmar.
It’s been really challenging getting humanitarian aid into the country, Bishop says, and that’s not been made easier by the freezing of foreign aid by the Trump administration, before the earthquake occurred.
I was in Bangladesh about two weeks ago when the USAID freeze was announced and the impact on the refugee camp, Cox’s Bazar, where there are about a million Rohingya ethnic refugees, I know the impact was profound.
So I understand that the Trump administration has provided a couple of million in support but I don’t know how easy it will be for the administration to get it into Myanmar.
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Coalition matches Labor’s health funding announcement in Adelaide
Speaking to Nova Adelaide, Anthony Albanese says Labor’s announcement in Adelaide this morning is a “cracker”.
What it will be able to do is to have 1,300 work-ready graduates each year. So, 490 nurses, 250 social workers, 100 paramedics, physios, more than 50 midwives …
What we need is more health professionals, and we need more facilities for people to be able to get that care. This facility will be able to treat 100 patients at any [one] time.
Over on News Breakfast a short time ago, shadow health minister Anne Ruston promised the Coalition would match the $150m commitment from the federal government for the facility, and partner with Flinders university.
We were always prepared to support it so we will absolutely commit to supporting the $150m of the $300m to build this health hub precinct. It’s a great project.
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Jason Clare: Dutton’s nuclear plan will take funds from critical infrastructure such as trains
A little earlier, Labor education minister Jason Clare was asked about the Coalition’s plan to scrap federal funding for Victoria’s suburban rail loop if it wins government.
I think you ask anyone in the country, do we need to invest more in critical infrastructure? And they’ll say yes. I think what this tells you is that Peter Dutton has already begun the task of cutting to help fund the $600bn that he needs to build nuclear reactors. It won’t just be rail loops, it won’t just be roads.
But host Sally Sara pointed out – more than once – that there’s still uncertainty on how the whole project will be paid for, and that Infrastructure Australia has low confidence the project can be delivered.
Clare skirts the question and sticks to why the government should be investing more in infrastructure and how the Coalition is pulling money out of it.
What we should be doing is investing in the sort of key infrastructure that Australians need to get around their cities … and the fact that Peter Dutton wants to cut funding to infrastructure, whether it’s road or whether it’s rail, gives you just a small insight, Sally, into what’s ahead if he ever becomes prime minister.
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Dutton says mortgage serviceability buffer too tough
Staying on housing, Peter Dutton has promised to change the ‘serviceability buffer’ to make it easier for first home buyers to enter the housing market.
What’s a serviceability buffer?
The buffer sits at 3% and requires banks to consider whether a potential mortgage holder could continue to pay their mortgage repayments if interest rates rose.
The Coalition says the system is “locking” Australians out of home ownership, and it said it will tell APRA to consider the impact those rules have, especially on first home buyers.
It would also require the regulator to adjust the capital treatment of loans backed by mortgage insurance by rewriting the statement of expectations.
In November last year, a Senate committee report made a recommendation for APRA to prepare guidelines for a lower buffer just for first home buyers that could be adjusted based on the economic cycle. It stated:
Australian Prudential Regulation Authority to prepare prudential guidelines for a lower first home buyer serviceability buffer that can be adjusted responsively to the economic cycle and to support financial stability settings within APRA’s prudential standards.
The report was chaired by Liberal senator Andrew Bragg, but a dissenting report by government senators said the recommendation to change the buffer would be “asking those who are more often in a financially insecure position to take on increased risks”.
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Homeowners hold their breath ahead of today’s RBA cash rate decision
After interest rates were lowered for the first time in almost five years in February, mortgage holders might look like April Fools predicting a second cut, AAP reports.
The Reserve Bank will hand down its latest decision about the cash rate today – the first time the board has met since it reduced interest rates to 4.1% in February.
While economists have forecasted mortgage repayments to be lowered by the central bank several times in 2025, the April meeting is unlikely to shift the dial.
The two-day meeting, which began on Monday, will be the first time an interest rate decision will be made by the Reserve Bank’s monetary policy board as part of reforms to the central bank.
Real estate advertising company REA Group’s senior economist Eleanor Creagh said while conditions showed future interest rate cuts were on the cards, there would not be a further reduction in April as the central bank was being cautious.
Inflation is moderating, with both headline and underlying measures easing further, reflecting the significant progress in bringing domestic inflation back under control.
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Butler: Coalition’s plan to increase subsidised psychologist sessions will create bottlenecks
Despite Labor’s big health-focused campaign, mental health hasn’t receive much attention in the budget and on the election campaign trail, so far.
Butler says increasing the number of subsidised psychologist sessions from 10 to 20 (like the Coalition is promising) would create bottlenecks in the system.
The problem is, you can’t double the number of sessions without doubling the number of psychologists … You create bottle necks that mean a whole lot of people go without care. We’ve been busy training more psychologists.
It’s always had a cap on 10 sessions. Generally, the average is about four to sixsessions that people use. The former government introduced a higher cap for a fixed period of time, for the Covid lockdown periods, that’s all.
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Mark Butler: Labor making it easier to recruit doctors from overseas
The health Minister, Mark Butler, has been right beside Albanese so far in the campaign, with the strong focus on health and hospital funding.
He’s on ABC News Breakfast this morning spruiking more hospital fundingin his home town of Adelaide.
Earlier this year, the government announced $8.5bn in funding for bulk billing, to raise the rate to 90% by the end of the decade. But how will Australians get to see a doctor if there’s a shortage of GPs?
We need more doctors. We added 17,000 new doctors to the system in the last two years … But we need more. This year, we’re training more junior doctors to become GPs than we have ever done in Australia. But we need more.
We’re making it easier to recruit doctors, in particular, from jurisdictions we’re very confident in – UK, Ireland, New Zealand – where we know their training regimes are pretty much exactly the same as ours.
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Dutton only thinking about ‘putting our positive plan on the table’, Bridget McKenzie says
There’s more reaction this morning to Peter Dutton’s comments yesterday about living in Kirribilli as PM (I mean, who wouldn’t want a waterfront Sydney home … sigh).
Marles repeats the “measuring the curtains” line and says, sure Sydney is nice, but it’s no Geelong, is it (where Marles resides)?
I mean, it’s no secret, he’s been wandering around measuring the curtains. On any given Sunday, you’ll see Peter sneaking around the ministerial wing, working out where he’s going to put his pot plants. And he’s been doing this for a while now, and now he’s worked out which house he’s going to live in.
Over on the Today show a bit earlier, Nationals senator Bridget McKenzie took a slightly different tack …
We’re focused each and every day on actually getting out in front of the Australian people and putting our positive plan on the table … So that’s all Dutton’s thinking about. It’s all I’m thinking about, it’s all Angus is thinking about.
We’ve just got to get in front of the Australian people with our positive plan for their future, not where we’re going to live after the election.
(But there’s been at least some thoughts on where they’re going to be living after the election …)
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Will Labor make a deal with the Greens? No, says Marles
After Anthony Albanese’s double negative gaffe yesterday (which quickly got cut up and then blew up on the Liberals’ social media accounts) Richard Marles is asked to rule out a deal between the two parties.
We’re not doing a deal with the Greens, absolutely. There’s no world in which we are doing a deal with the greens. Absolutely, unequivocal, no deal with the Greens.
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Marles talks tough on borders and people smuggling
Richard Marles is trying to shut down any debate about border policy (something that the Coalition has previously used to gain an upper hand over Labor on national security).
Both parties say they follow ‘operation sovereign borders’, which includes boat turnbacks and the underlying principle that no asylum seekers arriving by boat will settle in Australia.
Marles told 2GB:
We need to be as tough as it’s possible to be on our borders. I mean, one of the things that’s really clear is that strong borders actually enhance government action. There’s nothing good or generous about having weak borders, because all that does is empower criminal syndicates and people smugglers.
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Marles: Important not to ‘overreact’ to Chinese research vessel
Deputy PM and defence minister, Richard Marles, says a Chinese research vessel is still in Australian waters, but we should take a “step back” and a “deep breath” as authorities continue to monitor it.
Marles told 2GB radio the research vessel has been doing work with New Zealand – a close ally – and the government has a “good understanding” of what the ship is and what it’s up to.
I think we need to just have a step back here and take a bit of a deep breath. We are closely monitoring it ... the lead here is the Australian Border Force …
Well, my point really is we’ve got a pretty close relationship with New Zealand, so we do have a close sense of, or a good understanding of what the ship is. But it’s important that we react properly and that we do not overreact.
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Bowen lashes Coalition’s gas reservation plan
The energy minister, Chris Bowen, has criticised the Coalition’s gas reservation plan that the opposition leader, Peter Dutton, unveiled last week as a flagship election policy to bring down power bills.
Bowen, speaking to the ABC’s 7:30 program last night, said the Coalition’s plan was “clearly being done on the run” and is “falling apart with the most basic of scrutiny”.
Bowen said:
They’ve taken a Morrison policy and reheated it in the microwave. That’s problem No. 1, gas. The gas-fired recovery was announced by Angus Taylor in 2020. The day that he did that energy gas prices were $4 a gigajoule, by the time of the election, they were $34.70. Well done Angus. That’s the carbon copy of what they’re doing today.
Secondly, briefly, they say 100 petajoules is the answer. Well, we’ve introduced 640 through our gas code of conduct.
And thirdly, their nuclear modelling, which they have sung about, is based on very little gas use, a dramatic reduction in gas use, and now they’re saying we’re going to have much more gas. So either their policy today works or their nuclear modelling has fallen apart. They both can’t be true.
There seem to be more questions than answers about Peter Dutton’s energy policy, so read more about what’s happening with our explainer here:
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Albanese’s approval rating takes a hit in Guardian Essential poll – but Labor inches ahead of Coalition
Our first Guardian Essential poll of the election period provides some decent news for Anthony Albanese this morning with the regular survey showing the Labor party ahead of the Coalition on a two-party-plus basis.
The downside for him is that his own approval rating has slipped, although so has his rival Peter Dutton’s making it a bit of least-worst type of contest so far.
Full story here:
You can also check out our poll tracker:
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Good morning,
Krishani Dhanji here with you, as we journey across the country with party leaders who are desperately vying for your vote.
Anthony Albanese is still travelling on the healthcare wagon – with another hospital announcement, this time in the marginal South Australian seat of Boothby, which Labor won from the Liberals in 2022 for the first time in more than 50 years.
Meanwhile, Peter Dutton will be in Victoria – a state the Coalition needs to gain seats in with an infrastructure announcement (it wouldn’t be an election campaign without billions of dollars promised for roads and footy fields, would it?)
So, buckle up and keep following us through all the action!
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The fight for Boothby and Sturt in South Australia
More from Dan who is travelling with the prime minister today.
The Flinders hospital precinct sits within the federal electorate of Boothby, which along with Sturt in Adelaide’s eastern suburbs, is the state’s most hotly contested seat.
Labor’s Louise Miller-Frost won Boothby in 2022 but faces a strong challenge from former Liberal MP Nicolle Flint, who wants her old seat back after quitting parliament in 2021.
In Sturt, Liberal James Stevens is under serious threat from Labor, the Greens and a Climate 200-backed teal independent.
Labor’s federal candidates will be hoping to benefit from the popularity of the SA premier, Peter Malinauskas, who is expected to appear with Albanese and Butler at the press conference today.
Dutton pledges Melbourne airport rail cash
Peter Dutton will today pledge an extra $1.5bn to the Melbourne airport rail link, on a campaign visit to Victoria.
The Liberal leader says, if he were elected at the 3 May poll, he would cancel the $2bn federal commitment to Victoria’s contentious Suburban Rail Loop – which he called an “unfunded, cruel hoax of a project” – and instead prioritise the airport connection.
“The airport rail link is a long overdue piece of transport infrastructure vital to the future growth of Melbourne, and a Coalition government at both levels of representation will make it a reality,” Dutton said in a statement with shadow infrastructure minister Bridget McKenzie.
“Melbourne deserves a world-class gateway and we can provide that in partnership with Melbourne Airport and a willing Victorian Government by delivering a first class rail connection to the CBD.”
Dutton said “a future Victorian Liberals and Nationals government” would also kick in another $1.5bn itself. While the tide of opinion may be turning against the state Labor government, Victoria has been ruled by Labor since 2014, with the Liberal opposition losing three elections in a row.
“Once delivered it is estimated the airport rail link will carry 6,600 passengers per hour from the first day of operation. It will also make it easier and more efficient for staff working at the airport precinct to get to and from work each day,” Dutton’s statement continued.
“A Dutton Coalition government will prioritise the Melbourne airport rail link and cancel the Albanese government’s $2.2bn commitment towards Jacinta Allan’s $200bn Suburban Rail Loop which is an unfunded, cruel hoax of a project.”
Albanese to announce $150m for new healthcare centre at Flinders hospital in Adelaide
Anthony Albanese will start day five of the election campaign in Adelaide armed with more cash for the public health system.
After pledging $200m for a Perth hospital upgrade on Monday, Albanese will on Tuesday commit $150m in federal funding for a new healthcare centre at Flinders hospital in Adelaide’s southern suburbs.
Flinders University will contribute $150m towards the centre, which will double as a clinic for patients and training ground for budding healthcare professionals.
Health has been the theme of the first week of the Labor campaign as Albanese and his health minister, Mark Butler, attempt to hype up the alleged threat Peter Dutton poses to Medicare.
For the record, Dutton has so far matched Labor’s major health commitments, even one-upping the government’s $8.5bn package to boost bulk-billing with an extra $500m for mental health.
That hasn’t stopped Butler, in particular, from claiming Dutton would introduce a US-style user-pays healthcare system if he wins the 3 May election.
Butler said:
Everything in Peter Dutton’s record tells us that he will start by cutting Medicare and he won’t stop there. He will cut everything except your taxes.
Welcome
Good morning and welcome to our live news blog. I’m Martin Farrer with the top overnight stories and then it’ll be Krishani Dhanji with the main action.
We’re on the campaign trail with the leaders of the two main parties this morning and that means we’re in South Australia with Anthony Albanese, and in Victoria with Peter Dutton. The prime minister is expected to spruik $150m in federal funding for a new healthcare centre at Flinders hospital in Adelaide’s southern suburbs, while the centrepiece of the Coalition leader’s day will be a pledge to cough up $1.5bn in federal cash for the Melbourne airport rail link project.
The backdrop to these campaign stops is some mildly good poll news for Albanese on two fronts. First our own Guardian Essential poll of the current election period shows Labor has ticked ahead of the Coalition on a two-party-plus basis and although Albanese’s personal approval rating has dipped slightly, Dutton’s has also fallen. The poll overall shows that Labor would fall just short of a majority if the election were held today. However, a separate poll by Roy Morgan has Labor winning a clear majority. More on these polls coming up.
Part of Labor’s very well-timed upturn could be down to a slightly better economic outlook. With inflation continuing to fall and interest rates heading downwards for the first time since he took power, Albanese has been able to promote a different narrative in recent weeks. But there’s a flipside to interest rates heading down: reports from the two main property analytic firms today which show house prices beginning to rise again. The Reserve Bank is expected to keep the cash rate on hold when it meets today. We’ll have the verdict at 2.30pm.
Labor is continuing its attack on the Coalition’s energy policy, with Labor’s minister Chris Bowen lashing the gas reservation plan that the opposition leader unveiled last week as a flagship election policy to bring down power bills. Speaking on ABC’s 7.30 last night, Bowen said the policy was being made up “on the run” and was in any case just a reheated version of a policy floated by the Morrison government. More coming up, plus our own forensic look at the Coalition energy plan.
