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The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
National
Tory Shepherd and Amy Remeikis (earlier)

Albanese seizes on PM’s ‘bulldozer’ admission; Chinese spy ship off WA coast ‘an aggressive act’, minister says – as it happened

Coalition Labor Scott Morrison Sarah Martin BoM
Prime minister Scott Morrison
Prime minister Scott Morrison blows out candles on his birthday cake at the Beveridge Community Centre north of Melbourne on day 33 of the 2022 federal election campaign. Follow live news and updates. Photograph: Mick Tsikas/AAP

What a day! We met Scott Morrison 2.0 (the post-bulldozer period), we tried to work out how worried to be about a Chinese surveillance ship off the west coast, and we were introduced to the new chief minister of the Northern Territory, Natasha Fyles. Here are today’s main stories:

And so we roll into the weekend, but the fun won’t stop. The Liberal party will hold its campaign launch on Sunday in Sydney, as we head into the final week of this interminable election campaign. The blog won’t stop either, so see you back here tomorrow.

Updated

AAP reports that serial conman Peter Foster has been granted bail in a Queensland court:

Foster is facing a raft of charges after being arrested in Port Douglas in August 2020 over an alleged $2m bitcoin fraud.

He was granted bail in NSW in March 2021 but was declared a fugitive after he failed to appear in a Sydney court in May that year.

After six months of freedom, Foster was arrested for the second time at a Victorian winery near Gisborne in December.

The 59-year-old was extradited to Queensland where he was charged with five counts of fraud, two counts of obtaining or dealing with identification information and one count of falsifying records.

A long-haired Foster appeared briefly by video link in Southport magistrates court on Friday as his legal team made an application for bail.

Defence barrister, Russell Pearce, said it would be “churlish in the extreme” to suggest there was no risk that the so-called “international man of mischief” might not appear in court. He said:

He is probably a man who has dined out at times on his notoriety.

A Media Watch report showing Nine Network’s footage of Foster’s dramatic arrest on Four Mile Beach at Port Douglas in August 2020 was played to the court as Pearce argued it was a media set-up.

He alleged in court the event was orchestrated by Nine and private investigator, Ken Gamble, who he claimed had a financial interest to promote his own business and was directly credited in reports for “getting his man”.

Crown prosecutor, Christopher Cook, strongly objected to bail, describing the application as “simply breathtaking”:

He has been convicted of dishonesty offences on 11 occasions in four different countries and at least in three states in Australia.

He has used 20 different aliases.

He insisted Foster was a “significant risk” of failing to appear, interfering with witnesses or obstructing the course of justice.

Magistrate Janice Crawford granted Foster bail, ordering he live with his sister at Mount Tamborine in the Gold Coast hinterland.

Foster must also wear a tracking device, surrender his passport, not approach any airport, and report three times a week to the police.

Foster is due to reappear in Southport court in June.

The South Australian government is contemplating following Victoria’s move and banning the Nazi symbol.

That discussion comes as neo-Nazis letterbox SA homes, the ABC reports:

The distribution of racist and white supremacist propaganda to Adelaide homes is being investigated by police, amid reports of letterbox drops of material in the lead-up to the federal election.

Residents in parts of Adelaide have reported receiving flyers from the neo-Nazi group European Australian Movement, which include a call to action and racist messaging.

Updated

Here are some more details about the flooding crisis in Queensland, from Stephanie Convery, Joe Hinchliffe and agencies:

Labor’s defence spokesman, Brendan O’Connor, has issued a statement on that Chinese naval vessel. Labor is still seeking a full briefing:

Labor shares concerns that a People’s Liberation Army-Navy Vessel has been conducting surveillance operations off Australia’s west coast.

We note a concerning pattern of behaviour from the PLA Navy of intelligence ships entering Australia’s exclusive economic zone.

I have had a preliminary conversation with the defence minister, and have sought a more comprehensive briefing.

Josh Butler on the machinery of party politics:

Second in the world:

And here’s an explainer about why Australia’s caseload is so high:

That First Dog is such a good boy. Wait, where did my democracy sausage get stuck?!

Josh Butler presents a cast of characters for you in today’s election briefing. There’s the real Julia (v2.0), Kim Jong-Un, Tommy the Turtle, Darude ... and it was Scott Morrison’s birthday:

Updated

Hundreds of Queenslanders have fled to higher ground or been rescued from flood waters and thousands remain on alert as severe thunderstorms lash the state’s south-east, AAP reports:

A massive low-pressure trough has been dumping intense rainfall – up to 160mm in six hours – on the Brisbane, Ipswich, Lockyer Valley, Darling Downs, Moreton Bay, Sunshine Coast, Wide Bay-Burnett, Bundaberg and Gladstone regions.

The Bureau of Meteorology has issued major flood warnings for the Condamine, Logan and Bremer rivers and Warrill, Laidley and Lockyer creeks.

On Friday night the system is moving north over the region between Caboolture and Gladstone - including Maroochydore, Gympie, Bundaberg, Cooroy, Nambour and Rainbow Beach.

All the latest details are here.

Updated

Today’s Campaign catchup has landed! I took one for the team, and spent some time wallowing around in election campaign advertising. Here’s Jane Lee grilling me:

Waters says she reckons the Greens will pick up three new senators, and maybe even a lower house seat.

Updated

Greens senator Larissa Waters says they’ve known the ship was there for a few days, and she’s “suspicious” about the timing of the announcement. The government is “desperate” to make people “scared”, she says:

It’s somewhat interesting timing that we’ve had not one, but two press conferences today to tell people how scared they should be and one wonders how much of this is reality and how much of this is a desperate campaign from a government that hasn’t really campaigned on terribly much, other than ‘the other guy is terrible’ and now they’re trying to scare people into voting for them.

Updated

Some more from Morrison:

I’m advised [the ship] is now up on the north-west shelf heading in a north-easterly direction. The first thing I want to make very clear is, this is freedom of navigation. I mean, they are able to be in these places ... they are not in Australian waters or anything like that, but it is unusual for a ship to be coming that far south, from Exmouth and tracking what they are tracking.

It is clearly an intelligence ship and they are looking at us and we’re keeping a close eye on them and that’s what we always do.

If you look at this in the context of the many acts that the Chinese government has taken towards Australia, that is concerning and it only continues to highlight why it is so important, and of course we remain calm about these matters and we continue to remain confident in the ability of our defence forces and our surveillance capabilities and the work we particularly do with our partners.

Updated

Earlier, the defence minister, Peter Dutton, said:

I think it is an act of aggression. I think particularly because it has come so far south.

Morrison declined to repeat that rather incendiary phrase:

Updated

The prime minister, Scott Morrison, is talking to reporters in Victoria. He’s having a crack at WA premier, Mark McGowan, who has said Dutton’s rhetoric on China was “over the top”. Morrison says it’s up to him and Dutton to look after Australia’s national security. “We’re keeping a close eye on [the ship],” he says, it’s exercising its “freedom of navigation”:

Australians expect us to do everything we can to keep Australians safe, to keep an eye on these issues, and to always be preparing.

Updated

Still on that ship – it’s not the first time the Haiwangxing has visited Australia. The ABC reported that it was here last year to watch Australia and the US carry out military exercises.

Updated

Watt says he hopes “we don’t have a government that misuses security information for political advantage”, but:

I’m not alleging that.

Updated

Labor’s Murray Watt is on the ABC now, and says he can’t discuss the situation with the ship in too much detail because Labor hasn’t been briefed:

We have sought a briefing from the federal government ... to better understand the facts of the situation and it’s obviously appropriate for that to occur during caretaker.

Updated

Andrews is talking about the government’s plan to recoup costs from non-citizens who are in detention (Labor scrapped the plan when it was in power because it cost more than it got back). She says they’ll work through the details and processes in government (if they win). She says:

We are now making it very clear, as part of our election commitments, that a re-elected Morrison government would recover money from those foreign criminals for the time that they spend in detention here in Australia and many people in our communities, many Australians, would think that is absolutely the right thing to do.

Updated

Andrews says Dutton would have “taken advice” before making the announcement today, and that it would be up to Dutton if he spoke to Labor beforehand (with the government in caretaker mode). She says:

Clearly those questions should be directed to minister Dutton in terms of his announcement today. But what I can say about minister Dutton is that he is very considered about these issues himself. He would have taken advice before he made the announcement today. In respect of the briefing for the opposition at the moment, I’m not sure of the status of that. Again, that is a matter that minister Dutton would be dealing with.

Updated

The home affairs minister, Karen Andrews, is talking to the ABC’s Greg Jennett.

They’re starting with the presence of that Chinese naval vessel off the west coast. Should it concern Australians? Andrews says it’s concerning that it’s this far south:

It is something that it’s very important that all Australians are aware of so that they understand that China has tried to increase its surveillance of Australia.

There was a vessel pre-Christmas on the east coast of Australia. So their presence is here. They are clearly monitoring what is happening in Australia, so Australians need to be aware of the level of surveillance that China is putting Australia under.

She is asking what the significance of the timing is, saying China is “strategic”. (One could also ask about the significance of defence minister, Peter Dutton, releasing so much information about it now.)

We are very interested in why that vessel is where it is and why it is here right now. Now, you would have to say that it as fairly clear that it is gathering information, it is surveilling what is happening on the coast of Australia.

Updated

Here’s the latest on the flooding in Queensland, courtesy of the Bureau of Meteorology:

Over at News.com.au, Samantha Maiden has had a peek inside a focus group that could be responsible for prime minister Scott Morrison conceding he can be a bulldozer, but could change. Maiden writes:

The words they use to describe him: Arrogant. Selfish. Inflexible. Obnoxious. A bad leader. A wannabe.

Updated

I’ve mentioned before the cracking job the folks behind the Australian Electoral Commission’s Twitter account do. They’ve been very busy debunking conspiracy theories about the voting process. Our very own First Dog on the Moon stepped in to speak up for them:

The AEC was chuffed:

With prime minister Scott Morrison apparently scheduled to address the oil and gas lobby at Appea’s conference in Brisbane next week, it’s interesting to note a couple of big energy trends now underway. (Assuming floods don’t affect proceedings.)

Last month, we reported here that March average wholesale power prices were up 141% from a year ago in the national electricity market, to $87 per megawatt hour. Gas prices were also up two-third to just under $10 per gigajoule.

Now, according to data from consultants EnergyQuest, power prices have jumped further. In Queensland, they were up about half again to $220/MW-hour, while those in NSW were up almost 90% to $187/MWh. (Prices were at $500 late on Thursday in both states.)

Victorian prices almost tripled to $141 and SA’s more doubled to $152.

Global thermal coal prices have been surging but another factor is the soaring price of gas because that fuel often sets the price in the market once renewables (effectively zero cost fuel) and coal plants have bid in.

EnergyQuest says short-term Queensland domestic gas prices in April were up about half for the month at $16.34/GJ at Wallumbilla, with slightly smaller rises in other states. By early May, Wallumbilla’s prices had increased another two-thirds to $25.39/GJ, while Adelaides had reached $41.86/GJ. The report by EQ’s head, Graeme Bethune, said:

The climb in prices appears to reflect several demand and supply factors in both east coast gas and electricity.

Those with memories stretching back to Australia Day may recall the Morrison government was ‘considering’ helping Europe’s looming energy crunch ahead of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Well, EQ has been watching out for that too.

April’s shipments of LNG totalled 6.38m tonnes in 92 cargoes, down slightly from 6.41Mt in March (a longer month). Revenues were $5.52bn, nearly double from April 2021.

China may be sending us spy ships, as defence minister Peter Dutton just told us, but we’re more than happy to send them vessels of LNG.

Last month, Australia sent three extra cargoes to the Middle Kingdom compared with March levels, but 15 fewer to Korea and Japan. “There were no cargoes delivered to Europe,” Bethune noted.

And as for Australia’s ability to tap into $45/GJ global gas price, well that’s been fairly limited too. According to EnergyQuest, only 2% of total shipments last month were sold at spot prices, with the rest presumably delivered at long-term prices.

Households will probably be wishing they too had long-term contracts once those higher wholesale gas and power prices start turning up in our utility bills.

Updated

Amanda Meade’s weekly beast is in. Election debates, the future of the ABC, Katherine Deves, and more:

Australia’s Covid death toll is now 7,721:

On robodebt – the Senate committee has accused the government of the “deliberate withholding” of information about the botched scheme. Luke Henriques-Gomes reports:

Some more Covid details from South Australia:

Victoria’s chief health officer, Prof Brett Sutton, has Covid (and an important message):

Updated

Some more on that Chinese naval vessel. The Department of Defence says it is “aware of a People’s Liberation Army-Navy (PLA-N) Intelligence Collection Vessel operating off the north-west shelf of Australia”:

Defence can confirm the vessel is a PLA-N, Dongdiao Class Auxiliary Intelligence ship named Haiwangxing.

The Haiwangxing travelled down the west coast of Australia to the vicinity of Exmouth, before changing course to track east along the north-west coast.

Defence is actively monitoring the current activities of the Chinese Intelligence Collection Vessel off the north-west coast of Western Australia with a combination of air and maritime capabilities.

Australia respects the right of all states to exercise freedom of navigation and overflight in international waters and airspace, just as we expect others to respect our right to do the same.

Defence will continue to monitor the ship’s operation in our maritime approaches.

Tommy the Turtle is 15, and they’re trying to fatten him up before releasing him, I’m told:

Thanks, Amy Remeikis, for drilling into the day’s news and excavating the truth from it.

It’s tough going in the trenches.

OK now I’m trying not to make a backhoe joke. On with the show!

Americans might have the “October surprise” – when something pops up just before the US enters election season, but looks like Australia is getting its own May surprise now.

On that note, I will hand you over to Tory Shepherd to take you through the afternoon. Becca Leaver and I will have your review of the week video coming, so I’ll get going on helping to put that together, but in the mean time – take care of you.

Stay tuned for more updates here – I’ll be back on Monday for the final stretch of this never ending campaign. Ax

Updated

What does Peter Dutton think of Scott Morrison describing himself as “bulldozer”?

I’ve worked closer with the prime minister for many years, I’ve seen him under enormous pressure.

During the course of Covid, when we were faced with the prospect of tens of thousands of doubts, when unemployment was projected to go to 15%...

We had confronting advice, very few options available to us. We took a decision to close the border with China.

That really saved the country from what we saw in Europe and in Asia, north America etc.

We took decisions that were tough, and to take tough decisions we want a strong leader at that critical time.

I think, he’s made the decisions that he believes were in the best interest of the country, and he’s made comments in relation to the approach otherwise today. From my perspective, what I’ve seen is someone who looked at the options, sent the country through dire circumstances, who could quite easily have had 15% unemployment today.

It would have been a sliding doors moment had we not closed the border with China ... We’ve been able to work with the states and other authorities to see the country through a very rough time.

I understand people have gone through a lot of pain across the country over the past couple of years, but we are in a strong economy today, because of the decision Scott Morrison and Josh Frydenberg have taken. We don’t know what the future holds, but we do know there is uncertainty in our region, there is uncertainty on the economic front, and now is not the time to change to people who sat around the table with Kevin Rudd. They have a bad track record. They are not the people you want in charge at a time when you need strength for a country.

Updated

It is worth pointing out, as Daniel Hurst reminds me, that the last time there was a Chinese ship having a bit of a look at Australia, Scott Morrison didn’t believe it was an issue.

Now, in the midst of an election campaign, Peter Dutton is saying he believes it to be an “act of aggression”.

This is from July last year.

The Australian government says it is “keeping a close eye” on a Chinese surveillance ship that is heading towards Queensland in an apparent attempt to monitor a joint military exercise with the United States.

Amid ongoing tensions in the relationship with China, the Australian government cited the ship’s presence as evidence Australia and its allies should also be afforded freedom of navigation in the contested South China Sea.

The prime minister, Scott Morrison, said on Wednesday he was “very wary” of the ship but added the government had “no objection” to it being in international waters.

“We don’t we don’t raise any issue about that, just like we don’t think any issue should be raised when [anyone] – whether it’s us or the Americans or the British or the French or anyone else – is sailing through the South China Sea,” Morrison told Sydney radio 2SM.

“Of course we watch them. We’re aware of that. And they’re watching us.”

Updated

Q: The premier [Mark McGowan] has also described your approach to China as “nutty”. [What do you say to that]?

Peter Dutton:

I just don’t, I don’t think you’ve got much in the bank when you resort to these personal attacks.

I just don’t see where he is pointing out that [I’ve been] factually incorrect. We are being, we’re being honest with you telling people [what is going on] I think these personal attacks I think say more about him than about me.

Dutton continues in that vein:

I am responding to the question by Labor’s Mark McGowan. Mark McGowan said this in the middle of the campaign, he just gave it away.

I just responded to that, and I think he is making a political point. I think he is running a personal slag line, because we are in an election campaign.

I think it is more about Mark McGowan than it is about me. I think Western Australians know this government stands for keeping the country safe.

And taking the decisions that are necessary to keep WA and the country safe in very uncertain times.

It is a huge risk at the selection to go to Anthony Albanese, because they just don’t take defence seriously ... the decisions that were made in taking money out of defence. That is the reality of what Labor does ... We are less safe today because of the money the defence had taken away from them when Anthony Albanese was deputy prime minister.

When you’re concerned about the national security of the country, if you’re concerned about the situation in the Indo-Pacific, then Scott Morrison, myself as defence minister, and the Coalition government is a much safer because we are not going to risk the national security. We will take tough decisions necessary to keep the country said. Anthony Albanese doesn’t have a track record, the people around him with a track record, and people should bear that in mind in the run-up to the election.

Updated

Peter Dutton claims Chinese ship off Australian coast is 'act of aggression'

Does Peter Dutton consider this “Chinese spy vessel” to be an “act of aggression”?

I think it is an act of aggression. I think particularly because it has come so far south. To come so far south of Exmouth is unprecedented and to hug the coastline the way it has and heading up towards the north, we don’t know whether it deviates and goes directly north, but at the moment it is heading in a north-easterly direction, [is unusual].

Updated

When did Peter Dutton find out about the vessel and given it has been here for a week, while is he now releasing the information?

That is on advice from the Australian Defence Force. For operational reasons and that is something obviously I would respect ... I think people understand the difficulty, the reality of the Indo-Pacific at the moment, the acts of aggression from the Chinese leadership and from the Chinese government. I think Australians deserve to know what is taking place and, as I say, it is a repeat of a previous practice where we have made the public aware of these activities before.

Updated

Asked if he believes the federal election has anything to do with it, Peter Dutton says:

Again, it is strange timing and without precedent that this vessel would come so far south and that it is tracking essentially hugging the coastline, heading up in the direction of Darwin, is not a usual practice, and we are monitoring it very closely.

Asked if the federal election campaign has anything to do with the government releasing this information (itself unusual) Dutton says:

We have had vessels in our waters this year and we have made the public aware of those around operation Exercise Talisman Sabre. The vessel is deployed and we have had the same tasking, it went down the east coast because it is an east coast training exercise, but this is unusual activity on the west coast at the moment.

Dutton is in Perth as part of the election campaign.

Updated

Peter Dutton:

In terms of the operational aspects to it, otherwise not something that I would speculate on, but there is essentially an international protocol which would normally include the contact of the Australian authorities. That hasn’t happened and they will continue to do what they believe is in the best interests. But it is best that people are made fully aware of what is a very unusual path and course that they have taken.

Updated

Q: Can you confirm the vessel as a Chinese spy ship?

Peter Dutton:

Yes, I can. It is a Chinese warship with intelligence gathering capability. It is obviously very strange that it has come this far south and it is hugging the coastline as it goes north, and its intention will be to collect as much electronic intelligence as it can, and, as I say, that is unusual. We haven’t seen a ship from that navy come this far south and is tracking up towards Darwin at the moment.

...It is not just that it has travelled so far south, but it has hug to the coastline which is a strange course for it to take. Clearly, its intention is to go and gather intelligence and we are very conscious of that, that is why we have had the planes in the air and surveillance techniques we have been able to deploy, but it does cause us concern and there are previous instances where we have had particularly around Operation Talisman-Sabre but also on the east coast, but to come south of Exmouth and hug the coast in the direction it is tracking at the moment up towards Darwin, that is unusual.

Updated

Peter Dutton says Chinese ship spotted off WA coast

Peter Dutton is giving a rare update on defence matters:

Obviously it has been the policy of this government that we have provided updates on a number of occasions now in relation to the movements of these vessels and increasing number of movements and presence in the Australian waters of these PLA [People’s Liberation Army] Navy vessels.

We provided some information which shows the fact that this People Liberation Army Navy vessel has come as far south as any of these vessels has in the past. South of [Exmouth].

The patrol and the way in which it has hugged to the coastline in Western Australia is demonstrated in the diagram we have given to you so as you can see, it has come into the Australian exclusive economic zone.

Its intentional courses to collect intelligence right along the coastline, it has been in close proximity to military and intelligence installations on the west coast of Australia.

It was sighted as at 0600 hrs this morning 250 nautical miles north-west of Broome and tracking north-east at 12 knots. It is unusual in terms of the way in which it has come so far south, and the way in which it is hugging the coastline as it heads up in the direction of Darwin.

We will continue to monitor that. We have obviously had a number of aircraft involved in the surveillance of this particular vessel. It is unusual, there would be notice given to the Australian authorities about the activities in the particular course this vessel is taking, but that is the way that it is at the moment.

Updated

There have been flashes of this in the election campaign, with the assistant minister for women, Amanda Stoker, being spotted at an anti-abortion rally.

Australia’s family planning clinics, MSI Australia’s managing director Jamal Hakim said MSI is watching the US situation closely:

Overturning Roe vs Wade in the United States would be a fundamental attack on the bodily autonomy of women and pregnant people across the world.

It is incredibly important to remain vigilant when it comes to human rights everywhere.

In Australia, abortion access remains a postcode lottery. More and more people can’t afford services, funding is minimal, and the systems are disparate and vastly different across the country.

Universal access requires coordination, funding and viability to ensure continuity.

We will continue to fight to make that a reality.

Updated

If you didn’t see it, Becca Leaver and our video team have put together Scott Morrison introducing the new Scott Morrison (eight days out from polling day).

Updated

View from Murph

Murph has given us her views on that extraordinary press conference from Scott Morrison this morning.

It needed more room than a blog post allows, so you get a whole comment piece:

Morrison now has to distance from Morrison. He’s created Morrison 2.0.

The prime minister’s messaging on Friday tells us he understands he’s a barrier to entry for many voters, including people who have voted Liberal all their lives.

So Morrison 2.0 – birthed at a press conference – gets things wrong, but he also learns from his mistakes and strives to do better.

There wasn’t time to include it, but both women made a few jokes in their asides, but both maintained a friendly civility with each other throughout the debate.

Both women have been in the senate for a very long time. The mutual respect is obvious.

Penny Wong then wraps up her arguments:

Our nation has not known such a vexing set of circumstances since the end of World War II.

But I say to you this: the risks we face will simply be compounded by three more years of Mr Morrison. More of the same excuses, the same political games over national interest, the same buck-passing, whilst our problems only get bigger. Anthony Albanese and Labor have a plan, a responsible plan for a better future.

A Pacific policy to ensure we secure our region. Stepping up in south-east Asia to rebuild trust and meet challenges together, shared challenges together, including additional ODA and a special envoy for the region. And shaping the world for the better by taking action on climate, at home and abroad, and modern slavery.

What I would say to Australians is this: this will be a very loud, possibly quite angry last week of the election campaign. But when it comes to foreign policy, this is our commitment.

If you elect Labor on 21 May, you will have a leader in Anthony Albanese who will always put Australia’s national interests first. You will have a foreign minister with clout. You will have a cabinet that works together to maximise Australia’s influence in the world and to secure our region. You will see more leadership, more energy, and more resources. We will take responsibility and we will act.

We won’t pass the buck. Thank you for your time today.

Updated

Marise Payne gives her wrapping up address:

I think we have agreed today that we are living in a time of great change and uncertainty. And having served this country as both defence minister and foreign minister, I’ve had the privilege of seeing firsthand that Australia is deeply respected and that our voice matters.

There will be many tough foreign policy decisions ahead. The Morrison government has shown that we can make those tough decisions and keep Australians safe.

Whether it is on Aukus or resisting economic coercion, or providing the significant support that was necessary for our region to recover together from the Covid pandemic, we have a clear plan focused on promoting the security and the prosperity of the Australian people. We approach this era of strategic competition with confidence in our plan, confidence in our record on foreign policy, and confidence in Australia.

It is not easy and it won’t be easy, but we can thrive in this era. Our strong economy, our record in managing the pandemic, mean we are well-positioned. There are challenges but also opportunities for Australia, for our manufacturers, for our exporters, for our innovators, for our students, globally and in our region. Under a re-elected Morrison government, Australia will continue to lead, to speak out, and to be bold in our purpose.

We’ll be there with other freedom-loving nations when it comes to supporting countries like Ukraine, as they defend their freedom, their democracy and sovereignty.

We are always mindful that foreign policy is not detached from the lives of Australians. It is there to further the interests of our nation and improve the wellbeing, the livelihoods, the security, the prosperity of each and every person in this country.

Updated

Q: Marise, final question: 30 years ago, you were a young radical, you weren’t part of the ... right-wing dominance of the Liberal party. You’ve fought your way through, you’ve actually become a senator, one of the long-serving ministers. You’re also minister for women. Why are women now deserting the Liberal party? What can the Liberal party do to win them back?

Marise Payne:

Well, I disagree I was a radical. I may have been a progressive, but I’ll not necessarily claim “radical”. And, I have been very strongly committed to ensuring that we have been able to deliver our two last Women’s Budget Statements, which together on women’s leadership, women’s economic security, women’s safety, deliver over $5bn of support. And it is not just about that. It’s overwhelmingly about the practical application of those, working with the states and territories on the next national plan, ensuring that we’re addressing economic security through our changes to child care in 2018 and again this year, our work on paid parental leave, and importantly on leadership and particularly participation.

Penny Wong:

Well, it’s a good thing that Marise is minister for women, because I can remember when Tony Abbott was, under the Coalition. So, that’s an advance!

I just want to make this point: I have, including when I was much younger – thank you for reminding us both of that – advocated very strongly inside my party for affirmative action targets. And I didn’t just do that, we didn’t just do that – the women with whom I worked – because we wanted to get more women into parliament for its own sake. We wanted to do it because we wanted to change the focus of political parties. I can tell you, having been part of a government and now part of a shadow cabinet, it does matter, having women in the room. It matters in terms of the sorts of policies you announce, the most obvious example, but not the only one is the fact that our very first Budget reply, Anthony Albanese, in his very first Budget reply, Anthony Albanese announced our childcare policy.

Payne:

I’m very proud to be part of a cabinet that has more women than any other Australian cabinet, with eight sitting around the table.

Updated

Penny Wong:

First, we don’t tear up agreement, so obviously that’s not been announced. The MOU with Vietnam. But we’ve actually managed to get an MOU for an AG visa that not one visa is issued for, an incoming government would respect it. I remember going to the Pacific with Julie Bishop. I remember the clear message that she understood and that was given to us. That the Pacific labour schemes are one of our key ways to engage, it was one of our key diplomatic strengths, central to our relationships. And she stood up against Barnaby Joyce and the National party, against the sort of opening of an agricultural visa beyond the Pacific...

...Because she understood how important this was diplomatically, as well as the importance of ensuring we have agricultural labour. So, it is disappointing to me that you would go down that route, when you understand, as foreign minister, this is one of our key strengths. It has been a key strength, it was understood by Ms Bishop and past governments, and it will be a key strength if we are elected on 21 May.

Payne:

And we will absolutely maintain that key strength, but we also have a commitment to growing Australia’s agriculture sector to $100bn by 2030...

Wong:

Not one visa in your AG visa. And you’re having an argument with David Littleproud on social media telling everybody the policy is going to lead to ... Which isn’t the case in terms of estimates.

Updated

Q: On the Solomon Islands relationship, there has been some sort of breakdown that has led to this security treaty. So, to both of you, how do we fix this? And so, to the government’s side – how has this been allowed to happen given that you tout our aid levels and our climate commitments? And to the opposition side – apart from sending a foreign minister over, what specifically will you do given that our aid commitments at the moment aren’t or can’t seem to match China’s? And with the elephant in the room being corruption, will the parties take the same stance as China’s cyber attacks by calling it out as a deterrence if corruption were to be discovered in the Solomon Islands?

Penny Wong:

Well, I’m happy to go first, if you’d like. We did put out quite a detailed response, or detailed policy, on the Pacific, precisely because we thought it was important in this debate, given the salience to our national interest, for people to see what the alternative government wanted to do in relation to the Pacific, to ensure we are the partner of choice in the Pacific, to ensure that the Pacific family is more than just words.

Now, what we’ve said is this package is about leveraging our strengths. I can take you through all the details, but there are a few highlights which I think matter, in addition to the additional ODA. One is doubling the Pacific Maritime Air Surveillance Program.

The ... of Pacific nations is I think almost three times the size of Australia, possibly more. This is a key interest for them.

This is about illegal fishing, it is about protecting their fisheries, which is a source of resources as well as a source of protein. We want to deliver an Indo-Pacific broadcasting strategy because I think you need voices in the region. And I think it was short-sighted for the government’s cuts to the ABC, which had the effect of ending a whole range of services into the Pacific.

And then, of course, the labour scheme, so improving the labour mobility schemes, enabling people for the longer-term scheme to bring their families, and the visa category that I describe.

That is about leveraging our proximity and access to our labour market, because the people-to-people ties are a key way in which we ensure we are genuinely part of the Pacific family.

Marise Payne:

I don’t agree with all of the premise of your question, as I think it is oversimplifying what is a very complex set of circumstances, not just in a bilateral sense but more broadly. And to the question of relationships, on a basis of foreign minister to foreign minister, my relationship with, for example, foreign minister Minnelli, who has just briefed informally members of the Pacific Island Forum from Suva on these matters I think on Wednesday of this week is a very strong one.

But we must continue to make the contribution that we do to the security and the stability of our region, that maintains the resilience of economies. That is why we are making a contribution of over $20m in terms of budget support to the Solomon Islands.

It’s why we’ve delivered over 500,000 vaccines to the Solomon Islands, of one million, and we’ll continue to do so. Including the health security that comes with that, the end-to-end support. It is essential that we continue to grow that, and that is literally what the Pacific Step Up has been doing. But countries ultimately – and it would be very disturbing if we were not prepared to acknowledge this in Australia – countries will ultimately make sovereign decisions for their own reasons that, occasionally, we don’t and can’t change, and can’t influence. And that is what respect is about, frankly, with partners as well. Can I say in relation to Labor’s plan...

..I see a lot of it drawn from existing programs, a whole-of-government approach, like the Office of the Pacific Step Up. We already train defence and security personnel from the Pacific. We strongly fund the Pacific Maritime Security Program, and it would be refunded when it is due to be refunded ... which would represent a similar commitment to the opposition.

Wong:

That’s not right...

Payne:

But labour mobility is a really interesting question here, because it is about people-to-people, in many ways, and what Labor’s announcement does is completely muddy the waters on labour mobility.

There was no consultation from Labor with the NFF and the Fresh Produce Alliance. They’ve both said that publicly – it’s confusing for them and it’s confusing for sending countries. And what happens to the countries who have already, like Vietnam, agreed to participate in the AG visa, which they appear to have scrapped? I don’t know.

Updated

Q: We’ve had some discord about the Pacific family and climate change. Marise Payne mentioned the three R’s – resilience, relationship, rules. To that end, my question to both of you is – if you win government after the election, will you, in partnership with the Pacific, host a UN climate meeting? Or create a new ambassador for climate?

Penny Wong:

We’ve already said that we would reinstate the ambassador for climate change. Unlike – and I don’t necessarily include Marise in this, but – some in the Liberal party appear to be allergic to the term. So we would reinstate it. And we would bid for a hosting of the conference of the parties within the UNFCC with our Pacific partners and engagement with the Pacific partners and Pacific neighbours on climate matters greatly.

Marise Payne:

We do have a very effective ambassador for the environment who covers climate change as well in that remit, and has strongly represented Australia – particularly at the last Cop in Glasgow and works closely with the Pacific – was part of the Our Ocean Conference in Palau in April with secretary Kerry and others. And in relation to whether or not we would host a Cop – we would speak with our Pacific neighbours. Of course, as to their ambitions and their interests and determine whether it was something that they wished to pursue.

Updated

Q: On the climate crisis, we know that US and Pacific island nations among others would like Australia to increase its 2030 target. Last year, Australia did not increase its formal 2030 target. Last month, the US assistant secretary of state when asked whether Australia should lift its 2030 target this year said, “We’re calling on every country that didn’t increase their target to raise it”. To both of you – do you see your 2030 targets that you’re putting to voters as fixed or set for the next three years? Or are you at least open to considering outreach from our forever friends and Pacific Island friends? And senator Wong – I can’t help but get clarity on your Julian Assange answer earlier.

[Moderator] Laura Tingle: No! (There is a one question rule)

Q: ...Bring the matter to a close, what do you mean by that?

Penny Wong:

We put out our policy. We made clear our 2030 target, and I’ve made this point. We haven’t just plucked the number out of the air. We have actually gone through the different policy measures – that’s the difference between us and some of the parties to the left. We have to work out how to deliver this. Gone through with our policy measures and worked out what sort of emissions reduction, what sort of cost impact, cost benefit it will have. So you know, it is a responsible, but ambitious target. I think that in part, and as climate minister many years ago, I did engage with the Pacific Island nations and we didn’t have the same position on targets.

You know, I thought that ours were very ambitious. They wanted us to go further. But also in part respecting their experience and talking through with them, what are the other things that we can do.

And to airily suggest that they don’t care about it that much because they’re talking to China – I’ll say this – I don’t think our reputation has really ever got over Mr Dutton standing next to Mr Morrison and making a joke about water lapping at your door. It’s utterly disrespectful of people’s experience.

Marise Payne:

Would you like to answer the other question?

Wong:

I thought that she [Tingle] said no.

Tingle:

No.

Wong:

You’re in trouble!

Payne:

Australia has been very clear about our emissions, which are currently – we’ve seen 20.8% below 2005 levels and we are actually dealing in outcomes, not ambitions. Outcomes which exceed the outcomes of the United States, of Canada, of New Zealand, just for example.

And, of course, exceed the OECD average in the rate in which our emissions have fallen. They’re the lowest on a per capita basis in three decades in Australia. So we are delivering on that.

And we took to Cop 26 as you know, a net zero commitment 2050, which was overwhelmingly welcomed by our partners in the region. I am not suggesting that they don’t seek more. I’ve re-read the declaration on matters and others in recent times.

I understand that. But our support is practical and it is helpful. We’ve taken, for example, delegations from nine of our Pacific Island partners to Cop 26 to enable them to attend and to participate, and to lead – which they do in all of those international fora. Same with the Our Ocean Conference in Palau just in April of this year.

We’ve doubled our climate finance. $700m of that which will be directed to the Pacific at least. And we have been delivering practical solutions. It doesn’t matter whether it is the solar farm that I announced in Plowman in December last year which will enable Palau to deliver 20% of the energy in renewables or the project in the Solomon Islands or the off grid solar across Papua New Guinea through the Powering Communities Program. These are practical and deliverable outcomes for those countries in a way in which meets their needs, both their infrastructure and their climate needs. Same as the Australia Infrastructure Financing for the Pacific and its outcome.

Q: So it is fixed?

Payne:

I’m not saying that. I didn’t say that at all. I did say that there was more.

Wong:

But the target is fixed.

Payne:

Oh the target, I’m sorry.

Updated

Q: If I could just segue, or attempt it between the question and topic of Taiwan back to the US and comments that you made earlier, senator Wong. I think that you were channelling Madeleine Albright when you described it as the indispensable partner and said that the alliance was absolutely foundational. I’d like to ask you both to comment on whether you think that the US’s approach to Ukraine has given you greater confidence about the way that the US is engaging in the world? Less confidence? Or does it give you a materially different view about the way that the US is pursuing foreign policy? Senator Payne first.

Marise Payne:

Thank you, and I think that US approach – let me affirm that what I said in my previous remark about the foundational nature of the alliance, and say how much we will welcome, warmly, the significant appointment of Caroline Kennedy as the next US ambassador to Australia, and we expect to see her here in the next couple of months.

In terms of the approach on Ukraine – we have been working very closely with the United States, with Nato more broadly, with the UK and other partners. But particularly many smaller liberal democracies in the region who see the threat that Russia’s illegal, unlawful invasion of Ukraine presented to them. What the US’s engage has done, and I think that it is very important, is to bring together a global Coalition of great strength to both support Ukraine and to extract a cost, a price, on Russia, for their actions in relation to providing military support for Ukraine in relation to a strong sanctions regime in which Australia is an active participant. We have sanctioned over 800 individuals and entities as part of that. It is a real global Coalition, and the US is a key leader.

Penny Wong:

What I’d say is that the invasion of and the unlawful war being waged against the people of Ukraine by Mr Putin has been horrific. And it continues to be. But what it has demonstrated is the capacity of the US and its Nato partners to be able to work together. It has demonstrated the capacity of a great many nations around the world to stand against the aggregation of the UN charter which stands before us. It has changed policy in Germany, in terms of defence budgets and their policy around provision of weapons. And, it has led Finland to say that it wants to join Nato. So there is an interesting demonstration here. One of the arguments that Mr Putin used was the expansion of Nato. Well... Now we see this. And we think that it is matter for them, but it’s a good thing.

Updated

Penny Wong:

Well, looking at the results – Look at results. We announced ... comprehensive policy on the take, that does recognise and one thing that I do agree with you on, Minister, is that it is not only quantum. I think that more investment is needed and we’ve announced that.

But we have to leverage our strengths. We have to leverage our strengths. And our strengths include our voice and our proximity. One of the most important parts of the Pacific package we announced were the changes to the Pacific labour schemes and the additional Pacific visa, because they recognise – what are the things that we have that other parties who might have a lot more capital, ultimately, don’t have? We have proximity. And we can use that to build a stronger relationship.

Updated

Q: The Taiwan foreign minister has told SBS World News exclusively that Australia should pay more attention in the Pacific. He says Beijing’s deal with the Solomon Islands is a security threat.

You both concede China has changed. Does Australia need to change – not in its values, but in the way that it cooperates with other nations like Taiwan, for instance?

Marise Payne:

We have been strong supporters of Taiwan’s participation in all fora in which statehood is not a requirement. I would reference the World Health Organisation as one in particular, and we’ve worked with [others] to make sure that particularly in the context of Covid-19, and the success that Taiwan had in addressing the pandemic, that they were able to participate around those tables and to share that experience and that expertise, and we’ll continue to do that.

We have a strong representative office in Taipei and we will work closely with countries in the Pacific, like Nauru and Tuvalu, who continue to recognise Taiwan, as we do.

I do think that it is important to note that across the Pacific, we are the only country in the world which has a diplomatic mission in every country of the Pacific Island Forum.

... It enables us to work with all partners, whether it is in some ones, partners like China. In other countries, partners like Taiwan, to bring to the region that joined up approach.

Penny Wong:

Well, I think that the question demonstrates a few things. First is our region is being reshaped.

Secondly, it demonstrates – if you don’t do enough in a region, even if you’ve got the historical ties there, or the institutional ties, that vacuum is filled ... and the reality in the Pacific is that we have not done enough. We have not done enough and we have gone missing on climate and some in the Morrison government dismiss – I refer back to the declaration where Pacific leaders told them themselves, the number one national security issue is climate.

On Taiwan, Labor’s position, which has been a longstanding bipartisan position of both parties of government, has been [that] our focus is ... working with others to ensure that there is no unilateral change to the status quo. It’s a longstanding position. It’s a position that Tsai Ing-wen has articulated again – what is it that we can do to ensure that we deter any unilateral changes to the status quo?

And we can do that by ensuring that we engage with Taiwan and in the fora that we are able, recognising the diplomatic situation. We can do that by ensuring we talk with other parties in the region about the risks to the region from any unilateral change to the status quo.

Payne:

If I could also say in addition – obviously, we approach these matters in the context of Australia’s clear One China policy. But I do think that it is immensely simplistic to suggest that overseas development assistance or the quantum thereof is the fundamental nub of a problem here.

Australia is, by the length of the strait, frankly, a provider of two-thirds of assistance to the Solomon Islands, across multiple areas of endeavour, from justice and education and gender and health, to many others – agriculture included. I see Andrew Campbell here today as well from [Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research].

It’s not about that. It is a very complex question around security which we’ve been discussing here today. And it’s not as simplistic as also saying that it is about climate if you accept the fact, as I think that the world does, that China is the world’s largest emitter. And then forming agreements with the world’s largest emitter because you apparently disagree with Australia about climate is not logical. Not even inherently logical.

Updated

Marise Payne now asks a question of Penny Wong:

A couple of days after the election, about three days, the new prime minister, whoever that will be, will need to demonstrate Australia’s ongoing commitment in this region. They will be attending the meeting of the Quad and I know that the Coalition has demonstrated our absolute commitment to making the Quad a major peels of our regional cooperation, as it now is.

But what would Labor take to that meeting this time to demonstrate it is committed, and that won’t abandon the Quad and our partners like it did in 2008?

Wong:

We’ve made clear that we are committed to the Quad.

I made that clear some years ago publicly, Mr Albanese has made that clear, and we’ve already engaged, as is appropriate, in the lead-up to an election, about logistics and arrangements to ensure if elected, we would be in place in Tokyo for the commencement of the Quad.

I think that one of the things that we should no doubt be speaking about is the developments that we’ve just been discussing, which is what is occurring in the Pacific. The fact that Solomon Islands is looking beyond Australia for security arrangements – and that is of relevance to the nations of the Quad and the countries of the Indo-Pacific.

Payne:

I would say that, of course, Solomon Islands in November of last year looked to Australia for security response, and Australia, with New Zealand, with Fiji, with Papua New Guinea, with therefore the Pacific family, made that response in a matter of hours and provided that support on the ground in the Solomon Islands.

And I’d also reinforce that prime minister Manasseh Sogavare has indicated that it is his view that Australia is the first security partner of the Solomon Islands. And I’ve reiterated that with the foreign minister from the Solomon Islands myself.

Wong:

This is inconsistency again. You’re saying essentially, if I may – this isn’t that big a deal. Barnaby Joyce is saying that it is like Cuba. So I’m just working out which is the position?

Payne:

I’ve never said it’s not a big deal. And that is a misrepresentation of my position.

Updated

Penny Wong asks a question of Marise Payne:

My question goes to the inconsistency of the government’s response in relation to Solomon Islands and the disclosure of the security pact. Minister, you said that you first became aware of the Treaty when it became public. The deputy prime minister said that the government was, “All over it”, and the prime minister said, “It was no surprise.”

Your government has also lurched from “respecting” Solomon Islands’s sovereignty and saying “we can’t throw our weight around” to making comparisons about Cuba and the prime minister issuing threats about red lines. So I’d like to understand why so inconsistent, and what is the position?

Payne:

Well, I don’t agree with the premise at all of your question.

Wong:

That’s what she says in Question Time, too!

Payne:

I’ve only had six occasions to be asked a question by Senator Wong in the last parliamentary term, so I haven’t had a chance to say it very often!

The question of when we were aware of the particular security agreement – as I have said, and Senator Zeselja have said, that when the security agreement itself was leaked on social media – however, what the senior ministers of the government, including the prime minister, have been clear about, is that we have worked with my department, with security agencies, in relation to our concerns about China’s pursuit of a greater security presence in the region, and particularly in the Solomon Islands for many, many ... Well, an extended period of time now. In fact, all of the time that I have been in this role.

And particularly since, of course, the change in recognition by the Solomon Islands diplomatic recognition from Taiwan to China.

Because that has evoked a much more forward-leaning, assertive part by China in relation to security in the region. That is not just confined to Solomon Islands. The goes to other countries throughout the region as well.

It goes to concerns that are raised around the Pacific Island Forum table from time to time, in relation to sovereignty and the implications of a non-Pacific partner or member being in a position of a security delivering position.

In terms of red lines, I do think that it is important that we are clear – and that we receive, in the way in which it has been made, the clear statement of prime minister Manasseh Sogavare – that the Solomon Islands will not accept a Chinese military base in the Solomon Islands.

Wong:

The red line language was the prime minister. Not prime minister Manasseh Sogavare.

Payne:

As I said, that is something that he makes not just as a commitment to Australia, but he makes it publicly, overtly, as a commitment to the entire Pacific.

Wong:

Well, my question was ... Was the red line language discussed with you before you he used it and what does it mean?

Payne:

I don’t discuss my conversations with the prime minister, as you well know. And it means that there are certain key security issues such as the presence of a Chinese military base in our region, which would be of deep and fundamental concern to Australia.

Wong:

Which is why there shouldn’t have been one in the first place.

Updated

Q: You mentioned that it is still subject to legal processes. When do they end? I mean, if say he gets extradited to US, they’ll still technically be legal processes. What is the cut-off for the Australian government? And what would be the view of an Albanese government about when is the appropriate point to intervene?

Marise Payne:

We can’t intervene in the legal processes of other countries and I say that consistently in relation to multiple Australians who are detained in various circumstances around the world. It is not a case of us being able to intervene in legal proceedings.

I’ve raised Mr Assange’s position with the US Secretary of State in both the Trump and the Biden administration, [and] with the UK Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs across both secretaries with whom, three secretaries, with whom I have worked consistently.

And consent has been withdrawn by Mr Assange for us to receive any information about him, and notwithstanding 36 separate approaches to Mr Assange by the High Commission in London, to offer consular assistance, which includes engaging with appropriate legal support and also assistance with medical support, we’ve received no response.

Updated

Q: Given that we are now here at the National Press Club, I would like to ask about Julian Assange. The UK home secretary is weighing up the extradition of Mr Assange to the US. He’s got up to next week to put submissions in.

Can you tell me, whoever is minister after May 21, will either of you lobby the UK government to not go ahead with the extradition? And if he is extradited to US, will you lobby the US to drop the charges? Or will you let that court process go through? Thank you.

Marise Payne:

I’ve consistently said that while the matter is still within legal process, and it is within legal process, that I would not make comments to look at the proceedings. The UK magistrates court has referred the matter to the home secretary for the decision on extradition. But it is subject to further appeals by Mr Assange if such a decision is made. And I’m not going to make any additional comment.

Penny Wong:

Obviously, Mr Assange’s case has gone on a long time. His case, as the minister correctly identifies, is before the home secretary and they will make their decision. I would note that the government has offered him, as is correct, as it should, consular assistance.

I think that whatever the views people have about Mr Assange’s behaviour, I think that the case – it is clear that this has dragged on a long time. And certainly, we would encourage, were we elected, US government to bring this matter to a close. But ultimately, that is a matter for the administration.

Updated

Marise Payne:

One of the reasons that we’ve consistently said that in our view of the Indo-Pacific, ASEAN is central to that ... is because our neighbours and partners in ASEAN bring that diversity of perspectives across a vast range of different cultures and political systems that we work closely with, and it’s so important to respect to and to make sure that Australia’s engagement is not in any way suggesting that there is a choice to be made by others.

Updated

Penny Wong adds to that:

Can I follow you? If what you’re referencing is the Singaporean Prime Minister and others saying that they don’t want to choose between the US and China, I would say this: the basis of our engagement with the South-East Asian nations is most effective if we find those principles and issues where we share views.

Rather than getting into an argument about great power and competition, South-East Asia has a very long history of dealing with great power and competition.

... Prime Minister Lee has said it at least on two dialogues. He’s made that point clear. My point is that that is a message to the great power, I think, a message to Australia as an ally of the United States, is to recognise that the most powerful basis of our engagement with South-East Asia is to focus on those issues where we have a shared interest.

And we have a shared interest as I said before, for example, on rules of the road such as the law of the sea. They have the same interest as Indonesia, which was instrumental in developing it, as for the Philippines and so forth. And I think that the exhalation is that it should be heard by Australian leaders.

Updated

Q: A common refrain from leaders from both parties has been, “Australia doesn’t need to choose between the US and China” over the years. Is that still the case?

Penny Wong:

I think China has changed. I think that you’re referencing, probably, a way of thinking about it ... that might have described the way in which Mr Howard was able to manage a principal strategic relationship with the United States and our principal economic relationship with China.

But clearly, the way in which economic powers [are] utilised for strategic purposes means that duality ... is no longer the case. I would make this point. We have already chosen.

We have an alliance that’s over 70 years old between us and the United States and an alliance with deep bipartisan support, so we have already chosen.

But the point that we should be focused on is less about great power economy – full stop. But what is the region that we want, with what we want, that enables Australian interests to be advanced and protected. That is the key for us. And that means working with the US, which remains the indispensable partner in the reshaping of the region.

But it means also working with other partners, other relationships. It means doing more in South-East Asia and doing a great deal more in the Pacific.

Marise Payne:

I think acknowledging and, indeed, embracing the fundamental of the Australia-US alliance is obviously foundational in our approach in the region and more broadly. But we must be able to continue to pursue key relationships with countries like China and they are issued that we discussed already here today.

But on the question of strategic choice, I think it’s very important to reinforce, Australia has no expectations and is not making any indication to any other of our partners of any countries in the region that they would be forced into making choices.

They are are for the countries in region. They are historic in their own. And I do think that sometimes, the high volume of lots and light and movement discussions, not necessarily in the political level, but often at the academic and media level, about these issue, can feel intimidating to countries in our region. And I think it’s very important to emphasise that Australia’s expectation is that they will always be sovereign nations or make their own decision.

Updated

And I have the transcription working again.

Marise Payne [continued]:

And you’re the one who started bureaucratic language, so I’m going to extend it a little further. But what are known as inter-departmental engagements, committees and such, are very much whole-of-government to deal with the critical responses to some of the greater challenges that we face, to make sure that when the table is prepared that Dfat defends Home Affairs and other key agencies sitting around it.

I would say I am pleased to see that the operating budget of the Department of Foreign Affairs has increased by around $2 billion between the last financial year to $2.2 billion in this financial year, and that we will see $3 billion of additional funding to Dfat through to 2025-26. We’ve opened new posts in key locations. These are good indicators for the work we are doing.

Updated

Q: We’re in Canberra, so forgive me for asking a very Canberra-focused question. Would I be able to ask both of you – perhaps, first, Senator Wong – are there any key institutional barriers that you’ve identified in Canberra to the pursuit of effective Australian foreign policy, perhaps including within the Department of Foreign Affairs, or between the interaction between the Department of Foreign Affairs and other agencies in Canberra, which you would seek to tackle should you become foreign minister?

And, Senator Payne, can I ask you ... if Senator Payne would care to comment, she’s welcome to.

Penny Wong:

I have been clear that I think we need a greater capability within Dfat. I have been clear about that. I have also been clear, as I said in my opening, and occasionally I hope you read my speeches – I’ve said it previously. We need to get much better at integrating the different aspects of state power.

Strategic power matters.

But it is enhanced and furthered, as the CDF said, you know, I think it was last week or the week before, by the other elements of state power.

So, I do want more capability within Dfat, and I do want much better coordination between the different aspects of government in what is an unprecedented time. I mean, I remember in 2017 I wrote an article for Australian Foreign Affairs and – maybe it was 2019 – and I made the point that the playbook of past decades wasn’t of great utility now. It was probably a bit wordy for a National Press Club discussion.

But my point is, it isn’t business as usual, is it? And we face very different circumstances to at any time really since the end of World War II, and that the proposition that the world is changing and our region is being reshaped has to be a laser-like focus across government. And we have to ensure we have the capacity and leadership to respond and deal with it.

Marise Payne:

And I think it is important – in fact, it’s essential – that there are no, to use your words, “institutional barriers”, and that we have the strongest engagement between the key national security agencies, in particular. And we’ve worked very hard to ensure that that is the case.

There is more to that answer, but the transcription drops out.

Updated

Q: I think we can all agree that China has not yet offered a major olive branch to Australia. The trade strikes are still in place, there’s no dialogue at the ministerial level. If Labor is elected to government and a major overture is made, such as the trade strikes are removed and/or a foreign minister Wong does secure a meeting with her Chinese counterpart, how should a new Labor government respond to that olive branch in the early days of government?

Penny Wong:

Well, I think Marise made the point that the position of the government, notwithstanding some of the politics, has been that people are available to meet. China isn’t going anywhere. And neither is ... China changing some of the positions you articulated.

... I think all Australians would welcome China complying with its international obligations, both in relation to human rights, in relation to international law, and we will continue to press for the coercive trade measures to be lifted.

Marise Payne:

Well, my observation would be that there is an open invitation, in fact, a sincere willingness to engage. I have corresponded on a number of occasions with State Councillor Wang Yi in relation to Covid-19, in relation to Afghanistan, in relation to the circumstances of detained Australians, particularly the circumstances of their detention and the need for it to be in accord with international law and detention requirements.

... I continue to do that, and I patiently await a response.

Updated

Penny Wong rebuts that:

I just would make this point. You know, I’m disappointed Marise has joined in because generally she’s made a mature decision not to in some of this domestic politics. I can recall very positive comments being made by Mr Morrison about China. I can recall very positive comments being made by Tony Abbott about China.

Mr Morrison said, “China provides real stability to the region,” in 2017. I mean, let’s get real here. We understand – both parties of government understand – the difficult challenges of the relationship with China. And I think trying to play politics ... with it in an election campaign is not of benefit to the country.

Q: Do you want to say something more about that?

Marise Payne:

I think I responded in my previous answer.

Updated

Marise Payne:

In relation to specific approaches from Mr Marles, my understanding is a small number of those meetings were advised to my office. It’s not my role to “clear” them or otherwise. I would describe them as being noted.

But a small number, certainly not the number reported today. But I would say that it is important to be consistent, and that is certainly the approach that this government has taken in all of our engagement across the government. We know from reporting that Mr Marles has, for example, confirmed that he’s provided a speech in advance to the Chinese Embassy.

I would not do that myself. In fact, I wouldn’t provide a speech in advance to any other embassy for any reason. He has spoken favourably in relation to Chinese engagement in the region.

He’s spoken favourably in the ties that bind – I’m sure you’ve read every word – of the Chinese relationship more broadly in the Pacific, and Australia’s engagement as well. They are statements of the deputy leader of the opposition, the person who would be the deputy prime minister, on the record. They’re not entirely consistent with the policies presented now by the opposition. And I think it is appropriate to note that and to draw attention to it.

Updated

'We are all patriots,' says Penny Wong

Q: Senator Wong, you have been shadow foreign minister since July 2016. How many times have you met with senior Chinese officials during your time in that role? And is there any problem with that sort of thing?

And to Minister Payne: Scott Morrison today said Richard Marles’ meetings with the Chinese ambassador were “a bit strange”. But was your office informed about each of those meetings? And did your office clear them?

Penny Wong:

I certainly went to China for a visit. I’d have to look at what occurred between 2016 and 2019. I think this term I certainly met with the outgoing Chinese ambassador. And as I said, met with the new Chinese ambassador.

And we ensured we had a discussion with Marise’s office, because I think it is very important, on the issues that we’ve referred to, whether it’s the human rights issues – there is a very clear bipartisan position put to the Chinese. And we’ve done that. Certainly, in the last term, I met with the then Chinese ambassador to inform him that Labor would not be supporting the China extradition treaty, despite being asked by the Turnbull government to do so. So, I have met with the Chinese.

I mean, look, we all understand why Mr Morrison is saying what he’s saying. We all understand that, you know, in the lead-up to an election, things will get increasingly desperate, and accusations would be made. But I just want to make this point because there’s been too much of this in this campaign: We are all patriots. We are all patriots. Mr Morrison and the Liberal party do not have a monopoly on patriotism.

Updated

Q: If I could just have a follow-up on that, with just a one-minute response from both of you. You both basically are saying Australia will not back down. Is there a marker that the Chinese can give to show their good faith in trying to improve the relationship?

Penny Wong:

Well, they could desist from the coercive economic positions that they put in place in relation to Australia. I think that’s a position both parties have. They could comply with the decision of tribunal in relation to the South China Sea. I mean, these are matters which go to the rule of law. Rules of the road for the region, which are not only Australia’s interests – they are – but they’re Indonesia’s and the Philippines’s. These are positions which matter to the region.

Marise Payne:

We have consistently raised the points that I commented on in my answer to your first question, in relation to economic coercion, but also in relation to Australia’s freedoms to protect our national interests.

And they are, in our view, fundamentals. But in addition, we have been clear about our concerns in relation to human rights, particularly with regard to Xinjiang. We see further arrests this week, including an emeritus cardinal in Hong Kong, and other freedom, democracy, I should say, advocates.

These continue to be of concern. With great strength and with the rise of China, welcome by the world, comes also responsibility. Responsibility that other great powers consistently exercise, in relation to the rules-based global order that has stood us in such good stead over many decades.

Updated

Penny Wong on the same question:

Well, our relationship with China has changed because China has changed. And we should start from that premise.

And to be very clear, an Albanese Labor government would not take a backwards step when it comes to standing up for Australia’s interests. In this relationship or in any other relationship.

Marise is right to point to the coercive economic measures.

We put our view very clearly on that publicly, gave bipartisan support to the government on that, and it was a view I put, as Marise did, when we both separately met the Chinese ambassador.

What I would say is this, though: In many ways, focusing only on that relationship perhaps misses the central point, which is the reshaping of the region in which we live.

And so whilst we might not be able to change China and how it chooses to engage with us, what we can do is focus on building the sort of region we want. And we want a region which is peaceful, prosperous, stable, and in which sovereignty is respected.

And that is why our position on the South China Sea, for example, matters. It is a bipartisan position of both parties of government, and so should it be. So, my view about it is we should be very clear about what our interests are.

The reality is, whoever wins government – and Mr Albanese has said this – there will be differences between Australia and China that have to be managed, regardless of which of us is the foreign minister after the election. And those differences have to be managed with a very clear view to what Australia’s interests are.

Updated

Q: We know what Australia has been doing until now about China. And we know what China has been doing. And you’ve just said, Senator Payne, that we’ve shown we won’t blink. Well, what are we going to do in the next three years about China? We’ve got a complex relationship with them. It’s not just a strategic one, it’s also a trade relationship. What are we going to do about the relationship?

And it’s emerged in the last couple of days, for example, that neither leader has met the new Chinese ambassador. What do we do to try to improve and de-escalate the bad blood in the relationship? And maybe Senator Payne could go first.

Marise Payne:

I think the premise of your question, Laura, which includes the phrase “de-escalate the bad blood” implies, in a way that I don’t necessarily accept, that Australia has not done the right thing in terms of protecting our national interests and our national security, which is what we will always put forward, first and foremost, for our nation and our people.

We will work closely with our partners, as we have, to secure and pursue the security, the prosperity, the stability of the Indo-Pacific region. But, overall, we will continue to seek a constructive relationship with China.

But it has to be a relationship in which our sovereignty and our interests are respected and in which no party is coerced or subjected to pressures that breach international rules.

So, is the de-escalation that you talk about accepting a 200% tariff on Australian wine? Or is it accepting the coercive impositions on Australian barley? Or is it accepting one of the 14 points in the document that was handed to your media colleague, Jonathan Kearsley, by the Chinese embassy? I’ve had a very constructive initial meeting with the new Chinese ambassador in Canberra, and I’m very pleased to continue to grow that relationship.

I have said at every opportunity that Australian ministers, foreign ministers, prime ministers, trade ministers, finance ministers, treasurers, are open and available to engage with our colleagues in Beijing.

And, of course, we are. But that opportunity has not been availed by the government in Beijing, and ultimately Australia continues to indicate that we are open to that constructive engagement. And I look forward to it being taken up.

Updated

Marise Payne:

Our approach, which we will maintain and grow if we are re-elected, is built on resilience, on relationships, and on rules.

We are increasing our national resilience by strengthening our economy and investing in our defence security and diplomatic capabilities, while also supporting the resilience of our partners in the region.

We know that strong sovereign states are vital to the security and prosperity of all.

We have expanded and deepened our relationships because a strong network of partners and allies increases our capacity to exercise positive influence. The sovereignty of our partners is paramount. We don’t lecture them.

We cooperate closely while respecting their sovereign decisions.

We’ve advocated strongly for the rules-based global order because a level playing field is good for both our national security and our economy. Consistency has been vital. Under the Morrison government, Australia has not blinked. We have shown we will not bend to coercion. We have shown our friends and allies that we can be relied on to act in accordance with our clear values.

Updated

Penny Wong won the debate coin toss and speaks first:

Our region is being reshaped. This generation of political leaders has a responsibility in this reshaping to secure Australia’s interest today and in the future. It IS our job.

We don’t have time for more of the same, and more of Mr Morrison means more of the same defence capability failures. More of the same “it’s not my job to pick up the phone to the region”.

More of the same chest-beating while letting Australia get beaten to the punch. And we are seeing the consequences of those failures.

Just as we saw with the bushfires, with the floods, with vaccines, with rapid antigen tests, now we see in Solomon Islands that Mr Morrison’s inaction has made things worse.

The fact is the risks Australians face will be compounded by three more years of Scott Morrison. More of the same excuses, the same political buck-passing, the same political games ahead of the national interest, whilst our problems just get bigger. And the rest of the world trust Mr Morrison as little as Australians do.

AEC head travels to Lismore to discuss polling booth concerns

The head of the Australia Electoral Commission has travelled to Lismore this week to hear from concerned members of the flood-ravaged community as the body struggles to find suitable polling locations just a week and a half out from the federal election.

Commissioner Tom Rogers also used the trip to thank staff members at the university where the first and so far only pre-polling station has opened in the city still rebuilding. The Guardian this week revealed residents have raised concerns over booth options, citing concerns over accessibility and poor communication.

Following the story, the AEC confirmed it had organised extra signage for the polling booth already in place and added extra information about the best ways to get there.

AEC media director, Evan Ekin-Smyth, said the commissioner “wanted to get to Lismore to see and hear about the conditions firsthand”.

He said:

A major part of the visit has been to also express appreciation to the university directly who is accommodating us on short notice to provide one of the two early voting options to local residents. There is a significant impact of the floods local residents with the university already also accommodating others who couldn’t find alternative arrangements, not just the AEC. We are incredibly grateful.

He said the agency was still working to “finalise the polling day options in the local area”.

Updated

Foreign affairs debate

Marise Payne and Penny Wong are debating each other at the National Press Club.

Daniel Hurst is there, but I will cover it off here as well.

If you haven’t seen it yet:

Natasha Fyles named as NT's next chief minister

The NT has a new chief minister, as AAP reports:

A former school teacher and mother of two boys will be the Northern Territory’s next chief minister following Michael Gunner’s surprise resignation.

Former health minister Natasha Fyles, 43, was selected by Labor’s 14-member caucus on Friday following days of behind-the-scenes wrangling between the party’s left and right factions.

“This morning the caucus has selected me as the unanimous choice for leader of the Territory Labor party,” Fyles said in a statement.

She will be sworn in as chief minister by the territory’s administrator later on Friday.

Fyles, from the left faction, is the second woman to be appointed chief minister and the third to lead Territory Labor.

She is also the second of the NT’s 12 chief ministers to be born in the territory since the Legislative Assembly’s first election in 1974.

No one publicly nominated for the top job but it was expected to go Gunner’s right-aligned deputy, Nicole Manison.

Fyles was viewed as her likely deputy.

Former union boss and AFL player Joel Bowden is also understood to have expressed an interest in the top job from the back bench but his left-faction challenge faded on Thursday.

Updated

National Covid summary

Here are the latest coronavirus numbers from around Australia today, as the country records at least 52 deaths from Covid-19:

ACT

  • Deaths: 0
  • Cases: 1,217
  • In hospital: 74 (with four people in ICU)

NSW

  • Deaths: 13
  • Cases: 12,020
  • In hospital: 1,398 (with 60 people in ICU)

Northern Territory

  • Deaths: 1
  • Cases: 319
  • In hospital: 16 (with no people in ICU)

Queensland

  • Deaths: 12
  • Cases: 6,555
  • In hospital: 407 (with 11 people in ICU)

South Australia

  • Deaths: 3
  • Cases: 4,616
  • In hospital: 229 (with 10 people in ICU)

Tasmania

  • Deaths: 2
  • Cases: 1,118
  • In hospital: 39 (with one person in ICU)

Victoria

  • Deaths: 18
  • Cases: 13,181
  • In hospital: 491 (with 25 people in ICU)

Western Australia

  • Deaths: 3
  • Cases: 15,565
  • In hospital: 279 (with 12 people in ICU)

Updated

The press conference ends.

Q: Is what we’re seeing from the prime minister today, a sign of desperation and if Scott Morrison is feeling desperate, does that mean you’re feeling pretty confident at this point?

Anthony Albanese:

We have a mountain to climb. Labor has only formed government three times from opposition since the second world war, it is hard for Labor to win from opposition.

That’s the starting point.

But when it comes to desperation, you know, desperation is if you look it up online, you’ll see a photo of Scott Morrison because everything he does is desperate.

Everything he does, is just focused on the next 24-hour media cycle. It’s based upon scaring people. It’s based upon fear.

I want a country where hope and optimism are the major emotions projected from our national government into the Australian people.

A government that has the foresight to actually plan for the future beyond the next media cycle.

This guy has no plans for the future. He struggles with the present and he never learns from past mistakes. That’s why he keeps repeating them. And that’s why if you want change, don’t look for Scott Morrison to change because that’s not going to happen, just change the government.

Updated

Anthony Albanese takes another question on climate and says:

We will always lobby and engage with international bodies in a national interest. It is in Australia’s national interest for the Great Barrier Reef to not be listed as endangered. We supported the actions that the federal government took, but what it needs is a bit more than lobbying. Because the game is up.

The world knows that this government aren’t serious about climate change. They know it, they’re onto it. It’s like the prime minister saying, you know, vote for me and I’ll change.

He’s saying that because the Australian people [know him]. They don’t trust him. They know that he is trying to get through an election campaign without a single positive agenda for a fourth term.

We are now just eight days out from polling day and all this bloke has is fear and smears, fear about the alternative government.

No plan for the future. No plan for climate change. No plan for skills, no plan for nation building infrastructure, no plan to grow the economy, no plan for national reconstruction, no plan to increase the economic participation of women, no plan to deal with the cost of living crisis that is in this country.

And he’s now saying, Scott Morrison is saying wages will always be lower under the Liberal party. That is what he is making very clear. This is a guy who during the last election campaign said if we take action on climate change, the sky will fall in we support electric vehicles. There’ll be no weekends in Australia. And now he’s saying if we give people who are on the minimum wage an extra dollar an hour, the sky will fall. What they know about this bloke is that he is not on their side, will just get more arrogant, more out of touch, less trustworthy.

Updated

Q: On today’s announcement, it seems like most of the money here is going towards treating the symptom rather than the cause of climate change here. How do you marry up what you’re putting out there as a pledge to protect the Great Barrier Reef when you are also committed to the coal and gas industries in this state?

Anthony Albanese:

You need to do both. You need to address climate change not just by domestic action, but both by being a part of international action as well. And the difference is that a Labor government that I lead will work with the Biden administration, will work with people who want to respond to climate change, will work with Boris Johnson’s government in the United Kingdom, will work with what Jacinda are doing at the moment.

Australia goes to international conferences, Scott Morrison gives an empty speech to an empty room. That’s what happens at the moment. We know that’s what happens at the moment.

We have a serious plan to deal with climate change. And we also have specific plans of working when we drove from Cairns earlier this year. We met with people in the agricultural sector including sugar cane. We met with the industry in each of those towns along from north to south Queensland. And one of the things that came through is that industry and farmers and business want to work in these areas. The tragedy about climate change and the debate in this country is that the government is trailing business. It’s trailing farmers. We can end the climate wars but to end the climate wars we need to end the government...

Updated

'Bulldozers wreck things,' says Anthony Albanese

Q: The PM has described himself as a bulldozer. Is he the loose unit? And he also said that “it’s fair to say I know things are going to have to change with the way I do things”. What’s brought that do you think?

Anthony Albanese:

Scott Morrison has today said he’s a bulldozer, that is a bulldozer wrecks things. A bulldozer knock things over. I’m a builder.

That’s what I am and if I’m elected prime minister, I’ll build things in this country. I’ll build better infrastructure, I’ll build a response to climate change. So in partnership with our allies, including the Biden administration, I’ll build the skills capacity of this nation up, I’ll build people’s living standards up as well.

I find it quite extraordinary that this government had been there for almost a decade.

This prime minister has four years in office. And what he’s saying is, if you vote for Scott Morrison, I’ll change. That’s really saying vote for me, and I’ll change well, if you want change, change the government change because we can’t just have three more years of the same and Scott Morrison.

If this government is re-elected. It will be more arrogant, more out of touch. It will abuse taxpayers money and treat it like Liberal party money, even more so than it has during this term.

This is a government of Abbott, Turnbull and Morrison and nothing quite says the law of diminishing returns like Abbott, Turnbull, Morrison. They’ve got worse, they’ve got more arrogant, they’ve got more out of touch. And now the prime minister is putting his hand up and saying, I’ll change. Well, if you want change, change the government on 21 May.

Updated

Q: In a week’s time you could be prime minister of Australia. The government has long said that the rise of China was posing as a strategic threat in the region. Do you believe that Beijing is trying to [extend] territory and is China a military threat?

Anthony Albanese:

What we’ve said is China is more forward leaning. It’s more aggressive in the region and it’s trying to extend its influence in the region. Australia needs to respond to that. That’s why a failing to respond appropriately in advance to what we’ve seen happen in the Solomons is a foreign policy failure on this government’s watch. Australia needs to work but we’ve got one question Australia needs, Australia needs to respond by upping our presence in the region. We’ve said for example in the Pacific that we will have an Australian Pacific defence school, where it said we will have a doubling of maritime security assistance in the region.

Protecting those fishing areas is so important for Pacific Island nations. We’ve said we’ll restart the parliamentary visits program that Malcolm Turnbull had that’s been abolished by this government will have different migration systems in terms of the Pacific labor market, but also more permanent migration will increase Australia’s voice into the Pacific as well. Something that’s been ridiculed by this government, we’ll increase aid by more than half a billion dollars into the region. We will have a comprehensive plan of engagement in the region. We’ll do that because it’s the right thing to do. But we’ll do that also. Because we need to work with our allies to make sure Australia remains the security partner of choice in the Pacific.

Updated

Q: Scientists at the moment are saying that certainly needs to have a commitment of a minimum of 50% emission reduction by 2030. Your target is only 43%. So how can you say that you’re listening to the scientists when your target is less?

Anthony Albanese:

Because what what we did, we didn’t come up with a target and then decide how to get there. What we did was we put in place what are the mechanisms that can drive change through the economy? What’s a way we can increase the uptake of electric vehicles? What are ways in which we can have community batteries? What are ways in which we can support renewables. Renewables will be under our plan 82% of the national energy market by 2030. Our plan is a serious plan. It’s one that is fully costed, it’s one that we will implement in government.

Updated

Q: Mark Dreyfus just gave a speech ... where Han Chinese people were dressed up as members of the oppressed Uyghur Muslim community. Do you think that was an appropriate thing to attend? And does that undermine the tough stance that you take on China?

Anthony Albanese:

So I’m not aware of the issue.

What I will say is we’ve been very consistent, very consistent, including Mark Dreyfus has been consistent about the need to stand up for Australian values and Australian values are about human rights. Australia values human rights. We have spoken out about the treatment of Uyghurs, about what’s occurred in Hong Kong, about Taiwan, about other minorities including in Tibet, that are suffering from human rights abuses. We’ll continue to do so. If you turn up at events, you’re not in control of who’s at those events and what they were. That’s the truth of the matter.

Updated

Albanese says Labor will end climate wars

Asked about the report showing 90% of the Great Barrier Reef has been impacted by bleaching and action is needed now, Albanese says:

I had seen that report. We haven’t seen some of the other reports on state of the environment that the government is sitting on and not releasing.

I make that point that the government is failing to be transparent about these issues.

This is another wake-up call, along with all of the other facets of climate change that we can see the increased flooding, even in areas it’s unusual to have this much rain in south-east Queensland in May for example and we need to respond to what I’ll make two further points.

The first is that here, the local member Warren Entsch speaks about the Great Barrier Reef and the need to take action. The problem is that he’s part of a government whereby Barnaby Joyce constrains any action taking place. Warren Entsch is hostage to Barnaby Joyce, and Barnaby Joyce is in charge of this government’s climate policy. We will do what we have said in government. We believe it is a good policy. It’s one that’s been welcomed. It will end the climate wars. What it will do is enable good economic and employment outcomes whilst looking after the environment.

Updated

Q: Under the Coalition the 160,000 annual skilled migration cap has barely [been reached] we’re nowhere near it. Businesses are crying out for workers will Labor do better filling that gap.

Anthony Albanese:

So, when it comes to skills, one of the things what we will create is Jobs and Skills Australia. Jobs and Skills Australia will be a body that includes private sector representatives for how we train up Australians as our first priority for the jobs that are needed in the future.

But additionally, that additional two that were a country except for First Nations people of migrants and descendants of migrants skilled migration will continue to play a role, particularly in terms of filling the skill shortages that are there in the short term.

But what I’ve said in the discussions I have with the business community as well, is that there are a range of professions where we’ve had short term responses, which are long term issues. Australia has needed engineers, as new chefs across a range of sectors for a long period of time we should be looking to attract the best and brightest to Australia. That will be consistent with the great migration story here in Australia.

Q: Would the Albanese government work to restore the climate commission, abolished by the government of scientists back to the heart of policymaking? And a related question on the climate change compact, would you want an Albanese government to look for form or strike for climate change compact?

Anthony Albanese:

Well, what what we will do is exactly what we have said we will do in our powering Australia plan. That’s a plan that is based upon science. It’s one in which we will recognise that we need to respond to the science of climate change. The tragedy of this government is that all Australians I think recognise that we responded to the science when it came to the pandemic, but we’re ignoring it when it comes to climate change.

We do need to respond to it. We do need to work with state and territory governments but also work with the business sector. We want to talk about what a compact looks like to end the climate wars. It’s a policy that’s released that has gained support of the Business Council of Australia, the Australian industry group, the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the National Farmers Federation, and the ACTU. That’s the policy that we have.

...What we’ve said is we’ll have a climate change authority. We will listen to the science we will engage with scientists as part of the processes and we won’t have the sort of sidelining that we’ve seen one of the vision statements that I gave in the leader, when we were going through that process was on science. I went to the National Press Club and gave a speech about science and how we need to respond to it in terms of environmental issues, but also commercialise the opportunities that are there from [that].

Updated

Anthony Albanese press conference

The press conference starts with the threatened species announcement.

Before moving to other issues:

Q: [Mark Dreyfus said your integrity commission would have the power to look back] Aren’t you paving the way for your model to investigate current Coalition benches and also including the prime minister himself?

Anthony Albanese:

What I’ve said consistently on a number of occasions is we want a strong national anti-corruption commission and it should have the power to investigate as it sees fit.

What it shouldn’t be is something that’s directed by parliamentarians and that’s the weakness in the governance model is that government ministers will decide whether issues are subject of investigation. That’s why it falls over. That’s why no one serious in the legal profession supports the same model. What’s clear is only Labor will deliver a national anti-corruption commission.

Updated

Anthony Albanese is back from his boat trip – that was a quick trip around the reef and is standing up in Cairns.

Updated

There are lots of questions around why violence against women and family violence is not more of an issue this campaign.

Fair Agenda have put out this statement:

Gender equity campaigning organisation Fair Agenda have worked with a range of First Nations and family violence organisations to outline what’s needed for women’s safety; scored the major parties on their track record in the last parliament; and asked all candidates to pledge their support for key policy areas if elected to the next if elected.

Cheryl Axleby, Co-Chair of Change the Record:

Last year violence against women was set to be front and centre of the election campaign. But yet again, we have seen the voices of women, and First Nations peoples, sidelined and ignored as we call for structural changes that would deliver greater safety, equality and justice.

Specialist, culturally safe First Nations family violence prevention and legal services are being forced to turn women away because the Government has failed to adequately fund their services. At a bare minimum if the Government is serious about closing the gap, then our women need somewhere safe to go to get legal assistance, help finding housing, and support for their families when they are fleeing violence.

Updated

For those asking when Anthony Albanese will hold his press conference – he is on a boat on the Great Barrier Reef, so it will probably be a little while off.

For those looking for more news on what is happening in Queensland, we have live coverage rolling here:

A Kim Jong-un impersonator has gatecrashed Scott Morrison’s visit to an electronics facility in Gladys Liu’s Melbourne seat of Chisholm, claiming the MP is a “communist candidate”.

The man dressed as the North Korean dictator, who gave his name as Howard X, somehow pushed his way into the facility after the PM had finished a press conference, but while the travelling media pack was still in the area.

A member of Morrison’s media staff demanded the man leave, but he continued shouting criticisms of Liu.

Queensland Senate candidate and anti-Communist party activist, Drew Pavlou, claimed responsibility for the stunt. He told Guardian Australia “of course” when asked if he was involved.

Pavlou earlier this week interrupted a Chisholm community forum, shouting “Gladys Liu is taking money from the Chinese government” and throwing Chinese currency on the floor.

Howard X describes himself on social media as “the first professional Kim Jong Un Lookalike & impersonator in the world”.

He made international headlines in 2019 when he stood alongside a Donald Trump impersonator at a stunt in Hanoi to coincide with the first meeting between the two leaders.

The stunt comes a day after Morrison’s security team prevented Trevor Sofield, who was Australia’s high commissioner to Solomon Islands in the 1980s, from approaching the PM at a media event in Tasmania.

Morrison shrugged off questions about that interaction at his press conference this morning, saying he “[follows] protocols with my security team and when they say it’s time for me to leave, that’s what I do”.

Updated

At that same facility Scott Morrison was holding his press conference at, this has happened.

Updated

Just reminded of this exchange in the first half of the campaign between Scott Morrison and Sky political editor, Andrew Clennell:

Clennell: We’re nearly out of time. You’re a PM known to rely heavily on focus groups and polling, perhaps more than any other PM.

Morrison :

Based on what, Andrew?

Clennell: Well, I’m aware in the formulation of budgets, you often test some of the ideas.

Morrison:

That’s an assertion, which I don’t share.

Twenty-one days later, down in the polls, with focus groups running overtime and reporting back the prime minister is too negative, Scott Morrison says he “needs to change”.

Updated

NSW and Victoria report more Covid deaths

The prime minister spoke in that press conference about “living with Covid”. NSW has reported 13 deaths and Victoria has reported 18 Covid deaths.

Updated

Labor commits $7.5m for national anti-racism ad campaign

Labor has committed $7.5m for a national anti-racism plan to include a “Racism: It Stops with Me” style ad-campaign.

The shadow multicultural affairs minister, Andrew Giles, revealed the pledge in comments to Guardian Australia backing calls from multicultural groups and the race discrimination commissioner to fund an anti-racism framework.

In March 2021 the commissioner, Chin Tan, argued the plan would help Australia respond to the legacy of Islamophobia in the wake of the Christchurch massacre and anti-Asian racism during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Giles said the Australian Human Rights Commission’s work against racism had “not been effectively supported by the Morrison government”.

He also took aim at the Coalition’s record including voting for One Nation’s infamous “it’s OK to be white” Senate motion and former attorney general George Brandis’ defence of the “right to be a bigot” during attempts to repeal section 18C of the Race Discrimination Act, which bans speech that offends, insults or humiliates people based on race.

“In celebrating the great achievements of Australian multiculturalism we can’t take it for granted,” Giles said.

In addition to seeking funding for an anti-racism plan, the AHRC has warned that it lacks sufficient base funding to perform its statutory functions, which include handling racial discrimination complaints.

In March the shadow attorney general, Mark Dreyfus, also criticised the AHRC funding gap but declined to make a specific commitment to redress it.

Updated

The aged care sector says none of the three major parties have announced election policies for “effectively tackling the sector’s urgent funding and workforce gaps in the short-term”.

The Australian Aged Care Collaboration, an alliance of industry peak groups, on Friday released its election scorecard assessing the aged care policies of Labor, the Coalition, and the Greens.

The Coalition was easily marked the worst of any party, receiving a tick only for fully committing to fund 200 minutes of care for each aged care resident from next year. Both Labor and the Greens were applauded for making the same commitment, but going much further, by fully committing to funding 215 minutes of care from 2024, funding any aged care staff pay rise decided on by the Fair Work Commission, and funding 24/7 nursing for aged care facilities. The Greens were the only of the three parties to make a partial commitment to provide funding for “current gaps in staffing and Covid-19 prevention costs”, the AACC said.

In a statement, the AACC said:

Recent surveys from the Australian National University and the ABC’s Vote Compass have confirmed that aged care ranks as a top issue of concern for Australians as they consider their vote.None of the parties are effectively tackling the sector’s urgent funding and workforce gaps in the short-term. There are also no comprehensive commitments on allied health for aged care. Addressing these issues are fundamental to improving the quality of care.Labor and The Greens have said they would fund a wage increase for workers and further increases in care minutes and nursing coverage, the Government has stated that it also supports these policies, but has avoided making a clear funding commitment.The AACC will continue to push for a supplement for wages, training, and nursing costs. We are also calling on the Government to fully fund a minimum wage increase for aged care workers.Australians have made it clear – they expect quality aged care for everyone who needs it and they see this as a priority for any incoming GovernmentThe AACC is calling on the next federal government to act on aged care reform in its first 100 days.It’s time to ensure that older Australians get the care they need and deserve, once and for all.

Truly, that was an extraordinary press conference. Murph will bring you her view very soon.

What we have heard from the prime minister, in the final minutes of the campaign is “I will change”.

That is different from “you may not like me, but I am good for you”.

Morrison has been in parliament since 2007. He has has held several senior portfolios before he was prime minister. He has held the same approach to the job the entire time he has been in parliament – not just through the pandemic.

But now Morrison says, he will change.

Updated

There is another question on immigration, but there is nothing new in the answer and Scott Morrison pivots it to finish with this:

That’s exactly what our economic policies are designed to do. They work together. Twenty-seven policies, I’ve announced during the course of this campaign. Every single one of them submitted for the approval of costings, in it the Parliamentary Budget Office and finance.

Labor party have not submitted one policy for costing during the course of this campaign. That should raise a question in people’s mind.

You can’t afford a loose unit in the Lodge, but what you can afford is to have a government that knows how to run the economy and is setting those opportunities up for the future. We have learnt a lot during this pandemic, and we are going to apply those lessons in the years ahead so we can continue to do better, to be better, and assure that better future which is a stronger future.

Updated

PM asked if his rhetoric on China will turn away Chinese-Australian voters

Q: You have said you have been one of the most forthright governments, going into this election, Gladys is here in Chisholm, Reid, Bennelong have large Chinese-Australian populations which may not have an affinity with the Chinese government but are proud of their heritage. Are you concerned if you lose some of the seats at the election they have failed to understand or you have failed to communicate the difference between your rhetoric on the Chinese government and Chinese people?

Scott Morrison:

You make a good point, because I am always very careful to make this distinction.

I talk about the assertive and aggressive nature of the Chinese government. Not the Chinese people. You know, Chinese-Australians are the greatest patriots you could hope for in this country. I remember being with Gladys, early on in the pandemic.

You remember we were down at Box Hill, it was February of 2020. I mean the pandemic at that stage had not yet hit the rapid escalation in this country we were seeing in others but, you know, as Chinese-Australians who were coming back out of Wuhan and coming back out of China, and returning, they saved Australia as much as anyone else in the way they came home and the way that they took precautions.

Whether it was here in Melbourne, or up in Hurstville or up there in Ryde or other parts of the country, I’m enormously grateful to the way the Chinese community leaders in Australia worked with the government so carefully during the course of the pandemic and played such an important role in those early phases of the pandemic.

So, I agree with you. I mean, Chinese-Australians, they are Australians, they are Australians and they are proud about being Australians and I’m proud of them. I’m proud of what they have done for our country, I’m proud of what they have achieved for our country.

And so that’s why I draw a sharp and distinct line between the actions of an authoritarian government that is seeking to be cohesive against Australia and to interfere in our region, and the wonderful Chinese people. Chinese-Australians here have family in China, they know what it’s like to live under authoritarian government. That’s why so many of them have come to Australia in the first place. Gladys herself understands and grieves terribly for what we are seeing in Hong Kong. And that’s why the Australian government has stood up for the people of Hong Kong, stood up for the people of Xinjiang.

Stood up for those oppressed in China and stood up for human rights and there is no group of people in Australia more passionate about standing up for their fellow Chinese heritage in China who live under that regime.

Q: Are you concerned, do you share concerns about the rise of China?

Gladys Liu:

Well, the way I look at it is I have come to the country 37 years and I became an Australian citizen 30 years ago. I’ve got my children born and raised here. And I understand now I’m an elected member of the Australian parliament, my job is to help to make this country a better country. For anyone to suggest that Chinese-Australians are not Australians ... and still have the loyalty and want to do things that is bad for Australia I think that is offensive, divisive and un-Australian.

Q: We are not saying that. We are specifically asking about the rise of China. I spent some time in your electorate in weeks and I spoke to Chinese-Australian voters there, many said they were concerned about the rhetoric from your government directed at China and they said it was making them less likely to vote for you. So what do you say to them? I mean, how can you reassure those voters?

Liu:

I have been at the pre-poll for four solid days. And I can tell you when you talk to Chinese people in Australia you don’t start by asking whether they are holding a Chinese passport, visiting this place, or come to help their children to look after their children.

Because we do have a lot of Chinese people living in Australia at the moment but they still hold a Chinese passport.

And I’m not talking about those people, I’m talking about those who pledged loyalty to the country. I have seen a lot of people throughout my three years as a member of parliament, at citizenship ceremonies and I hear them pledge loyalty to Australia. So if anyone suggests Chinese-Australians are any different from all other Australians, whether they were born here or not, I think this is offensive, divisive and un-Australian.

Morrison:

Very well said.

No one was saying what Liu was talking about.

Updated

Wow this press conference has been a journey.

Forget the last 3.5 years and the time as social services minister, immigration minister and treasurer before that and the time in parliament since 2007 – Scott Morrison, a week out from the 2022 election, now knows he needs to change how he does things.

Updated

'I know there are things I have to change in how I do things,' says Scott Morrison

Scott Morrison says he knows he needs to change how he does things and blames the pandemic for how he has governed, saying it has been why people haven’t seen him in “other gears”.

Q: You keep saying that – ‘what Australians know’. Is part of your problem that you keep telling them what they should know rather than listening to them?

Scott Morrison holds a press conference during a visit to a manufacturing facility in the seat of Chisholm in Melbourne, 13 May 2022.
Scott Morrison holds a press conference during a visit to a manufacturing facility in the seat of Chisholm in Melbourne, 13 May 2022. Photograph: Mick Tsikas/EPA

Morrison:

It’s very important to be listening to Australians and I have done that all across my political career.

And, you know, over the last three years and particularly the last two what Australians have needed from me going through this pandemic has been strength and resilience.

Now, I admit that hasn’t enabled Australians to see a lot of other gears in the way I work. And I know Australians know that I can be a bit of a bulldozer when it comes to issues and I suspect you guys know that too.

But, you know, over the last few years that’s been pretty important, to ensure we’ve been able to get through some of the most important things that we’ve had to do and land some really big security agreements with the United States and the United Kingdom.

But also I would say with the Japanese government, in the defence agreement, it took me three years to land that agreement and you worked with three prime ministers.

You’ve got to be pretty determined to be able to land those sorts of things but that doesn’t mean – because as we go into this next period on the other side of this election, I know there are things that are going to have to change with the way I do things. Because we are moving into a different time.

We are moving into a time of opportunity and working from the strong platform of strength that we’ve built and saved in our economy in the last three years we can now take advantage of those opportunities in the future.

Resilience and strength is what we needed and that will continue to be needed but it’s also about ensuring the dividend of what we’ve done gets to fix those problems in aged care. Gets to ensure that we are supporting people with disabilities.

That we are investing in the hospitals and the schools. You asked me about Mark McGowan, look, I’ve worked closely with Mark to ensure that they have got the GST that they needed, that they weren’t getting getting their fair share.

I want to see that invested in schools and hospitals and infrastructure in Western Australia because it’s a growing state.

You go up to the north of Perth, I was a talking to a lot of residents in north Perth last night and they want to see roads, they want to see the community infrastructure and that’s why we’ve invested in the new community recreation infrastructure in that part of the country.

Updated

Q: Mark McGowan yesterday was quite forceful about Peter Dutton that he finds his talk about war quite frightening. Is his rhetoric going over the top? Is it damaging relations even further with Beijing?

Scott Morrison:

Our objectives ensure a peaceful and stable Indo-Pacific. That’s what our policies are designed to achieve and that is what Peter is working to achieve.

That is exactly why we have entered into things like the Aukus agreement with the United States and the United Kingdom.

It’s why we have restored defence funding from the lowest level we have seen since before the second world war under Labor because they couldn’t control the borders and they couldn’t control the budget.

It wasn’t just that Labor couldn’t control the budget and they had to cut defence, they also couldn’t put important medicines on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme. That’s what happens when you have a party that’s loose with finances, loose with the economy.

You can’t afford a loose unit in the Lodge. And because the impact on you is very serious. It impacts on the medicines you can get access to, it impacts on your security as a nation when they can’t fund defence forces.

So we have rebuilt that up to over 2%. We have put in place the partnerships with our allies and our like-minded partners in the region. The Quad arrangement, now this is significant, under our involvement and with a lot of our driving, the Quad which is Australia, India, Japan and the United States, has been taken to a leaders’ level dialogue.

What’s the relevance of that? It was Kevin Rudd who put an end to that at the behest of the Chinese government. Now, he was wrong about that.

We have fixed that by restoring the Quad, by working with Japan, working with India, working with the United States. What that does is it implies an important counter-balance in our region for peace and stability. Our defence policies are all about ensuring peace and stability in our region, not the opposite.

Updated

Q: Just some clarity on yesterday. Was that any way to treat someone that has served the country? And also if you could clarify – is it the job of your security detail to protect you from physical danger or to protect you from political embarrassment?

Scott Morrison:

Well, they know what their responsibilities are and I follow [the protocols].

...I mean, in this job, it’s very important to follow protocols in relation to matters of that nature and I just follow those protocols.

...I have great faith in the team that protects me every single day and you’ll know that it was only a few weeks ago about 200 metres from the very site we were at yesterday where two of my protection detail were involved in a very serious car accident only a few hundred metres from that very site ... I follow their protocols and do that on each occasion and I don’t question it.

Updated

Q: You today announced new border protection policies which do include charging foreign criminals, if they’re in immigration detention. You had several years to announce that policy as either immigration minister or prime minister. Why are you doing it now just with a week left to go before the election campaign? Is this more politics than policy?

Scott Morrison:

No, it’s future plans. Because you never rest when it comes to national security and border security.

...We have done it for people smugglers and we made sure it could work with people smugglers and now whether they’re drug traffickers or bikies or others who will as soon as they get out, we’ll punt them, we’ll punt them. They’ll go. Over 10,000...

(Many have been NZ born citizens who have been living in Australia since they were babies/young children who have no ties to NZ beyond it being the place of their birth. The practice has been an issue NZ has raised with Australia multiple times.)

Q: The parliamentary committees in the past have found there was more than $50m owed and about $2m was, you know, received back.

Morrison:

That’s $2m more than there was before, isn’t it? That’s why it’s important. It sends a very strong message. If you come and commit a crime in this country and you’re not a citizen, you’ll go to jail, and when you get out you’ll be in detention. And then you’ll be sent home and we have done that on more than 10,000 occasions. I started the process as immigration and border protection minister.

I turned around the disgraceful record where the Labor party just let people who came to Australia commit crimes and just let them back into the community and didn’t send them home. I started that process as immigration border protection minister, Peter Dutton took it to a whole new level, and Karen Andrews continues that process. We don’t even know who Anthony Albanese would have as their home affairs minister. In fact, with Kristina Keneally, she is each way and every way when it comes to border protection. On these issues she just couldn’t be trusted to follow through.

Updated

Q: How many times have you met with Chinese embassy officials since you have been prime minister? Richard Marles had met with them and other officials 10 times in the last five years. Is that a concern to you? Are Labor doing more in this Chinese relationship?

Scott Morrison:

I have not met with the Chinese ambassador in any formal meeting while I have been prime minister and I note those reports about the deputy leader of the Labor party. It comes on top of the concerning reports about him running his speeches past the Chinese government and now we see a very strangely high number of meetings between an opposition member of parliament and Chinese government officials. I mean, something doesn’t sound right that to me.

Updated

Q: Prime minister, the Coalition has traditionally been seen as strong on national security and strong on the economy.

Scott Morrison:

True.

Q: We’re now heading towards a trillion dollars in debt, China signed a security pact with the Solomons. Have you lost the trust of the community when it comes to the economy and national security?

Morrison:

We are living at a time that is – that is unprecedented. In the last 70 or so years and Australia is facing some of the biggest economic and security challenges indeed the health challenges, a one in a 100-year pandemic and look where we are.

We have got an economy that is outperforming all of the seven largest advanced economies, democracies, in the world. We have got 400,000 more people in work today than we had before the pandemic.

We have maintained our AAA credit rating and we’re one of only nine countries to do so and our economic plan has turned around the budget by over $100bn in the last 12 months, unemployment has fallen to 4% and is falling further and youth unemployment has fallen to 8.3%.

We got 220,000 apprentices in trade training right now, the highest level since 1963. We got 1.1 million more women in work today than when we first came ... No, sorry you asked me a question about economic credentials and I’m running...

Q: And national security credentials.

Morrison:

You asked me about economic credentials so I think it’s only fair that I’m able to set them out. 1.1 million women more in work today having achieved record levels of female participation in the workforce.

The gender pay gap has fallen from 17.4% to 13.8% which means women working today are $70 a week better off than what they were under the Labor party.

And in addition, on our tax plan, it shows that women are $60 better off today than they were previously. And, of course, we’re ensuring that young people are getting into trades and are getting those jobs. That’s what our economic plan is doing as well as investing in supply chain security and the advanced manufacturing opportunities of the future, getting energy costs down by 10% over the last 3.5 years since I have been prime minister.

That’s what our economic plan is addressing. And as a result, we got issues around the world which has got upward pressure on interest rates, it’s got upward pressure on the cost of living, and so I think Australians can make the judgement about a government that has delivered on all of that, but more importantly, has had the economic plan that has been setting us up for the future to take advantage of the opportunities that are there and realise in the years ahead and on national security you have asked me about that. We’re the first government to achieve access to nuclear-powered submarines of any government in Australia and plenty have tried.

We have landed the first agreement, the Aukus agreement, which is the most significant defence agreement that this country has entered into since Anzus.

We have ensure that we have turned around the massive cuts to defence that we saw under Labor, the massive chaos on our borders to secure our border security for the future. It was Australia that under our government was able to stop the boats and other countries around the world come to Australia to find out how you can achieve that.

So when it comes to national security, when it comes to doing and standing up to the Chinese government, no government has been more forthright than ours whether it’s on protecting us on the security of our communication systems, where we’re one of the first to stand up in the world.

Whether it’s dealing with foreign interference, ensuring we have tight foreign investment rules that we have strengthened over time to ensure Australia’s sovereignty is not impinged. That’s our record. That what we have been doing. Australians know they can trust that, but more importantly they know they see the strength in our government and my prime ministership to stand up on those issues because they have seen me do it in the face of opposition, of critics, and on many occasions that has been from a weak opposition who you know you can’t trust with national security and is just loose on the economy.

Updated

Q: Regional security is an issue you say is important to you. Were you told at any stage yesterday that the former high commissioner to the Solomon Islands was at the event? And why didn’t you talk to him?

Scott Morrison:

Well, I learned that later. When I follow protocols with my security team and when they say it’s time for me to leave, that’s what I do.

...I don’t question that. I have learnt he was there in the 1980s and I’m sure he had many opinions on that, but can I tell you one of the most important things that we have done, when I first became prime minister, [Fijian] prime minister Frank Bainimarama came to Australia and I hosted him at Kirribilli and there was the formal part of the meeting but Frank and I walked out on to the terrace and I said to Frank, ‘Frank, I know that Australia has not always done it the right way in the Pacific. You know, in the past Australia has acted a bit like a colonial overlord and stomped around and I don’t think it’s treated the Pacific peoples and families with respect.’

And he agreed with me. And he said, ‘That was one of the key issues that had been causing angst amongst Pacific leaders’.

He was grateful I acknowledged that. Frank and I have now become very good friends as I have with many of the Pacific leaders and I have sought to change the way that we deal with the Pacific.

You have heard me mention it on so many occasions – family, I think of Pacific leaders as equals and as family working together to address the national security issues which is why when these issues come up, when those threats come up, and when I engage with Pacific leaders, they know I’m doing that out of a shared concern, not just from Australia’s concern.

Updated

'We are living with Covid' says Scott Morrison

Q: Prime minister, you said a couple of times there this morning that we’re almost through the pandemic, we’re at the end of it. Are we really, though? 15,000 new infections in Victoria yesterday, 15 deaths, we are coming into winter. Are we really through this?

Scott Morrison:

That’s why I haven’t said we’re fully through it and I have never said we are.

Because there are, of course, the winter and as you know earlier in the year working with the states and territories, we did our winter preparedness plan to go through all the issues, to support that, and that particularly meant ensuring vaccinations for older Australians, going back into the aged care facilities, and that’s what’s been done.

And that’s the plan being rolled out by the department of health and the states and the territories. And there’s always the risk of other variants.

We have been watching closely some of those variants, even over the course of this campaign as I have been in touch with the chief medical officer.

But where we’re at now is we’re living with it. I think that’s fairly clear.

Yes, there are large numbers of cases each day and sadly we are losing Australians, and as we have said many times back some months ago, when people are passing away, they may have Covid when they pass away, but we all know that that doesn’t mean that was the contributing factor to their death. But that’s how the numbers are recorded and I’m not suggesting any change to that.

So we are living with that virus. And that virus, it’s in the community, but people are getting on with their lives just as they are here and now.

And so I think as we talk about the pandemic, we’re moving into a completely different phase now and, indeed, we’re already living in it.

People don’t want what they have had to live with through the pandemic going into the future and that’s why the next three years we can look forward with optimism and we can look forward with hope because we have come through the worst of this, we believe.

Now, we can’t guarantee against any other circumstances and I wouldn’t be so foolish to suggest that, we always have to be ready and we always seek to be, but the opportunity is there now and we can’t risk that opportunity.

There is the better times that are coming, and that is because we have planned for them.

We have planned with businesses like this to ensure that they can invest in the equipment, the contracts, the technology, the training and the skills.

As a government, we just haven’t been getting us through, we have been setting Australia up and that’s why I’m optimistic.

Updated

Coalition spokesperson Anne Ruston has appeared to slightly walk back some of the government’s criticisms of Anthony Albanese’s comments on the minimum wage, saying they didn’t necessarily oppose a 5.1% increase – but more that Labor had nominated a specific figure.

For two days the Coalition has blasted Albanese for saying he would “absolutely” back a 5.1% increase to the minimum wage (that’s just $1 an hour).

Scott Morrison and other ministers have voiced fears about what it would do to inflation and interest rates (even though they’ve raised no such fears about the looming $180bn in stage 3 tax cuts), but Labor has turned it around by claiming the Coalition are penny pinching to harm the lowest-paid workers.

A slew of online posts from Labor have painted Morrison and the Coalition as financial scrooges, including one depicting the prime minister as Gollum from Lord of the Rings, clutching a $1 coin as “my precious”.

In a Radio National interview this morning, Ruston – who would be health minister in a Coalition government – recast her side’s attack.

I think you’ll find that the government has been very clear in its condemnation of the comments by Mr Albanese, not because of the figure that he put out there specifically, but the fact that he’s just chosen to put a figure out there without bothering to consult, take advice.

There’s no science around it.

Appearing alongside Ruston in a panel segment, Labor’s education spokesperson Tanya Plibersek also slightly re-positioned Labor’s stance. She said Labor would “welcome” a Fair Work Commission decision to raise the minimum wage by 5.1% – but stopped short of saying her party would explicitly suggest that specific figure in its submission to the FWC on the issue.

Updated

And we are back to negative.

Scott Morrison:

That’s what this job is all about – there’s never just one thing or two things you got to do, you’ve got to be doing things everyday and you’ve got to be across many, many issues.

That’s why you can’t afford to have someone who’s loose in the Lodge. You’ve got to have someone who knows to work across all of these issues and how government works.

Updated

Scott Morrison sells 'supply chain resilience' policy

Scott Morrison is now trying out a more positive message:

The last three years, they have been incredibly tough. The next three to five years will be much better.

And the reason they’ll be much better is because of the economic plan that we have been laying out and implementing both during the pandemic to keep us strong, but to ensure post-pandemic the jobs and the opportunities will be there.

Now, one of the key things we have learnt during the course of the pandemic – and we have learnt many lessons, sure we haven’t got everything right, I haven’t got everything right, we have been in one of the most extraordinary times known and there have been so many lessons learned and that’s going to enable us to be better in the future. I have talked a lot about risk in this campaign.

The risk of Anthony Albanese being loose with the economy and things like that, and that’s all true, but by voting for the Liberals and Nationals on 21 May, you’re also giving us the opportunity to put into practice all the things that we of course, have learned during the course of this pandemic, and ensure that the policies and plans that we have been putting in place to secure those opportunities in the next three to five years can be realised.

He is waving a printed “supply change resilience” paper by his head. Not sure if it says anything about climate change in there though (one of the biggest threats to supply changes).

Updated

Oh – it is also the PM’s birthday.

Updated

Scott Morrison is campaigning in Chisholm with Liberal MP Gladys Liu.

There are a lot of people wearing blue coats surrounding them

Scott Morrison is in Chisholm (Melbourne).

Anthony Albanese is in Leichhardt (Cairns).

Updated

Scott Morrison plans on announcing the Coalition will launch cost recovery from people in immigration detention (which includes asylum seekers) a policy which was in place, but was abolished by the Rudd government in 2009.

Kristina Keneally has been quick to announce Labor supports the policy and question the timing.

How borders have managed to become a key election slug fest when there has been nothing to prompt it but rhetoric and that both major parties believe there are votes in it, says a lot about our nation.

The flood siren warning has been activated in Grantham warning residents in low lying areas of a flooding risk.

Grantham was the scene of devastating floods in 2011/12 which still haunt residents.

Updated

Queensland is dealing with floods.

Again.

In May.

Back to Anne Ruston, she was asked on ABC radio whether or not she believes the role of the deputy prime minister is considered an economic portfolio.

One of the Coalition’s key attacks is Anthony Albanese has never held an economic portfolio. But he held infrastructure and was briefly deputy PM.

So is deputy PM an economic role?

Ruston:

Well, it would depend on the portfolio that the deputy prime minister held. I mean, obviously, there have been deputy prime ministers that have held economic portfolios in the past.

And there are others that have chosen to hold portfolios that are in other areas.

...As I said economic portfolios, are determined by the type of portfolio that it is and we know that portfolios such as you know, finance and treasury are the central pillars of the finance and economic portfolios ... it will depend entirely on the portfolio that the deputy prime minister held.

Updated

On what Anne Ruston said, here is some of what Scott Morrison said about the 5.1% figure on 11 May:

Anthony Albanese says that he wants wages to go up by 5.1% and he thinks that Australians don’t know what the impact of that would be on their interest rates, on unemployment or on inflation in the cost of living.

He thinks Australians don’t get the link between these things. He thinks he can just say what he likes and you can have your cake and eat it.

And that is not how you run sensible, sound, responsible economic policy. What prime ministers and treasurers say about the economy has real world effects around your kitchen table.

And a prime minister who would think – if Anthony Albanese was in that job – he could just go around wildly speculating with thoughtless contributions on wages.

What that could lead to is rising inflationary expectations and that feeds through to what you pay in the supermarket, what you pay elsewhere in the economy, and it can even impact on your job. What he said yesterday puts a chain reaction in place. Dominoes fall that lead to higher interest rates and higher costs of living.

And if he doesn’t understand that, that tells you everything you need to know about what he doesn’t understand about the Australian economy.

If he does understand it, he’s playing you for a mug. He thinks he can run around at this election saying you can increase people’s wages and at the same time see cost of living pressures fall and pressure on interest rates to remain down.

Well, it just doesn’t work like that, Anthony. You either don’t know what you’re talking about and you’re not up to the job or you’re taking the Australian people for a ride and I’ve called you out.

Updated

Anne Ruston finesses Morrison's attack on Labor's 5.1% wage rise support

Anne Ruston, as the Coalition campaign spokesperson is now pretending that Scott Morrison and the Coalition didn’t criticise Anthony Albanese for backing a minimum wage increase of 5.1% itself, but that he made policy on the fly.

I think you’ll find that the government has been very clear in its condemnation of the comments by Mr Albanese, not because of the figure that he put out there specifically, but the fact that he’s just chosen to put a figure out there you know, without bothering to consult, take advice, you know, there’s no science around it.

Ruston is asked whether she could live on $20.33 and avoids the question, instead saying the government has provided cost of living relief.

Updated

Tanya Plibersek, also on RN Breakfast, was asked about why Labor won’t put a figure in its submission to the Fair Work Commission:

We would put in a submission like every government puts in a submission to the Fair Work Commission in similar circumstances and we would consider not just the current rate of inflation, we’d also consider the other elements where we’re trying to help with the cost of living – things like the very substantial improvement in the cost of childcare, saving families thousands of dollars, like bringing down power bills by $275 a year, like bringing down the cost of medicines, all of those things.

Q: That’s interesting, so all of those things are considered, are you saying that it might not be 5.1% because other things have been effectively cheaper?

Plibersek:

I’m not going to pick a figure out of the air. This is something that we would work through in government to make a submission to the Fair Work Commission and Anthony has been very clear if the Fair Work Commission determines that 5.1% is a reasonable increase for those lowest paid workers, we would welcome that.

I mean, we are talking about people on $20.33 an hour asking for $1 an hour pay increase. The same workers that we’ve been thanking through the pandemic because they kept turning up to work, you know, to clean our supermarkets and clean our trains and keep public transport going and doing all of these jobs that we’re very thankful for in the hardest times, but now we’re not prepared to give them a $1 an hour pay increase, when we’ve got federal ministers saying that $400,000 a year is not enough for them to be paid.

Updated

Tanya Plibersek:

I don’t believe a candidate like this would do a major interview like this without checking in with campaign headquarters in the first place. If that’s your question, is it an authorised interview I’d be gobsmacked if it wasn’t.

Updated

On that back and forth with Anne Ruston:

Anne Ruston doesn't know if Katherine Deves' SMH interview was authorised by Liberal party

Over on ABC RN Radio, Anne Ruston (she is busy this morning) is asked, as the Coalition campaign spokesperson why Katherine Deves is on the front page of the Sydney Morning Herald.

Patricia Karvelas wants to know if it is an authorised interview, given how closely campaigns control who speaks, when – and until recently, Deves was not doing any interviews.

Q: Anne Ruston, the liberal candidate for Warringah, Katherine Daves is on the front page of the paper this morning. Is the plan to keep her views on transgender people in the news?

Ruston:

The comments that have been made by Ms Deves, I would distance myself from them entirely.

I think they’ve been insensitive and they have not taken into regard the...

Q: [How did she end up] on the front page of the Sydney Morning Herald?

Ruston:

Well, obviously, that’s a matter for the Sydney Morning Herald.

Q: No, it’s not. No, it’s not. It’s a matter for your campaign. You’re a spokesperson for your campaign. How did she sit down and do this interview? Are you trying to get her views on the agenda?

Ruston:

As I was saying, I think the views that have been [expressed], the way that Ms Deves has expressed her views about some very, very important but very sensitive issues has been insensitive. I would not use the terminology that she has used and I would distance myself...

Q: But my question is different. How did she get on the front page? Why did she agree to this interview? Is this authorised by your campaign?

Ruston:

Well, as I said, whether it was how she’s the story has come on to the front page of the paper is a matter for the publication.

Q: But no, it’s a matter for your party. She is your endorsed candidate.

Ruston:

Well, the decision around where the comments are a matter for the paper to decide.

Q: No I’m sorry, but I want to know whether your campaign authorised this interview.

Ruston:

Well, as far as I’m aware, I wouldn’t know necessarily but I would highly doubt that our campaign would authorise the kinds of comments that have been made by Ms Deves because we have distanced ourselves from those comments.

Q: But somehow, she’s on the front page of the Sydney Morning Herald in the last days of the campaign. Are you alarmed by that?

Ruston:

Well, the issue that Ms Deves is raising are very important issues for Australians to have a conversation about but as I continue to repeat, some of the comments from Ms Deves, I believe have been insensitive, and they haven’t taken into regard the the impact that they would have on the people, particularly those young people

Updated

Q: Katherine Deves, should she apologise for saying what she said?

Anne Ruston:

Well, as I said, I think the comments Ms Deves has made in the past, you know, could definitely, you know, have been insensitive.

I mean, it’s a very important issue that she raises and she’s raised a number of important issues that Australians, you know, shouldn’t be afraid to have a discussion about, but if we’re going to have a discussion about sensitive issues then I think it is absolutely incumbent on us all to be very mindful of the language that we use and the impact of that language that – that it has on others particularly those that are more vulnerable and more sensitive to the commentary.

Updated

Over on ABC Breakfast TV, Anne Ruston was asked why Scott Morrison isn’t doing more street walks in this campaign:

Trevor Sofield said he just wanted a civil conversation. What was wrong with that?

Ruston:

Well, I mean, obviously I wasn’t there and I was not confronted with the situation that the security detail was confronted with, but they do their job in very hard circumstances and often very dangerous circumstances as we saw in the situation in Tasmania a few weeks ago. [The security detail was involved in a car crash.]

They take their role seriously and do an amazing job in protecting all of us that are out on the campaign trail. And, you know, I think, you know, we need to respect the fact that they were – they were doing their job and there are other mechanisms through which people are able to get access to our leaders. I mean, certainly I know that my door is always open and my phone lines are always open should people want to contact me and provide me with their views on particular issues and so I would certainly encourage anybody who wants to put their views forward to do it through a way, but I would also say, you know, the Australian federal police are an amazing service that protect everybody.

Q: Federal police had their job to protect the Prime Minister and also the opposition leader, but I guess it goes to the broader question, doesn’t it, Senator Ruston - why isn’t the prime minister engaging with random voters, random people, more often?

Ruston:

Well, look, obviously the prime minister is on a number of occasions made himself – has engaged more broadly, certainly his visit to the Royal Sydney Show.

Q: That was one occasion, what were the other occasions?

Ruston:

Well, I mean, the prime minister meets with many people on the campaign trail at many times, but I suppose one of the things that probably is a reflection on the sad reality of modern-day politics is the need, the quite significant need, for close personal protection, not just of the prime minister, but also of the leader of the opposition and other ...

Q: I have seen him in campaign trails in the past with the AFP and doing a great job and other members of the security team walking down suburban shopping strips allowing, in this case, the prime minister to speak to, expose himself to the views of random voters. Why aren’t we seeing that?

Ruston:

Well, as I said, unfortunately we’re seeing a time these days where, you know, the people are perhaps not as safe to be able to be walking down the street. But as I said, the prime minister did go to the Royal Sydney Show and engage with a number of people that were at the show, which was a fantastic opportunity for him to engage with people out on the ground during the Easter break.

But, you know, this is a very serious campaign with very serious issues that we – we want to talk to the Australian public about the decision and the choice that they have at the next election and I think both leader, but the prime minister particularly, has engaged on a platform to make sure that he is able to provide that message in the best possible way to the most voters across Australia, and using the platform that you have, and that’s through the media to make sure that message is very clearly broadcast across the whole of Australia.

Updated

Queensland continues to be impacted by floods, as AAP reports:

Heavy rain is forecast to keep drenching parts of Queensland, with the weather bureau predicting falls of 160mm across the southeast that could bring life-threatening flash flooding.

Gympie, Bundaberg, Hervey Bay, Cooroy, Nambour and Rainbow Beach are all on flood watch on Friday as a surface trough moves across the coast.

“Locally intense rainfall which may lead to dangerous and life-threatening flash flooding is possible with thunderstorms during Friday afternoon,” the BOM said in an alert on Thursday.

Floodwaters outside the town of Forest Hill, Queensland.
Floodwaters outside the town of Forest Hill, Queensland. Photograph: Darren England/EPA

Major flooding is forecast for Laidley Creek and the Mary River at Gympie, with moderate flood warnings for the Bremer, Lockyer and Brisbane rivers on Friday.

The continued rainfall comes as a man was found safe and well after disappearing near a campsite south of Gympie in the state’s southeast.

Police and swift water rescue crews had been searching for the 36-year-old after he was reported missing at 10am on Thursday.

He was last seen chasing his dog away from the Yabba Creek Road campground near Imbil about 11.30pm on Wednesday.

Floodwaters cut off access to the site with the RACQ LifeLight chopper deployed amid heavy rainfall.

Police confirmed the man had been located “safe and well” on Thursday afternoon.

A woman in her 30s died in floods near Mackay earlier this week as rains up to 10 times the monthly average battered the north and the central interior of the state.

A man in his 60s was also treated for hyperthermia after spending Wednesday night clinging to a tree after his car became swamped by floodwaters near Bundaberg.

Heavy rainfall across Queensland is the state’s sixth major flood event since December with a combined death toll of 28.

The BOM warned of further heavy rainfall over the next 24 hours before lowering in intensity and easing following the weekend.

Updated

Good morning

There are eight days left in the campaign, with the leaders now looking to consolidate their messages.

For the Coalition, that message is “who do you trust with the economy” as it continues its spend-a-thon, with Sarah Martin and Nick Evershed reporting it has made $3bn in spending promises for 10 marginal seats.

Sarah and Nick have gone through all the funding announcements and discovered that along with the big headline announcements made each day, there are hyper local ones aimed at winning key seats.

The promises range from those in the tens of thousands, such as $100,000 for a playground upgrade in Kiola in Gilmore, to those in the hundreds of millions, such as the $336m regional road package targeting marginal seats in northern Tasmania.

Labor, for its part, has pledged close to $1bn for its top 10 marginals, with McEwen leading the list of commitments at $150m, as it seeks to fend off the challenge from the Liberals, followed by the Labor-held seats of Corangamite and Moreton.

Does anyone else smell roast pork?

Meanwhile, Australia’s relationship with Solomon Islands continues to haunt the campaign, after Trevor Sofield, the high commissioner to the Solomons from 1982 to 1985 (and our second) said he was “manhandled” by the PM’s security after he tried to approach Morrison at a Tasmanian cheese shop yesterday.

Sofield, 78, said he wanted to raise his concerns with how the government was handling the relationship with Solomons.

Labor is bracing for another day of wages questions, and trying to shift the dial to the environment

Labor has said it will release its costings after the Coalition’s campaign launch (to be held in Brisbane on Sunday) with the Coalition trying to push the message Labor’s pledges haven’t been costed. That included a press conference with Simon Birmingham and Josh Frydenberg with a costings “score board” yesterday – 22 to 0.

Eight days to go.

You have Murph and the team to guide you through the day. I am already on coffee number three, so let’s jump straight in.

Updated

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