Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese are gearing up for tonight's first leaders' debate in Brisbane.
Look back on how Wednesday's events unfolded in our blog.
Key events
- Why didn't Scott Morrison send his foreign minister to Solomon Islands?
- PM says Australians 'sick of walking on egg shells' when asked about Deves support
- What changes to industrial relations would Morrison like to see?
- What would the Opposition Leader have done on Solomons?
- Albanese says workers don't deserve a government that attacks their working conditions
- The Coalition is promising to increase fines on unions that break the law
- Labor is vowing to make industrial relations a key election issue
- Foreign Minister Marise Payne says Solomon Islands-China pact lacks transparency
- When and where to watch tonight's leaders debate
Live updates
By Emily Sakzewski
That's all I've got time for today, folks.
We will be back at 6pm AEST with a new blog, bringing you all the updates from tonight's leaders debate in Brisbane.
Until then, you can find all the latest federal election content on our Australia Votes page.
By Emily Sakzewski
Let's recap today so far
The news of the Solomon Islands-China security deal was a major talking point this morning.
Labor says the deal shows a failure on the Government's part, pointing out that it should have sent a senior minister - Foreign Minister Marise Payne for example - to the Solomon Islands, rather than sending a less senior minister, Minister for International Development and the Pacific, Zed Seselja.
The government says it was important for Australia not to be seen throwing its weight around, and that it made the right call sending Mr Seselja.
Industrial relations was also a big talking point today.
Scott Morrison confirmed a re-elected Coalition government would reintroduce its abandoned industrial relations changes which would affect enterprise bargaining, award simplification and wage theft.
Labor argued that the legislation was essentially a green light for pay cuts.
The Coalition also said it would increase fines for union officials who break the law.
Anthony Albanese said the government shouldn't attack unions and should instead legislate on wage theft.
Tansgender participation in sport remained on the agenda, as did calls for Mr Morrison's Warringah candidate to be disendorsed over her social media posts about transgender people.
Mr Albanese said the matter of participation in sport is well covered by the Sex Discrimination Act.
Mr Morrison said he thinks Australians are fed-up with having to walk on egg shells because they may or may not say something that would upset someone.
By Emily Sakzewski
Liberal Party accused of 'con job' after funding pledge for bypass in marginal seat
A Liberal Party election pitch to start work on a major infrastructure project in a marginal seat has been criticised by Labor as a "con job".
The Liberal Party has pledged $40 million, including $8 million in state funds, to start work on a Nowra Bypass in the marginal NSW seat of Gilmore
The announcement on Tuesday from the party's candidate, former NSW transport minister Andrew Constance, came several days after incumbent Labor MP Fiona Phillips promised $5 million for the road.
Senior Labor MP Tanya Plibersek said it took Fiona Phillips to commit to the project for the Liberal party to commit.
"Honestly, Andrew Constance was part of a state government who could have built it any time," she said.
"Scott Morrison has been in government federally for close to a decade, they could have built it at any time.
"Now they've got this con job, that five minutes before an election they've finally realised that this is an important thing to do."
By Emily Sakzewski
By Emily Sakzewski
By Emily Sakzewski
Guide Dogs Victoria has launched an internal investigation after its CEO publicly endorsed Josh Frydenberg
Residents in Josh Frydenberg's electorate of Kooyong, in Melbourne's inner-east, have expressed their anger after a head of a charity endorsed the Federal Treasurer's election campaign.
Locals received a flyer from Karen Hayes naming herself as the head of Guide Dogs Victoria and endorsing Mr Frydenberg.
Ms Hayes is pictured holding a guide dog puppy alongside the words "Why I am supporting Josh Frydenberg".
Under the current rules, registered charities can't have a purpose of promoting or proposing a political party or candidate.
Local resident and retired social services advocate Andrew McCallum told ABC Radio Melbourne the rules are quite clear.
"I mean, she's entitled to support whoever she likes in a private, personal capacity, but don't go out using the logo or the title of where you work because you've actually, by implication, said that they're supporting what you're saying."
But Mr Frydenberg says the objections are "confected outrage" and that there's nothing wrong with Ms Hayes recognising his community work.
Mr Frydenberg didn't directly answer questions about whether his office paid for the flyers, saying it has a number of means of putting information out to the electorate about his involvement with community goups.
By Emily Sakzewski
Three reasons why Clive Palmer's promise to cap home loan interest rates at 3% is not feasible
Recent advertisement by Clive Palmer, claims that his government will keep house mortgage below 3%. What does this mean?
-Sri Varman
Does it mean that the government in power controls the reserve bank, regarding cash rates and thus the mortgage rate borrowers pay. Does it mean that the reserve bank is not an independent body?
Does Clive Palmer's claim that his government will keep mortgage rate under 3% , mean that he will spend his own money to support mortgage holders?
Thank you for your question Sri. I asked my colleague, business reporter Michael Janda, for some clarity on this. Here's his answer:
It might sound attractive to borrowers for mortgage interest rates to be capped at 3 per cent, but here are a few reasons why such a policy would be unfeasible.
Firstly, it would require overriding the independence of the Reserve Bank of Australia to set the cash rate target on which variable mortgage rates are largely based.
While there are legal provisions in the Reserve Bank Act of 1959 that allow a government to do this, they have never been used.
If they were used, it could undermine the trust international financial markets have in Australia's economy and financial institutions.
Secondly, it would likely send the price of buying a house, as well as other goods and services, soaring, risking hyperinflation.
That is because the independent Reserve Bank uses interest rate rises as its key tool to keep price increases in check when the economy is booming, as it is now.
By removing that tool for the largest category of borrowing in Australia, mortgages, price rises would likely get out of hand. Or, to stop inflation getting out of control, the government would have to increase taxes, which would have a similar effect to raising interest rates in terms of cooling the economy.
Also, while the rise in house prices might be good for current owners, it would put buying a home further out of reach for those who don't already have one.
Thirdly, as interest rates across the developed world keep rising, Australia would be increasingly left behind if our rates were capped, which would likely lead to a significant fall, or even crash, in the Australian dollar. That, in turn, would put further upward pressure on prices, especially for imported goods.
Former Reserve Bank governor Bernie Fraser perhaps summed up the consensus among most economists about why central banks should be independent of government.
"The usual argument for an independent central bank is that governments and politicians cannot be trusted to do the right thing with interest rates. They are assumed to be driven by the electoral cycle, and prone to manipulate monetary policy for short-term political gains ... The corollary of this argument is that an independent, expert body not bound up in the electoral cycle would do a better job than politicians in conducting monetary policy. This seems to me to be the strongest reason for entrusting responsibility for monetary policy to an independent central bank."
By Emily Sakzewski
Let's answer some questions
Is there any analyses or numbers around how many people have moved from Urban areas / Cities to rural areas (or seats) since the last election and what the possible impact this may have on the election?
-RChapman
Hey RChapman. This piece by my colleagues in ABC Riverina looks at the net migration from the capital cities to regional areas during COVID (so since the last election). As for what the impact this might have on the election, I think we'll have to wait and see.
By Emily Sakzewski
Scott Morrison in Adelaide
Here are some shots from the campaign today, following the PM at the University of Adelaide. These pictures were taken by ABC photographer Andy Kennedy.
By Emily Sakzewski
Where do the major parties stand on the things that matter to you?
To make things easier, political reporter Georgia Hitch has made a handy cheat sheet laying out the policies of the major parties.
By Georgia Hitch
Can the PM guarantee nuclear subs will be built in Adelaide?
The Prime Minister is in South Australia at the moment so it's not surprising that he's been thrown a question about whether the government's new nuclear submarine deal will see those subs also built in Adelaide.
Adelaide's northwest, including the Lefevre Peninsula and the suburbs of Osborne and Port Adelaide, is home to a significant portion of the nation's naval shipbuilding capability.
Mr Morrison's kind of side-stepped the question saying:
"As much as possible will be built here in Australia" he said.
"Now, we haven't selected even the vessel that will be made so no-one can respond to that question in the way you would like them to."
By Emily Sakzewski
Why didn't Scott Morrison send his foreign minister to Solomon Islands?
A reporter has pointed out that on the day Zed Seselja was travelling to the Solomon Islands, Foreign Minister Marise Payne was hosting a private fundraiser at PwC Barangaroo. They've asked whether that is really the best use of the Foreign Minister at the time?
Mr Morrison said his government was "very aware of where the agreement was up to".
He said it was important to communicate with the Prime Minister of the Solomon Islands, Manasseh Sogavare, what Australia's position was, and to not "go and stamp around".
He says the aim was to deal with the issue "constructively and respectfully".
"I'm very conscious of how visits are perceived within the Pacific [and] this was the right calibrated way to address this issue with the Prime Minister.
"So the judgement was made not to engage ... at a foreign-minister-level engagement to ensure that Australia's views were communicated very clearly and very respectfully and that has been done."
By Georgia Hitch
PM says Australians 'sick of walking on egg shells' when asked about Deves support
A reporter's asked the Prime Minister about his committment to the mental health of young people given he's standing by controversial Liberal candidate for Warringah Katherine Deves, who he hand-picked.
Ms Deves has made multiple apologies for now-deleted social media posts where she made disparaging remarks about transgender people and children.
She's also the founder of an advocacy group to try and stop transgender women playing women's sport.
There's been calls from some within the Liberal party for her to be dis-endorsed as a candidate, but the Prime Minister has continued to back her.
"I have raised this many times in these press conferences - the remarks that Katherine has made in the past that have been insensitive. She's withdrawn those remarks and I think she has learned that in taking forward the primary issue that she is seeking to raise, as a woman raising three daughters of her own, is about women and girls in sport," Mr Morrison said.
When asked again about the importance of mental health of transgender people and children and how that related to sport, he replied:
"She's made a number of remarks in the past, and on a number of occasions, not in the majority, she's stepped over the line, and she's acknowledged that.
"To go forward as a member of Parliament, that is something you need to learn. That these issues are important, that you need to be able to deal with them with respect for others, to be compassionate in terms of the feelings of others.
"But what I won't allow, what I won't allow, is for those who are seeking to cancel Katherine simply because she has a different view to them on the issue of women and girls in sport. I'm not going to indulge that because you know in this country, I think Australians are getting pretty fed-up with having to walk on egg shells everyday because they may or may not say something one day that's going to upset someone.
"Now you shouldn't seek to upset anyone else, you shouldn't seek to upset people, you should deal with things in a very sensitive way.
"Others might want to cancel her, others might want to cancel other Australians for standing up for things that they believe in."
By Emily Sakzewski
Morrison has been asked about his government's record on boat turnbacks
Just as Anthony Albanese was asked about turnbacks, so has the PM been quizzed. He's been asked how many turnbacks his government has done and how many Labor have done.
"We have done 27 turnbacks from memory and Labor did none," Mr Morrison said.
By Georgia Hitch
What changes to industrial relations would Morrison like to see?
Jumping on Mr Morrison's answer to the last industrial relations question, someone's asked him if there are no major changes to the BOOT, what changes is he considering and would they target businesses who struggled in the pandemic.
The Prime Minister didn't say what changes he'd like to see to the better-off-overall test, instead answering:
"The pandemic is now passed. There are emergency [industrial relations] measures that obviously no longer have an application.
We're not in an economic emergency environment. And, so, the measures that I have already articulated to you and that are set out well in the legislation, I think, are very clear," Mr Morrison said.
By Emily Sakzewski
Morrison is defending his government's handling of Australia's relationship with Solomon Islands
The PM was asked whether he made a mistake in sending Zed Seselja to the Solomon Islands and not Foreign Minister Marise Payne.
ICYMI, the Minister for International Development and the Pacific was sent to Solomon Islands in a last-ditch effort to convince the government in Honiara to walk away from a security deal with China. The trip has now shown to have been fruitless.
Mr Morrison said "what has occurred in Solomon Islands" comes as "no surprise to our government".
"Over the course of these last three years, I have spent an enormous amount of time working with all the Pacific leaders, stepping up in our Pacific … because the real risk, I think, has been exposed.
"The risk of China seeking to interfere within our region, I have known about and have been taking strong action about.
"I mean, I was the one who stood up and called out China on the pandemic, I was the one who called out their interference, I was the one who did all of this and I was the one criticised for it, including by the Labor Party.
"Australia is being coerced by China because of the strong stand that our government has taken. So this is not a new issue."
By Georgia Hitch
Has Morrison backflipped on industrial relations reforms?
First question to the Prime Minsiter is about the Coalition's industrial reforms.
He's been asked if he's backflipped after saying on the weekend that he was committed to a suite of reforms that didn't pass parliament, including that employers would've been able to apply to offer their workers two-year pay deals that didn't meet the Better Off Overall Test, or the BOOT, given Attorney-General Michaelia Cash has said there'll be no pausing the BOOT.
"The legislation did, which as you know, was practical, common sense changes, it was an award simplification ... and ensuring that there's greater flexibility to ensure that these companies can work with what is an often complex industrial relations system," Mr Morrison said.
"As I was asked about this on the weekend, and there are no major changes to the BOOT at all."
By Emily Sakzewski
Morrison formally announces a $50m university program
The PM has formally announced a new partnership with the University of Adelaide that we foreshadowed earlier.
Scott Morrison announced a $50 million investment in defence research, where the university will partner with 52 businesses to research new defence technologies.
"Another great partnership between our researchers and scientists, with our universities and the corporate sector, to see places just like this to go strength-to-strength with the defence industry and capability.
"In addition to that, we're announcing the extension of our defence industry internship program.
"That will be through a further investment of $14.4 million to extend that program out to 2025-2026."
By Georgia Hitch
Morrison in SA seat of Boothby
Scott Morrison is at an event in the SA seat of Boothby — one the Liberal Party is hoping to hold, despite the current local member, Nicolle Flint, retiring at this election.
He's announcing funding under a program designed to team university research up with industry, from the same program he announced $50 million in funding for Curtin University yesterday.
