What we learned: Friday 2 May
That wraps up the blog for this penultimate day of the federal election campaign. Let’s recap the main events:
Anthony Albanese insisted he’s not taking an election win for granted and said the “apparent appearance” of an adviser from the US campaign giving pointers to the Liberal party was “interesting”.
Peter Dutton predicted “big surprises” on election night.
Katy Gallagher says Angus Taylor is “all over the shop” on public service cuts.
A poll tracker found the major parties’ primary vote is headed for a record low.
Jane Hume said it’s too early to discuss replacing Dutton as “you do not read the entrails until you have gutted the chicken.”
Unions condemned the Coalition’s “hidden” vow to ditch student prac payments.
Nearly 40% of voters cast their ballots early.
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange endorsed Albanese, praising the PM’s efforts to release him from jail.
The blog will be back bright and early tomorrow for the final countdown!
Updated
Greens take some credit for Julian Assange’s release
Karvelas asks Greens deputy leader Mehreen Faruqi about Julian Assange’s statement endorsing the PM, and whether she gives the PM credit for the way he has handled those issues.
Appearing on ABC Afternoon Briefing, Faruqi admitted she hadn’t read Assange’s full statement but said the PM was under a lot of pressure from the cross bench, including the Greens, to push for Assange’s release before it happened:
This is what I mean when I say Greens pressure works.
Updated
Independent Zali Steggall: Labor and Liberal applying only Band Aids to problems
Zali Steggall has told the ABC’s Afternoon Briefing that she’s concerned about the Coalition’s policy costings and that it hasn’t learned anything from the 2022 election, especially about the climate crisis. She says too she doesn’t support the Coalition’s proposed cuts such as repealing HECS debt relief for young people.
However, the independent MP for Warringah says she also has questions about the government’s policies.
We have really big issues to tackle … A lot of the policies we’ve seen put forward by the major parties this election are Band-Aids, they are short-term sugar hits and they don’t address a lot of structural issues.
I think with many of my crossbench colleagues we are more interested in the polices, not interested in power, we’re interested in long term change and investment into Australia.
Updated
Coalition planning to cut social security payments
A look at the Coalition’s costings shows it plans to make some savings to the budget’s bottom line by cutting social security.
It will reduce the time someone overseas can continue to receive payments to just four weeks. This would affect carers and pensioners living overseas and save the government $74.3m over four years.
It has also said it would increase the newly arrived residents waiting period to five years (up from four for most payments), which would save $2.8m over four years.
But the Coalition does plan to spend money on rolling out controversial cashless debit card trial sites – it has promised to spend $90.5m over four years setting this up.
The cashless debit card has been trialled since 2016, and Labor did promise in 2022 to wind it back, changing it to a voluntary basics card – but we are yet to see that happen.
Independent reports have found no clear evidence the card reduced alcohol harm or improved financial outcomes and many Aboriginal organisations, and welfare and human rights groups have labelled it as dehumanising.
Updated
Albanese says he won’t legislate a voice to parliament
The PM told the ABC’s Patricia Karvelas he won’t legislate a voice to parliament because Indigenous Australians didn’t ask for it to be legislated – as three different bodies had been dismantled with the stroke of a pen previously. The request was for the Voice to be enshrined in the constitution, which Albanese says he honoured by holding the referendum that was ultimately not successful.
Asked what his message to First Nations Australians is, Albanese says:
I respect them and I want to engage with them in practical reconciliation – in closing the gap, in housing, economics empowerment, health and education.
Karvelas says the ABC Afternoon Briefing asked a Coalition frontbencher to appear on the program but they declined.
Updated
Albanese points out the Coalition’s inconsistency this campaign:
The Coalition have not been able to stick to a policy for three days in so many areas – on issues like working from home … $600bn nuclear plan that they can’t explain. These are the issues that Australians will weigh up.
Albanese won’t be drawn on significance of One Nation popularity
Asked about what he thinks is fuelling a One Nation vote surge in outer suburbs, which the poll shows, Albanese says:
My job isn’t to comment on politics, my job is to do politics.
Asked whether that surge could help the Coalition, Albanese maintains he is not a commenter.
Updated
Albanese sidesteps questions about potential damage from Victorian ALP’s unpopularity
The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, spoke to ABC’s Afternoon Briefing earlier today from Devonport in Tasmania.
Asked about whether he’s worried the unpopularity of the Victorian Labor government could cost him a majority government, Albanese dodged the question saying he was campaigning there later today and “looking forward to building on our positive agenda.”
Asked whether he accepts Victorians are angry at the Labor party, Albanese says his job is to put forward “our proposition in a federal election campaign, whether Victorians want free Tafe to continue, whether Victorians who have HECS debts want a cut by 20%, whether every Victorian taxpayer wants a tax cut rather than a tax hike, that’s what’s at stake this election.”
“Victorians understand us well that the culture wars that the Coalition want to engage in, that they’ve sought to raise during this election campaign, are not in their interest.”
Updated
Mild and sunny weekend for the south-east, showers for the east and west
While nearly 40% of voters might have cast their ballots early, the remaining 60% of you will be interested to know whether you’ll be enjoying your democracy sausage in rain or shine tomorrow.
Jonathan How from the bureau of meteorology says a large high pressure system sitting over the south-east of the country will produce clear skies and light winds across Tasmania, Victoria, South Australia and southern New South Wales. It means cold mornings will continue, followed by mild and sunny days.
It is also pushing showers on to the east coast, generally for northern New South Wales and eastern Queensland, How says.
A cold front will also sweep across south western parts of Western Australia, with showers across the coast, followed by cooler south westerly and gusty winds, he said.
Temperatures will start to fall heading into the weekend across northern Australia. The wet season has concluded, but a few showers and thunderstorms are possible across Far North Queensland and also through the top end.
Updated
The Australian Electoral Commission’s voting centres extend far beyond the national borders, and perhaps this one here in Paris has a claim to the polling station with the best view …
All under control in Paris pic.twitter.com/1Qc3uLlg4j
— AEC ✏️ (@AusElectoralCom) May 2, 2025
You can read more about how Aussies abroad cast their votes here:
Updated
Kirilly Dutton: Peter is ‘the prime minister we need for our times’
Kirilly Dutton goes on to say her husband is the “prime minister we need for our times” and is driven by a desire to protect others and has a clear sense of morality.
Peter has held some of the toughest jobs in government as Home Affairs and Defence Minister.
He has made difficult but necessary decisions in our nation’s best interests.
Australians respect his strength of character. They know he is man who can bring certainty for our country amidst uncertain times. And while he is firm, he is fair and compassionate too.
From his time as a police officer through to today, he is driven by a desire to protect others and a clear sense of morality. He knows there is right and wrong, and good and evil, in the world.
Despite his roles and workload, he has always been a wonderful husband and a dedicated and present father to his children.
He has always prioritised time with myself and the kids and has endless time for his extended family – especially his nieces and nephews.
Peter is the prime minister we need for our times.
Updated
Dutton’s wife Kirilly: Peter is ‘attuned’ to the views and values of ‘everyday’ Australians
Peter Dutton has posted on his social media account a message from his wife, Kirilly Dutton, framing her husband as a “listener”.
Dutton wrote on X, formerly Twitter:
A message from Kirilly Dutton:
Above all else, Peter is a listener. Whether he is with family, friends, residents in Dickson, or the many Australians he meets as a parliamentarian, he is attentive and curious.
He isn’t one of those politicians who speaks over people or tells people how it is. He asks questions. He wants to hear other people’s stories and perspectives. And that’s what makes him attuned to the views and values of everyday Australians.
He started and ran a successful business. He has been an assistant treasurer. He knows what makes the economy tick. He has been part of Coalition governments that have cleaned up the economic mess they have inherited. And he will do it again.
Updated
Students union criticises Coalition’s plan to cut prac placement support
The National Union of Students is hitting back at the Coalition’s plan to cut financial support for prac placements as an “attack on students” which shows a “dangerous disconnect” from their reality.
The Coalition this morning revealed it would strip away the Albanese government’s policy due to be implemented from July, to provide about $300 a week financial support to students completing mandatory practical placements in nursing, midwifery, education and social work.
NUS President, Ashlyn Horton said:
This is not just an abstract policy cut, this is the difference between students eating or going hungry, finishing their degree or dropping out. Placement poverty is a national crisis, and Peter Dutton wants to make it worse.
This is a policy that entrenches inequality. It will undermine workforce development in sectors Australia desperately relies on, and it will punish those who already give the most to our communities.
The Commonwealth Prac Payment isn’t just helpful, it’s essential. It’s the bare minimum support students need to complete mandatory training without going broke. Instead of axing it, we need to be expanding it to cover more students, more professions, and provide better financial security.
Peter Dutton’s plan to cut this payment shows a dangerous disconnect from student reality. If he spent just one week living like a nursing or teaching student on placement, he’d understand this support isn’t a luxury, it’s survival.
Updated
Good afternoon and thank you Krishani for taking us through this busy penultimate day of the campaign!
And with that, I’ll hand over to the wonderful Natasha May to take you through the rest of the afternoon.
Thank you all for joining me on the blog today, and I’ll be back with you tomorrow evening, to bring you all the vote counting, analysis and general election night excitement! See you there.
Dutton has ‘no doubt’ Coalition can win the election
Dutton says his team has been working “day and night” and he is “incredibly proud” of them.
The opposition leader gets a few questions from reporters on whether he can still win tomorrow, and whether he needs a “miracle” to get there.
What I would say to Australians at this election is that there is a choice and a sliding doors moment. The choice is to continue three bad years and Australians can’t afford that.
Asked if he’ll remain leader if the party isn’t successful tomorrow, Dutton says he’s been
clear that his objective is to win.
I have no doubt in my mind we can win the election and get our country back on track.
He doesn’t say what happens on Sunday if the Coalition loses.
Updated
Dutton accuses Albanese of being dishonest about a future Indigenous voice to parliament
Since Penny Wong’s appearance on the Betoota Advocate podcast, where she said Australians will reflect on the voice referendum debate in the future as we reflect on marriage equality now, Dutton has claimed it means Labor wants to bring back a voice to parliament.
To recap, here is what Wong had said on the podcast.
I think we’ll look back on it in 10 years’ time and it’ll be a bit like marriage equality don’t you reckon?… it’ll become something like, people go ‘did we even have an argument about that?’
Dutton said today the government “has this plan [for a voice] which has now been reenforced by Anika Wells which is obvious to all Australians”
You don’t have to look much further than the words of Penny Wong and Anika Wells. They have a plan to introduce by legislation a Voice. Now, Australians voted against that. And you would have thought that the prime minister would have been honest but even on that issue he’s not being honest.
Almost all senior ministers have been asked about whether Labor will bring forward another proposal for a voice to parliament in the last couple of days. All have said no, and Albanese has accused critics of “verballing” Wong.
Yesterday, Wells told ABC TV:
The voice in the form we took to the referendum is gone … we respect the opinions and the votes of people, they made that very clear.
Updated
Pauline Hanson muddies the waters on Coalition’s Paris climate agreement stance
Dutton says there has been “no change” to the Coalition’s policy to commit to the Paris climate agreement.
Shadow energy minister Ted O’Brien confirmed his party was committed to the agreement in April, just hours after he’d left the door open to leaving it, during a national press club debate with energy minister Chris Bowen.
Dutton was asked about comments made by One Nation leader Pauline Hanson that the Coalition would have to commit to pulling out of the agreement to get her vote, and whether the Coalition would do that.
He said his position is “clear”.
We have been clear in relation to the policy on the matter.
The reporter asks for clarity, asking again, “you wouldn’t pull out?”
No, we have stated our policy in relation to that matter …
There is no change.
Updated
Dutton guarantees he can make life cheaper for families
Holding up the prop in his hand (the newspaper headline of Albanese promising to make life better in 2022), Dutton is asked if he can guarantee life will be “cheaper” under the Coalition.
Dutton says he can.
Life will be cheaper under a Coalition government because we have gotten rid of the worst biggest-spending government in 40 years. And we will manage the economy as John Howard and Peter Costello did.
Dutton then touts his record of having worked with Howard and Costello back in the early 2000s as an assistant treasurer.
Updated
Dutton promises to visit WA at least 10 times a year if he becomes PM
If that number seems a bit random to you, it’s because at the last election, Albanese promised to visit the state 10 times a year as PM, and he’s kept that promise, visiting more than 30 times.
Dutton says he has no doubt he can win back seats in the state, and makes a similar pledge.
I’ll be back here more than 10 times a year, I’m certain of that.
Updated
Dutton pushed to explain cost of public servants policy
You might remember, that this morning shadow treasurer Angus Taylor told RN Breakfast that under the Coalition’s policy to cut 41,000 public servants, some could be “migrated”:
Natural attrition happens everywhere, but we’ll move people around appropriately to meet the needs of regional areas and frontline services …
We will migrate people around to make sure that we keep our numbers where they are in regional areas.
Asked if the Coalition has modelled the cost of moving public servants around and reminded that when the pesticides regulator was moved to Armidale, workers were given payouts of, on average, $60,000, Dutton says:
Look, we have worked with the [Parliamentary Budget Office] in relation to all those costings and Angus [Taylor] has presented that. What it shows is we’re $40bn less in debt under a Coalition government.
Updated
Dutton defends Liberal budget costings
Dutton defends his party’s costings, released yesterday, that show a Coalition government would increase the nation’s deficit in the first two years compared with Labor.
A journalist points out that $8.3bn of the $21bn promised to defence hasn’t been included in the costings, and that the regional Australia future fund is off-budget.
Dutton repeats the line that the costings show the bottom line will be better off after four years by $40bn.
We’ll have $40bn less debt than Labor, that means less pressure on interest rates.
Asked if the costings are missing “quite a lot of money”, Dutton says, “no”.
Updated
Dutton: Curtin MP Kate Chaney in ‘lock-step’ with Labor and Greens
On to questions, and Peter Dutton is asked how he defends his party’s preference swap with One Nation – and whether he’s using the minor party to get his Liberal candidate into the teal-held seat of Curtin.
Dutton doesn’t mention One Nation in his answer, but attacks Labor’s decision to preference the Greens.
He also attacks Kate Chaney, who now holds Curtin.
The last thing Australians want is to have a Green-Labor government and, don’t forget that the teal Kate Chaney is working in lock-step with the Labor Party. The Labor party is running soft in Curtin to support somebody they know is a fellow traveller and Kate Chaney would support a Labor-Greens Government and that would be bad for WA.
Updated
Dutton reminds voters of Albanese 2022 promise that life would be cheaper under Labor
Peter Dutton is speaking to reporters in the Perth seat of Tangey, which the Liberals lost at the last election.
He has brought along a prop – a print out of a newspaper from 2022 that show that Labor had promised life would be cheaper under its government.
Now, it’s 12 months to the day and you’d remember this headline because this was the prime minister’s main pitch going into the last election. ‘Life will be cheaper under me,’ he said. I haven’t found one Australian who can say they’re paying less for their power.
Updated
WikiLeaks founder endorses Anthony Albanese for PM
Julian Assange has endorsed Anthony Albanese, praising the PM’s efforts to release him from jail.
Assange was detained for more than five years in London, charged with espionage and computer hacking, for publishing classified US military documents on the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.
In a statement, he said Albanese “has the backbone to stand up for Australians on other tough issues”.
The truth is, in what became an impressive field of advocates, Albo did more to secure my freedom than any other politician or public figure, even more than the late Pope, whose support was both moving and significant.
Against all expectations for an Australian politician, once elected, he kept his word.
Albanese lobbied former US president Joe Biden at several meetings, pushing for Assange’s release.
Assange wrote:
Albo hasn’t just stood up to the US to end the political imprisonment of an Australian – he’s also intervened for other Australians detained in difficult circumstances, including in China. This government has proven itself unusually capable of rescuing Australians caught up in sensitive political situations.
Does this mean Albo will put Australian interests first and skillfully navigate tensions between the US, EU, and China? I can’t say for sure. But I do know this: He can. Albo did right by me ... You don’t need to be a bully to have a backbone.
The WikiLeaks founder was released, and returned to Australia after agreeing to a plea deal in June.
Updated
Get yourself a democracy sausage and don’t forget to vote – it’s compulsory!
The AEC is reminding everyone (as am I!) that voting is compulsory.
More than 7 million people have already voted, meaning there’s about 11 million of you yet to get to the ballot box.
The AEC says there are more than 7,000 polling places, which you can search for here.
Polling centres will be open from 8am to 6pm tomorrow, and if you’re in the line at 6pm tomorrow you will still be able to cast your vote.
We love democracy!
Updated
Albanese and Dutton crisscross the country in last minute election dash
Both leaders have travelled halfway across the country already today. From Brisbane, Anthony Albanese is now in Tasmania, in the seat of Braddon.
Braddon is held by the Liberals on a safe margin, but with incumbent MP Gavin Pearce retiring, senator Anne Urquhart has made the switch to become a lower house candidate to try to win the seat for Labor.
Albanese’s been out patting the dogs too.
Meanwhile, Peter Dutton has travelled all the way to Perth where the Liberals are hoping to gain ground. They lost several heartland seats in the west back in 2022.
Updated
Some public servants may have to move from Canberra to regional areas under Coalition
On the last day of campaigning, the Coalition has again amended its policy on cutting the public service, raising the prospect of staff being “migrated” across the country to fill roles in regional areas.
We told you early about Angus Taylor’s interview on ABC radio. It included a new element of the Coalition’s plan, which includes plans to cut 41,000 federal jobs.
Taylor said a Peter Dutton government would “migrate” workers and confirmed the Coalition’s cuts would be “focused on Canberra”.
Natural attrition happens everywhere, but we’ll move people around appropriately to meet the needs of regional areas and frontline services …
We will migrate people around to make sure that we keep our numbers where they are in regional areas.
The suggestion of moving jobs out of Canberra is reminiscent of the Abbott-Turnbull-Morrison government’s decentralisation agenda, when a National party push saw public service jobs and agencies, including the agricultural and veterinary chemical regulator, relocated to regional areas.
Earlier this month, Barnaby Joyce said the Coalition should restart decentralisation efforts if it won the election.
Asked about whether attrition from jobs in Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide would fit into the Coalition’s current plan, Taylor said services would be maintained “outside Canberra”.
You can read the full story here:
Updated
Building materials prices fall in March quarter, first fall since 2012
Prices for materials for house construction fell in the March quarter for the first time since 2012, easing one of the pressure points the building industry has faced in recent years.
Input costs for home builders had soared post-pandemic, as much as 17% in the financial year 2021-22, but that’s slowed to just over 1% in the year to March, helped by lower steel and timber prices.
Analysts at the Australian Bureau of Statistics said house construction cost growth had slowed as builders and suppliers offered bigger discounts to keep the customers coming:
The construction industry is still hamstrung by a shortage of workers and slow and complex planning processes and struggles as customers put off spending big on new homes, but slower price rises for materials will be some relief for builders.
Production costs in the economy at large are rising slower than they were a year ago for most businesses, up 0.9% in the March quarter and 3.7% over the year, according to the ABS’s final demand measure.
Manufacturing was the exception, with the final demand measure for manufacturing prices rising at its fastest clip since September 2022. Imported inputs grew more expensive after the Australian dollar lost purchasing power overseas, sliding from 64 to 59 on the trade-weighted index against other currencies from July to January.
Updated
Albanese looks confident of election win but still says he has ‘a mountain to climb’
With the campaign almost at an end, Anthony Albanese is looking confident, but he’s trying hard to ensure he and his party aren’t complacent.
“We have a mountain to climb” he’s been saying all week.
So what has the last week looked like for Anthony Albanese?
Dan Jervis-Bardy’s been on the trail with the PM, and describes his movements, and how he’s feeling:
Updated
On the election stage there are plenty of political props
The props are front and centre today – Albanese had a giant Medicare card when he visited a campaign office in the seat of Dickson, while Adam Bandt has brought his own card and his giant toothbrush to a Melbourne polling booth.
The red toothbrush has been with Bandt since the beginning of the campaign, and no points for guessing it’s because of the Greens’ push to get dental into Medicare.
Bandt has also joined the millions of other Australians voting early – heading to a pre-poll centre today.
Updated
Helicopter crashes in Victoria’s Bellarine Peninsula
Moving away from the election campaign for a moment.
A helicopter has crashed in Victoria’s Bellarine Peninsula this morning, with its three passengers managing to make it to shore before being taken to hospital with serious injuries.
Police say it’s believed the chopper was seen crashing into water off Point Lonsdale just after 10am.
All three people managed to make it to shore and were located by passersby who contacted emergency services.
A man and woman were airlifted to hospital with serious injuries, while another man with serious injuries was taken via road, according to police who say none have been formally identified.
The exact circumstances surrounding the incident are yet to be determined, police say. The Australian Transport Safety Bureau will investigate the crash with assistance from police.
Updated
Nurses, midwives and educators criticise Coalition’s last-minute decision to scrap prac payments for students
The Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation (ANMF) has added its voice expressing “extreme concern” that a Coalition government under Peter Dutton would axe paid prac placements.
From July this year, eligible students including nurses and midwives will receive more than $300 per week while undertaking their mandatory 800 hours of clinical placement training.
The ANMF federal secretary, Annie Butler, said Dutton’s announcement that a Coalition government, would axe paid prac placements, as well as university-loan debts and fee-free Tafe, which would combine to have a devastating impact on the predominantly-female nursing and midwifery workforce:
We know that placement poverty is a real issue for students who lose income from their regular paid jobs and then have to pay for a whole range of everyday costs, like finding an affordable rental property, parking, tolls, childcare, uniforms and other clinical tools while they’re training.
It’s certainly impacted our ability to build the nursing and midwifery workforce, with students forced to quit their courses and abandon their chosen profession.
That’s why the commonwealth prac placement, which will be implemented by the Albanese government, is so welcome as it will help alleviate the financial burden experienced by students as they complete their essential clinical training and, in turn, will encourage a generation of new students into nursing and midwifery.
The ANMF has experienced a government with Peter Dutton as health minister, which didn’t go well for nurses, midwives and care-workers. We’re concerned that a government led by Peter Dutton wouldn’t be any different. The ANMF has been asking Peter Dutton and the Coalition if they’re supporting nurses and midwives this election – now we know the answer.
Our professions can’t risk a government led by Peter Dutton.
Updated
Bandt says Greens will ‘keep Dutton out and push Labor to act’
The Greens have also been making their final pitch to voters to “keep pushing” Labor and to “keep Dutton out”. Leader Adam Bandt told reporters in Melbourne:
If you’re concerned about the housing and rental crisis, we can’t keep voting for the same two parties and expecting a different result at this election.
Greens will keep Peter Dutton out and, in becoming a minority parliament, push Labor to act.
The Greens have centred their campaign on reforming housing and rental policy, climate action and getting dental into Medicare.
And they have centred a lot of their attention on winning from Labor the seat of Wills, which is in inner-city Melbourne and on a 4.6% margin.
Bandt says voters are moving away from the major parties in large numbers and he expects the major parties will need to have discussions with the growing crossbench after the election.
People are shifting away from the major parties in droves, because the major parties are just offering Band-Aid answers, right, and just tinkering around the edges while the big problems, like the housing crisis, the cost-of-living crisis and the climate crisis get worse.
Now I expect that there will be discussions after the election, because there’s going to have to be, because with more voices in a diverse parliament we’re going to have to work together.
Updated
While Albanese’s been donning the green and gold card, Peter Dutton has been donning the fluoro hi-vis, visiting a produce market in Adelaide this morning.
Makin is a Labor held seat, on a pretty safe margin of 10.8% at the 2022 election. It’s been held by Labor since 2007.
Updated
False claim made in Labor ads on Coalition cuts – report
A Labor ad campaign targeting battleground seats is falsely claiming that Peter Dutton has said he’ll cut $350bn in spending if the Coalition wins government, AAP reports.
AAP FactCheck has identified thousands of dollars of funding for federal election advertisements in seats including Gorton and Hawke in Melbourne’s west and Lyons in Tasmania.
The ads claim that Dutton has cut billions from hospitals, before claiming he has said he’ll “cut $350bn more” over an image of a person lying in a medical crash cart.
Labor says the ads don’t claim Dutton will cut billions from hospitals specifically and instead refer to Coalition plans to wind back other Labor programs such as free Tafe.
Labor also pointed to various statements Dutton has made about wasteful spending and claims that Labor has lifted spending by nearly $350bn since coming to power in 2022.
But Dutton has never said the Coalition will cut $350bn.
The opposition leader has also pledged to match Labor’s funding for essential frontline services like hospitals.
Labor aren’t the only ones making some false claims ahead of polling day this weekend.
Experts told AAP FactCheck Dutton’s claim that Labor took $80bn out of defence is wrong.
Instead, they say, the Albanese government has increased defence spending.
Updated
Union condemns Coalition’s ‘hidden’ vow to ditch student prac payments
The tertiary education union has slammed the Coalition for promising to strip “prac payments” for student midwives, nurses, social workers and teachers.
The Labor government introduced the payments to support students who have to do practical work to finish their studies, often with no pay, and sometimes in remote locations.
Yesterday’s costings from the Coalition show they’ll cut $556m out of the payments.
Dr Alison Barnes, president of the National Tertiary Education Union, says Dutton should “look [students] in the eyes and say it, not hide it in an 11th-hour document that’s been dumped to reporters within 48 hours of the poll”.
When undertaking pracs they aren’t able to earn a living wage, and these prac payments give them a stipend to cover their accommodations and food costs.
This is just the latest example of where Peter Dutton is targeting students and our universities and Tafes. Now, however, he has silently committed to taking money out of students’ back pockets.
Updated
PM spruiks the big and small of Medicare
The PM hasn’t left the campaign plane without his Medicare card, but today he had a giant one while visiting the Dickson campaign office (Dickson being Peter Dutton’s seat).
And he, of course, had his usual one for good measure.
Ahead of the visit to Dickson, Albanese did a walk through an Medicare urgent care clinic in the seat of Longman, held by the LNP on a 3.1% margin. It’s also where he did his press conference earlier this morning.
Updated
Nearly 40% of voters cast ballots early
Almost 7 million Australians have voted so far, surpassing the total number of people that voted early at the last election.
As of this morning, the Australian Electoral Commission says just under 5.7m have gone to pre-poll booths, more than 150,000 people have voted at mobile and remote polling booths and 1.1m postal votes have been returned.
Out of around 18.1 million total voters, that’s nearly 38%.
Updated
Clear case of repetition
Politicians always say they’re being “clear”, even when they’re trying to obfuscate their point.
It’s something we’ve seen from both sides during this election campaign (and by pollies from the beginning of time).
The Australia Institute has gone and counted the times Peter Dutton has said the words over the past five weeks:
And you can see it in video from the Guardian’s excellent visual team here:
Updated
Hume says it’s too early to discuss replacing Dutton
Shadow finance minister Jane Hume was asked on ABC News Breakfast a little earlier about whether she sees shadow treasurer Angus Taylor as a future leader of the party.
Hume says it’s “too early” to have those conversations.
You do not read the entrails until you have gutted the chicken. We will be working for every vote up until 6 on election day.
Asked whether she wants to keep her finance portfolio, Hume says: “I hope so … but that is entirely up to the leader.” She adds:
Democracy sausages are my favourite meal. If I was on death row and they asked me what my last meal would be? A sausage in bread with onion and tomato sauce.
(I love a democracy sausage, though I can’t say I’d pick that as my last meal.)
Hume was asked before that why the Coalition will record bigger deficits than Labor under the first two years of their plan. She said it was about fixing household budgets.
We need to not just address the commonwealth budget but also household budgets as well. People have gone backwards under Labor.
Updated
Just going back to Anthony Albanese’s interview on Nova earlier, the PM was asked to pick an old-school banger to play.
What did he pick?
There’s no better singalong than Am I Ever Gonna See Your Face Again by the Angels.
The hosts say they: “Did not see that one coming!”
Albanese laughs, and quickly adds:
And almost every one of your listeners just got the joke.
(Have a Google if you’re not sure what he’s referring to there.)
Asked whether he’d like to dedicate the song to anyone, Albanese says:
You know, it’s obvious who it’s dedicated to.
Updated
How will PM spend election night?
Speaking to Nova radio earlier, Anthony Albanese said (perhaps unsurprisingly) that Saturday night will “either be a really good night or a really miserable one for me and for everyone in the room of supporters”.
Albanese says he’ll spend the night in his electorate in the inner west of Sydney, and will have a local event where he’ll give his speech.
Last time around I did [it at] a local club in my electorate, it was pretty late, so let me just say this - the audience was pretty loose, but they’d been watching the show for about five hours.
The results come in, and so they were pretty excited, because it had been quite a while before Labor had won an election.
I’ll have my event, election night event, at local venue in the inner west of Sydney, and so I’ll give a speech – it’ll either be a really good night or a really miserable one for me and for everyone in the room of supporters.
And what song will Albanese walk on stage to on the night if he’s victorious?
It’s a song we’ve heard throughout the campaign – Sounds of Then (This is Australia) by GANGgajang.
The hosts try to convince him to play “pink pony club” by Chappell Roan (which I personally would endorse) and Albanese calls it “a great song”, but seems like he’ll stick to GANGgajang.
Updated
Major parties’ primary vote headed for record low, poll tracker says
The major parties are shaping up for historic low primary votes, continuing a downward trend from the past few decades, according to Guardian Australia’s poll tracker.
Labor’s estimated primary vote is steady at 30%, and the Coalition 33%, after we added two new polls from DemosAu and Freshwater. If born out in the results on election day, both parties would see a more than two point drop from the last election.
The estimated primary share for the Greens is about 13%, according to our model, which would be about a one point increase on the last election. Others and independents, a group that includes One Nation and the teal independents, are on 23%, up about four points.
It is unclear how this will translate into seats given the increase in the number of electorates that are three-way contests, rather than coming down to a fight between Labor and the Coalition. Our model suggests polls are overestimating support for Labor, as has been seen at previous elections. But there is still a lot of uncertainty, as you can see in the graphic below.
Labor leads the Coalition 51.5-48.5 on a two-party preferred basis in the latest average. The two-party preferred vote share has been trending for several weeks towards a repeat of the last election.
You can find more granular breakdowns of the polling, including by demography, on our tracking page.
Updated
Dutton predicts ‘quiet’ Australians – as well as the ‘forgotten and angry’ – will vote his way
Peter Dutton is doubling down on his prediction that, like in 2019, the Coalition can pull off a “miracle” win tomorrow night.
Earlier on ABC AM, Dutton said it was the “quiet” Australians who would come out and bat for him – a group Scott Morrison credited for his 2019 win.
That’s exactly what happened in 2019 when quiet Australians went into the polling booth and said, you know what, I’m not going to reward the prime minister for the previous three years. And I think Australians are in that frame of mind…
I think there are forgotten and angry Australians who feel let down by this government.
On the Today show, Dutton said response at pre-polls have been “pretty remarkable”.
I think this is really got the echoes of 2019 where the published polling was very different than what we’ve seen in the marginal seats.
[There are] seats that probably haven’t been in play for a while that I think we have a real chance of picking up. So I’ve got a very different view of how I think Saturday night’s going to turn out.
Updated
Speckles the saltie tips Dutton win
All the polls might be pointing towards an electoral victory to Anthony Albanese at Saturday’s election, but the burning question for many is: who does Speckles tip?
The 36-year-old, 4.8-metre saltwater crocodile correctly predicted Albanese would win the 2022 election when he chose to eat a plucked chook dangling above his pool instead of another with the face of then prime minister Scott Morrison.
This time around it was two hunks of buffalo meat – and Speckles once again predicted a change of government.
“He did it really really quickly as well,” Crocodylus Park’s Jess Grills said on Friday morning.
Straight up for Peter Dutton.
Updated
Gallagher accuses Dutton of wanting to ‘make money off kids using vapes’
On vapes, Gallagher says there are issues around enforcement and compliance to target illegal vapes but it looks like the Coalition has put up the “white flag”.
The Coalition has pledged to put an excise on vapes, which would require a rewind of some restrictions on them.
Gallagher says:
We want kids off vapes, and Peter Dutton wants to make money off them off kids using vapes. I mean, that’s what we saw yesterday with that part of their costings.
Sara challenges Gallagher on the compliance measures not working when we’re seeing such a strong black market in both vapes and tobacco. Gallagher says she “doesn’t accept” they’re not working.
We accept that more needs to be done in compliance, and definitely that is why we have put that money into the budget. But from a public health point of view, I think it would be a dreadful outcome to say, you know, we’re going to put the white flag up on vapes, and it’s going to be a free for all, and we’ll deal with the problems down the track.
I don’t think we should be making money off young people getting addicted to sugary, sweetened chemicals in vaping products.
Updated
Gallagher says Taylor ‘all over the shop’ on public service cuts
Off the back of Taylor’s interview, finance minister Katy Gallagher joins RN Breakfast and absolutely rips into the shadow treasurer.
At the end of Taylor’s interview, he was asked about comments from ACT chief minister Andrew Barr, who says cutting the public service by 41,000 will leave the territory economy in crisis, which Taylor called an “insult” to anyone who doesn’t work in the public sector.
Gallagher says cutting 75% of the Australian public service workforce will have an impact.
I think we just had 10 minutes there of Angus Taylor demonstrating why he shouldn’t be treasurer of this country and why you can’t take a risk on Peter Dutton. He was all over the shop.
You can’t sack 75% of the commonwealth APS in Canberra and not affect the economy. I mean, you just can’t.
Updated
Taylor defends planned public service cuts
Now on to perhaps one of the most contentious issues of the Coalition’s campaign: what they’re going to do to reduce the public service by 41,000 over the next five years.
There have been several iterations of this policy, and while the Coalition has promised the jobs will only come from Canberra, that seems to have changed over the past day.
Angus Taylor seems to tie himself up a bit, trying to explain where the positions are coming from.
Natural attrition happens everywhere. I mean, that’s the nature of every organisation, and we’ll make appropriate moves to make sure those frontline services out in regional areas are served as they have been in the past.
We will migrate people around to make sure that we keep our numbers where they are in regional areas.
Sara tries to get some clarity on what that means for workers who leave the public service in other cities.
Sara: So people leave positions in Adelaide or Melbourne, will they be replaced? Or you’ll take those savings as part of the natural attrition targets and not replace those people?
Taylor: Those frontline services will be maintained, as we’ve said throughout.
Updated
Taylor defends vape tax plan
Sara then moves to the vaping tax, which she says would require the government to remove bans on vapes and make them more readily available.
Taylor says Labor’s current policies aren’t working:
They will not work, and in fact what they’ve done is encourage a tax on illegal vapes from criminal gangs. There’s already a tax there, and it’s coming from criminal gangs, and we know illegal activity around this is absolutely rampant.
But the government has been facing a decrease in revenue from the tobacco excise, because more and more people are moving to the black market.
In the March budget, Treasury forecasted a $6.9bn drop in the tobacco tax take over the forward estimates.
After some back and forth, Taylor says the tobacco excise has worked to reduce smoking rates, but with vapes:
We’ve only got a black market. That’s what we have right now … What we’ve got with vapes is a market that Labor has tried to make illegal. It has failed, it has failed dismally.
[We’ve promised] $350 million to law enforcement on top of the licensing regime and the safety standards to make sure that we get the criminal activity out of what is right now a rampant black market.
Updated
Taylor insists Coalition costings are ‘improving the position’
A little earlier this morning, Angus Taylor joined RN Breakfast to talk through the Coalition’s costings.
Host Sally Sara puts to Taylor that he and his party have said government spending has fuelled homegrown inflation, but the Coalition’s costings show they’re increasing deficits for the first two years if they win government.
The shadow treasurer responds:
We’re reducing the overall or improving the overall budget position by $14bn over the forwards and reducing $40bn of debt. We know that borrowing adds to interest rates as inflationary pressures, and that’s why we’re improving the position.
Updated
PM digs at Dutton over Ukraine
Moving to issues overseas, Albanese is asked if he believes that a peacekeeping force for Ukraine is a step closer, and whether it’s one Australia might contribute to.
He takes aim at the Coalition for breaking the bipartisan stance on defence, having objected to sending Australians to Ukraine on a peacekeeping mission.
I hope that it has … I have said, if there is peace in Ukraine, Australia would consider any proposal to participate as part of a coalition of the willing.
Under my government, we will stand with Ukraine for as long as it takes, we support their struggle for their national sovereignty, because it is also a struggle for the international rule of law. Peter Dutton broke with that bipartisanship by opposing any participation.
Updated
PM says Coalition ‘hiding’ shadow ministers from campaign
Albanese takes aim at Peter Dutton and his team, who he says have been hidden away.
The PM says he’s “proud” of the team he captains and that the public don’t hear from the Coalition’s shadow ministers.
They’ve had to hide people who are senior shadow ministers. I mean, people need to think about, I’m captain of a team, it’s a team that I’m proud of.
Can anyone name the portfolio that people have? I won’t embarrass them and people here by doing that again. But there are shadow ministers, I have no idea what their job is, no idea because you never hear from them.
Updated
Albanese defends urgent care clinics
Clare Armstrong asks the PM about whether the Medicare urgent care clinics are the best value for taxpayer money.
Reports have showed some clinics aren’t open for the hours they’ve been promised, and they’re far more expensive than the cost of someone seeing a GP.
Albanese says the clinics do more than a GP can.
What urgent care clinics have done isn’t just stop people going to a GP for more acute care. Here, there are x-ray services, there are the full suite of services here that people get when they come in … What they do, importantly, is to take pressure of emergency departments of hospitals… tens of thousands of people who have been to this clinic say that they would have gone to a hospital.
You can read more about the cost and value of the urgent care clinics from Natasha May here:
Updated
Albanese swipes at Coalition costings
The prime minister is asked whether he would consider taking a similar measure to the Coalition to introduce a tax on vapes.
Albanese says “no”, arguing the vapes are being bought and sold on the “black market”, and then takes a dig at the Coalition’s costings.
These costings are, frankly, embarrassing for the Coalition. They are the shonkiest bit of figures.
Updated
PM bats away minority government questions
Anthony Albanese is doing a stand-up pretty early this morning in Brisbane, taking questions from journalists.
The minority government question is one the PM has tried hard to bat away, saying he’s trying to win in majority.
Sarah Ison asks if Labor falls short by just one or two, will he work with independents like Zoe Daniel? Again, he tries to bat the question away.
What we’ll do is we’re striving for majority government. And I’m not a commentator, other people are. My job is to maximise Labor’s vote in the next 48 hours. That’s what I’m intending to do.
“No deals?” the reporter asks.
I’ve made that clear. I refer to my previous 57 comments, to the 57 times I’ve been asked that question.
Another journalist asks “how bad” a minority government would be. Again he says he’s trying to get to a majority government:
I don’t want to lose any, so obviously – we’re on 78 at the moment – that’s my objective.
Updated
Dutton ‘not worried’ about criticism his policies aren’t up to scratch
Dutton says his nuclear policy is aligned with “left” wing governments in other major economies like the UK and Canada.
The newspaper editorials are coming in this morning, and there are some major criticisms of both parties.
Lane puts a critique from the Australian Financial Review to Dutton, that “the Liberals are politically estranged from the business community, and it’s described the Coalition’s policy on nuclear plants as fantasy”.
It’s a critique that I don’t agree with … our policy on nuclear is aligned with the Labor party in the United Kingdom, the Democrats in the United States, with the liberals in the United in Canada, certainly with the left-leaning parties in and the right-learning parties in all those jurisdictions as well, including in France.
There’s also growing internal criticism of Dutton from within his own party that his policies aren’t “up to scratch”, says Lane. She puts to him that one insider says it’s been the worst campaign in history, and that another said it couldn’t have gone worse.
Dutton initially sidesteps the question, but Lane pushes harder.
Lane: Do you disagree with that?
Dutton: Of course, insider talk from leftwing journalists. I’m not worried about that.
Lane: I can assure you, it hasn’t come from leftwing journalists. It’s come from within your party.
Dutton: Yeah, well all I’m worried about is how we can help families, and that’s what we’re targeting.
Updated
Dutton predicts ‘big surprises’ on election night
Following the prime minister, Peter Dutton joins ABC AM to deliver his final pitch to voters.
Sabra Lane asks where the Coalition’s campaign has gone wrong, when polling shows the party and Dutton have been losing support.
Dutton says he’s hopeful of a 2019 result (when Liberal prime minister Scott Morrison achieved what he called a “miracle win” against Labor’s Bill Shorten).
I think we’re seeing a 2019 situation, where you’ve got a lot of interesting contests playing on the ground, where we’ve had a very significant effort by great candidates. And I think there’ll be some big surprises on election night, because people have had enough.
Updated
Albanese on Trump campaign chief's reported visit to Liberals
The prime minister says the “apparent appearance” of an adviser from the US campaign advising the Liberal party is “interesting”.
Yesterday, Tom McIlroy reported that one of the architects of Donald Trump’s 2024 victory claims he made an unpublicised visit to Australia to advise the Liberal party about “structural issues” related to Peter Dutton ahead of the federal election.
Sabra Lane asks Albanese whether the Trump factor has assisted Labor. The PM says:
Well, it is interesting the apparent appearance of one of the advisers to the American campaign from last year boasting about coming to Australia – indeed, arriving on the day of the budget reply, for just a three day visit.
Lane asks how quickly Albanese will visit the Trump administration if he wins government on Saturday.
Albanese won’t give a timeline but says:
At some stage I will, but I will act in a responsible way.
Updated
PM insists he's not taking election win for granted
Anthony Albanese says he has “a mountain to climb” – a line he’s used a lot recently – and implored Australians to vote for stability in a time of uncertainty.
This morning Peter Dutton has said he believes tomorrow’s result could be a miracle for the Liberal party, like the 2019 election.
Speaking to ABC AM Sabra Lane, Albanese is asked whether he’s worried this election could deliver a surprise result for the opposition. Albanese says he “certainly take[s] nothing for granted”.
I think 2019 shows the folly of pretending that you know the outcome of an election before the ballots are counted.
While both parties have been saying voters will be better off under their respective parties, neither will promise people will be better off in three years from now.
Lane asks whether Albanese will “guarantee” Australians will be better off by 2028. Albanese says:
As we speak today, Sabra, we have inflation down to 2.4%, we have wages increasing, we have unemployment low, and interest rates have started to fall. Every one of the key economic indicators is improving. Under the former government, we inherited interest rates going up, inflation with the six in front of it, wages going backwards…
Updated
Good morning,
Krishani Dhanji here with you, thanks to Martin Farrer for getting us started.
We’re near the end of this campaign, it’s the final full day before the polls starting being counted, and both leaders will be zipping across the country to try to convert those who are still making up their minds.
Anthony Albanese is starting his day in Brisbane, while Peter Dutton is in Adelaide – both are doing a morning media blitz.
Expect a lot of interviews, some big press conferences and lots of pictures.
Updated
Another kind of grand final
Make sure to check out this from our cartoonist David Squires in which he reimagines the election as a grand final playoff between the Reds and the Blues, with some teals and Greens too.
Poll has 1.5-point swing to Labor in past fortnight
The poll we mentioned earlier is the AFR/Freshwater Strategy poll, which has Labor leading the Coalition on a two-party preferred basis by 51.5% to 48.5%.
It represents a swing against Labor of 0.6% since the last election – but it’s a 1.5-point swing towards the ALP in the past fortnight, and 2.5% since the campaign began.
The paper says it would “most likely be enough for Labor to form government”. If that swing is replicated across all electorates (which never happens) it would see Labor lose two seats to a bare majority of 76, and the Coalition up two to 59.
Freshwater’s “more granular” analysis of the numbers predicts Labor in minority government with 74 seats, the Coalition 64 and the crossbench 12.
Updated
Campaign trail chuckles
And who said the last five weeks hasn’t been fun? Provided you didn’t watch the television debates, writes Caitlin Cassidy, there has been enough to keep us amused – from the Coalition leaders getting lost in Melbourne to Albo’s tumble to the Coalition rap described as “Kendrick Lamar meeting question time”.
Blue signs will once again populate outside a battleground seat early voting centre after the Liberal party won a last-minute court order preventing the local council from limiting it to one per candidate, Australian Associated Press reports.
Dozens of the party’s A-frame signs were removed from outside an early voting centre at Kew in the inner-east Melbourne electorate of Kooyong on Wednesday, three days out from the poll.
Liberal candidate Amelia Hamer was earlier directed to comply with a local council rule that limits candidates to just one sign each on public land.
The City of Boroondara argued the signs were a risk to pedestrians and road users.
Supreme court justice Kerri Judd on Thursday ruled in favour of the party’s injunction, brought by state director Stuart Smith, that restrains the council from removing Hamer’s signs outside the voting centre.
“I am satisfied the plaintiff would suffer greater damage if an injunction were refused and his claim were ultimately upheld,” the judge said in her ruling.
Hamer’s main rival for the seat, teal independent MP Monique Ryan, and all other candidates abided by the one-sign requirement.
Updated
Has either major party earned your vote? – podcast
With one day to go before the election, the polls paint a rosy picture for Labor. Governing with a majority is still a live option for the incumbent government – but pollsters have been wrong before, and a late night surprise is not off the table. So, after a long campaign which left many voters frustrated with the lack of big promises and big policy – have the major parties earned your vote?
In our Full Story podcast Newsroom edition, Bridie Jabour talks to editor Lenore Taylor and head of newsroom Mike Ticher about the choices progressive voters face as they head to the polls.
Listen here:
Welcome
Good morning and welcome to our live news blog. I’m Martin Farrer with some of the best overnight stories before Krishani Dhanji will take you through the last full day of campaigning.
It seems like political tensions have boiled over in some areas with New South Wales police launching multiple investigations in the last week into alleged violence, intimidation, harassment and antisocial behaviour related to the election. This has included the smearing of poo across a truck carrying an ad for the Liberal party. More coming up.
A Liberal-aligned thinktank running last-minute anti-Greens advertisements targeting young voters received more than $600,000 from the coal industry during last year’s Queensland election, disclosures show. At the same time, Labor and the Coalition have been accused of going to the election on a “unity ticket” to protect fossil fuels.
In what might well be the last poll before the one that really counts, Labor has a two-point lead over the Coalition on a two-party preferred basis. The Fin Review/Freshwater Strategy poll shows that Labor is on 51.5% to the Coalition’s 48.5%. If replicated tomorrow that puts Labor on track for a minority government. More campaign reaction coming up.
Updated
