And that’s where we’ll leave today’s news blog.
But come back this evening for the leaders’ debate. We’ll be running a whole new live blog to capture all the action out of Sydney. Join us from 7.30pm.
In the meantime, here are the headlines from today:
Anthony Albanese has announced a plan to launch a free 24/7 telehealth service under Medicare as part of the Labor Party’s final-week election pitch.
Opposition leader Peter Dutton has talked tough on crime at a Coalition campaign rally in Melbourne where he told supporters not to listen to “hate media” such as the ABC and the Guardian.
Nationals Senator Bridget McKenzie said working holiday visas won’t be part of the Coalition’s immigration crackdown if elected.
Former Liberal PM John Howard addressed the Mackellar campaign launch on Sydney’s northern beaches, backing Liberal candidate James Brown.
The Bob Brown Foundation held a rally in Hobart today in support of independent candidate Peter George who is campaigning on a platform to end salmon farming in Tasmania.
Australian Catholics have gathered in churches around Australia to commemorate the life of the late Pope Francis.
Updated
So good, so good, I got you! James Brown addresses Liberal faithful in Mackellar
Going back to the Liberal launch in Mackellar, candidate James Brown was strong in his praise for John Howard, who called the former Liberal PM “the reason I joined the party”.
Brown said people in Mackellar were patriotic and “intensely proud” of being Australian, pointing to the many flagpoles in local front yards. He also spoke of his military service, and said he wanted to “start doing more for the people of Mackellar”.
The candidate spoke about cost of living and mental health support as some of his main campaign issues, backing Peter Dutton’s policies on both.
Brown praised Dutton as “the hardest working man in Australian politics” – stopping for effect, or applause, but being greeted by a pregnant pause before the audience took the cue to clap.
Brown also made a few jokes about his campaign posters being defaced with graffiti, and even covered with the image of American funk and soul singer James Brown.
Updated
A couple of images from the competing Labor and Liberal campaign rallies held earlier on Sunday.
Updated
Dutton promises he won’t ‘lie’ his way to the Lodge, will ‘bring inflation down’
Peter Dutton is making a pretty standard stump speech here, talking up his housing and fuel excise policies. The final call to action is some new rhetoric though, as he makes a few promises about how he’d act as prime minister.
I give you this commitment today, I’m not going to lie my way to the Lodge. I’m going to act with honour, with decency and with integrity. I’m going to fix the economy. We’re going to bring inflation down. We’re going to make sure that we can deal with the cost of living crisis.
We are going to support families and small businesses – 30,000 small businesses have closed under this prime minister. We are going to get this economy firing again.”
As [former] prime minister Howard says, keeping our country safe and managing our economy successfullyare the two hallmarks of Liberal party leaders, and I intend to stay true to that. We can do that.
Updated
Dutton says Liberals can win back Sydney seat of Mackellar
Peter Dutton says the Liberal party can claim the teal seat of Mackellar on Sydney’s northern beaches, backing his team’s record on economic management and national security.
The Liberal leader has managed to find his way to one of the affluent, formerly blue-ribbon Liberal seats which turned on Scott Morrison at the last election. Dutton has largely ignored these seats in the official campaign period, but will apparently visit a few in coming days.
Dutton is talking up his housing policy, raising concerns about migration numbers and the need to help first home buyers.
I think it’s one of the most crucial issues coming into this election, because for young Australians at the moment, they are putting off having children, and their parents are putting off retirement because they want to help their kids, either with a deposit or with a monthly repayment.
Updated
John Howard speaks at Mackellar campaign event for Liberal candidate James Brown
Former Liberal PM John Howard is addressing the crowd at the Mackellar campaign launch on Sydney’s Northern Beaches, strongly backing Liberal candidate James Brown. Howard is praising Brown’s military record, including recounting visiting Brown on a tour of duty in Iraq when it was “only 54 degrees centigrade”.
Howard said Brown is the “quintessential decent Australian bloke”, and that he “is all about public service”.
He’s a man who’s given his all for the causes he’s believed in.
The former Liberal PM is now claiming Anthony Albanese is “out of his depth”, to murmurs of approval and applause from the audience.
“I don’t want my country governed for another three years by somebody who’s out of his depth,” Howard said of Albanese.
“You’ve got no hope of funding anything - whether it’s a health system, a defence policy or anything else - unless you have a productive economy. And I don’t think productivity and Anthony Albanese are close friends,” Howard continued, to laughter from the crowd.
Updated
Dutton campaigns on Sydney’s northern beaches in teal Sophie Scamps’ seat
The Liberal party has hit the Howard button. Peter Dutton is in Mona Vale, on Sydney’s northern beaches in the electorate of Mackellar, for a campaign rally to reclaim the seat from ‘real’ independent MP Sophie Scamps.
The Liberal leader is joined by former PM John Howard, and deputy leader Sussan Ley, at the campaign launch for Mackellar candidate James Brown. We’re at an RSL, which is packed out with supporters and volunteers, decked in Liberal blue.
This is part of Dutton’s new push to finally visit some teal seats, which he has largely avoided in the four weeks of this campaign so far. The Liberal leader says he’s going to visit nearly 30 seats in the last week of the campaign, in a last minute blitz ahead of 3 May.
Updated
Details of final leaders’ debate released
With the fourth and final leaders debate to take place this evening on Seven on Sunday night, the exchange will be highly structured.
Here is some detail about how it will play out.
The debate will last one hour, starting at 8.10pm.
Both leaders will be given the chance to make an opening and closing address without interruption for one minute. There will be a 30-second countdown timer, but their microphones will not be cut if they run over.
Both leaders will then be asked six questions, including a “rapid fire” session consisting of yes/no or short responses, and viewer questions taken from the broadcast and online audience.
Each leader will be given one minute to respond without interruption to each of the first six questions, rotating who goes first.
Then a four-minute debate will begin where the leaders can question each other, with Mark Riley moderating.
At the end of questions, each leader will be given a one-minute final pitch.
No winner will be declared as part of the debate broadcast, but the outcome will be determined in a show to follow after called The Verdict where a 60-person audience of undecided voters will review. These voters have been selected by a third-party source, Roy Morgan, and will not be involved in the debate.
There will not be any live feedback or a worm broadcast live, however it will track reactions for the post-show response.
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Healthy inflation data should help ease mortgage pain
Quarterly numbers are expected to show inflation has drifted into the Reserve Bank of Australia’s target range, setting up a chance of an interest rate cut.
Economists say an interest rate cut should be “[locked] in” with quarterly numbers to be released on Wednesday expected to show core inflation has dropped within the RBA’s range of between 2% and 3%. The RBA board next meets to consider rate changes on May 19-20.
Economists from Australia’s big four banks have all forecast that the RBA’s preferred measure of annual trimmed mean inflation will come in at either 2.8% or 2.9%.
– AAP
Updated
Bob Brown Foundation backs anti-salmon farming Tasmanian independent
The Bob Brown Foundation is holding a rally in Hobart today in support of independent candidate Peter George who is campaigning on a platform to end salmon farming in Tasmania.
Speakers include author Richard Flanagan, representatives from The Australia Institute, members of the Tasmanian Aboriginal community and George.
Updated
Ex-MP’s rare comeback bid in key marginal Adelaide seat
A marginal seat is the battleground for a former MP staging a comeback and a sitting member who is its first Labor MP since 1949.
A high-profile former member who has never lost an election is up against the first Labor member since 1949 in the intriguing battle for the South Australian seat of Boothby.
With a margin of 3.3%, the southern Adelaide seat is considered to be one of only two SA seats that could change hands this election.
Louise Miller-Frost won the seat in 2022, defeating Liberal Rachel Swift after two-term Liberal MP Nicolle Flint stepped back from politics.
Polling commissioned by AAP and modelled by YouGov puts Labor ahead on a two-party preferred basis on 52%, compared with 48% for the Liberals.
Labor has 32% of the primary vote, with the coalition on 30%t and the Greens on 14%.
Flint won the seat in 2016 and 2019, but decided not to run in 2022 because she was suffering from endometriosis.
Since then, medication has had a “miracle” impact on her health, she says, which has “never been better”, clearing the way for her to try to regain Boothby.
Boothby has a strong Liberal vote along the coast and affluent areas in the foothills and a large mortgage belt of Labor voters at its centre.
– AAP
Updated
Australian Catholics commemorate the life of Pope Francis
Moving away from politics for a moment, the late Pope Francis has been remembered as a “voice for the voiceless” and a “beacon of light” at masses held across Australia after his funeral.
Australian Catholics have gathered to commemorate the life of Pope Francis at the first local services since his funeral, remembering him as a beacon of light for a world shrouded in darkness.
The funeral for Pope Francis held at the Vatican in Rome on Saturday was attended by about 250,000 people, including world leaders and royals.
On Sunday, churches across Australia held special masses in honour of the pontiff.
At Saint Patrick’s Cathedral in Parramatta, Bishop Vincent Long Van Nguyen held a mass for the repose of the pope’s soul.
A memorial mass for Pope Francis was also celebrated at St Francis Xavier’s Cathedral in Adelaide. Archbishop Patrick O’Regan thanked the pope for being someone who “kissed the leper, washed the feet of prisoners, welcomed migrants and loved the church even when she failed”.
Melbourne Archbishop Peter Comensoli will lead the celebration of a Solemn Pontifical Mass at St Patrick’s Cathedral on Monday afternoon.
A conclave to elect the new pope is expected to start in Rome in 10 days’ time.
– AAP
Updated
Labor just ahead in seats at heart of salmon farming fight, polling shows
Labor is ahead in two ultra-tight seats, including one at the centre of a heated salmon farming debate, polling shows a week out from the federal election.
The government has the edge in Tasmania’s ultra-marginal seat of Lyons as well as Liberal-held Braddon, shows YouGov polling commissioned by AAP.
Labor holds Lyons, a sprawling rural seat covering the island state’s centre and east, by a thin 0.9% margin.
The party threw former state leader Rebecca White into the race to replace retiring Brian Mitchell, who had represented the region since 2016.
Polling of 446 Lyons voters has Labor ahead 56-44 on a two-party-preferred basis.
The party was also ahead in Braddon 54-46 after a survey of 419 people, last week, which was modelled by YouGov.
The Liberals have pinned their hopes on mechanical engineer Mal Hingston, while Labor called in experienced senator Anne Urquhart who left the upper house role for a tilt.
Prime minister Anthony Albanese and Opposition Leader Peter Dutton made multiple trips to Braddon before official campaigning to show support for salmon farm workers.
The seat has been at the centre of a heated debate about the future of the aquaculture industry in Macquarie Harbour after a challenge to farming approvals by environmentalists.
– AAP
Updated
Opposition crisscrosses country in final week
As Anthony Albanese and Peter Dutton prepare to face off for the final time in a leaders’ debate to be aired on Channel 7, the opposition leader will start a blitz of key seats.
Polling throughout the five-week race has consistently shown Albanese cement his lead as preferred prime minister over Dutton, as the coalition began to increasingly trail Labor on a two-party preferred basis.
The coalition needs to gain 21 seats to secure a majority, and believes this election is winnable. Dutton fights for every vote.
The election stops will include high visibility events and strong crowds as the Coalition maintains it is still in the fight, and that voters have an appetite for change.
The two leaders have already clashed three times, with two of the debates held in western Sydney, where political analysts believe the election could be decided.
– AAP
Updated
RACGP: Albanese’s 24/7 telehealth offering a ‘positive step forward’
The Royal Australian College of GPs has approved the Albanese government’s promise of a new 24/7 telehealth line.
In a statement, RACGP president, Dr Michael Wright, says it is “essential that this service integrates with existing general practice care”.
This is a positive step forward that will help more people access care when they need it. It will help more GPs across Australia provide after-hours care on weekends and during the week.
After-hours care is a key part of what GPs do in communities nation-wide, every day, and this announcement recognises that. So, we look forward to understanding the detail of this program, and working with the government to make sure that general practice is consulted every step of the way.
GPs and practice teams are needed by their communities more than ever before. There’s no substitute for the high-quality care you get from a specialist GP who knows you and your history. We’re the ones with the training and expertise to make sure that patients have all their health needs properly seen to.
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Bowen indulges in some social media mockery
Climate change and energy minister Chris Bowen has seized on Nationals Senator Bridget McKenzie’s reaction to a question from David Speers about the Coalition’s plan to lower emissions.
Bowen has posted on social media a clip of McKenzie laughing in response to the question, adding a one word comment: “unbelievable”.
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Analysis: Peter Dutton’s team has looted economic policies used to fight past wars – and it’s not working in 2025
As the economy turns, the Coalition finds itself out of step with the electorate.
Committed to a strategy of reminding Australians about the past three miserable years, Peter Dutton has overlearned the lessons of 2024, when voters angry at the soaring cost of living toppled a swathe of governments.
If Anthony Albanese was unlucky to inherit the most inflationary economy in a generation, the tide has turned at the right moment as he battles for a second term.
The surest marker of this sea change was the Reserve Bank of Australia’s interest rate cut on 18 February – the first in more than four years and confirmation that the battle to contain inflation was largely won.
The mortgage relief may have been minor but the change in psychology has been profound.
It’s a major reason why the killer question, “Are you better off now than three years ago?” has lost some of its potency in 2025.
For more on this, read the full analysis here:
Updated
McKenzie cites UNSW report about availability of water for nuclear power plants
Going back to Bridget McKenzie’s interview on ABC Insiders this morning, the Nationals senator was asked by ABC Insiders host David Speers about whether there would be enough water for the Loy Yang power plant in Gippsland.
McKenzie cited a University of New South Wales report that examined the availability of water for use in nuclear power generation.
Well, David, University of NSW has done a study into this. It says our water capacity is not a constraint in developing a nuclear industry here in Australia. They are the experts.
McKenzie appeared to refer to the headline of an ABC news report on the study that read: “Enough water for nuclear reactors in NSW but scientists worry about wildlife.”
The text of the story makes clear the study was looking explicitly at sites proposed for New South Wales at Liddell in the Hunter Valley and Mount Piper near Lithgow.
Updated
PM says Australians can choose between ‘building’ a future or a ‘nasty’ reboot of the past
Albanese closes out the speech by clearly spelling out how he sees the choice on voting day.
In the coming days Australians have a real choice, a choice between seizing the opportunities before us all letting the world overtake us. Between reaching for Australia’s extraordinary potential or cutting into it.
A choice between building Australia’s future or a darker, meaner, nasty reboot of the past. A choice between going forward or getting dragged backwards, a choice between backing Australians or stacking Australians.
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‘Never forget robodebt’ and aged care royal commission, Albanese tells supporters
The prime minister has also raised the spectre of robodebt, the aged care royal commission and the treatment of veterans by the previous government.
Never forget robodebt; never forget their neglect of older Australians in care; never forget how they left our military veterans out in the cold. Now their sales pitch to Australia is, literally, let’s go back.
As an aside, it is notable that welfare issues have been almost entirely absent from the campaign, with the government in particular not addressing problems.
Earlier in March, officials from the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations told a Senate estimates hearing that it “cannot” have confidence that the system of mutual obligations has been operating lawfully and the federal ombudsman launched an investigation into the compliance framework.
For more on that story, read the full report from Guardian Australia’s Cait Kelly:
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Albanese: Dutton doesn’t want to talk about his ‘risky and expensive’ nuclear policy
Anthony Albanese is now laying into the opposition leader over his nuclear and defence policies.
Look past all the flip-flopping, all the reversals, all the contradictions and you see a very clear pattern: a risky and expensive nuclear policy that he doesn’t want to talk about and he certainly doesn’t want to visit any of the sites. A defence policy that is little more than a media release and handouts that disappear after just 12 months.
These are policies with huge price tags but the last thing Peter Dutton ever wanted to talk about is where he’s going to get the money from. You won’t be surprised that I don’t share his reluctance. He’s going to get it by ripping into health, education and childcare.
Albanese offers an attack line: “He cuts, you pay.”
Updated
Albanese brandishes Labor’s Medicare, PBS legacy
And we have the latest instance of the PM holding up a Medicare card.
Delivering a fairer Australia through the National Disability Insurance Scheme and delivering for the health of Australians through two other powerful Labor legacies – Medicare, which didn’t give us just a better health system or import someone else’s, it did something more than that. It invented a truly Australian health system. The fact that this card here is green and gold is no accident. We take pride in it as Australians.
… We also take pride in that other great Labor reform which, like Medicare, was resisted by the Coalition – the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme.
The PM has been using Medicare to pitch his government as a builder, and drawing on the legacy of Labor.
So far Albanese has touched on the Homes for Australia plan – reminding party members the Coalition did not have a housing minister during its decade in power – as well as its proposals for more childcare centres, free TAFE and a plan to cut student debt by a fifth.
The PM is now talking about this morning’s proposal for a free telehealth service.
Updated
PM: ‘Labor is the party of higher wages’
The PM has spruiked Labor’s record over the past three years, claiming “Labor is the party of higher wages, and people keep more of what they earn because Labor is the party of lower taxes”.
It’s a comment that shows how under Albanese’s leadership, the party has attempted to position itself by triangulating between Labor’s traditional pitch and staking claim to the Coalition’s branding of low taxes and fiscal responsibility.
I met a miner from the Hunter, a woman during this campaign. [She has] $34,000 extra in her pockets as a direct result of what we have done. That is the difference that a Labor government makes.
Updated
Albanese speaks at Sydney rally, vowing to open 'doors of opportunity' for next generation
Anthony Albanese is speaking at a Labor rally in western Sydney where he is striking a different chord to the opposition leader.
The prime minister has opened his speech with an appeal to the home crowd, tracing Australian values of “hard work, talent, kindness and aspiration” as exemplified by Parramatta’s history from the arrival of the first lleet and key to the prosperity of Australia today:
Look around. Parramatta tells that story. People studying hard, starting businesses, creating jobs, giving back to their community.
From those whose ancestors have known and cared for this land for 65,000 years, since before people from the first fleet established farms along the Parramatta River, to everyone who has chosen Australia as their home and enriched our society with their deep love of our country.
The privilege of serving in government carries a profound responsibility, to measure up to the ambition, optimism and energy of our extraordinary nation.
To reward hard work, to nourish aspiration, to help people under pressure, with meaningful and lasting action on the cost of living. And to build for the future. To open the doors of opportunity for the next generation and then widen them.
This is the duty that we work to uphold every single day. To prove worthy of the Australian people.
Updated
Aboriginal elder issues statement after Melbourne Storm cancels Welcome To Country
The Djirri Djirri dance group and Wurundjeri elder Aunty Joy Murphy Wandin have released a statement following the decision by Melbourne Storm’s board to axe a planned Welcome to Country ahead of its Anzac Day match.
Murphy Wandin was told by the club on Friday afternoon that a planned address ahead of the Storm’s match at AAMI stadium would be called off because the board was concerned about a repeat of an incident where neo-Nazis booed a Welcome to Country at the ANZAC Dawn Service.
Her father served during World War I and she had planned to wear his medals at the ceremony to honour his memory on Anzac day.
They came back after that discussion and apologised, but after reconsidering we all came to the decision to boycott. We strongly regard this as being totally tokenistic and goes completely against their journey of reconciliation and we feel very disrespected. We stand with and follow the directions of our staunch Elders.
What we do isn’t a performance, it’s cultural ceremony and protocol. we strongly feel this action taken by Melbourne Storm was unnecessary and has caused us hurt and disbelief in what we thought was a good relationship.
We wanted to be commemorating today with pride, but instead it was pain.
Murphy Joy’s father was Sapper James Henry Wandin 1st Division Signal Company Australian Imperial Forces 1917-1919.
For more on this story, read the Guardian’s reporting here:
Bridget McKenzie laughs when asked about Coalition's plan on emissions
Just to circle back to Bridget McKenzie’s interview on ABC Insiders this morning. When she was asked directly by host David Speers whether the Coalition had any policies to reduce the emissions responsible for global heating, McKenzie appeared to laugh before moving on to talk about the Coalition’s nuclear proposal.
This appears to be the first time a Coalition MP has been asked this question directly during the campaign.
For more on the Coalition’s total refusal to address climate change and emissions reduction directly, you can read previous reporting by Guardian Australia’s Adam Morton and Graham Readfern:
Why Australia’s most prominent climate change deniers have stopped talking about the climate
The only regular meeting of Australia’s Saltbush Club takes place most Thursday evenings at a golf club in Five Dock, in Sydney’s inner west. The group’s founding members – a collection of the country’s most prominent and avid global heating deniers – include Gina Rinehart, the former Queensland premier Campbell Newman, former Business Council of Australia head Hugh Morgan, and Coalition MP Colin Boyce.
At Five Dock, the crowd is mostly old and mostly white. They sometimes host contrarian speakers. But about six years ago, this gathering of climate sceptics decided to stop talking publicly about the climate.
“We resolved to temporarily pivot from the climate debate and launch the Energy Realists of Australia to talk to people about matters that really concern them, like the price and security of power, instead of science,” said Rafe Champion, another Saltbush founder and a stalwart of the Five Dock meetup.
The idea, Champion wrote on his blog last month, was to target people using “evidence that they can understand, unlike the finer points of climate science”.
As Australia heads towards a federal election, the results of that pivot have been writ large in the campaign. Both major parties notionally support the net zero emissions target. But the coal and climate wars have been replaced in some places by vehement anti-renewables campaigns.
For more on this story, read the full report by Guardian Australia’s Ben Smee and Graham Readfern:
Dutton tells supporters not to listen to ABC, Guardian and ‘the other hate media’
Dutton moves to close out his speech, telling his supporters not to listen to “what you have been told by the ABC, in the Guardian and the other hate media”.
Forget about that. Listen to what you hear on the doors. Listen to what people say on the pre-polling. Know in your hearts that we are a better future for our country. Know we stand up for the values that are important more than ever for families and small businesses. If we stay true to our values and have a strength of leadership, if we have the ability to be truthful with the Australian public, to stand up and to fight for what we believe in, to deliver our vision, to make Australians better off with our petrol cut, with our $1,200 back, to make sure they can buy a home, that is so important to us.
Dutton then predicts that the Coalition will be able to claim victory by 6pm on election night.
There are millions of forgotten Australians, people who are living here, in outer metropolitan areas, people who live in regional towns, they are just starting to stir and they understand their vote will count more than ever this election.
Updated
Dutton pledges to ‘bring in more tradies’ through skilled migration program
Dutton says restoring the dream of home ownership would be the “absolute priority” of a future Coalition government say they will do this by “bringing in more tradies” through the skilled migration program and get trainees and apprentices into the construction sector to “get homes built more quickly and at a more affordable price”.
As he reaches his crescendo, Dutton again returns to a promise to save motorists 25 cents a litre by slashing fuel excise.
Our short term interim measures, measures to provide support through the 25 cents per litre cut petrol and diesel, for the benefit of every Australian, to hear 25 cents per litre of every time you fill up your tank if you vote for your Coalition, the Liberal and National candidate at the next election. $1200 back. That is short-term support, and straight away we get down to business.
Updated
Dutton highlights petrol excise and gas reserve policies
Dutton’s speech is also a good reminder that the Coalition’s election promise has big petrol energy.
The Coalition is promising to cut fuel excise, let rip on new gas developments and has acknowledged that its nuclear development will come at the expense of renewable development and use.
It’s east coast gas reservation policy is an implicit acknowledgment that there is a problem with Australia’s export of gas.
Here is how Dutton is presenting the situation at the rally:
But we fix up their energy crisis. If we end up losing power on a regular basis through blackouts and brownouts in Victoria in New South Wales, in Queensland, across the economy, if we end up driving up the cost of electricity even beyond the 30% it’s gone up already, we will see more businesses close in Victoria, we will see more jobs lost. We will see more small businesses close.
That’s the reality of Labor. The lived experience here in Victoria. It’s the mess we are going to undo that we will clean up to get our great country back on track after the election.
Lurking in the background is the issue of climate change, which the Coalition has avoided discussing for much of this election.
Updated
Dutton backs gas and accuses Labor’s energy plan of driving up ‘the cost of everything’
Speaking at the Liberal party rally, Dutton has taken an extended riff on energy policy, characterising Labor’s plans for an energy transition to tackle climate change as a destructive policy that is driving up prices.
Dutton:
Chris Bowen and Anthony Albanese and Tanya Plibersek have designed a plan which has driven up the cost of everything.
A renewables only policy means food has gone up by almost 20% of groceries more generally have gone up by 30%. We were talking to the Scope, a great Australian company, and Brickworks
Do you know they are paying three times the cost of electricity in this country? And three times the cost of gas in this country compared to their similar plans in the United States and elsewhere.
That means when a young homeowner goes to contract with a builder they are paying more and more that many other young Americans or Brits or Canadians for other young comparable families around the world.
Australian families know they’re worse off under this government so what we do in our plan is we say that we honour the export contracts of gas.
The big export earner for us. It pays taxes and royalties. It helps us fund roads and schools and hospital systems etc. But there’s a lot more that is exported that we can turn back into the domestic market for our own consumption to put Australians first.
It is worth remembering the bulk of Australian gas is exported and, according to work by IEEFA, the export of this gas over the last 10 years has been responsible for driving up the price of gas on the east coast gas market.
Updated
Australian cardinal says pope’s funeral ‘a profoundly sacred moment’
Australia’s only cardinal and highest-ranking Catholic official, Melbourne-based Mykola Bychok, said from Rome the pope’s funeral was “a profoundly sacred moment for the church and the world”.
Bychok, who Francis made a Cardinal late in 2024, said the period since the pontiff’s death on Easter Monday had been “a most challenging time”.
“As a newly appointed cardinal, this experience is still very new to me,” he said ahead of the funeral.
I have only just arrived here in Rome after spending several days in the Holy Land – days that were marked by silence, prayer, and reflection in the very places where our lord walked.
Bychok will be part of the conclave to choose a new pontiff, which is expected to start early in May.
– AAP
Updated
Dutton talks tough on crime at Melbourne rally
Peter Dutton appears comfortable delivering his speech at the party rally, and it’s probably something to do with its topic.
The opposition leader talks up his tough approach on crime and national security.
Dutton uses his time on the microphone to slam Labor for not being interested in local crime issues before turning his attention to the conflict in Gaza.
We were proud of the fact that we made our country, our communities, our suburbs and our towns much safer. That hasn’t happened under this government. What they’ve done is that they bought in people from a war zone without security checks taking place. They’ve allowed criminals out into the community where it wasn’t necessary to do so, and those people, many of them, have gone on to commit further crimes against Australian citizens. That will change under a Coalition government now.
Earlier this week, Dutton committed to re-vetting thousands of visitor visas granted to Palestinians fleeing the conflict.
Those who left Gaza can only do so after checks by Israel and Egypt as well as the Palestinian Authority.
Updated
Peter Dutton has arrived at his campaign rally at a Melton racecourse in Melbourne’s outer west.
He’s well and truly among friends here with the crowd of Liberal shirts and party MPs and senators booing at the mention of Victorian premier Jacinta Allen.
Dutton starts off with a joke about Anthony Albanese’s fall off a stage earlier this campaign.
I’ll give you this commitment. If I fall off the stage, I won’t lie about it. I think truth is a good starting point. If you want to be the prime minister of this country, you can’t look Australians in the eye and just lie to them, bare face, look down the barrel of a camera, and that is exactly what has happened over the course of this campaign.
Updated
Working holiday visas not part of Coalition’s planned migration cuts, McKenzie says
The Coalition won’t touch working holiday visas as part of its broader effort to cut migration by a quarter, Nationals senator Bridget McKenzie says.
In a long back and forth, McKenzie appeared to say the Nationals would avoid cutting working holiday visas.
So permanent visas, the family visa class, and the skilled migration class, parental visas are not, are going to be exempt from this cut. The 25% will be taken from skilled.
As Insiders host David Speers notes, this appears to conflict with the position taken by Peter Dutton, who has left the door open.
Before she goes, McKenzie is asked about whether the Coalition would support a critical minerals stockpile.
McKenzie equivocates, suggesting the Coalition wants to “get projects up in the west” to process these minerals.
It’s one thing to say, we will back the processing of critical minerals at some future point in time. If you can’t get them out of the ground because are wrapped up in red and green tape, it’s a joke. We want to support getting the projects up and going.
Updated
McKenzie says water ‘not a constraint’ in developing nuclear
Challenged over the large, steady supply of water needed to run nuclear power plants, McKenzie has insisted “our water capacity is not a constraint in developing a nuclear industry here in Australia”.
Nuclear power plants require large and stable water sources for cooling and to generate steams. If this water rises to above a certain temperature, as in during a heatwave, it cannot be used for cooling and the reactors are forced outline, as occurred in France in 2022.
Speers asked McKenzie about the price of a water-efficient nuclear power plant consider there is new technology that uses less water but these plants are really expensive, far more than the Coalition modelled through Frontier Economics.
We’ve made it clear that no water taken out of the consumptive pool. The coal-fired power plants where the nuclear power stations will be positioned have exiting water entitlements.
Updated
Nuclear ‘absolutely’ central to Coalition’s plan to address climate crisis, McKenzie says
McKenzie says nuclear power is “absolutely” central to the Coalition’s plan to address climate breakdown, but has refused to answer questions about why Peter Dutton has not visited any of his proposed sites for a nuclear power plant.
I love we’re focused on this. So the shadow minister, Ted O’Brien, has been to all sites, some multiple times. I’ve spoken to these MPs who are telling me their communities are excited about the potential. They’re on pre-poll. It’s not been raised. These are highly energy literate communities who are looking forward to the opportunity of this type of investment in their community.
And I find it fascinating that those who don’t live in and amongst us, and who aren’t from these types of communities, think it’s such an appalling plan, but we’re very happy to have our back yards and communities carpeted with solar panels, wind powers, the minute we say let’s have a net zero solution to build our local economy.
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McKenzie claims nuclear plan is ‘what the IPCC said we should do’
McKenzie said the Nationals would prioritise work to expand Australia’s inland rail network to get large trucks off the road, and that the Coalition will address emissions by doing “what the IPCC said we should do, increase nuclear generation across the globe”.
The IPCC did not direct Australia to develop nuclear energy, but has considered nuclear energy as part of a broader energy mix particularly in countries which already operate these power plants. The IPCC has encouraged the installation of solar, wind and hydro energy.
McKenzie was challenged on the timeframes to build nuclear power plants, given that the first would be at least 10 years away – if it was ever built.
We are hoping we’ll open our first one close to a decade. We’re going to bring on gas, a lower emission fuel than coal, and ensure we can keep the lights on, keep industrial jobs here at home, and keep downward pressure on prices.
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Bridget McKenzie sends mixed signals on EV road user charge
Nationals shadow transport minister Bridget McKenzie has sent mixed signals on whether an elected Coalition government would introduce a road user charge for EV drivers.
During an appearance on ABC Insiders, McKenzie was asked repeatedly by host David Speers about whether the Coalition would introduce a road user charge system instead of a fuel excise system, but would not clearly confirm the Coalition’s plan.
McKenzie said that because EV drivers were not paying fuel excise tax they were not contributing to road maintenance, but did not offer a plan for how a Coalition government would address the problem.
When we get into government, that’s something we have to look at.
Money for road maintenance comes out of generalised revenue and is not linked directly linked to fuel excise.
McKenzie said it was a matter of “equity” that EV drivers are made to pay, saying they are currently “driving for free”.
What the Labor party is expecting is low- and middle-income earners in seats like McEwen, in seats like Hawke, in Bendigo here in Victoria, they’re effectively subsidising wealthier individuals in Kooyong, in Brighton, and other areas, who can afford to pay for an EV. We don’t think that’s fair. That’s why we didn’t agree with the fringe benefit tax exemption, we’ve been really clear on that. And we want to make sure that Australians have choice.
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Peter Dutton is due to arrive any moment at a campaign rally in the Labor-held seat of Hawke in Melbourne’s west.
The opposition leader is expected to deliver an energetic sermon to the party faithful ahead of the Coalition’s last-week “blitz”.
Sitting front and centre are members of his frontbench, including deputy leader, Sussan Ley, Dan Tehan, Jane Hume, Sarah Henderson and James Paterson.
The campaign’s slogan “get Australia back on track” is splattered around the conference room’s walls on signs and corflutes.
Butler has warned Australia is in a “very uncertain global environment” where the cost of defence is likely to increase with the government open to spending more if the circumstances require it.
Over the last three years, when defence comes to us, the independent strategic review identifies capabilities and assets that need to be bought, then we have put that in the budget. The biggest expansion in peacetime since World War II, you see defence spending growing as a share of the economy or GDP over the forward estimates and over the next ten years.
If more needs to be done, of course the prime minister has indicated we’re open to doing that.
This is a nod and a wink to the radical changes being pushed through by the Trump administration.
Butler made the comments when challenged about Labor’s spending on health and defence, saying that the government’s health pledges are “fully accounted for in the budget” and that the government has “taken a very responsible approach to budget” by paying down $207bn in debt which have lowered interest payments by $60bn.
It is worth remembering that a government budget does not operate like a household budget; unlike a government, the average family does not get to add tens of thousands of new members a year, tax them for generations and issue tradable bonds on the back of their personal income.
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‘Five minutes before midnight, we’re supposed to believe that Peter Button is now some convert to Medicare’
Butler has also pushed back on claims that Labor is running a “Mediscare” campaign, quoting Malcolm Turnbull as saying Peter Dutton “has form in this area” and a “track record he must wear” from his time in the Abbott government.
Butler says Dutton “put a wrecking ball through Medicare, trying to abolish bulk billing, trying to make everyone pay to go to a hospital ED, cutting $50bn from hospitals”.
The health minister said the government is justified in warning about the potential for the Coalition to shut down urgent clinics.
For three long years since I first announced the urgent care clinic program, it’s been bagged up hill and down hill by the Liberal party. They rejected it when I announced it, they called it a disaster, a failure. Angus Taylor said our urgent care investments were wasteful spending to be on the chopping block at the election.
Five minutes before midnight, we’re supposed to believe that Peter Dutton is now some convert to Medicare, rather than what he we know about him.
Butler also sought to remind views that Dutton was “voted the worst health minister in the history of Medicare”.
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Asked about Labor’s reforms to bulk billing, Butler says the government has “calculated very carefully” to stop a freefall in bulk billing to create a system that will make three-quarters of GP’s better off.
Butler defended the government’s proposal against claims that GPs won’t take the offer to bulk bill more payments, saying “these doctors’ groups have, right through the history of Medicare, resisted this sort of policy”.
Doctors’ groups said they wanted this additional Medicare investment but no strings attached. No government invested more in general practice than this one. The bulk bill investments, three biggest increases to the Medicare rebate since Keating was prime minister.
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Butler says telehealth line will be ‘free, completely bulk billed’ and ‘very high quality’
The federal health minister, Mark Butler, has rejected a suggestion the Labor government is just “restoring” Covid-era supports with its latest telehealth announcement, saying the government has been “working to get the best possible advice” to deliver the new system.
Speaking to ABC Insiders host David Speers, Butler said the government’s election promise to set up a telehealth line if re-elected will be “free, completely bulk billed” and “very high quality”.
It will be looped in back in with your usual GP through the My Health Record system. The GP will have access to your records, that know your history and your usual GP will be informed ant about what comes out of that telehealth appointment, whether it is an emergency script that you need, or some other advice about treatment.
Butler said that the service is “not intended as a substitute for your usual relationship with the GP” and that it is intended for people who “need quick advice particularly, for example, when your kid gets sick”,
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Dutton promotes softer side in Daily Telegraph interview
Opposition leader Peter Dutton has promoted his softer side in a wide-ranging interview with the Daily Telegraph where he refused to say the name Donald Trump.
In the interview Dutton conceded he had made “mistakes” in the campaign, but insisted Labor had also made them.
The opposition leader addressed his decision to deploy his son on the campaign trail, saying his children struggled with the negative coverage of him:
They get upset by some of the stuff they read online and think it’s unfair.
They think, ‘well that’s not dad and that’s not the person we know’, and they are naturally defensive as well.
Dutton said his 79-year-old father gave him an “emotional gene” and made mention of the elder Dutton’s heart attack in the lead-up to the first leader’s debate.
The opposition leader said his father was now home doing well.
So yes, there’s a different side [of me] that people get a glimpse of on occasion.
Questioned about whether he had buried the Coalition’s signature nuclear policy during the campaign, Dutton said he didn’t think people had “a view one way or the other”.
Frankly, for a lot of Australians, because nuclear comes in, in 2035-37, it’s not affecting their local community.
On Trump, Dutton merely said there had been “a lot” of factors in this election, and that the US president was “in the background” but added that “it’s not the deciding factor in this election”.
There is a lot of concern about the uncertainty in the world at the moment. We could well face a global recession over the next three years. There could be a war in Europe. There could be a war in the Middle East. There could be conflict in our own region.
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Dutton says poll slide due to Labor ‘throwing mud’
Peter Dutton has claimed his dip in the polls is a result of Labor “throwing mud” and running a “negative campaign”.
The opposition leader joined Weekend Sunrise this morning where he was asked why he’s trailing behind in every poll and across every demographic.
Dutton said:
The government’s throwing mud because they don’t want to talk about the last three years, and they’ve spent millions of dollars throwing mud and running a negative campaign.
He said Australian voters could “see through that”.
Dutton is embarking on a last-week campaign “blitz” around the country, vowing to visit 28 key seats in every state and territory apart from the ACT.
But first up this morning is a supporter rally in Melbourne’s west.
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Labor makes free telehealth promise in final week of campaign
Hundreds of thousands of Australians could avoid the emergency department under one of Labor’s last health promises of the election campaign.
Australians could soon access free, expert health advice at all hours of the day, as Labor champions Medicare in one of its final campaign pushes.
If his party is re-elected, Anthony Albanese will commit $204.5m to launch 1800 MEDICARE, a 24/7 nation-wide health advice and after-hours GP telehealth service backed by Medicare.
From 1 January, Australians who call the number will be connected to a registered nurse who can provide advice or refer them to another health service.
Anyone who needs urgent GP care for something like an emergency prescription or treatment for a short-term illness or injury, can be connected to a free telehealth consultation with a GP between 6pm and 8am.
This could prevent an estimated 250,000 Australians from making an unnecessary trip to an emergency department per year, which Albanese said would take pressure off people and public hospitals.
– AAP
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Dutton to visit dozens of seats in last-minute election campaign blits
Peter Dutton will launch a last-minute blitz of seats in his final week of the campaign, targeting marginal electorates across the country but snubbing the nation’s capital.
The opposition leader has dipped further in the polls but is attempting to target 28 seats in just six days as part of the Coalition’s last-ditch but “high energy” attempt to win a majority government.
Dutton will start Sunday at a rally in west Melbourne ahead of the final leaders’ debate with Anthony Albanese in Sydney tonight.
Seats visited in the final push include Hawke, Aston, Dunkley, Gorton, Goldstein and Kooyong in Melbourne while Bennelong and Mackellar in Sydney, and Moreton in Brisbane, will get a stop.
Darwin will get another visit, according to current plans, with Dutton planning to make another pitstop in Solomon.
In the regions, swinging seats north of Sydney - Paterson and Dobell - will get attention while Perth’s Bullwinkel and Adelaide’s Boothby are on the radar.
Blitz is an accurate description to go by if the last week is an example. The past week of Dutton’s travels could easily be characterised as fast-paced with those in the travelling media pack visiting every state and territory apart from the ACT.
Of course, the nation’s capital is where Dutton is pledging to slash 41,000 of around 69,000 public service jobs - or almost 10% of the territory’s total population or about 15% of the working population.
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Good morning
Welcome to another Sunday Guardian live blog.
As the final week of the federal election campaign begins, the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, has announced a re-elected Labor government would launch a free nation-wide health and after-hours GP telehealth service. The $204.5m pledge would see Australians able to call the service to speak to a registered nurse who could provide advice when a GP is unavailable.
The opposition leader, Peter Dutton, is kicking off his Sunday with a rally in west Melbourne ahead of the final leaders’ debate tonight. The Coalition leader has been keen to show off his softer side after bringing his son Harry on the campaign trail as he criss-crosses the country in the lead up to voting day. Dutton told News Corp on Sunday that he does have a “softer side” and “I am an emotional person”.
I’m Royce Kurmelovs and I’ll be taking the blog through the day.
With that, let’s get started ...
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