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National
Tory Shepherd and Amy Remeikis

Frydenberg expects ‘close’ battle to hold seat as Labor cost of living attacks continue – as it happened

Labor United States ADF Australia Chris Barrie United Kingdom DARPA Anthony Albanese Coalition Scott Morrison
Federal treasurer Josh Frydenberg
Federal treasurer Josh Frydenberg (centre) in Wallan, Victoria on day 18 of the 2022 federal election campaign. Photograph: James Ross/AAP

What we learned today, Thursday 28 April

There were multiple conniptions today – on inflation, on voting preferences, on independents, on climate change policy. The Solomon Islands/China deal feels like yesterday’s news now (no, it’s not over). Here’s what was in the headlines:

Until tomorrow, when Amy Remeikis will be back to lead you through the last Friday of the middle week of the campaign. Labor leader Anthony Albanese will (all things going well) be back tomorrow as well. Happy almost halfway through the campaign day!

Updated

In case you were struggling to keep up on the preference deals stoush earlier, Paul Karp and Joe Hinchliffe have laid it out for you here:

Temperature Check is always a must-read. Adam Morton this week on the Coalition’s attacks on... its own policy:

That’s quite the get. 60 Minutes reporter Tom Steinfort sitting down with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy:

Michael McGowan was keeping a close eye on that North Sydney debate:

This week’s election ad review:

Your daily election briefing is here, courtesy of Josh Butler. There were debates about preferences, and preferences about debates, and so much more:

People banned from giving blood because of the UK’s “mad cow” epidemic will now be eligible, the Sydney Morning Herald reports.

In Australia, anyone who lived in the UK for six months or more in the 80s and 90s was banned from donating over fears of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (colloquially known as “mad cow” disease).

The Therapeutic Goods Administration has now lifted that ban.

The SMH reports about 700,000 people could now be eligible, but an Australian Red Cross spokesperson said not all of those would want to donate.

Updated

If you haven’t yet read Katharine Murphy’s piece below about prime minister Scott Morrison on Labor leader Anthony Albanese’s “quiet week” (with Covid), do now. Morrison just doubled down, saying “there must be a lot of questions waiting for him when he comes out”, and that he personally went straight to the flood zones after his own isolation.

Updated

On Warringah candidate Katherine Deves, Morrison says:

She’s talking about a very sensible issue, about women and girls in sport. That’s it. I think it’s very sensible. I wasn’t going to stand there and let people pile on and try to cancel her.

I try to check in on her fairly regularly... she’s OK but obviously we need to take a bit more care, given those threats. We have to stop walking on eggshells in this country.

Updated

On the cash rate and a potential interest rate rise before 21 May, Morrison says he respects the independence of the Reserve Bank, that it’s all the fault of the pandemic and the war in Ukraine, and a bit of China, but you can’t trust Labor. Seamless.

A dorothy dixer here from Kenny about how Morrison can force the teal independents “who obviously exist to deliver a Greens/Labor government” to reveal their intentions.

He calls the independents an “anti-Liberal party”. “They can’t even be up front about who they’ll support in government,” he says.

And he agrees with Kenny that they’re “fake” and “deceiving voters”.

It’ll be fun if he has to negotiate with them in a few weeks’ time.

The PM is talking about an electrolysis plant the government will help fund in Hobart, that he says will create 200 construction jobs. Kenny’s more interested in the preference deals mentioned below, and the threats from One Nation’s Pauline Hanson that she’ll preference against the Liberal party.

“It’s just politics,” Morrison says:

That’s not changing what people do for a job. It’s not changing what they earn. It’s not a down pressure on inflation and interest rates.

But, Kenny says, you need to get re-elected to keep doing your job. Morrison says that’s why this election is a choice (you know the drill here, people).

“A government that has to negotiate for its existence every single day of the week, it’s not going to make the country stronger,” he says. (It’s not clear, but I think that was actually a swipe at the independents). Kenny asks if he’ll talk to Hanson. Morrison says:

The party organisation negotiates preferences. I get on and do the job of PM.

Updated

Kenny: Does it worry you?

Morrison says the “character assaults” levelled at him... well, people who know him know he’s different to that. He worries about ordinary people:

But for those who aren’t in politics, I worry about how the social media world is making life intolerable.

Prime minister Scott Morrison is up on Sky News with Chris Kenny. (He’s following a segment with journalist David Penberthy that was captioned “Leaders aren’t utter scumbags”).

Morrison is in Hobart. Kenny’s first question appears to be about nasty people on Twitter.

Travellers who were stuck on South Australia’s Oodnadatta Track for four nights after heavy rainfall have safely made it to Coober Pedy.

About 30 cars carrying approximately 80 people became bogged on the remote track on Sunday with gas and food supplies subsequently running low.

“We’ve been able to get everyone out of town – we’ve been able to help get them to Coober Pedy safely,” Williams Creek publican Trevor Wright said on Thursday.

Wright had been helping keep the stranded travellers fed and watered since the weekend.

“They’ve been here for four days and were extremely worried,” he said.

Police and locals from Williams Creek helped the convoy travel 160km to Coober Pedy on Thursday through soaked and muddy roads.

Locals Sam Ragonesi and Tim Baker accompanied the travellers with one car at the front and the other at the rear of the convoy. Police from Coober Pedy met the convoy halfway.

Ragonesi said the decision to make the trip on Thursday felt like a “now or never moment” as more rain was forecast to hit the region on Friday. He said:

We had to pull a couple of the 2WD cars through the bog hole with a rope, but other than that it was a smooth trip.

Everyone was really happy and in high spirits. They were glad to see the bitumen, but they had a good time. It was definitely an experience, that’s for sure.

Wright said planes were flying food in for the population of ten that remain in Williams Creek in preparation for another downpour. But they still have a shortage of gas.

Travellers stuck in Williams Creek
Travellers stuck in Williams Creek Photograph: Trevor Wright
Travellers stuck in Williams Creek
Travellers stuck in Williams Creek Photograph: Trevor Wright

Remember when prime minister Scott Morrison said “it’s not a race, it’s not a competition” about vaccine rollouts?

He’s sounding a little competitive on... having Covid. Katharine Murphy reports:

In Boothby – South Australia’s most marginal seat – candidates have been quizzed about their policies for older Australians.

Council on the Ageing SA hosted Rachel Swift (whose Liberal colleague Nicolle Flint is retiring at this election), Labor’s Louise Miller-Frost, independent Jo Dyer, Greens candidate Barbara Pocock and Graeme Clark from the United Australia Party.

Cota SA’s chief executive, Jane Mussared, said voters had a range of issues that were important to them at this election. She said:

Older voters in Boothby have shown they’re concerned about climate change and want to see immediate action from the next government to ensure future generations will enjoy a healthy planet.

Older people appealed to candidates that oral care needs to be added to Medicare as it is fundamental to overall health, wellbeing and nutrition.

Attendees at the forum also spoke of enduring ageism as the basis of elder abuse, seeking the next government to fully implement the Royal Commission’s recommendations for aged care, adding that ageism also gets in the way of continuing employment and financial stability.

Paul Karp makes an excellent point. We really haven’t heard much about public schools during this campaign. He talks to Jane Lee about why that is in the latest Campaign catchup:

With more than 50 Covid-19 deaths across the country reported today, a spokesperson for the Victorian department of health told Guardian Australia that a combination of waning immunity from vaccination, advanced age and underlying vulnerability have all contributed to high death rates, especially among older Victorians aged over 70.

Between 1 January 2022 and 26 April 2022, 88% of deaths related to Covid-19 in Victoria were in people aged 70 and over.

Over the same period and across all age groups, about 52% of deceased cases had received two doses of vaccine, 17% had received three doses, 4% had received one dose, and 27% were unvaccinated. Given only a small proportion of the general population are unvaccinated, unvaccinated people are highly over-represented in deaths.

The spokesperson said:

Our heartfelt sympathies go out to all the families and friends who have lost loved ones to Covid-19 over the course of the pandemic.

Getting a third dose significantly reduces your chances of getting Covid-19, passing it on to others or going to hospital. If you’re over 65 and eligible for a winter dose, don’t delay. This fourth dose will boost your immunity and help combat Covid-19.

Age, vaccination status and significant comorbidities are well-recognised factors that contribute to a person’s risk of death from Covid-19.

Updated

“I don’t accept there is a housing crisis,” former prime minister John Howard said earlier today.

On the same day an Anglicare report found 98% of rental properties are too expensive for people on minimum incomes, and when people are trying to come to terms with the way their mortgage repayments are about to soar, Howard said cost of living was an issue at every election campaign.

According to AAP, Howard told reporters:

I don’t accept there is a housing crisis.

The cost of housing in this country is much higher than we would like, but a lot of the reasons for housing being expensive in Australia has been baked into the system over the years.

And may I say, because of planning and other decisions made by state and local governments to push up the cost of housing.

Steggall says she has received about $25,000 from Climate 200, that it’s a small component of her fighting fund, and that her fighting fund is smaller than it was at the last election.

Kelly asks if she’s seen her Liberal challenger, Katherine Deves, who has been elusive since her comments about trans people were revealed. Steggall says:

She has declined to attend public forums ... I have seen her across a couple of bus stops but my focus is on listening to the community and hearing from people in Warringah.

And her electric vehicle policy will be a bargaining chip in the case of a hung parliament, she says.

Updated

Independent Warringah MP Zali Steggall is up now with the ABC’s Fran Kelly (it’s a busy afternoon at our national broadcaster).

She’s snapping back at treasurer Josh Frydenberg, who refers to the independents as “fake”. She says:

Every time you play the man instead of the ball, which is what the treasurer did for example yesterday, he is saying to his community your concerns are fake.

Labor’s Amanda Rishworth is talking about the cost of childcare, promising higher subsidies and cheaper care. Most families will be, on average, $1,600 better off a year, she says.

She’s asked by the ABC’s Greg Jennett what Labor would do about the temporary cut to the fuel excise if it wins, and she says Labor will do a budget, and will be managing a range of factors (so does not commit either way).

And Rishworth is looking forward to having her boss back on the road after his Covid isolation. She says:

I know that Anthony will want to get out onto the hustings as quickly as possible. And having him back on the road will be a great boost for the Labor campaign.

Kelly says Frydenberg is outspending his colleagues on Facebook ads, and asks what we should read into that. Frydenberg says Labor and the Greens are supporting the independent candidate, making it a “different dynamic”. He says:

I think all these battles will be close. I’m certainly not taking anything for granted in Kooyong.

Next up is why the treasurer didn’t go to a Kooyong debate last night with his independent challenger Monique Ryan.

Frydenberg says the organisers are “climate activists”, that in previous years someone tried to throw what he says was a bucket of bleach at him... he has a litany of complaints, I’ll try to get to the bottom of them.

So he is happy to debate Ryan, he says, but not at a rally organised by his political opponents.

Kelly asks: What would you say to people facing mortgage repayment increases (if the rate goes up before the election)?

Frydenberg doesn’t want to “speculate” on that decision, and says higher inflation figures show how “complex and vulnerable” the economic environment is. (Which is, of course, the natural point to jump into an accusation that Labor will overspend and overtax).

Kelly moves on to the rental crisis. An Anglicare report has found 98% of rental properties are not affordable for people on the minimum wage. “What’s your plan?” she asks. Frydenberg says:

What I’ve announced is more than $2bn of additional support for affordable housing and that sees more than $5.5bn being expended in that way. And so we’ve got a plan obviously to put in place more affordable housing.

We’ve got a plan to provide people with more rental assistance. States also have obligations in these areas. But we have seen prices go up in terms of housing. One of the reasons for that has been the historically low interest rates but also the strong employment numbers. But, again, it’s not a challenge for Australia alone. It has been seen around the rest of the world.

ABC host Fran Kelly asks Frydenberg if he “overcooked” the pandemic stimulus payments to the housing industry. He says the homebuilder scheme was “essential” and that it’s the cost of supplies driving up construction costs.

Updated

Inflation will settle in June quarter: Frydenberg

Treasurer Josh Frydenberg is talking about cost of living pressures on ABC television.

He says people will get their $250 payment (if they’re on welfare) and their low and middle income earner tax offsets soon. Inflation will start to settle, he says:

That will be seen in the June quarter. About a quarter of a per cent is the expectation. That will be into the June quarter. And what we do know is that will make a difference to the inflationary numbers but we also know that in the context of the broader petrol prices, that budget actually has a forecast for petrol prices to come down as a barrel of oil settles in the September quarter, lower than what it has been.

Updated

Foreign minister Marise Payne has been quite vocal about the Solomons Island-China deal, Daniel Hurst reports:

During the debate Zimmerman also said he did not support comments about trans people made by controversial Liberal party candidate Katherine Deves, but stopped short of publicly calling for her to be disendorsed.

He said:

I’ve made it very clear I don’t support Katherine Deves’s comments at all.

Anyone who knows me and my record in parliament knows I’m someone who for six years stood up for LGBTI community. That has been important to me and who I am and so I find comments [that are] transphobic and homophobic particularly difficult.

Asked whether she should be disendorsed he said:

She is the candidate now [and] I have views about that that I have obviously conveyed within the party. She has apologised for her remarks as she should have.

Updated

Liberal party MP Trent Zimmerman has said he and fellow moderate MPs “prevailed” over deputy prime minister Barnaby Joyce securing a net zero climate target, saying the Nationals leader was opposed to the policy.

Zimmerman told a Sky News debate on Thursday that he disagreed with Nationals MP Matt Canavan that a target of net zero emissions by 2050 is “all over”.

Zimmerman said:

The prime minister is on my side on this and not Matt Canavan’s.

A key Liberal party moderate facing a tough challenge to hang onto his electorate of North Sydney from the independent Kylea Tink, Zimmerman, talked up his role in the Coalition’s climate targets, saying he and other moderates had forced prime minister Scott Morrison to adopt a net zero policy.

Asked about recent comments from Canavan and other Nationals MPs suggesting the government was not tied to its net zero ambition, Zimmerman told the debate that he was “happy” to disagree with the Nationals’ MP.

He said in response:

Thankfully that’s not the government policy.

I took a position along with a number of my colleagues for net zero by 2050 and we fought really hard for it.

Like a number of key Liberal party moderates facing challenges from independents at this election, Zimmerman has been keen to distance himself from the conservative wing of the party during the election, and during the debate said he had disagreed with some decisions.

The government, he said, “hasn’t been perfect”, and that he had “occasionally had the odd disagreement” on policies, including the religious discrimination bill which he crossed the floor to oppose.

The debate, which also included the Labor party candidate Catherine Renshaw, saw both major party candidates target Tink over who she would support if the election ended in a hung parliament.

Tink said she would speak to “both parties”, but that her support would rest on stronger climate targets, a federal integrity commission, and legislating tougher fuel standards.

Updated

And the next instalment: One Nation senator Pauline Hanson says the Liberals are “no longer the conservative party Australians knew”, and that “left-leaning Liberals” need to be cleaned out.

These preference flows will be both critical and complicated.

More on the brouhaha over preferences, which Paul Karp covered here:

Senator Jacqui Lambie has responded, saying there are “no deals done”, and that One Nation senator Pauline Hanson has “her facts wrong”, “doesn’t know what she’s talking about”, and more:

Tasmanian man 'used chainsaw to shear sheep'

AAP reports that a Tasmanian man has been charged with animal cruelty after a video of a sheep allegedly being shorn with a chainsaw was shared on the internet.

Police launched an investigation last week into the alleged cruelty, which they say took place near Woodbury in the state’s rural centre. Tasmania police said in a statement:

On 12 April ... a person saw and filmed what appeared to be a sheep being crutched with a chainsaw.

The film was later circulated on social media.

According to AAP, crutching is the removal of wool from around the tail and between the back legs of a sheep. A 58-year-old man from York Plains was on Thursday charged with cruelty to animals under the Animal Welfare Act 1993.

He has been summonsed to appear in the Hobart magistrates court at a later date.

Updated

Further to Amy’s post on preferences below, this is from independent candidate in Goldstein, Zoe Daniel. The former ABC reporter is trying to unseat Liberal MP Tim Wilson.

While we’re on the independents, sitting Mayo MP (and independent) Rebekha Sharkie has hinted that if there’s a hung parliament, she would be reluctant to be responsible for unseating the government.

According to The Australian she said her seat was traditionally Liberal and that the local community would expect her to “go to the government first”. But she stopped short of saying she would support the Liberal party unless a range of conditions were met.

Updated

From North Sydney – the major parties are putting pressure on all those independents to ... be less independent and throw their lot in with a major party. Or it could be more of a ploy to undermine them, insinuating that they are “fake independents”, as some MPs have been calling them.

Like Kylea Tink, most are (unsurprisingly) declining to say at this point what will happen. A lot could happen between now and 21 May.

Amy Remeikis has ridden the blog wave like a champ. And she’ll do it again tomorrow. Meanwhile, let’s get this afternoon under way. The North Sydney debate has just wound up, and I’ll bring you a bit from a Boothby debate as soon as I can.

Updated

The wonderful Tory Shepherd will take you through the afternoon, as I go and stare/bang my head against a wall. (jks)

I’ll probably just scream into the abyss. Just as effective.

I’ll be back with you for Day 19 fun and games – when Anthony Albanese rejoins the physical campaign.

Until then – take care of you.

Updated

Exporters boom as others suffer high costs

AAP has an update on what has been happening with exporters:

Scott Morrison is quick to blame the largest spike in inflation in more than two decades on international factors, such as the war in Ukraine, as well as supply chain disruptions caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.

But Australian exporters are also enjoying the biggest price boom in almost half a century, largely due to the same factors.

The prime minister said his government has been able to “shield” households from rising prices with a cost-of-living support package in last month’s budget that included slashing fuel excise for six months.

He said this was only achievable through his government’s “economic plan” and a $100bn turnaround in the budget bottom line.

But new figures also show national income received a massive lift in the March quarter through soaring export prices – a major boost to the budget bottom line and outside the government’s control.

“Australia is in the midst of another commodity price boom,” Commonwealth Bank senior economist, Belinda Allen, said.

“Offshore events including the war in the Ukraine and strong demand for coal and iron ore have led to a surge in commodity prices.”

The Australian Bureau of Statistics said goods exports jumped 18% in the March quarter, the highest rate since records began in 1974.

Annual export prices were up a massive 46.7%.

Surging global demand for coal saw export prices up 32% in the quarter, and an extraordinary 243.4% higher than a year earlier.

Updated

Meanwhile, in Victoria:

Updated

A further word on preferences. There was some speculation earlier that Liberal MP Warren Entsch would be targeted by One Nation in Leichhardt, which is one of Labor’s targets in Queensland. That has not eventuated, he is not on the hitlist Pauline Hanson just distributed.

The Liberals have also just released their Senate how-to-vote cards:

  • In Queensland, One Nation is second so I wouldn’t expect PHON to be doing Labor any favours in the lower house if this reflects a deal in the Sunshine state.
  • In Tasmania, the Liberals have put United Australia party, Liberal Democrats and Jacqui Lambie Network ahead of PHON, a source of ire for Hanson.
  • In New South Wales, the Liberals are backing the Liberal Democrats and UAP.
  • In Victoria, it’s the UAP and Derryn Hinch’s Justice party.
  • In South Australia, Bob Day gets a guernsey at number three, after the Nationals.
  • In Western Australia, there no preferences for UAP which is notable, and the Australian Christians are second on the Liberal ticket.

Updated

There has been a lot of discussion today about the secrecy surrounding China’s security agreement with Solomon Islands.

The foreign minister, Marise Payne, used a foreign policy speech to criticise the lack of transparency about the terms of the deal, as did Labor’s home affairs spokesperson, Kristina Keneally.

Donald Rothwell, a professor of international law at the Australian National University, tells us:

Some care needs to be taken to applying Australian standards to this treaty, especially when it is asserted it is ‘secret’.

Rothwell has provided us with the following explanation. I think it is useful to quote it at length to provide some context for the current debate:

The practice of the Australian government is that all treaties are made publicly available once they have been signed on the Australian Treaties Database.

That covers treaties that Australia has negotiated, and those that have been formally ratified and have entered into force.

Treaties that have been concluded by Australia and are awaiting ratification can be found here.

Australian treaty practice in this regard is generally considered to be world leading, but I would observe that in my experience there is always a time lag between an ‘announcement’ that a treaty has been signed and when it becomes publicly available.

Importantly, there is no requirement under international treaty law that a treaty be immediately made publicly available.

There is, however, a general rule against ‘secret treaties’. The Charter of the United Nations, Article 102 (1) provides:

“Every treaty and every international agreement entered into by any member of the United Nations after the present charter comes into force shall as soon as possible be registered with the Secretariat and published by it.”

So there is a requirement under international treaty law that the treaty be registered with the United Nations, and in due course it will become publicly available through those processes.

I have read reports to suggest that China has advised Solomon Islands they do not wish the treaty to be publicly released at this time. This is not exceptional, and the treaty would only be made available with the agreement of both sides.

The question then is who will register the treaty with the UN, and when the UN will release it?

Updated

Pauline Hanson’s One Nation has released a statement in response to Paul Karp’s story on the party recommending it’s supporters preference sitting Liberal MPs last.

One Nation preferences will target left-leaning Liberals in some key seats in a bid to protect Australian values and ensure strong conservative representation in the new Parliament.

One Nation leader, Senator Pauline Hanson, said her plan to target Bass in Tasmania, held by left-leaning Liberal Bridget Archer, had been her first shot across the bow.

The Liberals need a wake-up call and I’m more than happy to provide it. They are no longer the conservative party Australians knew. We need to clean out a small number of left-leaning Liberals who masquerade as conservatives. Instead of talking to me about preferences, the media should be asking Scott Morrison why he is prepared to hand Jacqui Lambie the balance of power, someone who hates the Liberals and votes consistently against them.

Hanson said that in addition to Bass, One Nation would also target Tim Wilson in Goldstein, Trent Zimmerman in North Sydney, Helen Haines in Indi and James Stevens in Sturt.

“Scott Morrison has surrendered independent Australian climate policy to these left-leaning Liberals, who are obviously in the wrong party,” she said.

“He needs to be reminded that conservative Australians feel betrayed by his lurch to the left with net zero emissions by 2050, and the left-leaning Liberals who pushed him there need to be removed.”

Hanson said One Nation would work with the Nationals in some seats to negate the loss of seats held by left-leaning Liberals.

“I think we are all in broad agreement that a Labor-Green government would be a disaster for Australia,” she said.

“Unfortunately, left-leaning Liberals aren’t giving conservative Australian voters much reason to hope their party will act differently to Labor on issues such as immigration, the housing crisis, religious freedom, critical race theory, gender reassignment, trans women competing in women’s sports and climate change.”

The statement goes on to say she is prepared to work with some conservatives on preferences.

Updated

Financial commentators continue to digest yesterday’s “CPI SurpriseTM” (as in trimmed mean, if not trade mark).

Westpac had created waves last week when it forecast the RBA would hold off lifting rates until June – so it could see what the wage price index looked like – but then unleash a “jumbo” rate rise of 0.4 percentage points.

That seemed bold at the time. Now that we’ve seen the 5.1% headline inflation (and 3.7% TM, or underlying inflation) rate, Westpac has adjusted its prediction to 0.15% next Tuesday, and then 0.25% at the June RBA board meeting.

Despite the big CPI “print”, Westpac has basically left the schedule of future rises unchanged, so that by next May, the RBA will have a “terminal rate” of 2%. (Those wily investors that the ASX tracks are tipping 3.145% by then.)

The CBA remains the holdout among the major banks (and many minor ones) in sticking to their forecast that despite all the sturm und drang over the past day and say the RBA must leave the rate unchanged in May but start hiking from June.

Gareth Aird, chief economist of Australia’s biggest lender, reckons the RBA will stand to lose a lot of credibility if they were to raise the 0.1% cash rate next week given it had stated clearly that it wanted to see both inflation and wage data before acting.

We won’t get the latter until 18 May.

Aird said it won’t make a big difference to market lending rates because they have been climbing for more than half a year already.

Updated

I didn’t think Josh Frydenberg could look any more exhausted than he did yesterday, but he looks even more tired today.

He is still using his “serious” voice, where he speaks very slowly and deliberately as he blames international pressures for Australia’s inflation increase:

They’re being driven by international factors and we saw that particularly in terms of fuel costs, up 11% for the quarter, up 35% for the year, the single biggest increase in fuel costs since Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait back in 1990, more than 30 years ago. When you look at what’s happened through Covid, it’s put real pressures on supply chains and disrupted those and that’s why we have seen freight costs increase by five-fold at least.

When it comes to the war in Ukraine, that’s lifted commodity prices very significantly – fuel, oil and gas prices, are up, wheat prices are up significantly, that’s playing through, both to the bowser here in Australia as well as to the supermarket shelf prices. Now, we understand those cost-of-living pressures which are very real for Australian families and that’s why we announced a comprehensive and clear set of measures in the budget just over two weeks ago.

That included halving the fuel excise. Now, for people here in this seat of McEwen, we’re talking about 100,000 vehicle owners who are now seeing their fuel prices more than 22 cents lower than they were going into budget night.

We also announced that for 10 million Australians, low and middle-income earners, they would get an additional $420 on top of the existing low and middle income tax offset when they put in their tax return from 1 July and more than 70,000 people in this electorate had benefited from the Coalition’s cut to taxes. We also announced that $250 payments would be provided to six million Australians on income support.

That includes in the electorate of McEwen more than 12,000 pensioners. Others who are job-seekers, others who are on disability spore, veteran veterans, carers, are all receiving these $250 payments including eligible self-funded retirees. And we have also ensured that medicines are becoming more affordable and accessible for more than 2.4 million Australians. These are a comprehensive set of measures designed to ease the cost-of-living pressures that Australians are feeling right now.

Updated

Q: I understand there’s a backlog in the processing of visitor visas given that the government’s ...

Kristina Keneally:

I think every visa category has a backlog of some sort, yes.

Q: Under a Labor government, would you increase the workforce for the processing of these visitor visas?

Keneally:

The announcement we made yesterday is an important one because we got rid of the public sector cap. It’s an artificial cap. We need to unclog the visa processing system how many more

... Well, I’m in the going to start canvassing numbers here because the other thing that’s happened under this government is that the immigration portfolio has been outside of Cabinet for most of a decade. There is one portfolio and one area that the government has complete and utter control over that directly affects economic growth and that is migration.

Updated

Q: Ms Keneally, just on border protection. Would a Labor government keep in place temporary protection visas? And if not, what would you replace them with? And on offshore detention, you repeatedly spoken about about the fact you don’t want it to be a permanent, you want it to be temporary, right? What would you do to enable it to be temporary and not indefinite considering the New Zealand is for the legacy caseload, not from someone who comes from now?

Kristina Keneally:

First of all, I’m not sure I understand the phrase legacy caseload. Let me explain. I have been through this several times including this morning on Sky News, but I’m happy to repeat it here for you when it comes to operation sovereign borders, we do support boat turn-backs and, resettlement and offshore processing.

In terms of protection visas, the only people in Australia on temporary protection visas came before operation sovereign borders: If you attempt to come to Australia by boat you’ll be turned back or you will be sent to Nauru. Even the people who come from Nauru and PNG for medical treatment do not go on temporary protection visas.

They’re either on no visa because they’re here with ministerial permission or they’re on a bridging visa. So the only people in Australia on temporary protection visas are people who have already been recognised as refugees by a Liberal government.

They have lived in Australia for more than 10 years. They work here, they pay taxes, they run businesses, I met a family in Adelaide, they’re all on temporary protection visas. They own a cafe, a successful cafe, it survived through the pandemic. They were denied jobkeeper but they were paid jobkeeper to pay to the Australians that they employ.

So this cohort of people, about 20,000, every three or five years the government demands they go through a bureaucratic process to get a protection status again. It’s unnecessary and costly. Clogs up the Department of Home Affairs which has got 100,000 backlog for citizenship applications, 54,000 backlog for visa applications, businesses say it gets 12 months or more to get a skilled visa approved. When we got a skill shortage. We got a clogged up Department of Home Affairs. And we’re making them go through this process for no good reason.

Q: What visas would you give to that 20,000?

Keneally:

A permanent protection visa.

... Labor’s platform has a 90-day rule and we would take up the New Zealand deal. We would implement the New Zealand deal. You can’t believe a word Scott Morrison says.

Scott Morrison said for years taking up the New Zealand deal would restart the boats. Peter Dutton said for years, taking up the New Zealand deal would restart the boats. That was not true. And we know it’s not true because Scott Morrison backflipped just a few weeks ago and took up the New Zealand deal. He took up the New Zealand deal to send bag inner city Liberal seats, make no mistake about it. You can’t believe a word he says ...

We will implement the deal, anyone who has attempted to come to Australia by boat will not settle here, we will negotiate through other countries, as the government has been doing, people have been going to Canada, people have been going to other countries. There will be third country resettlement.

Updated

Decade of low wage growth 'deliberate': Jason Clare

Q: Are you ruling out one-off cash payments in the future?

Jason Clare:

Again, have a look at Jim’s [Chalmers] answer. He answered this question this morning

Q: What do you believe should happen?

Clare:

That’s what I said. We support the payments that are there now, but you got to do more than that in terms of long-term support to cut the cost of living as well as to make wages stronger and jobs more secure. Now, if you can do all of this, you can help people to pay the bills. The problem here is the last decade has been the worst decade for wage growth in Australia’s history, full stop.

This is not an accident that this has happened. This is deliberate. The government has deliberately set itself on a path for the last ten years of keeping people’s wages low. Wage growth here is lower than the United States. And we are reaping the whirlwind of that right now. OK, it’s not just that you have got inflation through the roof, you got wages through the floor. And that makes it harder and harder for Aussies to make ends’ meet.

Updated

Q: We’re in the middle of a crisis. Is childcare the only policy that Labor has to alleviate this cost of living crisis? What are you going to do for pensioners, for example, that will continue to struggle to pay for essential household items.

Jason Clare:

The answer is no, and have a look at the answer I gave you to your first question in this press conference. Yes, we support to immediate cash help that people are getting.

Yes, we support the cut in petrol costs, they help everyone that has a car by you need medium and long-term changes here that are going to help people with their longer term challenges.

Don’t underestimate the childcare policy in terms of the impact that it’s going to make on more than a million Aussies. I know myself as the father of a child who has just moved from childcare to primary school, it felt like you got a pay rise when they leave day care. It’s expensive. If you can have a policy in place that does two things. Amanda made this point in the press conference.

This policy ticks two of the big boxes to tackle two of the big challenges in this country. Cost of living and getting skilled workers into the workforce. You talk to employers who are tell you all the time they can’t find skilled workers. The childcare policy will give the average family on $100 another $1600 back in their pocket every year but it also means they can go back to work.

Hang on a second, there’s childcare and that’s important if you’ve got a woman with a child – you know, a man and a woman with two kids maybe, take my house, and one person’s working full-time, the other one’s working 2.5 days a week and you can change the cost of childcare that 2.5 days might become three or four. The impact of that young person being in childcare is amazing.

The impact for that family in terms of the extra money is terrific and the impact that business’s extra productivity because you have a skilled worker already trained back in the workforce that, he’s why this is a big deal for cost of living and skilled workers for employers who desperately need it.

We’re going to cut the cost of electricity, too. Anybody who pays an electricity bill, whether you’re 18 or 80, know it’s too expensive. You asked me about pensioners. Pensioners ask me about the cost of electricity all the time. And we’ve been banging on in this country about how we can fix it and try to scare the pants off people about how you might fix it for the last 10 years.

The Liberal party have been telling people that if you invest in renewable energy and try to do something about climate change your bills will group. Well, now the opposite is true.

If you invest in more in renewable energy you’ll cut the cost of electricity. That is why we’re saying we will do that this. If you want your electricity bills cut you’ve got to vote Labor at this election.

Updated

Q: I know you said Solomon Islands is a sovereign nation but they’ve effectively said they’ll only release the details of the security pact if China gives them the green light. If elected how will you push China to see those details because it is in Australia’s interests and just secondly pledge to boost foreign aid but in the wake of this pact should Australia be making a more concerted effort to strengthen defence and security ties wits Pacific neighbours?

Kristina Keneally:

Two parts to that. First, the Solomon Islands are a sovereign nation, and I think the very pointed that you raised in that question is why Australia should be quite alarmed. We have already now got China dictating terms to a member of our Pacific family.

And this points to the failure of the government to act when they became aware that this deal was potentially in the offing.

Marise Payne should have gotten up from her desk and gone to the Solomon Islands.

Now, all of the non-Pacific island nations and Timor-Leste are sovereign nations and it used to be the case that Australia was the first country of choice for them. We’re at risk of losing that.

We have are at risk of losing that. So the package we announced this week is about strengthening institutional relationships in terms of our defence forces and the police forces in the Pacific nations.

It is also about projecting Australia’s voice to the region through increased broadcasting.

It’s also about providing financing for climate change infrastructure. It’s also about the people to people links and if I can say one of the big announcements we make – made this week that I think people didn’t notice enough is a real first in our migration program. 3,000 dedicated spaces per year in the permanent intake for the Pacific islands and Timor-Leste to be conducted as a lottery, apportioned to each of those nations based on population.

Last year, there were only 720 permanent arrivals from the Pacific islands to Australia. 3,000 a year. It is an opportunity for us not only to provide significant economic boost because we know that those people when they come here to work from those nations they send money back to their communities. $2,200 every six months. But 3,000 people having the opportunity to come here with their families, permanent residents, creating those people to people links, those ties, that is a fundamentally important offer and it’s a fundamentally important chance for us to grow closer to our Pacific islands.

Updated

Q: First issue, NDIS. Reports are showing is it’s going to be $64bn by 2030 ... When you’re sitting around the cabinet table after 21 May if you win the election the cost of this scheme is getting bigger and bigger, is $64bn affordable or will tough decisions have to be made about reining in the NDIS to bring it in budget.

Secondly, just on debates. Labor wanted to do a debate at the press club, last week of the campaign. PM said he’ll do one on Channel Nine. Channel Seven want do one as well, the ABC wants to do one. What is the ALP’s position, Mr Albanese’s position, on doing debates. How many debates is he prepared to do and who with?

Jason Clare:

I’ll deal with the first one NDIS. I think Bill talked about that last week. He made the point that there are costs you can take out through consultants and lawyers and so forth. We need to make sure we’re helping the people who need help. I told this room the story last Friday about people in my own community who get cut after cut after cut. At the risk of labouring the point, the boy’s name is [Jacob] and he has autism and Angelman syndrome.

He has had his funding cut three times in a row. His dad can’t get funding for care on the weekend so he can take the other boys out to footy and mum’s not there because mum died of a brain tumour three or four years ago. This is serious. This is not about numbers this is about people.

The things that this government is doing to it at the moment are hurting real people. So you can manage it properly and you can make sure that you don’t hurt people along the way and that’s what Bill was talking about last week.

Frankly, that’s what that woman at the debate was talking about last week as well. There are two types of people when it comes to the NDIS. There are people who have had their funding cut and there are people who are terrified of having their funding cut.

Now, on the debates, there are going to be more debates. I can’t wait for them. I’m sure Albo can’t wait for them either. There’s a bit of back and forth that’s happening at the moment between the parties.

We have written to the Liberal party recommending a debate at the press club. They’ve knocked that back. I expect that over the course of the next few days we’re going to get a result here so we sort it out and organise these debates and get them together head to head. We won the first debate.

Of course you’d expect us to want more debates. I’m surprised Scott Morrison wants more debates, he’s been knocking them back in the parliament for three years. You’d know this if you watch parliament. Every time we move for a debate up pops Peter Dutton and moves the member no longer be heard.

I was surprised in the Sky News debate when Albo started winning the debate that Peter Dutton didn’t run in and move that the member be no longer heard.

So, yes, there will be more debates, can’t wait for them.

Updated

Has Kristina Keneally spoken to Anthony Albanese about being home affairs minister if they win government?

Of course all of these decisions are made by the leader but yes I’ve had every indication that the portfolios I currently hold are the ones I’d take into government.

Updated

Q: What have you pledged or promised for the Fowler electorate should you win?

Kristina Keneally:

There’s a lot I can talk about here. And it’s good to see interest – it’s good to see interest from the Daily Telegraph finally in south-west Sydney and I welcome that, because this is an area of Sydney that’s got double unemployment rate.

It has people who are earning about $500 a week when the average is about $660 a week and yet they’ve got the same housing costs as the rest of Sydney.

It’s an area of Sydney where only 8% of the population has achieved university education. Where the cuts to apprenticeships and TAFE, the cuts to university and the failure to act on flat wages and rising cost of living bites really hard.

The housing affordability crisis that we’re seeing in this country bites exceptionally hard in Fowler. Which is ranked fourth out of 151 electorates for houses where they need more bedrooms, housing overcrowding is a significant problem. Now, as we come to this election, there is a choice to be made between an Albanese Labor government or three more years of the same tired, out of puff and out of time Liberal government. So this is what I say to you.

If people want action on housing affordability they need to vote Labor. If they want 465,000 fee free TAFE places they need to vote Labor. If they want 20,000 more university places, they need to vote Labor. If they want cheaper childcare they need to vote Labor. If they want cheaper electricity costs they need to vote Labor.

This, I know you’re gonna say, “Oh, gosh, but is that specific to Fowler?” And I say to you, hell yes it is because the people of Fowler of south-west Sydney have been done over by this Liberal government and they deserve a strong and experienced voice in the heart of government and that’s what they’ll get in an Albanese government.

Q: I was talking to a fellow candidate of yours, he’s pledged $12 for an oval, $12m for the Maronite community in that electorate. Have you pledged any specific projects for the seat of Fowler.

Keneally:

Yes. In fact we announced and I’m sorry you missed it half a million dollars to the sir national committee and we have some more announcements coming.

Updated

Q: Do you welcome One Nation preferencing Labor above Liberals in key seats? Are you grateful or worried?

Jason Clare:

I make three points on that. We have had no negotiations at all with One Nation on this. We have a long-standing principle of preferencing One Nation last and that has not changed. What One Nation does in terms of who they preference, frankly that is just a matter for them.

Q: Under doctors orders Mr Albanese can’t hit the campaign trial when he leaves isolation tomorrow. What can we expect to see, a job sharing arrangement between him and you guys? What’s the vibe?

Jason Clare:

What are the medical rules you’ve referred to?

Q: He said on radio under doctors orders he said he shouldn’t be taking 16 to 20 hours a day.

Clare:

He should be taking it easy. I just want to be clear.

Look, as somebody that went through Covida couple of weeks ago, I know as well it took me about a week before I was fully recovered, before the Covid cough disappeared and before I felt like I was 100%. But Albo’s out of iso tomorrow. And here’s a hot tip for ya. We’re heading west to Perth.

We’re heading west, we have the campaign launch on Sunday and that is going to be a key moment in this campaign, a fantastic opportunity for Albo and the whole team to make the case to the Australian people. Not just why this rotten old incompetent government needs to be thrown out but why we have a better plan for Australia’s future.

Updated

Q: Just on another issue, senior Indigenous leaders have spent more than a decade advocating for a referendum on constitutional [recognition]. Labor recently said it wanted a referendum in its first term if elected but is that an election commitment and will you see yourself as having failed if that doesn’t happen?

Jason Clare:

I think Indigenous Australians have been extraordinarily patient. They’re desperate for this to happen and we want there to happen. I think Linda’s [Burney] made that point, Albo’s made this point. The first and most important change we want to make to the constitution is to recognise our Indigenous brothers and sisters in it but not just that, to create an Indigenous voice to parliament. This is long overdue. This is the party of native title. This is the party of the apology. We want to be the party of the Indigenous voice to parliament.

Q: And the timing?

Clare:

Well, as soon as possible.

You know, the prime minister made the point this morning, and I think it’s a fair point that, you’ve got to make sure that you’ve got bipartisanship. You want to make sure that you’ve got Indigenous Australians and non-indigenous Australians together in this task. The worst thing that could happen would be for Australia to vote no but I’ve got extraordinary confidence that Australia will vote yes to this. It takes a bit of political will, lean into this and make it happen. We can make this happen and Labor will make it happen.

Updated

Q: Should China allow Solomon Islands to release that security impact and if there are Chinese troops in Solomon Islands what does that mean potentially for Australian security detail in the [region]?

Kristina Keneally:

First of all, the Solomon Islands are a sovereign nation. I’m going to let them make their own decisions about what they release and don’t release.

But I make this point. The Australian government, the Morrison government, was warned that China was seeking to strike a deal with the Solomon Islands. We saw yesterday the extraordinary commentary from the head of the office of national intelligence, Andrew Shearer, saying this was not an intelligence failure.

That means it was a government failure. It was a failure by Mr Morrison not to seek to speak to prime minister Sogavare. It was a failure by Mr Morrison not to send his foreign minister to the Solomon Islands.

Mr Morrison dropped the ball here in what has been the most significant national security failure since world war two and as a result Australia is less safe. Now, China does have a foothold now, just 1600km from Cairns. And all the chest thumping and empty rhetoric we saw yesterday from Mr Morrison about [red lines] is just tough talk with nothing behind it. That’s why Labor this week announced our plan to strengthen Australia’s relationship with our Pacific family. Mr Morrison has been caught asleep at the wheel. And as a result Australia is less secure.

Updated

Q: You mentioned you want to be home affairs minister if Labor wins government. On that issue why then did you tell Labor for refugees at the 2021 conference that you would welcome an approach by that group to end the offshore processing regime if Labor wins government.

Kristina Keneally:

Well, I haven’t seen that information that you’re sharing there with me, and I said this, this morning on Sky News. But let me be clear. Our policy is operation sovereign borders. Regional resettlement, boat turn-backs where safe to do so and offshore processing ...

Q: Why are they saying you did?

Keneally:

I don’t know, you’d have to ask them. Let me be clear. If you attempt to come to Australia by boat you will not make it. You will be sent back or sent to offshore processing in Nauru.

Updated

Q: Can I ask for your response to comments of Karen Andrews saying that China has made these comments to coincide with the campaign. I know you’ve written a letter to her. Has she responded?

Kristina Keneally:

No is the answer to that. Yesterday we saw Karen Andrews indulge in conspiratorial fantasies and unhinged commentary about foreign interference in our election campaign. Offered with no proof, offered with no reference to intelligence. I make this point.

If Karen Andrews does not have intelligence briefings suggesting that there has been attempts at foreign interference in our election campaign, then she needs to clarify that to the public right now.

And if she does have such briefings, we are in caretaker mode, and I’d remind her that the Asio director-general has already made clear that such should be provided to both the opposition and the government during the caretaker period. Now, this is not the first time Karen Andrews has done this.

Just a few weeks ago she made another suggestion that she had some kind of intelligence relating to another matter. I wrote to her then and asked for a briefing. We have repeatedly requested such a briefing. Nothing has been forth coming. What I expect in this circumstances, nothing will be forth coming either because Karen Andrews can’t substantiate her claims and if she can then she needs to ensure that the Labor opposition as the alternate government is briefed.

Updated

Would Kristina Keneally like to be home affairs minister if Labor wins government?

Yes.

Updated

Jason Clare turns a question on why Tanya Plibersek hasn’t fronted a press conference into ‘where is Alan Tudge’:

Clare:

You’ve been so busy on the bus you’ve not been watching Sunrise or the Project.

I know there are a lot of people watching this, but I guess the audience on Sunrise is bigger and so is the Project. Tanya’s been out there. If you watch the things she’s been saying. She’s been making a real big impact on this campaign. I think what we have seen over the course of the last two weeks are two things.

One, we have seen the government stuff up on things they tell people they’re good at, national security and the economy. The other thing is you’ve seen Albo’s team.

You’ve seen we have a strong, united team and we’re ready to govern. We’re ready to earn your vote and we’re ready to get started on fixing the problems that Australians want us to fix.

Compare and contrast that with the other side. Scott Morrison talks about his team. Where are they? Most are in hiding, some are in witness protection.

Where is Alan Tudge? Can anyone find Alan Tudge? I don’t think Scooby-Doo could find Alan Tudge at a moment.

Here’s a bloke – no, this is important. Here’s a bloke who seems he’s responsible for half a million dollars of taxpayer money being paid to a former staffer.

Scott Morrison said he’d be up front. He was asked a question and he refuses to answer why the money’s been spent. A week later we find out there’s all these WhatsApp messages which indicate Alan Tudge may have broken the law by encouraging a former staff not to tell the truth to security agencies. This bloke is running for Parliament. If you’re running for Parliament then you’ve government stand up and answer questions from journalists. If there’s an enterprising journalist in Melbourne, try and find Alan Tudge.

Updated

Labor is holding its second press conference of the day with Jason Clare and Kristina Keneally.

It is mostly about cost of living.

On whether Labor will do a cash handout to help with the cost of living:

What we’re saying is there is a crisis. There are Australians that need help right now and those cash payments are welcome because they help people right now. But we need more than just short-term help, you need long-term help. You were at a childcare centre today, this is a big part of providing help to more than a million Australians. I think Amanda made the point in the press conference that the changes we make there will help an average family cut the cost of childcare by $1,600 a year. Now, that’s a lot of money.

Q: Should there be another one-off cash handout?

We were asked that question. We’re not going to do. There’s short term help for the -- from the government. There’s people are screaming out for help. Scott Morrison has a short term plan, cuts to excise of petrol ends in six months. We’re saying you need a plan that lasts more than six months so you’ve got to change changes to childcare to cut the cost of childcare.

Updated

The Greens have released their climate policy.

Updated

There is quite a bit of side campaigning going on.

Angus Taylor is also back on the campaign trial after the recent loss of his father.

Updated

Daniel Hurst has also reported on Labor’s concerns over Karen Andrews implying political interference may be one of the reasons the security pact between Solomon Islands and China was released.

Labor has raised grave concerns about the home affairs minister’s use of “privileged access to intelligence reporting”, after Karen Andrews publicly alluded to a potential attempt by China at interference in the federal election.

The shadow minister, Kristina Keneally, has written to Andrews to remind her of “the vital convention that opposition is briefed on any developing matters of national security” during the election caretaker mode.

The letter, seen by Guardian Australia, was sent after Andrews implied China might have timed the announcement of a security deal with Solomon Islands to influence the Australian election outcome.

“Noting your privileged access to intelligence reporting in your position as home affairs minister, I am gravely concerned by these assertions,” Keneally said in the letter.

Joe Hinchliffe has taken a look at Longman, one of the electorates both major parties are targeting.

Updated

This is an important study which shows up another of the gaps in healthcare around Australia (via AAP).

Cancer patients in rural Australia are missing out on critical information about recovery and disease recurrence, potentially affecting their chances of survival, a study has found.

A survey of 201 cancer patients from rural Queensland found 65% did not receive survivorship care plans, documents which detail follow-up appointments, treatment side effects, and signs the disease has returned.

The University of Southern Queensland study is part of a project investigating why people in rural areas are up to 31% more likely to die within five years of a diagnosis compared with patients in the city.

Lead author Arlen Rowe said there had been limited research into rural patients’ access to survivorship plans, which are recommended worldwide.

“You can see how if people don’t receive that information, potentially, that could be contributing to those disparities in survival rates,” Rowe told AAP.

The results, published in the Journal of Cancer Survivorship, also found 30% of the participants did not receive information about medical resources in their communities.

There is also a gap in information about signs and symptoms of disease recurrence, future screening, financial support and counselling programs, and recommendations for diet and exercise.

“It’s not as easy to coordinate care in a rural area as it would be in a city, where resources are much more readily available,” Rowe said.

“So it would be really important for people who are returning to rural areas to have all the information they need for the best outcomes.”

The study, backed by Cancer Council Queensland, said overseas studies had shown the benefit of dedicated support nurses and telehealth services for rural patients.

Updated

Payne concerned by 'secret' China-Solomons security deal

Marise Payne has continued to spell out her concerns with the “secret” China-Solomon Islands security deal, saying it is “not transparent” and “not open” – unlike Australia’s own security treaty with Solomon Islands. And despite the Australian government pointing to public commitments by Solomon Islands that there would not be a Chinese military base, the foreign minister indicated she would continue to seek those assurances.

Foreign Minister Marise Payne addresses The United States Studies Centre at the University of Sydney in Sydney on Thursday.
Foreign Minister Marise Payne addresses The United States Studies Centre at the University of Sydney in Sydney on Thursday. Photograph: Dan Himbrechts/AAP

Payne was asked some direct questions at the US Studies Centre about whether the Australian government should have seen this coming, and whether the deal represented an intelligence failure.

Payne responded that Australia had been dealing with security developments “consistently for some time”, and that included discussions around China’s desire to establish a security presence in the region.

Those discussions have been held at the highest levels of government and held amongst both officials, leaders, ministers, senior security officers, particularly the Australian federal police, and others.

Payne said those conversations enabled Australia to “even more readily” deployed AFP and ADF personnel as part of the Solomon Islands Assistance Force late last year to respond urgently to unrest in Honiara. That was done in conjunction with New Zealand, Papua New Guinea and Fiji:

It’s important to acknowledge that that is a Pacific family security response that worked, that was immediate, that addressed the needs of the Solomon Islands in that instance. But this security agreement is by the nature of its provisions that we know of secret. It’s not transparent. It’s not open, unlike … Australia’s bilateral security treaty with the Solomon Islands. It is not something that has been made available to partners or discussed with partners, not just not with Australia, but not with Pacific partners as well. And as I also mentioned, we know that there are concerns amongst Pacific partners in relation to that.

Payne pointed to Pacific declarations that reference regional security being handled by Pacific family, and the importance of regional responses to security issues that impact the whole region.

So whilst we have very close relationships, whilst those relationships enabled us, as I said, to be the first port of call for the Solomon Islands in November/December in response to that unrest, ultimately a security arrangement kept secret at the insistence of a partner is what we are dealing with now. We will continue to work closely with the Solomon Islands, we have been engaging right across the region as well. And we have been very clear in saying … that it is our firm view, and the firm view overwhelmingly of the majority, if not all, of our Pacific partners that the Pacific family is best placed to respond first to such security challenges. Now the Solomon Islands government at the level of the prime minister has made clear that Australia remains the Solomon Islands’ security partner of choice. He has said that a number of times including in their own parliament. He has also explicitly said that the Solomon Islands has no intention that the security arrangement ... [enabled] the development of a Chinese military base in the Solomon Islands or a persistent military presence, and we have continued to seek assurances on that and we will be doing so into the future.

Updated

National Covid-19 update

Here are the latest coronavirus case numbers from around Australia on Thursday, as the country records at least 50 deaths from Covid-19:

ACT

  • Deaths: 0
  • Cases: 1,149
  • In hospital: 69 (with 3 people in ICU)

NSW

  • Deaths: 19
  • Cases: 13,771
  • In hospital: 1,701 (with 76 people in ICU)

Northern Territory

  • Deaths: 3
  • Cases: 564
  • In hospital: 50 (with 2 people in ICU)

Queensland

  • Deaths: 7
  • Cases: 7,718
  • In hospital: 542 (with 17 people in ICU)

South Australia

  • Deaths: 4
  • Cases: 3,733
  • In hospital: 240 (with 11 people in ICU)

Tasmania

  • Deaths: 0
  • Cases: 1,202
  • In hospital: 40 (with 1 person in ICU)

Victoria

  • Deaths: 10
  • Cases: 10,427
  • In hospital: 445 (with 35 people in ICU)

Western Australia

  • Deaths: 7
  • Cases: 8,889
  • In hospital: 237 (with 6 people in ICU)

Updated

AAP has an update from Coles supermarket:

Coles Group chief executive Steven Cain says employees and suppliers are working heroically to navigate unprecedented supply chain issues but he expects the challenges will last a couple of years.

So far this year Coles has faced staffing issues from Covid-19, a shortage of shipping pallets, trouble finding qualified drivers given immigration restrictions, and widespread flooding that disrupted rail traffic to Western Australia and the Northern Territory and forced 130 stores in NSW and Queensland to temporarily close.

“I can’t ever recall a period where the disruption was that extensive, and that was off the back of a good solid Christmas trade, where the supply chain was already under pressure,” Cain told analysts on Wednesday morning.

“And it’s really been a compounding effect, and that takes time to unwind, not just our suppliers, but also in the market more broadly.

“We’re focused on making sure that our customers get the products that they want, but it does take time for a level of disruption that is so enormous, for everything to be get back where it needs to be,” he said.

Shelves at Coles showing sugar shortages.
Flooding on the east coast has lead to a sugar shortage in some supermarkets. Coles says it expects supply chain disruption to last for up to two years. Photograph: Blake Sharp-Wiggins/The Guardian

It’s not just a Coles issue, or even a retail food industry issue, he added.

Coles’ staff, third-party providers, carriers and subcontractors have made incredible efforts to keep stores stocked and open, said Cain, who on Tuesday visited a Coles in Queensland that had been hit by flooding.

“The continued focus on serving the community and customers, we should really reflect and congratulate them on the effort they’ve put in,” he said.

Despite the challenges the listed company managed to lift sales and revenue during the first three months of the year, with a 3.9% increase in retail sales in the quarter to $9.3bn, compared to the same period last year.

Updated

The view from Murph

The Coalition has wanted the campaign conversation to orbit around the economy from the beginning – which is why the Liberals were cock-a-hoop when Anthony Albanese had a brain fade about the unemployment rate and the cash rate on his opening day on the hustings.

Albanese’s stumble dragged the political conversation away from the mess of parliament’s last week (including the closing character attacks on Scott Morrison from people like Concetta Fierravanti-Wells), and back into the economy zone. But then Morrison was belted by new problems – Solomon Islands’ decision to sign a new security pact with China, and renewed internal disagreement about whether or not the Coalition was actually serious about achieving net zero emissions by 2050.

These disruptions have forced two pivots:

1. The government has tried again to weaponise national security to distract from accusations that it has stuffed things up on defence and Pacific diplomacy;

and 2. Try and pretend its own policy is a sneaky carbon tax that Labor wants to impose on people.

But now we are back to the economy, thanks to a very high inflation number and market speculation that the high number will force the Reserve Bank of Australia to lift the cash rate.

The government thought (hoped perhaps) an interest rate rise would happen on the other side of the election.

But now there’s a reasonable prospect it will happen before Australians go to the polls on 21 May.

Conventional wisdom says this would be terrible for the government and conventional wisdom is conventional wisdom for a reason (ie: because it is very often right). John Howard faced an interest rate hike in the 2007 contest, and we know how that story ended.

But we also know this government will make a virtue of necessity. The government will use the uncertainty (the prospect of rising prices and rising rates) to reinforce its core devil-you-know narrative.

Morrison will ramp up the risk of change argument over the campaign’s closing weeks. It’s possible that could work.

It’s also possible-to-likely that Albanese’s day one stumble could also be weaponised in negative Liberal party advertisements that get hammered over the closing weeks.

It’s also possible that the whole sortie will just turn voters off even more.

How does the story end? We’ll know soon enough.

Updated

Scott Morrison couldn’t help but take a swipe at Anthony Albanese being in isolation this morning.

Morrison claims he had a “very busy” week when he had Covid and was in isolation “attending Quad summits and doing all those sorts of things” while Albanese had a “pretty quiet week”.

He attempted to go on to say how that it “highlights again ...” but he was cut off by the host.

Not sure that “I was busier than you when I was sick” is the greatest message.

Also – Morrison is the prime minister. So of course he would have things to do. Usually though, you can count on your deputy to pick up some of the slack while off or ill. Morrison’s deputy is Barnaby Joyce. So that probably says enough.

Updated

In her speech, Marise Payne also stresses increases in Australia’s defence budget.

Over the past eight years, Australia has been undertaking the most comprehensive expansion of our defence capability in our lifetimes …

This range of initiatives strengthens our sovereignty and makes us a more capable partner in maintaining a region in which all nations can pursue their interests and values, free from coercion, intimidation or pressure.

Australia is amongst a group of nations championing democratic values. However, we clearly also have aligned interests. with countries that have different political systems.

Amongst those aligned interests is a balanced region in which no one country dominates and in which all states rights and sovereignty are respected.

Payne says Australia stands for a freer, more open region. In a reference to China’s growing power, Payne adds:

A region in which an authoritarian power is dominant doesn’t get us closer to that goal, and that’s why the resilience of all states is essential.

Payne says that across the globe, as authoritarian powers assert themselves, smaller and vulnerable states are facing stresses. She says Australia must respond alongside partners, because no one nation alone can tackle the array of challenges we face.

We are most certainly stronger together.

At the US Studies Centre, Marise Payne alludes to the China-Solomon Islands security deal. The foreign minister says Australia wants to build the resilience of the region because stability benefits Australia’s economy “and a safe neighbourhood is a good place to live”.

We have responded to our Pacific family in times of need.

She points to practical support including vaccines, infrastructure, low-emissions technology and investments in economic resilience.

We deliver on our promises transparently.

Payne says Australia is the only country with a diplomatic post in every Pacific Island Forum country. And then she gets more pointed. She says while the Australian government will continue talking with the Solomon Islands government in Honiara, she reaffirms “that we are deeply concerned by the Solomon Islands’ signing of the security agreement last week with China”.

Of course I have consistently acknowledged that this is a clear sovereign decision by a sovereign government. However, we know other members of the Pacific family share our concerns. We’ll continue talking with the Solomon Islands government about how the Pacific family is best placed to provide security assistance in our region.

We have done that successfully. We will continue to do that, and no document signed and kept away from public view is going to change that.

Payne says the signing of the deal reflects the geostrategic reality of the times we are in.

Updated

Anthony Albanese had a chat to Sydney radio station WSFM this morning, where he spoke of his Covid experience:

It’s been a difficult week, but my symptoms have been much milder than many other people have had, so I am looking forward to getting out. My doctor tells me I have to take things easy, particularly in the first few days, to not do the 16- and 20-hour days that I was doing.

But it will be good to be out and about, and the first thing I’m doing is heading to Western Australia, where we have our campaign launch this Sunday.

So expect to continue seeing more of the Labor frontbench over the next week, even though Albanese will be back on the physical campaign trail.

Updated

The foreign minister, Marise Payne, says there is now “strong agreement from amongst the Australian people that standing firm on our values and principles, even in the face of pressure, is the right approach for our long term future”.

Payne is talking about China while addressing an event at the United States Studies Centre in Sydney. She says Australia’s alliance with the US will continue to evolve as the strategic circumstances change.The foreign minister says tomorrow marks 70 years since the Anzus treaty came into force. The treaty, she says, has strengthened the fabric of peace in the Pacific.

For 70 years, Australia has known that we are far more secure because we do not stand alone. This knowledge has given us confidence and assisted in enabling us to flourish and prosper. There’s nothing quite like having good friends, and trusted partners.

She says those arrangements have underpinned stability and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific region.

We’ve entered a period that is becoming more dangerous, less stable, and less prosperous.

Australia has been at the forefront of addressing this geostrategic reality in our region.

The Morrison government’s approach is founded in a firm belief that we have agency and influence to shape our strategic environment for the better. We’ve done so with a strong voice, through policies at home and abroad, and through practical measures with our partners, to invigorate the relationships that provide stability and confidence.

Australia has a track record as one of the countries that has been clearest and most consistent in response to the changing circumstances, particularly China’s growing assertiveness in the Indo-Pacific.

We have led on this. There is now strong agreement from amongst the Australian people that standing firm on our values and principles, even in the face of pressure is the right approach for our long term future.

Payne says the government has “a clear and focused plan” on resilience, relationships and rules. On the latter point, she stresses “rules over anarchy”.

Payne also notes that climate change presents additional challenges for our region.

We’ll bring you more updates later.

Updated

Jim Chalmers labels Scott Morrison a 'pathological liar'

Q: Just back on to your question, while the elections are, I don’t know, three weeks away, or whatever it is ... early voting starts on May 9.

When can we know whether the [superannuation] policy that you referred to will or will not be part of Labor’s platform? And, secondly, on the cashless debit card aged pension scare campaign, Labor’s candidate in Longman is still running that scare campaign even though it’s categorically false. How do you justify it?

Jim Chalmers:

Well, first of all, on our policy announcements, we make them at the appropriate time. If we come to a concluded view on a policy, we announce them when we’re ready, and that’s standard practice on both sides of politics forever. So, that’s the answer to that question.

Now, on the cashless debit card, Labor has committed to abolishing the cashless debit card. The Liberals and Nationals have speculated about extending it. Now, those are two facts. And if the government ...

Q: Not for the age pension?

Chalmers:

It’s the same as what they said before the 2013 election – no cuts to the pension, no cuts to the ABC or health or education. People don’t believe this government for good reason. You know, the prime minister is a pathological liar when it comes to these issues.

He was saying not that long ago there wouldn’t be increased taxes under a Liberal-National government. There are increases in the budget they handed down last month. You can’t believe a word that he says.

And so our commitment, our assurance to Australians is that we will abolish the cashless debit card. The prime minister and the relevant minister, this term of the parliament, have talked about extending it, and that’s the difference.

Updated

Q: Just on that point of interest rate rises, you’re accusing the government of not owning the bad economic news. If interest rates under your watch as treasurer in a Labor government, will you own those?

Jim Chalmers:

I’m saying the government can’t have it both ways. The government bleats about the unemployment rate. If something is going badly, it’s got absolutely nothing to do with them.

I was in an electorate last week and we were talking to people, and people raised all around Australia, “This is a prime minister who takes credit for the good things, takes no responsibility for the difficult things.”

Now, we are realistic about inflation, we are realistic about interest rates, and we’re not overpromising.

We don’t intend to overpromise and we’re simply pointing out that if the Prime Minister wants to take credit for things that go well in the economy, he needs to take responsibility for the fact that Australians are getting absolutely slaughtered by this triple whammy.

And he has been in office now for almost a decade, he only wants to talk about Labor, he only wants to talk about international developments.

The war in Ukraine doesn’t explain or excuse a decade of this mob going after people’s wages and job security, and that’s a big part of the problem. He needs to take responsibility for once – not point the finger, not go missing when people need him, but actually take responsibility.

This is a cost of living crisis, a full-blown cost of living crisis, and Australians are getting absolutely hammered by it – and their prime minister, true to form, is nowhere to be seen.

Updated

Q: Are you concerned homebuyers who have accessed government schemes, like the First Home Deposit Schemes, will face additional cost pressures in light of rising interest rates because they’ll have to pay back a greater proportion of interest?

And second, Labor said they would extend that policy by 10,000 spots mostly to regional seats? Is that a good policy to do, considering it will be more expensive to service a mortgage?

Jim Chalmers:

It will be more expensive to service a mortgage. It wasn’t that long ago that Scott Morrison was running around, lying to the Australian people and saying, “If you elect a Labor government, your interest rates will go up.” And that’s blown up in his face.

And what we’re seeing with the interest rate rise, which most analysts and commentators expect will either happen next Tuesday or the month after, and then subsequent to that as well, is that someone with an average-sized loan of $595,000 will be $124 worse off a month.

And so it will sting when interest rates start to go up. Most people expect they will go up substantially more than that over time.

This is the triple whammy that Scott Morrison has handed Australian homeowners: falling real wages, skyrocketing inflation, and now rising interest rates are about to add to the pain as well.

And so when it comes to government policy on housing, you know, obviously you need to strike the right balance here.

And we have been supportive about helping people into the housing market, but it is a much broader story than the government’s proposals. There’s also a story around social housing.

There are some other steps that a government could take, and we’ll have more to say about housing between now and the election.

But these interest rate rises will hurt, and Scott Morrison – who takes credit when the economy is going well – won’t take responsibility for the fact that a decade now of attacks on real wages in this country make it harder for people to meet what will be the rising costs of their mortgage.

Updated

Q: [A question on Labor dropping its policy to] pay superannuation on paid parental leave ... How can you justify it, given we know it contributes to the gender pay gap? And can I get Amanda Rishworth’s response too?

Jim Chalmers:

We haven’t finalised and concluded a view on this yet. You read about it in the papers because we consulted with stakeholders.

...We have been consulting with stakeholders and we have been saying the same thing privately that we say publicly, which is that this is a very good policy idea and we need to weigh it up against a whole range of other great policy ideas. We are being upfront.

I thought Katy Gallagher did an incredible job yesterday of explaining how there is more good ideas than there is room in the budget.

We haven’t come to a concluded view on that. We consider it to be very important. We’ve taken that policy to elections in the past, but we need to weigh it up against all the other priorities.

Amanda Rishworth:

Well, what I would say about the current government is their answer to the gender pay gap is actually for male wages to fall so that there is less gap between women and men. What we need to do is lift the wages, but also women’s workforce participation.

Of course, there are many policies that can affect that gender pay gap, and you’ve mentioned one of those policies that affects the gender income in retirement, but there are many others, including – as I mentioned – those workers, majority women, who are not able to go into the workforce when they have little children because they cannot afford the cost of child care.

We also know that we have one of the highest in the OECD part-time women’s workforce participation. Other countries have much higher full-time workforce participation, and a lot of that comes down to the cost of child care.

So, while there are many policies that can directly affect the gender pay gap – and we’ve announced another suite of policies – Tanya Plibersek has answered them, including, for example, getting rid of secrecy clauses in pay agreements, a number of things that can reduce that gender pay gap. Investing in child care is one of those critical areas that help women go back to work, earn more, and work more hours.

... As Jim said, we are having to weigh up policies right across the board. This government has completely fallen asleep at the wheel when it comes to women. I think you don’t have to go very far down the road, really, to get that feedback from people out there in the community. They know that this government has abandoned women when it comes to their economic security as well as many other parts of their life.

But Labor will consider and have to weigh up a range of policies, but we’ve already put a very substantial one on the table around supporting women go back to work.

Updated

Q: Specifically on tax measures, for the past four years, low and middle earners have been getting up to $1,500 in their tax returns every year from the Low and Middle Income Tax Offset. You were equivocal about what you will do about that yesterday, but now it’s almost May, the end of the financial year is coming up, what can you say to those low- and middle-income earners that were perhaps relying on that $1,500. Will you do something to give them tax relief when they put in their tax returns?

Jim Chalmers:

Under the legislation, the Low and Middle Income Tax Offset runs out when people get their tax returns next year for this year.

And we don’t have any proposals to change that.

But you are quite right that for all of those Australians that the government likes to talk about, they will get effectively a tax hike when the Low and Middle Income Tax Offset runs out. And the government doesn’t like to ‘fess up to that.

Now, when it comes to tax, when it comes to tax, this is the second highest-taxing government in the last 30 years. Australians are paying more tax by every measure than they were under the Labor government.

The government needs to come clean about that and admit that the changes to the LMITO which are legislated means a tax hike for people after the election.

... We’ve got substantial proposals on the cost of living and getting real wages moving.

Updated

Q: Will Labor extend the fuel excise beyond the six-month mark the Coalition set?

Jim Chalmers:

We supported the government policy on this and that is why we supported the policy, because that was needed. Beyond that, we are taking the economic position and how Australians are faring but we cannot do anything in a budget which is riddled with rorting and waste.

Q: Will you pledge that electricity retail prices will fall under your government?

Chalmers:

The powering Australia plan is the most comprehensive modelling any opposition has provided about a big policy ...it says by the middle of this decade, $275 a year in power prices savings, and hopefully we can do even better than that. That is what the modelling says.

Our proposal to get the cost of living down after this near-term relief [runs out] on the other side of the election – we have a plan on power bills, childcare ...

They [the government] dropped the ball on this, just like they dropped the ball in the Solomons and China, on rapid tests and vaccines. This is of the same ilk. This is a prime minister who takes no responsibility when times are tough. Times are tough right now. It’s time to throw him out.

Updated

Q: How can Labor promise improvements when it is looking at only $5bn from its budget audit?

Jim Chalmers:

First of all, on inflation, any responsible government’s task in this environment is to have an economic plan that grows [the] economy strongly without adding to inflationary pressures.

That is about a more skilled workforce, more participation – and all of the other policies are outlined yesterday and again today. That is how we get the economy growing without adding to these substantial inflationary pressures we have an economy.

We are the only party in this election taking the budget position seriously. The government announced $39 billion in new spending in the budget without any talk of offsets.

We want to improve the budget, with the budget. Two ways you can do that: trim spending on contractors, consultants and labour hire, which has blown out in this government; and the second thing, do something meaningful about multinational tax avoidance.

The responsible commitment we have made in this election costs a fraction of what this government has wasted and rorted.

The most expensive [item] ... on this budget is the policy on childcare, and the total cost of that is less than what this government has admitted they are wasting on submarines that will never be built.

We need a bit of perspective here. Our commitments are responsible, [and] measured, and taking into account the budget position and the proposals we made yesterday, almost $5 billion in budget improvements are much better than what the government is proposing.

Updated

Q: Will Labor commit to extending cost of living relief measures/cash payments to help?

Jim Chalmers:

We are committed, if we’re successful, to hand down another budget this calendar year, and that budget will take into consideration the existing economic conditions. And it will implement our plan for a better economy and a better future, and so we will play the cards we are dealt with at the time.

I have said publicly at many times, including on the budget, that this cost of living relief is important in the near term.

It would be difficult to extend it forever. We cannot do it in a budget which is riddled with waste and rort, with $1 trillion of debt ...

We cannot fix every problem in one budget, but we will be more attentive to cost of living pressures, and plan to get the wages going again, and that matters as well.

On specific policies and extending them, I have made lots of comments in the past. We will see what the conditions are at the time but it will be hard to extend that relief indefinitely.

Updated

Q: You said this morning that inflation would be lower and real wages [would be] stronger under a government that you are the treasurer in. How, specifically, will you make sure that guarantee is realised, and what, specifically, will you do to increase real wages that does not increase the inflation equation?

Jim Chalmers:

The government which is about real wages growth, rather than going out of its way to undermine job security and attack wages, [will] grow wages faster.

A plan about taking inflationary pressures out of a growing economy will always give us a better chance to get inflation down.

We do not pretend that, if Labor is elected on one date, that the next day all of these challenges will be dealt with.

These are big entrenched challenges. We are thinking about real wages growth, they been stagnant for much of the decade the Coalition has been in office. What we need here is a plan. The government is long on excuses and short on a plan.

They have a plan to get themselves from one side of the election to the other side, but not a plan to deal with the cost of living pressures in a sustainable way, along the lines mentioned.

What we would do when it comes to getting real wages going again, which is central to our economic plan and budget strategy, is we would make sure we are training people for higher wage opportunities, at universities and Tafe.

Childcare be cheaper and more accessible and people can work more if they want and can. Think about aged care, the minimum wage cases, with everyone to deal with labour hire undermining wages and job security. We want to deal with the gig economy.

There are a whole range of proposals we made. The government – they say there is absolutely nothing we can do to get wages growing. That is complete and utter rubbish. The government has said in a moment of candour that stagnant wages are a deliberate design of their policy. Stronger wages is a deliberate design of our policy.

Updated

Jim Chalmers and Amanda Rishworth are at a childcare centre for today’s press conference, as Labor’s childcare policy underpins part of its economic plan. But it is all about cost of living and inflation today.

Q: Indigenous Australians have been grappling with costs of living pressures for decades. What are you going to do to ease those pressures on Indigenous Australians in a remote and regional Australians?

Jim Chalmers:

The highest priority when it comes to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians is to do with the housing crisis. We made an announcement about remote housing, which is a very important place to start.

We do not pretend it is the beginning and end of the challenge in remote communities. There are other challenges, including making sure we can get labour mobility as part of the story, [and] that we can have proper services, including access to decent healthcare, which is another announcement we made in central Australia.

Updated

Labor press conference

The shadow treasurer, Jim Chalmers, is up in Sydney with the message he wants people to hear:

This is a prime minister that takes credit for everything that goes well, but never takes responsibility when times are tough.

What we’ve seen in the economy in the last little while absolutely torpedoes Scott Morrison’s claims to be good at managing the economy.

It is not good economic management if Australians cannot get ahead. It is not good economic management if Australians are falling further and further behind.

The thanks that Australians get for the sacrifices they made for each other cannot be another three years of falling real wages, skyrocketing inflation and interest rate rises.

The big risk of re-electing Scott Morrison is another three years of attacks on real wages which makes it harder and harder to keep up with the skyrocketing costs of living and to pay increasing costs on your mortgage.

Updated

Given what we know, aged care really should be more of an issue this election campaign.

Caitlin Cassidy has this report:

More than 6,500 reports of understaffing and unsafe conditions in Australia’s aged care sector, including hundreds of reports of resident injuries, will be handed to the regulator on Wednesday.

The reports, from United Workers Union (UWU) whistleblower site Aged Care Watch, identified thousands of instances of aged care residents’ safety suffering due to unfilled shifts and understaffing.

Some 2,300 reports named a “distressed resident”, while 1,900 named a resident left soiled for an “extended period” and 600 said a resident was injured due to lack of care.

As Scott Morrison pointed out, Anthony Albanese will be out of Covid isolation tomorrow. The Labor leader will officially launch Labor’s election campaign in Perth on the weekend.

The major parties never launch their election campaigns until the campaign is almost over. It’s sometimes not until the final week of the campaign. It’s meant to give the faithful a boost in the final days – but its also designed to catch undecided voters’ attention as they begin to think about where to place their vote.

Updated

It’s the non-discretionary items which are the real inflation story. You can’t just stop buying grocery basics altogether. And the lower your income, the harder you feel the pressures – it’s not about whether you buy milk or bread. It’s whether you eat every day or not.

Labor proposes a debate at the National Press Club in the final week

Morning all, if you watched Scott Morrison’s press conference this morning, you will have seen he wants two debates next week, one on Nine and the other on Seven.

In a bit of breaking news, I can reveal Labor has sought a leaders debate for the National Press Club on May 18 – in the closing days of the campaign.

Labor’s campaign director Paul Erickson wrote this morning to the Liberal campaign director Andrew Hirst seeking that agreement (which, for the record, was what the Liberal party sought from Labor for during the last election campaign – a debate in that venue with a single moderator).

The National Press Club is the traditional venue for leaders’ debates. Full disclosure: I am not currently on the board of the NPC, but I was for many years. The current NPC president is the ABC’s Laura Tingle and the president generally moderates the debates.

Labor has not said no to debates on Nine and Seven, but the campaign is reluctant to lock in for events next week until it is clear Anthony Albanese has bounced back fully from Covid. Albanese is due out of isolation tonight.

Morrison has said yes to Nine and Seven, but has thus far blanked a separate request by the ABC for 9 May. I’m not sure what the position on the NPC would be, but Morrison signalled this morning he was up for three debates.

One has already happened on Sky News, so two next week would make three. Albanese was scored by the audience of swinging voters as the winner of the Sky debate.

Updated

Victoria reports 10 Covid deaths

Victoria has recorded 10,427 new Covid-19 cases and 10 deaths.

Updated

Scott Morrison spoke a lot about Australians being “prepared” for an interest rate rise, by locking in fixed rates and having put money away.

But that is only if you have discretionary spending money you can save. Not everyone does.

He also blamed the inflation rise on international factors. But that doesn’t take into account that productivity had fallen to terrible lows even before the pandemic.

And wages growth also hit all time lows – with disposable income per person flatlining between 2013 and 2020.

Governments do not increase wages (in the private sector), that is true. But it’s wrong to say governments have no influence. It sets public sector wages, which can often be used as a benchmark for the private sector.

And since the 1970s, we have seen a systematic chipping away of unions in Australia, which has limited the power workers have to negotiate. Keeping wages suppressed was part of policy settings to keep inflation down, but Australia has had low inflation for some time. And as Grogs says:

Inflation rising hits harder when your wages have not kept pace.

Updated

Q: The inflation rate is far worse than what your own budget papers say. So, going to 3% in 12 months’ time just isn’t realistic, is it?

Scott Morrison:

Well, the forecasts that are set out in the budget dealt with what is happening next financial year. I mean, the figures that you’ve seen – that have been released – that predates the halving of the petrol tax, OK?

And so Treasury estimated that that would actually cut the inflation by about 0.5% - that was their estimates in the Budget. And so, you know, the Budget sets out, as we’ve said at every single Budget we’ve delivered, it sets out that economic plan for the future. It sets out the real relief we’re able to deliver right now.

As I said, providing a halving of the petrol tax, delivering $250 to all of those who are on fixed income supports from the government – pensioners and the like – and ensuring that Australians on middle to low incomes can keep more of what they earn, with $420 from 1 July to help them deal with those cost-of-living pressures.

But the budget is also an economic plan for the future. It underwrites the essential services that we can guarantee because we run a strong economy. It underpins the increasing investments that we’re making in our defence forces, including here in Far North Queensland.

It underwrites those essentials that Australians rely on, those pharmaceuticals on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme, the support for Medicare, which is at record levels – over 88% bulk-billing around the country.

That is how we’re able to say to Australians going into this election that the choice is between Mr Albanese and the Labor party, who Australians know don’t know how to manage money and don’t have the proven economic track record in a crisis, whereas Australia, under our government, does.

And we have been able to demonstrate that through some of the toughest times with a strong economic plan for the future.

And the other thing, that means, is right here, like in communities in Far North Queensland, in regional areas around the country, we continue to make the important investments. I was here with Warren at the start of the year – a billion dollars addition committed to our Great Barrier Reef, to not just protect the livelihood of the reef but to protect the livelihoods of [those tourism operators].

Updated

Q: If your Government is re-elected, will Australians vote in a referendum to recognise Indigenous Australians in the Constitution? And, secondly, Indigenous Australians are paying some of the highest costs for basic necessities. What will your government do to be bringing down those costs for Indigenous Australians living in remote Australia?

Scott Morrison:

Well, thank you for the question. On the first one, it really goes to what change ultimately is being presented to the Australian people.

And I think it’s fair to say, as Minister Wyatt has sought over this term, to try and get some consensus about what such a change would be.

And that hasn’t been found yet. And so to have a referendum on an uncertain question about whether there would be support for such a referendum, I think would be unwise.

And I note that the Labor party has a similar view about that. If we’re to advance in this area, then I would like to do it on the basis of a more certain question.

And I know there is ... I mean, we’ve had views about that. Minister Wyatt has had views about that. And there are some in the Indigenous community who don’t share the view about what the change should be.

And so I think, obviously, until we can get to that point where there is a greater consensus about what that is, then I think it would be unwise to try and force something along those lines, ‘cause I fear ultimately that would just see us go backwards, not forwards.

Now, when it comes to supporting Indigenous communities in relation to their food security and their food prices, the support we’ve provided to outback stores, particularly over the course of this pandemic, has been at record levels.

And Warren will know more about that – he visits remote communities all the time and he’s well-respected amongst those Indigenous communities all the way up the Cape. But that is just an example.

I mean, those $250 payment that is are going out right now, they’re going to people in Indigenous communities, they’re going to veterans, they’re going to people who need that support right now to deal with those rising prices.

And in remote communities in particular, those price pressures, well, they are greater, ‘cause they’re always greater because of the remoteness and the costs of getting stores and supplies to those areas.

Updated

Q: Inflation will get worse, not better in the coming months. If you look at the wholesale energy price, for instance, what will you do when that flows through to household power bills and they skyrocket? And also, will you agree to do a second debate on Channel Nine?

Scott Morrison:

Good questions. Well, I’ll deal with that last one in a second. The inflationary pressures on our economy are real. We understand that. If anything, I think what we’ve seen in the last 24 hours only underscores the point that I am making. We are not out of the woods yet, and we understand that.

You know, you’ve gotta understand the economy to have a plan that helps you manage these very real pressures.

Now, I’ll give you a good example of how we’ve been able to mitigate that risk on gas prices today.

The gas security mechanism that we’ve had in place, the one that guaranteed supplies from our domestic gas producers to Australia, meant that they are not facing the international gas prices right now that others are around the world. Ours, around about, almost a quarter of what that international price is for most users.

Now, that has enabled us to keep electricity prices down and keep the costs of gas feed stock into companies who are manufacturers and producers down. And that’s why over the last two years we’ve been able to cut the cost of electricity by 8%. And since I became Prime Minister, it’s fallen by over 9%.

When Labor are in power, electricity prices doubled. They increased by over 100%. An average annual increase of over 12%.

Now, contrast that to what we’ve been able to achieve, particularly more recently. Now, we’re not immune as an economy from all the pressures coming around the world.

But I would argue strongly that our strong economic management has enabled us to put a shield up against a lot of these pressures. The pressure is still there but we have been able to put that shield in place, which has been protecting Australians better than most, if not all, of the major advanced economies in the world today.

Now, on the debates, I mean, I’m pleased, and I’m hoping Anthony has had a week of recovery from Covid. It takes a little while to get over – I can attest to that personally. But he will be rejoining the campaign trail. It’s time to make up for some lost time. I’m happy to do two debates next week.

Seven and Nine have both offered me debates next week. I’m happy to do both of them. I said I would do three. I’ve already done one. He said he would debate me any time. Seven and Nine*, book the hall, I’ll be there. I look forward to seeing you.

*The ABC has also asked for a debate. You may notice that invitation is not mentioned in that spiel.

Updated

Q: How important is upping the capacity of the marine precinct here in Far North Queensland, given what’s happening between China and the Solomon Islands at the moment?

Scott Morrison:

Oh, I think it’s incredibly important, and that’s why we’d already taken that action at HMAS Cairns. And HMAS Cairns has played a very important role. That was five years ago, yeah, well before – well before the Labor party even found the Pacific in the last few weeks.

And five years ago, HMAS Cairns, we put that investment – over $150 million.

Now, the Guardian Class patrol boats – this is where we’re providing patrol boats to every single Pacific Island nation as part of our responsibilities, as we understand, to help them to secure their own fisheries.

This is what we’ve been doing for some time. And so to have a maritime precinct here, which Warren has been building together with the industry and partners ... that’s how you get things done, it’s not just the government.

The government works together with far-sighted, private investors in the community to make all of this happen and to build that capability. But you’re absolutely right – we agree with you. That’s why we took the action five years ago to get all of this moving.

And today, to be able to stand here and see the final stage of that coming together ... [it is] a real marina project – not a mirage, a real project. There’s no mirage about what we’re doing. What we’re doing is things that actually work and have been working here in building that capacity over many years.

Updated

(A preference deal only matters if voters follow the how-to-vote card that the party puts out, which sets out how it would like its supporters to vote. You are not forced to follow any how-to-vote card.)

Updated

Q: How concerned are you that Pauline Hanson has now announced that she will be preferencing Labor against many of your sitting members, including Mr Entsch here in Leichhardt? Couldn’t that, in itself, deprive you of majority government?

Scott Morrison:

Well, I think there’s further information to come on that, particularly in relation to Queensland.

There’s different arrangements in different states and territories, and I know that there’s a view about what’s occurring in Tasmania. But you know what? That’s just all politics.

What matters is the choice Australians have to make.

And the choice they have to make is between a government that has a strong economic plan, a prime minister that’s done eight budgets, both as a member of the Expenditure Review Committee, as a treasurer and as a prime minister, and Mr Albanese, who’s never done one.

And at a time of great economic uncertainty, and what we’re seeing with inflation, what we’re seeing with interest rates only underscores my point about the pressures that we continue to face.

And so the real choice, at the end of the day, is about who Australians want to form a government. Now, what I know is that votes for independents, at the end of the day, will just contribute to daily chaos in the parliament.

One of the things that has greatly assisted us come through this pandemic – and it might have only been a small majority that we were given at the last election – but being able to run a majority government in the midst of one of the greatest challenges that we’ve ever faced as a country, without having to go each and every day to negotiate the Government’s existence with minor parties and Independents, that is a recipe for chaos that Australians really can’t afford.

And particularly now. And so I would urge Australians to focus on the choice about who you want to be in charge of the nation’s finances and our economy and our national security because that, at the end of the day, is going to have the biggest impact on your household budget, on your economic future, and the security of the Australia that you live in.

I understand that after three years ... of great difficulty, going through the pandemic, I understand that Australians feel frustrated about many things. I share those frustrations.

But the way to respond to that is not to create further chaos and uncertainty but to actually lock in further security and certainty, and that is by voting for your Liberal-National candidates.

Updated

There are some local questions on health services Scott Morrison sends Warren Entsch’s way. But then he sees an opportunity to send his message and jumps in:

Just to pick up on the question that just has been raised, I mean, what we have provided in hospital payments here to the Queensland government over the course of, particularly, this agreement, sees health costs rise from $6.4 billion in the current year, and that’s going to $7.6 billion in 2025-26. I mean, this is a major, significant increase in what we’re putting into hospitals.

And the reason we can do that, you know, the reason we can invest more in hospitals, we’ve got record investments going into hospitals from the federal government all around the country.

Now, you can’t do that if you don’t run a strong economy, you just can’t do it. And as the economy continues to grow, then GST payments to the states also increase, because a stronger economy means those stronger revenues.

So, this is why a stronger economy is so critical to health services.

If you want to have a strong hospital system, if you want to have strong healthcare, then you have to have a strong economy. And if you can’t manage the economy, and if you put that at risk, you are putting all of those services at risk.

Because I remember when Labor was last in power, they couldn’t list pharmaceuticals on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme because they couldn’t run a border protection policy, had $17 billion worth of blow-outs, and that impacted on their ability to manage the nation’s finances.

Updated

Q: All of the measures you introduced at the budget are incredibly temporary. $250 won’t last long at the bowser, at the supermarket checkout. Will you extend the cut to fuel excise past September? And what happens next year when LMITO ends for low- and middle-income earners?

Scott Morrison:

The price of oil per barrel was at extraordinary levels. Treasury advised us that over a period of about six months the impact of those higher barrel prices on oil will have come down. And so what we were seeking to do in the budget was put a shield up for Australians against those higher world oil prices.

Now, they won’t be permanent. And one of the hallmarks of our economic response in this pandemic is we’ve always designed it carefully. It’s been temporary in many occasions, it’s been targeted, it’s been done in a way that you can be confident that it will turn up.

We’ve used existing distribution channels, existing ways of how we make payments, whether through the tax system or through the social security system, so when we say we’re gonna do something, people know it will turn up.

And this measure is the same. You don’t just spend money forever. What you do do is you make wise investments, you make strategic interventions to ensure you can limit the impact of things that are well beyond your control.

Now, those things won’t go on forever, but the fundamentals of our economic management – investing in skills, investing in infrastructure and the facilities like we see here in Cairns, investing in keeping taxes low – because in the next term we’ve already legislated this, between 45,000 and 200,000 a year, you will not pay more than 30 cents in the dollar as your marginal rate of income tax.

Right now, you’d be paying 32.5 cents, 37 cents. That’s gone. And so as the workers here get more shifts, as the workers here earn more in the years ahead, they will pay less tax.

The tax cuts are legislated, even the stage three ones, although there are questions from economists over whether the nation can afford them.

Updated

Q: Prime minister, in 2007 during the Howard election, rates went up. He apologised. He went on to lose the election. Will you apologise if they go up next week and will you suffer a similar fate?

Scott Morrison:

Well, look, I have been around politics a little while and I’ve also been around the economy a long while. And the first point to note is that in 2007 the cash rate was 6.5%. Today, it is 0.1%.

So, I think to draw an equivalence between those two issues would be to misunderstand history. They are very different situations. We are in the middle of a global pandemic, with a war in Europe.

Those situations were not in place in 2007. I think everyone would understand that and, more importantly, I think Australians understand that.

They’re not ignorant of the issues that are happening around the world. They’re not gonna be fooled by the Labor party trying to pretend that what is happening in Australia is happening in Australia alone.

I remember the Labor party tried to do that in the middle of the pandemic, where they tried to blame the recession on the government. It was an absurd proposition.

Let me tell you the difference between how we’ve managed the economy in difficult times compared to the Labor party when they had their crisis to deal with.

They had the global financial crisis.

This crisis that we’ve gone through over the last two years is 30 times worse than what Labor had to deal with during the global financial crisis, when Kevin Rudd was prime minister and Jim Chalmers, back then, was working as an adviser to Wayne Swan.

Our outcome on employment has been 50% better* than what Labor achieved dealing with economic circumstances that are 30 times worse.

Now, these are just facts. And these facts, I hope, inform Australians as they are looking to make a very important choice.

And the choice they have to make is – do they want to turn back on the Australian recovery that’s leading the world? Do they want to put at risk everything they’ve worked hard for, made wide decisions about in their own circumstances, whether to shift to fixed interest rates from variable rates, about how much they were saving to ensure they could get through and deal with the uncertainties ahead?

I mean, the amount of capital of finance sitting on Australians’ household balance sheets and business balance sheets today is almost unprecedented, and they’ve done that because they’ve been wise. And we have been wise stewards of taxpayers’ money as well to ensure our economy is set up to perform in a very, very challenging environment.

(*The borders were closed, which impacted the labour force – with employers unable to access workers from outside Australia, they had to take from those already in the labour force, which was one of the contributing factors to lower unemployment.

It also hasn’t been uniform – the long-term unemployed and older workers are still struggling to find entry level jobs, which is one of the biggest issues facing the labour force at the moment.)

Updated

For the third day in a row, Scott Morrison takes the first question from the West Australian reporter (working WA even while on the other side of the country)

Q: Prime Minister, on inflation, Western Australia’s inflation rate is 7.6%, much higher than the national average. You’ve spoken about how the resources sector has helped the national economy throughout the pandemic, so what is your government going to do, if you are re-elected, to help that really high inflation rate in WA?

Scott Morrison:

Well I’ve just outlined in some specific detail about how we are ... providing that income support and relief at the bowser, providing that relief through lower taxes.

There are two ways your income can increase in this country – what you have in your pocket. One of them is the government can take less of what you earn, and that’s what we’ve done as a government.

If you are earning what is the average earnings in this country, which is a bit over $90,000, let’s say $90,000, if you are earning that today and on the same tax rates that Labor had you on, you would be paying more than $50 extra every week to the government. That’s what you would be doing.

But we’ve lowered those taxes for Australians, we’ve lowered those taxes for small business, we’ve lowered taxes for businesses that can invest in the import plant machinery and equipment they need to be successful in the future.

The reason that’s important is that the other way you can earn more is if the business you are working for is doing well in a stronger economy. Governments can’t magically make your wages go up. There is no magic pen that enables you to write a letter to somebody which all of a sudden sees wages go up.

This is a myth that the Labor party is putting around. The only way wages rise is when you get more and more Australians into work, which is what we are achieving – but secondly, because employers, businesses are doing better and they are finding new markets and forging ahead.

That’s why a strong economy is central to a stronger future for Australia and that is as true in Western Australia as it is anywhere else in the country. And that’s why we are investing heavily not just here in northern Queensland but heavily in Western Australia.

Last time you were with us, we were announcing the dry dock facilities out at Henderson and increased support we are putting into those maritime industries in Western Australia, and supporting apprentices there just like we are here. So our economic plan is working for Western Australia to [Queensland] and all the way to the tip of Tasmania.

Updated

Australians have been 'insuring against the risks' of interest rate rise, PM says

Scott Morrison then says Australians have been preparing for the interest rate rise:

One of the things they did during the pandemic, particularly over the last 12 months or so, they’ve been shifting from variable-rate mortgages to fixed-rate mortgages.

It has gone from around 20% pre-pandemic to 40% today. Australians have been insuring against the risks that they can see all around the world.

Australians are alive to these issues, and we have also been as a government.

So we will continue through the measures we put in place to provide that shield, but importantly for the future, taking advantage of the economic situation we have got ourselves into ... so we can enjoy and have strong growth in the future and we can do it from a position much more at an advantage to other parts of the world.

... But the choice is real to people in the people in this election. Do we go on a different direction and put everything that everyone has worked so hard to achieve through the pandemic at risk with a Labor party and Mr Albanese who we know can’t manage the economy and never done a budget? The Labor party is not proven economic managers.

Or stay with the proven economic management and economic plan that is not only seeing Australia through these very difficult times, some of the worst times we’ve seen, but has the strong economic plan for the future.

Updated

Scott Morrison press conference

Scott Morrison is still in Queensland, this time in Cairns, where he is announcing $24m for the Cairns marine precinct.

But it is all about the cost of living.

Morrison says his government has provided a “shield” for people against cost of living in the last budget.

But all of these measures he mentions are temporary or one-off.

Firstly, to cut petrol tax in half and that is providing real relief at the browser every day, every week right now. We took that action because we knew that was there.

Secondly yesterday, $250 going out to those on fixed income support payments, pensioners and others in those situations to help them deal with these rising costs of living.

And on 1 July, Australians on medium to low incomes will be able to keep more of what they have, even more of what they earn, with $420 in additional tax relief to ensure that they can deal with these rising costs of living selects the first point.

We know those costs of living increases are real and we are taking action right now, providing real relief right now, because we have been able to have a strong economic plan that put us in a position to do that in this year’s budget.

He blames international pressures for the inflation rise.

But wages haven’t risen at pace with cost increases for the last decade – the time the Coalition has been in power.

Updated

The wash-up continues after yesterday’s CPI surprise, with markets fully pricing in a move by the RBA to 0.25% from the current record low of 0.1% when the board meets next Tuesday.

Unlikely, but there’s also a 40% chance or so that the rate rise will be 0.5%.

Personally, that’s pretty unlikely, although Westpac had been predicting (prior to the CPI data’s release) a “super-sized” 0.4% increase by the RBA at its June meeting. Should the RBA stay put next Saturday, that big jump the following month would be a strong outcome for the incoming government.

Somewhat lost in the discussion this morning is the point that because the RBA’s cash rate is so far below inflation (underlying and every other type), the central bank is actually stimulating the economy.

ANZ shows that such stimulation is at a record level:

As for the political fallout, here’s a piece from this morning that shows that the electorates where financial stress is highest are mostly in outer suburbs of major cities. And they are mostly Labor-held – for now, at least.

And while it’s been pointed out this week that food prices are higher because of bad weather in eastern Australia (eg floods), more pressure in the works. Rabobank chimes in with this note this morning:

It is hard to see any significant downside to agricultural commodity markets. The US drought has worsened, resulting in the worst wheat crop conditions in 16 years. Even though there is lingering dryness in large parts of the wheat belt, recent rains in the corn belt have delayed corn planting. La Niña will likely linger for longer, making ‘normal’ weather unlikely.

Updated

On that budget condition Jane Hume mentions:

Updated

Liberal senator Jane Hume was also everywhere this morning.

Here is some of the ABC News Breakfast interview:

Q: This argument that this is the triple whammy – it’s the big increases in prices, it’s the higher home repayments, it’s the bigger gap with real wages – all of that is fact, isn’t it, and it’s happened under your government?

Hume:

Well, it’s also happened under the government of the US, under Joe Biden, under Boris Johnson in the UK ... And under Jacinda Ardern in New Zealand. This is a global phenomenon, higher inflation rates, which will be fed into normalising our interest rates again.

So, we knew that this was going to happen at some stage. The good news is it’s actually lower than those comparative countries. It’s been caused by the unrest, obviously, in Europe and also the lingering supply chain issues after Covid. You know, freight costs, for instance, container costs are about four times higher now than they were pre-pandemic, and that’s feeding into prices locally.

But that’s one of the reasons in this budget this year, we have delivered some targeted and responsible, proportionate cost of living measures. Things like $250 payments to pensioners and to concession card holders that will come out just this week. Tax offsets for low- and middle-income earners, and, of course, the cut to fuel excise, which will feed through and actually have deflationary effects.

Q: Do you think that argument is gonna work, telling people, “Hey, it could be worse, have a look at what’s going on overseas”? I mean, really, they’ve got bills they’re paying right now, Jane Hume.

Hume:

We know people are feeling the pinch in their pockets right now and that’s why this government has been listening and has been delivering those cost of living measures as part of this budget – the sustainable cost of living measures that can only be delivered because of the improvement in the budget circumstances, $103 billion turnaround.

That’s the biggest turnaround in a budget in 70 years, and that’s the reason why we can deliver $8 billion worth of help with cost of living.

Updated

There were some who thought that Tim Wilson forgot to switch to an alternate account for this, but this reads to me as Wilson’s strange sense of humour, and done on purpose:

Updated

NSW reports 19 Covid deaths

NSW Health has reported its latest figures. Just over 60% of eligible people have had their third dose.

Updated

In his morning TV rounds, the prime minister skipped the ABC.

He did manage Seven, Nine and Sky though.

Updated

While we are on rate rises, Peter Hannam has an update on what the market expects the RBA to do next Tuesday when it meets:

Jim Chalmers has also been everywhere. Labor’s choice for treasurer has his one message to push, and he’s making sure he gets it into every interview.

This was him following the PM on the Seven network:

You would hear it around Australia and I hear it as I move around Australia. The problem is, if things are going well, he takes the credit; if things are difficult, he never takes responsibility, and we just saw that in that interview as well.

If something is going well, he takes credit. Doesn’t take responsibility for the [things that go wrong].

Some of the issues are global issues and we have acknowledged that, but there are domestic issues, and wages have been stagnant for the best part of a decade – that’s been a deliberate design feature of the government’s economic policy, in their own words – and we are now seeing the consequences of that.

The government has been asleep at the wheel on inflation and have deliberately attacked and targeted wages and working conditions and job security, and we are now seeing an interest rate rise to get added to the pain.

Updated

Q: We are at a tipping point here, and the way to keep down the inflation is to increase interest rates. The reserve bank rarely increases rates in an election campaign because it doesn’t want to seen to be political; will it worry you at all if they did move rates up – as they should – to get ahead of the issue, to keep inflation subdued?

Scott Morrison:

I have never been a commentator on what the reserve bank should do.

Q: I am not asking your view of what they should do, but if they did during an election campaign, would that worry you at all? Should they be completely independent and do what’s best for the economy?

Morrison:

I respect the independence of the reserve bank, and they need to make the judgments they need to make ... in the best interests of the Australian economy, and I have no doubt they will do that.

There’s a big difference between what occurred in 2007 and where we are now, the reserve bank did that last time and the rate was 6.5%, today it is 0.1% and so I think the circumstances of the economic environment we are in now is very different.

The pressures coming on are not homegrown, they are external and what we are seeing with that impact, the lag from the pandemic, the impact of the war in Europe, of course this is going to have an impact on the global economy.

What we have seen of the recession and the pandemic was 30 times worse than what happened in the global financial crisis, but we have a 50% better record of what labour did during the GFC on getting people into jobs.

Our economic management, these numbers are not numbers, they are people’s cost of living.

They’re what they are having to deal with and that gives us great concern, but the way to deal with it is ensuring we keep strong economic management which is bettering the rest of the western world, whether in unemployment or growth of jobs, whether it’s getting our electricity prices down by 8%, over 9% down since I became prime minister, ensuring we are keeping the Triple-A credit rating.

We have been a steady hand during the most immense pressures on our economy and it is paying dividends but still tight, so now is not the time to risk it on Labor.

Updated

Here is Scott Morrison on the Seven network saying much the same thing (and say what you will about Kochie, but his strength is understanding the economy, so his questions were a little more targeted than other commercial networks).

Q: You got unemployment down but wage growth isn’t coming through to meet those inflation rises, so it’s not all just coming from overseas. Did you overcook the economic stimulus, and this is the sting in the tail?

Scott Morrison:

I don’t believe so, that’s not borne out of what we are seeing overseas. What we are seeing in Europe ... what we are seeing in the US, even across the ditch in New Zealand, their inflation rate is tapping on the door of 7%. Canada, just below that.

What we are seeing are effects on rising costs of living, and the way to deal with that is to keep your Triple-A credit rating, provide relief where you have in the budget and knew that was coming. And that is why we put that relief in the budget, because Australians are just getting up after the terrible impact of the pandemic and our economy is strengthening.

We didn’t want them to be held back when the cash rates and the average discount mortgage rate is around 3.6%, and many people will be paying less than that. One of the things Australians have also done is during the pandemic, been very clever paying down their debt.

... What the numbers tell us is the economy is incredibly important, and who you trust to run the economy. You don’t want to add further risk with a Labor party that doesn’t have the formal record.

Updated

Scott Morrison has been doing the media rounds this morning. This is the main message. This is from the Nine network:

Well, cost of living pressures are very real and we understand that. And those pressures, as we know, are emanating from the war in Europe [and] the hangover from the continuing pandemic, which is disrupting supply chains, putting prices up.

And that is putting a lot of pressure on Australians. And that is why in this budget that we had before the election, we ensured that we were providing real relief now, from the ability to turn the budget around by $100 billion in the last 12 months: so we could provide a halving of the fuel tax, we could provide the $250 to those pensioners and others on income support, fixed incomes, right now, as well as providing that $420 support in people being able to keep more of what they earn when they put their taxes in on 1 July.

So they are real pressures. Over this pandemic, we saw after 27-28 years, the first time Australia went into recession because of that pandemic.

These are not ordinary times. They’re the hardest economic times. They’re the hardest economic times we have seen since the Great Depression. You mentioned about 2007, with John Howard, interest rates then were 6.5%. Today, they’re 0.1%.

On the cash rate. Australians are taking out mortgages at around about 3.6% or thereabouts, that’s the average for new loans. And that average mortgage is around $600,000.

But one of the things they’ve done on their mortgages, and I really want to commend Australians – we’ve all come through this pandemic together. And one of the things Australians have been doing is they’ve been paying down their mortgages, and they’ve also been switching from variable to fixed rates.

We have gone from 20% on variable rates to 40%. Australians have been making wise decisions about de-risking their economic future.

They know what’s going on. They’ve been making their decisions. We’ve been making the same decisions. Australians don’t want to risk their economic future and that’s what this election is all about.

Updated

Labor is expecting Anthony Albanese will be back on the campaign trail tomorrow.

Katy Gallagher says that is the plan, anyway:

I had a phone call with him this morning. He sounded pretty good. We’re expecting him out of isolation and heading back to the campaign trail. But I think that it’s important, as anyone who has had Covid knows, that we follow the health advice and also take a bit of care of each other as we’re getting over it and that can take a little bit of time. But he sounds pretty good to me and we’re looking forward to having him back on the team.

Q: And that is back – just confirming, because you haven’t actually said – will he be back out tomorrow, is that the plan?

Gallagher:

That’s the expectation, yes.

Updated

In case you missed it yesterday, if the government is claiming the safeguards mechanism is a sneaky carbon tax, then the government has a sneaky carbon tax.

Updated

Cost of living is going to haunt the Coalition as it moves forward with the campaign. And while senator Jane Hume is right when she says that interest rates were always going to rise, it’s happening faster than even the RBA imagined – it wasn’t looking at raising rates until 2024 “at the earliest”.

So perhaps this isn’t the best message, especially given how many people are already on the bubble and under economic stress.

Updated

Former ADF chief calls for ‘red line on climate security’

Australia must “draw a red line on climate security” amid the fallout from a security deal between China and Solomon Islands, according to a former chief of the Australian defence force.

Retired Admiral Chris Barrie, who is also an executive member of the Australian Security Leaders Climate Group, called for new commitments to the Green Climate Fund and mitigation actions consistent with the Pacific’s focus on warming of less than 1.5C.

In a statement issued days after Scott Morrison said the US and Australia had the same red lines when it came to opposing a Chinese military on Solomon Islands, Barrie said:

The government needs to draw a red line on climate security, instead of specifically targeting the Solomon Islands …

The key to Australia’s successful re-engagement in the Pacific is a Pacific Climate and Security Initiative that would give priority to the Pacific’s needs.

Barrie pointed to the 2018 Boe Declaration, which states that “climate change remains the single greatest threat to the livelihoods, security and wellbeing of the peoples of the Pacific”. He added:

All Pacific island leaders say Australia is not taking their concerns seriously enough. Many are concerned that the government is prioritising the expansion of Australia’s coal and gas industries at the expense of the Pacific’s future, as the islands face fossil-fuel driven sea-level rise and extreme weather events like more intense cyclones.

They are quite right, but Australia’s leaders must recognise that we are equally exposed to the climate threat. By holding on to this obsession with fossil fuels we are destroying our own future as well as theirs.

Barrie’s statement is silent on particular political parties’ campaign pledges. But Labor on Tuesday promised to “listen and act on Pacific island warnings of the existential threat of climate change”, as part of its plan to restore Australia’s influence in the region.

Updated

Good morning

Happy Thursday. Another campaign week is almost down – and we’re still talking defence and climate.

Labor wants to show it can be strong when it comes to defence as well, pledging to boost the Aukus agreement. And presumably keep all allies happy.

Meanwhile, as the Coalition tries to show that it’s united on climate (while attempting to create a new “Labor has a carbon tax” scare campaign) a former ADF chief wants a “red line on climate security” for the Pacific, mixing both defence and climate together. Climate is a major security issue for the Pacific nations, no matter how much Ray Hadley wishes otherwise.

And of course the cost of living issue continues to rear its head, with the Morrison government facing the prospect of the reserve bank raising interest rates in the middle of its re-election campaign. The last time that happened was 2007, I believe. The mood for change was sweeping the nation then, and you can’t say that now. But it’s not something the government wants to happen.

But the bank is independent. And it has a responsibility to maintain its credibility. Internationally, central banks are raising rates. In Australia it’s just about when it happens.

We’ll bring you all the news as it happens. Thursdays are traditionally the worst day of the week (it’s science) so make sure you have a double coffee this morning.

Ready?

Updated

Labor to boost Aukus with $1.2bn defence research agency

Labor will continue its attempt to outflank the Coalition on national security by pledging to create a new strategic research agency to investigate breakthrough technologies.

The opposition says the plan, to be announced today, will reinforce the Aukus partnership with the US and the UK because the new body will “boost Australia’s involvement in technology sharing and research and development”.

A quick reminder that Aukus is about more than submarines: Australia, the US and the UK are also planning to deepen their work on cyber capabilities, artificial intelligence, quantum technologies, additional undersea capabilities and hypersonic weapons.

Labor’s proposed new body – to be called the Advanced Strategic Research Agency (ASRA) – is expected to have $1.2bn in funding over 10 years and will be housed within the defence portfolio. Labor’s plan includes transitioning the existing Defence Innovation Hub into the independent agency over time, with a focus on Aukus priorities.

The agency would work closely with its counterparts, the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and the newly created UK Advanced Research and Invention Agency (ARIA).

In a statement issued in advance of the announcement, the Labor leader, Anthony Albanese, said the agency would be modelled on DARPA in the US and would become “a premier avenue for linking Australian industry (including SMEs) and universities with our Aukus partners”.

Albanese said in a joint statement with the shadow defence minister, Brendan O’Connor, and the shadow defence industry minister, Matt Keogh:

After almost a decade of neglect under the current Liberal government, there has been a lack of strategic defence and national security-focused sovereign research, funding and projects. This is leaving Australia vulnerable to strategic technological surprises.

Here is the fine print about what it would actually do:

ASRA would ensure cutting-edge research from public sources, such as universities and industry, and classified research from industry and other government agencies (such as CSIRO), are supported and co-ordinated.

ASRA will also aim to leverage private investment into its research priorities. It will ensure the development of sovereign research capabilities for Australia, especially in getting prototypes to delivered technology.

The Labor statement points to previous achievements of DARPA in the US:

DARPA’s recent work includes unmanned anti-submarine vessels, sixth generation jet fighter technologies, atmospheric water extraction, reusable robotic spacecraft, hypersonics and media forensics (identifying deepfakes). Famous commercialised projects from DARPA include the internet, the computer mouse, GPS, and Siri.

Updated

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