Australia election 2025 live: Greens reschedule Anzac Day party after criticism; Victorian Liberals told to ‘get a spine’ on nuclear power

Victorian Liberals rebuff Labor’s call to reject federal party’s nuclear plans Victoria’s opposition leader, Brad Battin, has rebuffed deputy premier Ben Carroll’s call to “get a spine” on nuclear power. Caroll had urged Battin – who this morning distanced himself from the federal Coalition’s plans for a nuclear reactor in the Latrobe Valley – to come out and reject the plan altogether. But at a press conference at parliament this afternoon, Battin returned to the lines he had previously used on the topic (and approved by Peter Dutton): Whatever happens after the federal election, we want to have a responsible and adult conversation about what happens with nuclear moving forward but our priority is gas. So if we want to talk about growing a spine, we’ll ensure that we’ll have gas exploration available as soon as possible, because that’s when we need it. Victorians can’t afford to continue to wait for a state government to implement the policies that should be there right now. If Ben Carroll wants to fix it, he’s the deputy premier, come out and get the exploration licenses going. Dutton fuels up again Peter Dutton is back at it again, with a visit to petrol station number ten on the campaign trail. He’s staying in the outer suburbs of Melbourne, where the Liberals are hoping to secure some strong swings, and pick up a few seats. Gorton was held by former cabinet minister Brendan O’Connor, who has now retired, but was won by Labor in 2022 with a 10% margin. Looks like there were also some bonus dog pats at this petrol station visit. The Greens have rescheduled their Anzac day party which garnered criticism from both major party leaders today. The “Greens Party Party” in WA was promoted to fundraise for candidates Sophie Greer, running for the seat of Perth, and Senator Jordon Steele-John. Greens WA co-convenor Chilla Bulbeck has released a statement: The event originally scheduled for 25 April has been rescheduled. Sophie Greer will attend an Anzac Day service on that day, and she was always intending to do. Albanese said in his press conference this morning in response to questions on the party, that “Anzac Day is a day of respect”, while Dutton called the event “completely inappropriate”. Opinion: elections are no longer a binary contest for supremacy Peter Lewis, an executive director of Essential, has penned analysis for Guardian Australia looking at the growing influence of the crossbench – saying the “complexity of our times does not lead itself to binary choices.” Embracing diversity not as a performance but as a design principle will only make the future governments – whatever their flavour – more faithful custodians of the public will. For those of us who are still drawn into the theatre of the leaders’ debates and the head-to-head battle for supremacy, it might be a case of enjoying it before the worm turns. You can read his full piece below: Petrol prices down in NSW over past month Petrol prices have come down significantly over the past month – down by around 10 cents since Peter Dutton’s budget reply speech. In NSW, today’s average price for E10/Unleaded 91 is 171.6 cents, according to Fuel Check NSW. On 27 March, when Dutton gave his budget reply, it was 180 cents. And on 19 March, nearly a month ago, it was 186 cents. What does the data show about the Coalition claim that teals vote with the Greens? In case you missed it this morning: our data and interactives editor Nick Evershed has investigated the Coalition attack on the teals that they vote with the Greens in parliament. He conducted a comprehensive analysis of how the crossbench voted in the 47th parliament, showing the results in a range of heatmaps. You can have a look at the data below: Entire board of the VCAA dismissed after last year’s Year 12 exam bungle Moving away from the election campaign for a moment: The Victorian deputy premier and education minister, Ben Carroll, has dismissed the entire board of the Victorian Curriculum Assessment Authority (VCAA) after a bungle during last year’s Year 12 exams that saw the release of exam questions weeks before the tests were sat. Fifty-six tests, including the compulsory English exam, contained questions either identical or very similar to those contained in the seemingly blank practice exam cover sheets. The debacle led to the resignation of VCAA’s chief executive officer, Kylie White, who was replaced by Marcia Devlin during the exams. Carroll announced Andrew Smith will commence as the permanent chief executive on 1 June. Smith is currently the head of Education Services Australia, having started his career as a teacher in Victorian state schools. VCE is like the AFL Grand Final for students after 13 years of schooling, nearly 80,000 students. students every year, sit down for their VCE examinations. It’s a big thing, it’s an important thing to get right, and unfortunately, the Victorian Curriculum Assessment Authority has not got it right on more than one occasion. Carroll said in 2022 there were errors in mathematics exams and in 2023, there were more in both mathematics and chemistry. Then, last year, the early “disclosure of examination content”. Carroll said a review of the VCAA discovered that a software tool was used to use to create the actual exam cover letters that was “unauthorised and unmitigated”. Once the error was uncovered, 150 VCAA staff mobilised to rewrite exams but “some of the rewriting was not up to scratch,” he said. However, I want to say to the staff, they have worked incredibly hard, and they have tried to do the right thing by students and parents. More than half of Australia’s young homeless people experiencing suicidal ideation More than half of Australia’s young homeless persons are experiencing suicidal ideation, self-harming or attempting suicide, according to a client survey conducted by a leading Melbourne homelessness organisation. Melbourne City Mission released a new report on the scale of mental health issues among young homeless Australians today. The report, co-authored by Orygen, found Inaccessible and fragmented mental health system are compromising support for young homeless Victorians. MCM’s chief executive, Vicki Sutton, said young people faced the highest rates of homelessness and said about 11,301 young Victorians presented alone to specialist homelessness services last financial year. A survey of MCM clients found more than half had reported self-harm, a suicide attempt, or suicidal ideation. Sutton said: Young people are being failed by a system that does not recognise their unique circumstances – it’s hard enough accessing mental health services, but when you don’t have a stable home it’s often a case of ‘no home, no healthcare’. An investigation by Guardian Australia last year revealed that suicide and overdose deaths – known as deaths of despair – were the primary drivers of homelessness deaths in Australia and contributed to a vastly premature average age of death. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at befrienders.org Victorian Labor party has ruled out repealing state’s nuclear prohibition act Ben Carroll said the Victorian Labor party had ruled out repealing the state’s nuclear prohibition act, which has been in place since 1983 and bans the construction and operation of nuclear facilities in the state. There is no social license for nuclear in our state of Victoria, and that policy is not changing. We’re about renewable energy. We’re about making sure that our state remains a powerhouse, a jobs capital and renewable energy sector. And there is no place for nuclear. He said the Coalition “didn’t get” Victoria and also pointed to Peter Dutton’s earlier comments about the education system. Caroll says Battin needs to ‘get a spine’ and call out federal Coalition’s plan for nuclear reactor in Latrobe Valley Victoria’s deputy premier, Ben Carroll, was also asked about the state opposition leader, Brad Battin’s comments to Guardian Australia this morning, in which he distanced the state party from the federal Coalition’s campaign to build a nuclear reactor in the Latrobe Valley. Battin said he had spoken to his federal counterpart, Peter Dutton, about how he would handle questions on the policy, which he emphasised was not his. He instead said the state should prioritise expanding onshore gas exploration. But Carroll said Battin needed to “get a spine” and call out the federal Coalition’s plan for a nuclear reactor at the site of Loy Yang coal-fired power station in the Latrobe Valley. Take a leaf out of David Crisafulli in Queensland’s book, Brad. At least he had the guts to come forward and say he doesn’t support nuclear. For Brad to say he’s deferring his decision until 4 May after the federal election, just goes to show Brad is more interested in keeping his party room together and the national party and Coalition together and he is letting Victorians know where he stands. Carroll said he didn’t ask the federal Labor branch how to respond to questions on policy. That’s not common practice that I’ve ever undertaken, but I think he’s still got his training wheels on as leader, and he’s trying to do the best he can holding that party together. As we can see, they’re already now making moves on Moira Deeming and despite all their leadership changes, it’s still the same divided policy, free zone, state Liberal party. Carroll is referring to reports in the Herald Sun that the Liberal branch in the west may try to challenge Deeming’s number one spot on the party’s upper house ticket ahead of the 2026 election. Independent candidate steps up social media campaign in tight battle with Liberal frontbencher The independent candidate for Wannon, Alex Dyson, has stepped up his social media advertising in the midst of a tight battle with the Liberal frontbencher, Dan Tehan. Among the dozens of paid ads is one drawing attention to comments allegedly made by the former prime minister Tony Abbott at Tehan’s campaign launch. Dyson said that during the launch, Abbott told Liberal party members that Tehan had delivered for Wannon, citing a $60m commitment to duplicate a road from Geelong to Colac. But during the time of the road’s construction, it was in the marginal seat of Corangamite, not Wannon. The best he could do is say that the member has delivered more for a project that is in someone else’s seat. It’s only since 2019, when the road was finished, that the electorate was redrawn to make it within Wannon now … It’s quite remarkable how misleading that all is. While these Facebook ads are relatively inexpensive, costs can add up. Dyson has run for this seat previously but this time, he has a much larger war chest. As of 24 March, Dyson had received about $300,000 in funding from Climate 200. Dyson has received $50,000 from Eve Kantor and Mark Wootton, regenerative farmers from near Hamilton. He has also received $20,000 from the Regional Voices Fund. Circling back to Anthony Albanese’s press conference earlier this morning That was a … well … wide-ranging press conference from the prime minister. Two days on from the major parties both making monster housing announcements, Anthony Albanese only got a couple questions on the policies. He again backed in his government’s thinking over the concerns of leading economists, saying their policies addressed both supply and demand: I’m not sure they [critics] have looked at all the detail, frankly. The PM also went off on a long glowing review of his local Marrickville golf club, via a birthday party for a dog, and said he’d be watching Star Wars on 4 May – the day after the election. He also touched on Vegemite, Anzac Day, and the process of how he runs his press conferences (he takes questions from “boy, girl, boy, girl”, in case you’re wondering – even though he doesn’t always). The campaign is now rolling out of Hobart and heading to Melbourne, for a housing estate. For a bit of a behind the scenes look at how these campaigns work, the media bus got into some strife on our way out of the Medicare clinic, with the vehicle struggling to make it down the driveway without leaving massive scrapes on the bitumen. The driver got us all to get off the bus, to lessen the weight, and then navigate over the bump. A great cheer went up as he managed to get down the drive without gouging out any more concrete. Off we go to the airport and then to Victoria. Australian shares continue slow climb upwards Australian shares continued their slow climb upwards this morning, as investors kept up their cautious optimism and businesses adjusted to US tariffs. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 rose to 7,790 points, half a percentage point above Monday afternoon, which was the highest close since tariffs were announced on Thursday, 3 April, local time. Investors have had to contend with wild swings in share prices triggered by changes to the US trade policies, as businesses account for highers costs and China retaliates with its own tariff hikes. All the major banks rose, while critical minerals producers Iluka Resources and Lynas Rare Earths picked up ground, rising 2.6% and nearly 3.5% respectively. Mining giant BHP picked up 0.63%, though fellow miner Mineral Resources lost some of its Monday gains, falling almost 3.3%. Gold miners saw the biggest falls on Tuesday morning, with Ora Banda down 5.1%, Regis 2% and Genesis Minerals nearly 1.5%, losing ground from their rises last week on the back of high gold prices. Dutton asked if he stands by comments Trump a ‘big thinker’ and ‘deal maker’ There’s a few questions which have gone unanswered today, including one to Dutton on whether he stands by his comments calling Donald Trump a “big thinker” and a “deal maker”. Dutton says the election is “a contest between Anthony Albanese and myself” and goes straight to his housing and cost of living policies. There’s no mention of Trump in the response (and journo Ben Westcott protests that he didn’t answer the question). Dutton then gets another on whether he’s happy with the trajectory of the Coalition’s campaign. He says he’s the “underdog”, something he’s been saying pretty consistently, and points out that no opposition has won against a first term government since 1931. I believe we can win the next election but we are the underdogs, no question. The prime minister is running a scare campaign because he’s ashamed of his records. Dutton asked how he will pay for promises Both leaders have been littered with questions over the last 48 hours on how they’re going to pay for their promises. Particularly when the budget is forecasting a decade of deficits, and the Coalition has spent a lot of time accusing Labor of over spending and not having any budget restraint. Dutton again won’t really answer the question on how the promises will be paid for, immediately attacking Labor for their tax cuts being “built in” to the budget. [Labor] have built in a cost in the budget, we do not do that in relation to the tax policy, we do not do it in relation to our fuel tax cuts. It’s exactly the principle we applied with jobseeker and jobkeeper over Covid, where we provided short term, interim, targeted assistance to people, and that’s what we’re doing now. So that is economically sustainable, it’s responsible. Yesterday Dutton wouldn’t say whether he’d help his son Harry (who he’s wheeled out to this press conference today) get into a home. Harry had said it was looking nearly impossible to get a deposit in the near future, despite “saving like mad”. The prime minister and I might be able to help our kids but it’s not about us, it’s about how we can help millions of Australians across generations realise the dream of home ownership like we did, like our parents and grandparents did … Older Australians parents and grandparents are staying in the workforce longer to try and provide their kids with some money. And I think our households no different to many households where we want our kids to work hard to save and we’ll help them with the deposit at some stage. Dutton: ‘We want to see wages increase’ Dutton says he wants to see wages increase to help Australians get into the housing market, but won’t say whether they should increase faster than house prices. He repeats the line he said this morning that he doesn’t want to house prices drop, saying “that would be a disaster”. A generation ago prices were not as high as they are now and the disposable income required to service the loan to pay for the mortgage repayments is nowhere near where it is today. We have to accept the modern reality … We have an independent umpire with wages and many a vibrant economy to make the wages growth. Dutton bats away costings questions on nuclear and defence On nuclear, Dutton is also asked about how much decommissioning coal fired power stations – where the Coalition has promised to replace them with nuclear plans – will cost. Dutton won’t put a figure on it, and doesn’t seem to directly answer the question: Look at the work of Frontier Economics. Our plan is 44% cheaper than the renewables-only plan so any assets [that] have an end-of-life issue to deal with, the same for coal-fired power stations that are extended by the Labor government at the moment because they know they cannot keep the lights on without them. Dutton is also asked about defence spending, which he’s promised to increase. He’s asked whether an increase in defence spending will have to be delayed or slowed because of the spending commitments that have been announced. What we’ve said all along is that we’re committed to additional funding in defence, and you can’t live in the world that we live in at the moment and pretend that you can’t invest into defence. Again he won’t directly answer the question, but says announcements will be made in due course. He’s pushed again whether defence spending will increase on a slower trajectory, but Dutton bats it away, saying “next one”. The first question to Dutton is on this story by Benita Kolovos, that Victorian Liberal leader Brad Battin won’t support nuclear. The reporter also points out that Dutton hasn’t visited a potential nuclear site… so what’s going on? We need to have the latest technology in the system, we need to have gas as an interim… nuclear is a key part of the policy. We do not shy away from it. The government is out there talking about the cost, the cost of our plan is $263bn less than the Labor party plan. He doesn’t actually address the comments from Battin. Liberal’s Sukkar claims Labor ‘happy for you to be a lifelong renter’ Peter Dutton is now standing up with his shadow housing minister, Michael Sukkar, in Bacchus Marsh, on the outskirts of Melbourne. It’s in the seat of Hawke, which is an area the Coalition has been hoping to gain significant ground in. Sukkar starts, accusing Labor of being “very happy for you to be a lifelong renter” So far we haven’t heard anything new this morning from either party – both have been trying to sell their policies from the weekend (and justify them against significant criticisms from economists). Dutton says: We will give $1,200 of your money back to you. We are going to make sure home ownership is a reality again by cutting migration, by giving tax deductibility to first home buyers, allowing people access the super to get their deposit together Albanese and Gallagher again avoid costings questions Albanese and Gallagher are asked again how exactly they’ll be paying for their commitments. Albanese says not every new commitment that’s been made is “new money” – meaning some of it has been provisioned in the budget or the mid-year economic update (MYEFO) that was released at the end of last year. We put a lot into MYEFO, and we did a lot of work in the lead-up to the budget. So, a range of things that have been seen as ‘new’ investments are not. Are things that we’ve already accounted for. But he doesn’t specify there which commitments were already provisioned in that budget update. Gallagher says the same and adds there’ll be more details on costings and how the new promises will be paid for, which will be released “in the normal course of events”. Our responsible decisions and commitments have been and will be accounted for, and it’s in stark contrast to the opposition, who are out spending doing these massive one-off sugar hits and not accounting for a $600bn nuclear plan Anthony Albanese says he ‘stands’ with an Australian cafe owner in Canada whose Vegemite was reportedly banned due to not not meeting Canadian standards. (Original story here.) Albanese says it’s “odd” Canada is letting Marmite in (the spread’s British rival) which he calls “rubbish”. I stand with the Aussie cafe owner ... ! I can confirm here today that I am pro-Vegemite. And, indeed, I actually put a lot of Vegemite on my toast when I ate bread. I did hear the report on that. It’s rather odd that they’re letting Marmite in – which is rubbish, frankly. Let’s be clear here. Pro-Vegemite, anti-Marmite. That’s my position. His response garnered a fair few laughs from the press pack. Albanese agrees supply-side measures only way to deal with housing without increasing prices Our own Josh Butler, who’s with the PM, asks why he’s not listening to the advice of economic experts who have been critical of Labor’s housing plan. Albanese says he doesn’t reckon the experts have looked at all the detail of what Labor has promised. I’m not sure that I’ve they’ve looked at all of the detail, frankly. Because some of the things that they’ve spoken about don’t match what we’re actually doing ... But the key difference between the two approaches is supply. We have a supply-side answer on public housing through the housing Australia future fund. On private rentals through the build-to-rent scheme. Albanese says he “agrees” that if there are only demand side-measures then you will have upward pressure on housing prices. He’s then pushed on what Treasury has told them about the impact Labor’s policy will have. The government has said the modelling shows there won’t be “significant” increase in prices, but Albanese won’t say what “significant” actually means in dollar terms. He argues that the government won’t release cabinet documents, despite being pushed a few times: We don’t release Cabinet papers … I’m not saying that house prices will rise … We don’t release Treasury documentation. You have the figure. The idea that they put a precise dollar [figure] on something is not right. Albanese promises he ‘won’t ripping into essential services’ to pay for Labor’s housing policies Neither party has been able to say exactly how they’ll pay for their expensive commitments made over the weekend. The PM is asked: won’t he have to cut if re-elected – or will he rule out that sort of budget repair? Albanese replies: I rule out doing what they did, which is ripping $50bn out of health, $30bn out of education, ripping money out of the ABC … We won’t be ripping into essential services. We’ve provided $95bn already of savings. We’ve improved the budget bottom line by $207bn. Speaking of speculation, the guessing game doesn’t just go to the leadership but also to the makeup of the crossbench – and the cabinet. While Penny Wong, Jim Chalmers, Katy Gallagher and Richard Marles have all been guaranteed their portfolios, the PM wouldn’t say yesterday whether Tanya Plibersek would stay in hers. Again Albanese won’t commit to her staying in the environment portfolio if Labor wins on 3 May. The four leaders get the opportunity to have a direct say in what their portfolios are. I gave the same answer yesterday that I’ll give today, which is - I expect Tanya Plibersek will be a senior cabinet minister. She’s an important member of my team. Albanese says he will go for a third election if he wins this one after ‘revolving door’ leadership for both parties Leadership speculation is a favourite game of many, and Albanese has been asked about whether his team might get a little antsy and want to swap him over in the near future. Earlier today the PM said he’d contest a “third election” if he won this one (ie there’ll be no leadership changes if Labor wins on 3 May). Albanese in this presser describes the last two decades of leadership in both parties as “a revolving door”: I’m not looking over my back. I’m looking forward. And we have an incredibly united caucus. Asked whether he was getting a bit too ahead of himself, Albanese says again he’ll serve a “full term”: I don’t take anything for granted on May 3. And I don’t know what I’ll be doing on May 4. As I’ve said … I have a bit of a tradition of watching a Star Wars movie on May the 4th. But I’m trying to climb the mountain here. I’m trying to be the first prime minister since John Howard in 2004 – it’s been 21 years, we’ve had a revolving door. Albanese says he continues to support Aukus Albanese is asked whether he would establish a parliamentary inquiry into Aukus, as some have been calling for, including within Labor’s ranks. Albanese has said consistently he supports Aukus, and has also said he doesn’t see the agreement being compromised under the Trump administration. Albanese says: I support Aukus. There’s been a lot of scrutiny on Aukus, that will continue to be so there’s these little things called Senate estimates that Katy [Gallagher] sits at for day after day after night after night. There’s a lot of scrutiny there. Albanese says voters will make their own conclusions on Coalition and Trump comparisons On to questions, and Albanese is asked whether the Coalition would operate like the Trump administration, considering the number of comparisons between the two. The PM says it’s up to voters to consider: People will make their own conclusion, but people will see that Peter Dutton chose to appoint Senator [Jacinta Nampijinpa] Price as the shadow minister for Doge [government efficiency] just a few days after Elon Musk was appointed and the Coalition do have substantial cuts in order to pay for their $600bn nuclear plan. It’s a line the Labor frontbench has been using a lot, accusing the Coalition of having “secret cuts” that they’d reveal after the election to pay for policies like their nuclear plan. Labor attacks Liberal candidate’s earlier slip-up on urgent care clinics Albanese and the Labor candidate for Lyons, Rebecca White, have taken a stab at the Liberals’ candidate in the seat, Susie Bower, over her apparent slip-up in an interview last week. Bower was asked whether urgent care clinics would continue to be bulk billed and she said: So that’s something that we will need to be working out. It appears she wasn’t properly primed on her policies, because the shadow health minister, Anne Ruston, corrected the record to say they would be bulk billed. Albanese said: Now, to be fair to the Liberal candidate for Lyons, she probably heard Sussan Ley stand up in the parliament and say that if something is free, then people don’t value it, that that’s the Liberal party philosophy. Well, Medicare is free, that’s the whole idea. Albanese pushes health as Tasmanian tour commences Anthony Albanese is up, and no surprises – as Josh foreshadowed, he’s in front of those bright green Medicare banners again. And for good measure he whips out “this little bit of green, gold plastic here”, otherwise known as his Medicare card prop. There are five urgent care clinics in Tasmania of more than 80 nationally, which Albanese calls an “enormous success”: This is one of the big contrasts at this election campaign: Labor [is] committed to building Australia’s future, strengthening Medicare, making sure that people are looked after with cost-of-living measures, including being able to see a doctor for free, the reduction in the costs of PBS medicines [to] just $25. The Coalition has matched Labor almost dollar-for-dollar on their health commitments to bulk billing and the PBS. Albanese deploys to Hobart with focus back on health Anthony Albanese is back to visiting health care centres and is about to arrive at a Medicare urgent care clinic outside Hobart. He’ll tour the facility and then hold a press conference. Albanese is back in the Labor-held electorate of Lyons, with his candidate, Rebecca White. Labor wants to hold this seat in the face of incumbent MP Brian Mitchell’s retirement, and is also hoping to take the Liberal-held electorates of Braddon and Bass in this election. We’re also expecting to hear from the finance minister, Katy Gallagher, who has been travelling with the PM. Labor has set up five urgent care clinics in Tasmania, and has promised another three in Burnie, Sorell and Kingston. Leaving the campaign trail for a moment… A NSW taskforce will begin investigating buying back the Northern Beaches hospital from owner Healthscope. The NSW treasurer, Daniel Mookhey, ordered the taskforce to begin an immediate investigation into the continuing operation of the public private partnership, which was signed in 2014 and was supposed to run until 2038. The Minns government said it was notified by Healthscope late last week that it wished to hand back the hospital to the NSW public system. Mookhey says the exit proposal will not be a windfall gain for the private equity owners of the hospital at the expense of NSW taxpayers. In a joint statement with the health minister, Ryan Park, the two ministers say there will be no impact on health services at Northern Beaches hospital while the taskforce does its work. Mookhey said: I’m not prepared to sit and wait on this. I want to know the options now, so we are prepared for any negotiations. That’s why I’ve directed the taskforce to begin work immediately. ...The Liberals’ privatisation deal at Northern Beaches hospital will be remembered in history as an epic failure. Park said: We never would have entered this arrangement and it’s clear the community isn’t satisfied with this model. I understand the community’s impatience, and I recognise the community deserves certainty. It’s important we get this right and this taskforce is a critical first step in untangling a complex transaction left by the previous Liberal government. While both parties this morning have said they’re tackling construction workforce issues, experts have said there are simply not enough tradies. The construction industry is facing a shortfall of 80,000 workers, as Labor promises to boost numbers through fee free Tafe places, and the Coalition promises to increase the number of skilled migrants in the construction sector (while decreasing migration overall), and providing more incentives for businesses to train apprentices. You can read more about that shortfall and the impact it’ll have here: Peter Dutton brought his son Harry on the campaign trail yesterday, to tell reporters how hard it is for young people to save up for a home. But when asked whether the bank of mum and dad in the Dutton household would help Harry, Dutton completely ignored the question. Karl Stefanovic gave it crack again this morning on the Today show, and Dutton gave no more clarity on whether he’ll help his son. Karl, I have, like every other family, conversations with our kids over a long period of time. They’ve got a good work ethic. They’re all working hard. They’re saving toward their deposit. And in families where you can provide some support, well, you’ll have that conversation with your own kids, but it’s not about our family. Dutton’s vast property and share portfolio was caught in the spotlight earlier this year, which Dutton said he’d started building on at the age of 19. (Harry is 20). Coalition leaves the door ajar to extending its tax offset Following Gallagher on RN Breakfast, the shadow housing minister, Michael Sukkar, comes in to defend his party’s housing policy. He points out that their policy – to allow mortgage payments to be deducted from income tax for first home owners – can only be done for new properties. But further on in the interview, Sally Sara asks him about the Coalition’s one-off $1,200 payment for tax payers earning between $48,000 and $104,000, and whether it will end after one year as the Coalition has said: In the end, you’re always informed, Sally, by the economic circumstances of the day. We’re under no illusions that if we’re to win the election, we will be inheriting a really tough situation for Australians and for the budget. But at present, we have announced a one-off, and that is our expectation. Back in 2019 the former Coalition government put in a similar budget sweetener called the low and middle income tax offset (LMITO). It was also due to be temporary, but was extended during Covid and eventually ended in 2022. Gallagher weighs into Albanese and Plibersek’s relationship RN Breakfast host Sally Sara asks Gallagher – what is going on between the PM and his environment minister Tanya Plibersek. It started out with this awkward moment between the two at the Labor launch on Sunday, and on Monday, Albanese wouldn’t say whether Plibersek would keep her portfolio if Labor won again. Asked if the relationship between Albanese and Plibersek is a bit off, Gallagher says they have a “professional” relationship: Well, I just don’t accept that. I mean, I work closely with both of them, and that is not my view of their relationship at all. And, you know, I think we we see it up close as professional working relationship. I think Tanya and the PM both responded to questions on that yesterday. Labor cagey on impact of housing policy on house prices Labor says its 5% deposit program won’t “significantly” increase housing prices, but won’t say exactly how much of an impact it will have. Finance minister Katy Gallagher was on RN Breakfast a little earlier, and said the Treasury department has done that modelling. It won’t have significant impact on prices. That’s the advice we’ve got. That’s based on the information we’ve already had from this program operating for some time, we’ve expanded it to 50,000, [and] the estimates are that by opening it up to everyone, it would move to 80,000. But it is, a relatively more small, well, not small, but a relatively modest component of the overall housing market. But Gallagher said Treasury didn’t provide an exact number. She also took a stab at the Coalition policy, saying their policy didn’t allow first home buyers to “ransack” their super or borrow more money. Greens attack both major party’s housing policies as ‘house fire’ While the two major parties have been battling it out (on policy, not in rap form) over housing, the Greens have been really critical of the announcements. The Greens housing spokesperson, Max Chandler-Mather, joined ABC News Breakfast earlier and said house prices should stop “increasing completely” and “stay the same” to give wages the chance to catch up. Both leaders have said their policies won’t drive up prices, but Dutton also has said he didn’t want to see prices drop – he said he wanted to see “sustainable growth”. Chandler-Mather cited economists who have said the policies will drive prices higher. One economist described those two policies from the major parties as a “dumpster fire that will drive up house prices”. Maybe even worse than a dumpster fire, it’s a house fire, and it’s burning the dreams of a lot of renters and first-home buyers. Economists this morning said that both policies will drive up house prices this year alone. Chandler-Mather and the Greens have been calling for changes to negative gearing and capital gains tax, as well as capping rents. Ley claims ‘you can always trust the Coalition on defence spending’ but refuses to reveal numbers right now As we get closer to the middle of week three of a five week campaign, Ley is asked on Sky News how much money will be left for defence spending. The opposition leader has flagged on multiple occasions that his party will be putting up “significant” funding for defence if it wins government. Ley won’t reveal just how much money is left for it in their budget. You can always trust the Coalition on defence spending. When you compare our record to Labor’s, we will always spend more on defence. Pushed further on when that spending will be announced, Ley says, “you’ll see the defence policy when it’s released, Pete, and all of our costings will be released”. Coalition won’t say how many young Australians will take up their housing policy despite costings The Liberal’s deputy leader, Sussan Ley, tells Sky News the Coalition’s policy to allow first home buyers to deduct mortgage payments from their tax – up to the first $650,000 of their mortgage on a new home over five years – will be taken up by “as many as can take advantage of it”. But when pushed further for an exact number, Ley bats away the question and says: The costings are correct. And I think it’s interesting that you’re focusing on the costings, because young Australians are focusing on access to this, and no one is going to be prevented from using this policy to get themselves on that ladder of home ownership. The Coalition has said it’ll cost around $1.25bn over the forward estimates according to the Parliamentary Budget Office (PBO). Albanese: Coalition channelling Drake not a ‘very wise’ move We couldn’t leave you without the PM being asked about that diss track by the Liberal party. Albanese is asked on the Today show whether he should have a rap battle with Dutton to “settle the score’”. Albanese takes a dig at what side the Coalition seems to have taken in their homage to the viral rap battle between Kendrick Lamar and Drake: I tell you what, the Liberal party, channelling Drake in his front cover, I’m not sure they’re aware of Drake and … and his whole background, but I don’t think that’s a very wise thing to do. Though the album cover is pretty similar to an old Drake cover from his album “Certified Lover Boy”, the Liberal party also described the track yesterday as, “Kendrick meeting Question Time”. Albanese says ‘we’ve got a mountain to climb’ despite encouraging polls Good morning from chilly Hobart, where Anthony Albanese begins his day on the campaign trail. We’re expecting a media event and press conference in about 90 minutes time; the PM has already said on morning TV interviews that we’ll then be heading to Victoria to check out some housing projects in that state. Albanese spent yesterday morning at a housing estate in Adelaide, spruiking Labor’s new housing pledges, so that theme seems set to continue. This morning’s latest Guardian Essential poll puts Labor further ahead of the Coalition, with our “two party plus” model seeing 50% of voters backing Albanese and only 45% behind Dutton, with the rest still undecided – which shakes out to about a 53-47 result to Labor on the traditional 2PP model. The same result was seen in today’s Resolve poll in the Nine papers, too. Asked about the polls on ABC TV earlier, Albanese said: We’re not getting ahead of ourselves. We’ve got a mountain to climb and we’re nowhere near halfway yet. Tomorrow is the second leaders’ debate, to be held in the ABC’s studios in western Sydney. In the chaos and movement of the election campaign, where the media get almost zero notice of where we’ll be visiting or travelling on any given day, it’s sort of nice to know vaguely which city you’ll be in tomorrow night. Albanese says fee-free Tafe places will help tradie workforce shortages What about workforce? The other central element to the housing crisis is the lack of construction workers about to build the homes needed. Albanese tell the Today show, Labor’s fixing that through an increase in fee free Tafe places. We’ve got 600,000 people have enrolled in free Tafe, around about [40,000] to 45,000 of those are in construction … In addition to that, what we’ve got is $10,000 incentives. Whether you’re doing electrical or carpentry or anything in construction as well, that incentive to make sure that essentially you can have your tools and everything else paid for. Meanwhile, Dutton has said that he’ll add tradies to the top of the skilled migration list (though that migration program will be cut by around 25%). The Coalition has also promised a $12,000 wage subsidy for businesses to provide support to apprentices. Dutton: At the top of that list goes those trade ies and their skills. We want those people to come here in the migration program because we want to increase the number of people who are involved in construction … another part of our plan is to put support into young apprentices and trainees going into the building and construction sector. Battle of housing supply: who’s building more? Both parties have said they’re the ones doing more on housing supply, while experts and economists have said neither is doing enough to address the supply versus demand issue. Albanese told News Breakfast earlier (as he’s been saying this week) that Labor is tackling supply through their existing programs as well as their new $10bn commitment to build 100,000 new homes for first home buyers: What we’re doing is dealing with supply as well as demand. The Coalition’s plan will push up prices. Our plan will ensure that more homes are built. And what we’ve seen under my government is 28,000 of those social housing through the housing Australia Future Fund are either under construction or under planning. Meanwhile, Dutton told the program they’re addressing supply through their fund to fix sewerage lines and roads to “release” new land. We have $5bn, which works with councils to release 500,000 blocks of land. We cut migration by 25%… The opposition leader, Peter Dutton, is also across the TV networks this morning and joined ABC News Breakfast after the PM. Dutton yesterday said he wanted to see “sustainable” growth in house prices across the market, which is a sticky issue between young people who are struggling to get into the market and older Australians who have a home and don’t want prices to drop. Dutton is asked whether he wants to see housing prices “brought down” to help more first home buyers into a home. He says he doesn’t want to see prices drop, particularly for those who have just bought a home: If you’ve got a house that you’ve just bought and you’ve got a $500,000 mortgage and your house goes down by $100,000 under Labor, and your mortgage is worth more than the house itself, then that’s not a good situation for you. So, no, we don’t want house prices to plummet. We want sustainable growth. If you’re buying a house today, if you can find one – and if you can afford one under this government – you don’t want to wake up in two years’ time and find that the value of that house has gone down. Albanese says bank lending conditions will remain the same despite 5% deposit policy for first home buyers Anthony Albanese started on ABC News Breakfast this morning, again defending the housing policy announced over the weekend. Labor’s policy widens eligibility for all first home buyers to access their 5% deposit scheme. Albanese batted off concerns over whether widening it also increases the risk of people getting into the scheme who can’t afford it, and could default on their repayments. There are 150,000 Australians have got into home ownership through this scheme already. There have been three defaults. Why? Because all of the conditions of banks lending remain exactly the same. Hello, Krishani Dhanji with you for another day in glorious election campaign paradise. Yesterday it was diss tracks – what more will we get today? Anthony Albanese and Peter Dutton are both doing the media rounds this morning. They’re still trying to sell their housing policies and cost of living plans, despite economists expressing serious concerns they could drive housing prices upwards. The PM is starting out in Tassie this morning, while Dutton is in Melbourne – both areas holding crucial seats for each party. It’s going to be a busy day! Australia’s 2.6 million public school students will get free lunches under a Greens election pitch that the progressive party claims will improve kids’ health, lift their grades, and even keep them on the straight and narrow. This morning at 10am, the Greens’ leader, Adam Bandt, alongside Senator Penny Allman-Payne and MP Max Chandler-Mather, will be “flipping waffles” and selling the scheme in Chandler-Mather’s inner-Brisbane seat of Griffith. In a press release ahead of the event, Allman-Payne, a former teacher, said “a universal program of school lunches in every public school will ease the cost-of-living burden on families, improve the health and well-being of our kids, and help level the playing field for our most disadvantaged students”. Of course, there’s no such thing as a free lunch, and the cost to the budget would be $11.6bn over the four-year forward estimates period, according to the Parliamentary Budget Office – about $4.6bn a year once the scheme is up and running. Chandler-Mather won the seat from Labor at the previous election with a margin of more than 10%. Since then the 33-year-old says he has spent $32,000 a year from his own salary to pay for weekly free breakfasts in public schools in his electorate. Victorian Liberals distance themselves from federal party’s nuclear policy Peter Dutton’s poll woes today comes as Victoria’s opposition leader, Brad Battin, distanced the state party from the opposition’s controversial nuclear policy, saying he will concentrate on gas and that the federal leader has his “own campaign” to run. Dutton is less popular in Victoria than in other states and Batti’s remarks suggest an attempt to create clear blue water between himself and the federal party. In a wide-ranging interview with our state correspondent Benita Kolovos, Battin explains how he would fix the justice system, why he “grew up differently” to fellow former cop Dutton and that he’s counting the days to the state’s next election (599 to go). Read Benita’s stories here: Resolve poll say Labor within reach of majority government as Trump ties damage Dutton The Nine newspapers has a poll today saying that Labor has edged further ahead on a two-party preferred basis with 53.5% compared with 46.5% for the Coalition, whose support has dropped from 50% a month ago. In further evidence that Donald Trump’s chaotic policy-making in the White House has damaged Peter Dutton, the survey by Resolve Strategic shows that 35% of undecided voters “are less likely to back Dutton because of changes wrought by Trump”. Only 24% say the same of Anthony Albanese. The poll suggests that Labor is now within reach of forming a majority government after the 3 May federal election. Taylor and Chalmers spar over nuclear costings and uncertain times Angus Taylor was also asked on 7.30 whether the Coalition has private companies ready to invest in nuclear power in Australia. He said there is a moratorium on nuclear in Australia at the moment, and that would need to be lifted first. The two argued over the Coalition’s costing of nuclear of over $300bn, versus the costing Labor argues, based on Smart Energy Council modelling. Chalmers said one reactor is being built in the UK for $87bn but the Coalition was claiming it could build one for less than $20bn. He said the Coalition’s gas policy was developed to “distract from their dodgy nuclear plan. They hardly ever talk about it” and he said there would be cuts to pay for it. Both politicians finished by pointing out we are living in uncertain times and Taylor pointed to his 25 years of business experience and passion for growing the economy and getting the country back on track. Chalmers said a Coalition government would be “cuts and chaos to make Australians worse off and take Australians backwards.” He said Taylor and Dutton “see the policies and politics of the United States” and want to replicate them. The shadow treasurer, Angus Taylor, has been questioned on why the opposition leader Peter Dutton, indicated before the election there would be no tax cuts before announcing a one-off $1,200 refund for 10 million Australians in the Coalition’s campaign launch on Sunday. In a debate on ABC’s 7.30 program on Monday night, Taylor was played a clip of Dutton on 7.30 previously where he said “we won’t be able to provide tax cuts during this campaign”. Taylor said it was a “short-term cost of living reprieve for Australians, meaningful, rebuilding the household buffers” rather than tax reform. Chalmers said the Coalition are offering no ongoing help with the cost of living, pointing to the tax cuts passed just before the election as addressing bracket creep. In the wide-ranging debate, the two politicians also sparred over housing policy and energy. Taylor said the policy of allowing tax deductions for first home buyers of new homes will not just provide affordability but a pipeline of new housing. Chalmers said the Coalition would abolish the Housing Australia Future Fund, which would result in fewer homes being built. Good morning and welcome to our live news blog. I’m Martin Farrer with the top overnight stories and then it’ll be Krishani Dhanji with the main action. Last night the treasurer and shadow treasurer turned up for a debate on the ABC’s 730 show – in case you missed the action, we’ve got the main points coming up. One of our top stories this morning is an exclusive interview with the finance minister, Katy Gallagher, who has vowed to continue slashing the number of consultants employed by the federal government and to begin rebuilding departments within the public service if re-elected, while accusing the Coalition of importing a Doge-style agenda from the US. Labor has pulled further ahead of the Coalition as the election campaign continues, opening up a larger lead in the latest Essential poll after two weeks of policy confusion and backdowns from Peter Dutton’s Liberals. A new poll in the Nine newspapers also shows Labor edging further ahead. More coming up. After yesterday’s splurge of promises by the major parties to try to fix the housing crisis, experts have warned that Australia does not have enough construction workers and other trades to meet election pitches to boost housing supply. Also today, the Greens will launch a new policy to provide free lunches for public school students. More on this soon. Meanwhile, the Reserve Bank will release the minutes of its last monetary policy meeting at 11.30, shedding more light on why it did not cut interest rates earlier this month to relieve pressure on homeowners.