Chalmers on negative gearing modelling: ‘we get advice from the Treasurey on issues that are in the public domain’
To model or not to model, that is the question …
Shane Wright asks Chalmers to clear up whether he did ask Treasury for modelling on negative gearing and capital gains tax or if it was unsolicited.
Chalmers says negative gearing is “not something that we are proposing”, but that the government often gets advice on different issues from the department:
When it comes to the advice we get from the Treasury department, I said last year when you asked me lots of times … that from time to time we get advice from the Treasury on issues that are in the public domain.
We know that we rely heavily on the advice that we get there, whether it comes unsolicited or whether we ask for it, we rely heavily on it.
Asked again whether it was unsolicited, Chalmers says:
I said last year and I have said on a number of occasions now, that I sought a view. That’s different to commissioning modelling. The Prime Minister was asked about commissioning modelling. I sought a view.
He then rules out again any changes to those policies.
The question was in response to Albanese denying claims last night, that his government had modelled the impact of any change to negative gearing. He later had to clarify that the modelling did exist and that it wasn’t commissioned by his team. He said:
Under our public service, we value them coming up with ideas and various assessments, that is what happened. It certainly wasn’t commissioned by us.
Key events
Caitlin Cassidy
Australian academy establishes talent program to attract disenfranchised US researchers
The Australian Academy of Science has established a global talent program to attract American researchers disenfranchised by the Trump administration’s cuts.
In a statement, the academy’s president, Prof Chennupati Jagadish AC, said Australia had an “urgent and unparalleled opportunity to attract the smartest minds leaving the United States”:
We must act swiftly to capitalise on this opportunity … there is no time to waste as other countries have already recognised the opportunity and are mobilising to attract talent to their shores.
Researchers, faculty and leadership at universities and colleges across the US have been grappling with the impacts of funding freezes, cuts and executive orders from the Trump administration.
In the immediate crossfire is Harvard University, who Donald Trump has declared should no longer receive federal funds after it stood up against a series of onerous demands from the administration.
The academy is inviting funders to contribute to the program, which will lead a “national, coordinated effort” to recruit Australia to leading US scientists and returning Australians via a “competitive relocation package”.
Latest unemployment figures released
Patrick Commins
Australia’s unemployment rate remained at a low 4.1% in March, a further testament to the resilience of the jobs market even as the Reserve Bank prepares to cut interest rates at its meeting in a little over a month’s time.
The number of employed people rose by 32,300 in the month, according to the new Australian Bureau of Statistics figures.
That included 15,000 full-time jobs, and 17,200 part-time roles, on a seasonally adjusted basis.
The number of total hours worked actually fell in the month, despite the rise in employment. The ABS said this reflected the major weather events in March which kept people from work, including ex-tropical cyclone Alfred and heavy rain and flooding in NSW and Queensland.
The jobless rate is about 1 percentage point lower than before the pandemic, and we have historically high rates of participation in the workforce.
Dutton visits ‘make or break’ seat in Hunter region
Peter Dutton is in NSW’s Hunter region today in the seat of Paterson, where he’ll be speaking shortly.
There are a few seats there that will help make or break the election result for both major parties – including Hunter, which is held by Labor MP Dan Repacholi on a 4.78% margin, and Paterson, which is held by Labor MP Meryl Swanson on a 2.6% margin.
Hunter has bled red and voted Labor since the seat was created in 1910, while Paterson has swung back and forth.
The Hunter region is mining territory, and one of the seven locations the Coalition has earmarked to get a nuclear reactor in the future.
You can have a read of all the seats that will shape the results (including Hunter and Paterson) here:
What did Peter Dutton say on climate change last night?
In his press conference, the PM said he was “stunned” Peter Dutton wouldn’t say whether the impacts of climate change were getting worse.
This morning, Coalition senator Jane Hume said, “Well, I personally believe in climate change. I know that Peter Dutton does.”
If you missed it (or you just want to watch it again) you can see the question and answer from last night’s debate here:
Education union slams Coalition technical college plans as taking away from Tafe
Caitlin Cassidy
The Australian Education Union (Aeu) has slammed the Coalition’s announcement to spend $260m to establish 12 new technical colleges at the same time as voting against permanent fee-free Tafe places.
The shadow skills and training minister, Sussan Ley, detailed the plan on the ABC this morning. She said it would get students from year 10 to 12 into trades like construction and engineering, acting as a partnership between the government and not-for-profit organisations including independent schools.
Aeu’s federal president, Correna Haythorpe, said Australia already had a “world-class network of technical colleges – they’re called Tafes”:
Instead of reinvesting in the proven institutions we already have, Peter Dutton is proposing a handful of technical colleges that won’t deliver a single course for years and will drain public money away from where it’s needed most.
Haythorpe said the proposal echoed a Howard-era technical college initiative in 2005, which gave tenders to church groups and for-profit companies. Funding was removed by the Rudd government in 2008.
The Howard government’s technical college program was expensive and an unnecessary duplication of existing resources with colleges taking years to establish and some struggling to attract students … Tafe is the most cost-effective way for governments to deliver the vocational skills our country needs. It must be backed by governments to do so.
Albanese says ‘Australia determines our own position’ on Palestinian statehood
The final question goes to the SBS’s Anna Henderson, who asks about French president Emmanuel Macron pressing ahead with plans to recognise Palestinian statehood at the UN in June.
Albanese says “Australia determines our own position”.
Last year Australia has backed in a United Nations resolution to recognise the “permanent sovereignty” of Palestinians in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.
Henderson also asks about a Perth-based doctor, who has been treating patients in Gaza, who wants to talk directly to the PM. Albanese says, “I don’t know the issue that you raise,” but says he’ll give it “consideration”. That’s not a commitment to meet with the doctor.
He throws in a final stab at Peter Dutton saying, “I do is give considered responses. I don’t shoot from the hip. You’re thinking of the other bloke.”
He ends the presser wishing everyone a happy Easter.
Chalmers on negative gearing modelling: ‘we get advice from the Treasurey on issues that are in the public domain’
To model or not to model, that is the question …
Shane Wright asks Chalmers to clear up whether he did ask Treasury for modelling on negative gearing and capital gains tax or if it was unsolicited.
Chalmers says negative gearing is “not something that we are proposing”, but that the government often gets advice on different issues from the department:
When it comes to the advice we get from the Treasury department, I said last year when you asked me lots of times … that from time to time we get advice from the Treasury on issues that are in the public domain.
We know that we rely heavily on the advice that we get there, whether it comes unsolicited or whether we ask for it, we rely heavily on it.
Asked again whether it was unsolicited, Chalmers says:
I said last year and I have said on a number of occasions now, that I sought a view. That’s different to commissioning modelling. The Prime Minister was asked about commissioning modelling. I sought a view.
He then rules out again any changes to those policies.
The question was in response to Albanese denying claims last night, that his government had modelled the impact of any change to negative gearing. He later had to clarify that the modelling did exist and that it wasn’t commissioned by his team. He said:
Under our public service, we value them coming up with ideas and various assessments, that is what happened. It certainly wasn’t commissioned by us.
Albanese: ‘I have been underestimated from time to time’
The PM is asked why he was underestimated at the start of the campaign.
He’s also asked whether he thinks Peter Dutton is helping Albanese look better during this campaign.
I have been underestimated from time to time … I am captain of an extraordinary team. But the truth is that it’s hard to win a second term. You know, we’re trying to climb a mountain.
“Climbing a mountain” has been a favourite phrase of the PM over the last few days as we’ve ticked over the halfway point (in an effort to make it seem like he’s not taking the polls and headlines putting Labor in a stronger position for granted).
On whether the Coalition is helping his campaign: Albanese says “I’m not the commentator” but points to Dutton’s comments on Indonesia, his idea for three referendums (that was floated and then walked back), and Bridget McKenzie’s comments on China and Russia yesterday – that she also had to walk back.
Albanese on Paterson: ‘I don’t take him seriously’
Speaking of tax, another reporter asks the PM to confirm whether or not the government asked Treasury look at modelling changes to negative gearing and capital gains tax.
Albanese digs in and says it’s “normal process” for the public service to look at different policy options.
He then goes on the attack again, when asked about James Paterson who said Albanese had “lied” when he said the government had not commissioned that modelling. Albanese calls Paterson an “attack dog” for the Coalition:
Seriously. James Paterson will say anything. That’s his job. He piles in. I don’t take him seriously.
Albanese is pressed on whether he’d work with the Greens, who have been pushing for changes to negative gearing and CTG. He says, “I rule out negotiating with the Greens.”
Will the PM commit to indexing tax brackets?
The question is in response to comments from Peter Dutton in The Australian that he has an aspirational pledge to index personal tax – but “at a time where the budget can afford to do so.” So no commitment to when that would be, if ever.
Albanese turns the question back to Dutton’s promise to repeal the tax cut top-up legislation that was passed last month.
Well, I have never seen before in an election campaign an alternative prime minister or a prime minister say, “I’m going to increase income taxes if I’m elected for all 14 million taxpayers, but I have an aspiration to do something different about it down the track.” That makes no sense.
Albanese says their latest tax cut helps lower income earners and says the Coalition’s promises are “short-term”. The treasurer, Jim Chalmers, says the government is “not going down this path” because they’ve found a “better way” to return bracket creep:
We found a better, more responsible, more affordable way to return bracket creep.
Peter Dutton should be laughed off the stage for what he said in The Australian today.
Albanese avoids questions on if childcare fees will rise if workers paid more
Albanese is asked next about the Fair Work Commission’s recommendation of pay rises of up to 30% to hundreds of thousands of early childhood workers and health professionals. He says the question is “not right”, that the commission has found that workers are “undervalued”, and he promised to work with the commission, unions and childcare sector going forward.
[This is] a five-year process… this is an interim report about the gender pay gap. We know that no government has done more to close the gender pay gap than my government.
We’re working through the process and when we work through the process, that’s what you do – you work with the Fair Work Commission. We’ll continue to do that.
Albanese is asked further whether the government will ensure future childcare fees won’t rise as a result of these pay increases. There’s a bit of back and forth on this, with one reporter pointing out that the fee cap under the government’s worker retention payment finishes next year.
What we have done is make sure as part of the condition not only are we paying early educators more, but we’re making sure that families don’t pay higher fees.
Will the government guarantee that will continue down the track? Albanese says he’s answering questions about “what is happening right now”.
Albanese avoids question on Russian ambassador statement to attack Dutton
The first question goes to reports Russia’s ambassador to Jakarta said overnight that “Military cooperation is an integral part of the intergovernmental relations between the Russian Federation and the Republic of Indonesia”.
Albanese is asked how he reconciles that statement with the government’s denial that Russia wanted to establish a military base in Indonesia? Albanese slams Peter Dutton in response:
How do you reconcile the fact that the issue here is that Peter Dutton said that the Indonesian president had issued a statement saying that there would be a Russian air force base in West Papua. It was simply wrong…
There was no statement from the Indonesian president. No statement from the Indonesian defence minister, no statement from the Indonesian foreign minister.
Albanese and other senior cabinet ministers said yesterday there was no statement from Indonesia’s president, but would not say if there had been a request from Russia in the first place to base their military aircraft in Indonesia.
Albanese ‘stunned’ by Dutton comments on climate change
Albanese also addresses that moment in last night’s debate when Peter Dutton wouldn’t say the impacts of climate change are getting worse. You can read more about that here:
Albanese says he was “stunned” by the comments, and that the “science is very clear on climate change”:
The fact that in 2025 you have someone running for prime minister who can’t say that the science is clear that climate change is real and it is happening … I don’t know what it takes to give a wake-up call to the Coalition.
Albanese boosts Labor childcare policy and says Coalition want ‘free Tafe gone’
The prime minister is standing up in Brisbane this morning, in the seat of Bonner – a Liberal-held electorate sitting on a margin at the last election of 3.4%.
He’s at a childcare centre and starts on Labor’s cheaper childcare promise.
I want the move towards affordable childcare for all Australians to be part of the legacy of the government that I’m proud to lead. We have already made a substantial difference.
Childcare is another pillar of the government’s cost-of-living pitch to voters – particularly for parents and families struggling to meet the costs of putting their kids into care and those wanting to go back into work.
Albanese also brings up Tafe and the Coalition’s hints that they’ll get rid of free Tafe places.
What I have seen when I have gone in to Tafes is people studying construction, electrical, but also studying to be care workers, particularly women, but certainly not exclusively. People wanting to work in child care, in aged care, and in disability care and free Tafe is making a difference there and the Coalition have made it clear that free Tafe is gone if they are elected.
Climate Council offers experts to brief ‘out-of-touch’ Dutton on climate risks
There’s been some strong reaction to Peter Dutton’s comments on climate change in last night’s debate, where he wouldn’t say whether he thought the impacts of climate change were getting worse.
To recap, he said:
I don’t know because I’m not a scientist and I can’t tell you whether the temperature has risen in Thargomindah because of climate change or the water levels are up.
The Climate Council has said it’s “outrageous” for a senior political leader to say they “don’t know” the risks of climate change. The council’s CEO, Amanda McKenzie, said climate experts are “ready and willing to brief” Dutton.
It’s outrageous for a senior political leader to be so out of touch that they claim they ‘don’t know’ the risks Australians are facing. In 2025 there is no excuse for someone vying to be prime minister not to have educated themselves thoroughly on the science and impacts of the climate crisis.
The Climate Council released new data this week showing two million homes and businesses are now at moderate to high risk from worsening climate disasters. They say in Dutton’s electorate of Dickson, 3962 properties are at high risk of escalating damage from extreme weather.
McKenzie added:
Australians remember the black summer bushfires when then Liberal leader Scott Morrison, rejected repeated offers from experts to brief him on the risks of a catastrophic fire season … we hope Peter Dutton doesn’t also bury his head in the sand.
