Albanese: ‘Plibersek will be a senior cabinet minister’
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.
Key events
Dutton fields more questions on whether he’ll help his kids buy a house
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.
Seems like again, there’s no more clarity for Harry.
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”.
Dutton: Coalition won’t ‘shy away’ from nuclear
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
PM stands with Canadian cafe owner on Vegemite dispute and calls Marmite ‘rubbish’
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.
Albanese: ‘Plibersek will be a senior cabinet minister’
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.
Josh Butler
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.
NSW to investigate how to buy back Northern Beaches hospital from private health company
Natasha May
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:
