Key events
As far as the actual election campaign, Dutton said it was:
All about how do we help families who are doing it really tough in their lives at the moment, and people who are struggling to pay the bills. Insurance is up and every element of their family budget is just through the roof. So it’s really how do we help families and how do we get our country back on track?
Dutton also underlined the importance of submarines set to be built under AUKUS.
There are concerns about the deal given Trump’s tariffs and the general chaos that has accompanied his second term.
Dutton says he’s a ‘pussycat’ compared with his family
Dutton also said during a television appearance on Nine this morning that allegations of a threat against him that resulted in charges against a Queensland youth had not rattled his family.
He said his wife and children “make me look like the pussycat”.
Dutton continued:
So they’re they’re tough and stoic … they don’t miss a beat. And, you know, they’ve never complained about the, you know, the sort of the protection bubble that we live in.
The former Queensland premier Annastacia Palaszczuk told Nine earlier that she was concerned threats against politicians could change how election campaigns are run.
Dutton seems to agree, but says the Australian federal police worked hard to ensure the safety of politicians.
As the AFP commissioner has pointed out, there’s certainly a greater prevalence [of threats]. And I think people are, you know, sort of the keyboard warriors are brave until they get a knock on the door from the AFP.
Dutton unfazed by polling showing his seat under threat
The opposition leader, Peter Dutton, spoke on Nine earlier this morning.
He said he wasn’t concerned about polling showing his seat of Dickson, which is ultra marginal, was at risk.
Look, I’ve seen this movie before … I’ve held my seat. It’s a marginal seat. I’ve never taken it for granted. And I have worked hard in my seat from day one.
Dutton goes on to say commentary around the polling is a “a scam” designed to funnel donations to his political opponents and activist group GetUp.
Plibersek praises Labor’s Cockatoo Island pool plan
The main thing that Plibersek appeared energised by during the interview was a Labor announcement to build a pool at Cockatoo Island in Sydney Harbour.
She said that it had an “amazing history” with First Nations people, as a site for convicts, and then when it was used for shipbuilding in WWII.
A sandstone slipway built by convicts would be transformed into a harbour pool that would become “Sydney’s newest, free, family attraction”.
“Picnic rug, your cozzies and a towel – a wonderful day out.”
When asked about whether it would be weedy, as the ABC presenter appeared troubled by weed at a similar pool in Barangaroo, Plibersek responded “I tell you what, I hope it’s weedy”.
She said that was because establishing seagrass in Sydney Harbour supported seahorses, and she wanted to attract them and other aquatic life such as dolphins and penguins.
I described these as sea dragons in an earlier post, apologies. There will be no dragons.
Plibersek deflects question over whether she would be opposition leader in event of Labor loss
Plibersek was asked: “If on May 4 prime minister Peter Dutton gets up and does his acceptance speech, will you be opposition leader?
She responded, somewhat jokingly: “I’m feeling very anxious when you say that sentence.”
Plibersek went on to say that she wouldn’t speculate about whether she would throw her hat in the ring if Albanese lost the election.
I’m working very hard for the re-election of an Albanese Labor government. I feel good. I feel like Australians are taking a look at Peter Dutton and they don’t like what he is selling.
We are not cocky about this. It is a very close election, the polls tell you that.
But as Peter Dutton comes under greater scrutiny and … as people take a look at that uncertainty, that chaos … I don’t think they like what they see.
Plibersek defends Labor’s stance on salmon industry in Tasmania
Plibersek also said she was consulted on laws to safeguard the salmon industry in Tasmania, saying they were necessary to fix a flaw in laws passed by the Howard government 25 years ago that could have led to the closure of the industry overnight.
No Labor government is going to allow the closure of a town like Strachan overnight and the jobs that go with the salmon industry in Macquarie Harbour.
On environmental laws, Plibersek denied that the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, had intervened in a bid to strengthen them, saying the blame was squarely at the feet of the Greens and the Liberals in the Senate.
You can read more on the history of these laws here:
Tanya Plibersek says Americans don’t want ‘a Big Mac tax’
Plibersek was asked about tariffs in the US, and made a somewhat laboured segue into saying it showed Australia was on the right track economically before getting into the meat of the issue (pun intended).
We are well-prepared and in a better place than most other nations to deal with this uncertainty.
But no one likes to look on as the two biggest economies in the world play chicken.
I think, for Americans, this is actually also a very confusing time as well. I think a lot of Americans, when they start to see prices rise domestically in the US, will begin to wonder why this is happening in the American economy. Australian beef goes into Big Macs.
I don’t think Americans want a Big Mac tax.
Plibersek on the campaign
The environment minister, Tanya Plibersek, has just spoken to the ABC.
She spoke about the ongoing tumult in the US, the election campaign, whether she would be interested in becoming opposition leader should Labor be defeated on 3 May and sea dragons in Sydney Harbour (really!).
Australian judge resigns from Hong Kong’s highest court
An Australian judge has become the latest foreigner to resign from Hong Kong’s highest court before the end of his term on Friday as a security crackdown fans international criticism of a perceived erosion of the rule of law in the financial hub.
Robert French, a former chief justice of Australia’s high court, said he respected Hong Kong and the “integrity and independence” of the remaining foreign judges but that the “role of the non-permanent justices on the court of final appeal has become increasingly anachronistic and arguably cosmetic”.
Britain and China agreed to have non-permanent foreign judges on the court when London handed its former colony over to Chinese rule in 1997 under a “one country, two systems” formula.
Their presence was widely seen by lawyers, businesses and politicians as burnishing the city’s rule-of-law credentials after it lost access to Britain’s privy council for appeals.
Noting that the Hong Kong court was the only one in greater China to have foreign judges serving, French said there “may be a substantive role for international judges in Hong Kong in the future as part of an international commercial court”.
The government confirmed the resignation in a statement, saying it was grateful to French for his valuable contributions and his “support for the rule of law in Hong Kong.”
Last year, another non-permanent judge, Britain’s Jonathan Sumption, quit the court shortly after a landmark verdict in which 14 prominent democratic activists were convicted for subversion, part of a national security crackdown on dissent.
In their latest Back to back Barries podcast, Barrie Cassidy and Tony Barry examine Peter Dutton’s surprise backflip on his work-from-home policy, and ask: what can the Coalition do to recover from a bad week? And can they limit the damage quickly?
Have a listen here:
As promised, we have Malcolm Farr’s take on what’s gone wrong so far for Peter Dutton.
He speaks to the director of public data at the pollsters YouGov, who says the collapse followed Dutton’s “embrace of controversial Trump-style policies such as banning work-from-home arrangements and proposing to sack 40,000 public-sector workers”.
With the US president taking his wrecking ball to the global economy as well, things have just spiralled for the self-styled antipodean Trump.
At a time of global disruption, voters might be seeking a calm hand on the tiller.
Dutton has now realised the US president isn’t a suitable model for Australian politics, no matter what his billionaire acquaintances such as Gina Rinehart say.
Australian voters broadly think American politics is nuts at the best of times and menacingly toxic under Trump. Why vote for a wannabe Trump here?
Here’s the full piece by Malcolm:
Our reporter Henry Belot has an exclusive about Zahid Safi, who is running as the Liberal candidate in the Melbourne seat of Bruce.
Safi is listed as the last author on a 2021 Senate submission which says victims of the Afghanistan war did not suffer “based on ethnicity” – a claim that flies in the face of Australian government and UN opinion.
Read his full report here:
Welcome
Good morning and welcome to our live blog of the election campaign as we enter day 16. I’m Martin Farrer, bringing you some of the best of the overnight stories and then it will be Nino Bucci with the main action.
Although we’re more than two weeks in, this weekend will see the two major parties officially launch their election campaigns – expected tomorrow. Anthony Albanese will be in Perth and we’ll be there with him to bring you the latest, while Peter Dutton will make his announcement in western Sydney.
We’re looking at what’s gone wrong with the Coalition campaign this morning, specifically of course how Peter Dutton has gone from leading Anthony Albanese in the polls to trailing. Veteran Canberra observer Malcolm Farr is on the case.
And we also have an essay by Paul Daley about the prime minister and how 3 May will define his legacy.
We have an exclusive news story about how the Liberal candidate for Bruce co-authored a parliamentary submission suggesting the Hazara community in Afghanistan was not persecuted on the basis of its ethnicity, contradicting the Australian government and drawing rebuke from international human rights groups. More coming up.
An Australian judge has become the latest foreigner to resign from Hong Kong’s highest court before the end of his term on Friday as a security crackdown fans international criticism of a perceived erosion of the rule of law in the financial hub. More to come.
