What we learned today, Tuesday 22 April
Many thanks for joining us on the blog for another day on the campaign trail – here are all the main takeaways from today:
Anthony Albanese and Peter Dutton largely paused campaigning today in a mark of respect for the late Pope Francis, who died last night aged 88.
Albanese attended mass at Melbourne’s St Patrick’s Cathedral to pay tribute in the morning, and said Pope Francis would be “recorded in history as one of the most significant of all of the holy fathers”.
Dutton, meanwhile, attended mass at Sydney’s St Mary’s Cathedral in the afternoon.
The governor general, Sam Mostyn, may represent Australia at the pope’s funeral.
Labor announced it would help protect victim-survivors of domestic violence from financial abuse through tax, superannuation and social security debts.
The Coalition announced it would relaunch a regional grants program that provided Liberal-held seats with twice as many grants as Labor electorates.
Dutton faced questions on his personal popularity in the latest polls, but said “today is not the day for politicking.”
Just $16.5m of Labor’s promised $1bn mental health package – or 1.65% – is due to be spent in the next financial year, according to official policy costings.
Clive Palmer’s Trumpet of Patriots party will investigate the alleged “tampering” of how-to-vote cards after claiming an unnamed party had “interfered” with the minor party’s seat preferences.
Early voting officially began across the country.
But that’s not all for today – the third leaders’ debate will begin at 7.30pm AEST, and I will bring you all the key takeaway’s in a separate live blog tonight, so make sure to stay tuned.
Updated
Dramatic rescue after rock climbing fall
Moving away from the campaign for a moment, and two people have been rescued while rock climbing at a national park in central NSW.
Footage of the dramatic rescue, released by NSW police, shows a 47-year-old woman, who had fallen while climbing, and an 80-year-old man, being hauled to safety in the Warrumbungle national park.
The pair activated a personal locator beacon after the woman slipped while climbing near Grand High Tops lookout last night.
Blue Mountains police rescue conducted a “vertical rescue” with PolAir, Toll Ambulance Rescue helicopter and the NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service about 8.30am this morning.
The woman was airlifted to Dubbo Base hospital with suspected broken ribs, and the man was uninjured.
Orana Mid-Western police district acting superintendent Paul Stephens said the operation represented a concerted multi-agency effort to rescue the two rock climbers safely.
This is a hugely positive outcome that is testament to the great work of all involved, particularly given the difficult terrain. We want to thank our emergency services partner agencies and volunteers for all they have done.
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