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The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
National
Tory Shepherd and Amy Remeikis (earlier)

Major parties rule out deals with independents – as it happened

Labor Australian NDIS Anthony Albanese Australia United States Daniel Hurst Kevin Rudd Lukas Coch Scott Morrison
Scott Morrison in Perth on Tuesday, day nine of the election campaign
Scott Morrison in Perth on Tuesday, day nine of the election campaign. Photograph: Mick Tsikas/AAP

What we learned today, 19 April

It was a messy day today (although sometimes in the thick of an election campaign it always seems messy). Here are the highlights:

Tomorrow there’ll be fallout from the late breaking news that China has signed a security agreement with Solomon Islands. We’ll catch you up on anything that happens in the Pauline Hanson vs Bob Katter vs Clive Palmer vs Campbell Newman shemozzle, and then tomorrow night is the the first leaders’ debate of the election.

Deep breaths, sleep well, see you all then!

Updated

From the ABC’s foreign affairs reporter Stephen Dziedzic:

They’re gonna need a bigger mute button:

Need a light-hearted (light-footed?) break from today’s shenanigans? How to walk a cat:

On that “potential” security agreement between Solomon Islands and China, the ABC is reporting that it has been signed.

Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin has told a briefing that the agreement is to “promote social stability and long-term peace and security in Solomon Islands”.

Updated

Here are the details of the NDIS overhaul that Labor’s NDIS spokesperson, Bill Shorten, unveiled earlier:

Updated

Australian Electoral Commission maintaining its strong social media game:

Josh Butler has done it again - wrapped all the day’s stories and tied them up with zing:

Mostafa Rachwani reports that Australian Catholic bishops say in their election statement:

Refugees and asylum seekers fleeing persecution, violence or life-threatening poverty, and people who have been displaced by climate change, are our sisters and brothers.

Updated

Well, they’re not quite robonauts, but Labor leader Anthony Albanese did get to play with a drone and check out some electric vehicle manufacturing technology:

Labor leader Anthony Albanese speaks to a worker as he visits the Tritium EV battery charger manufacturing line in Brisbane.
Labor leader Anthony Albanese speaks to a worker as he visits the Tritium EV battery charger manufacturing line in Brisbane. Photograph: Lukas Coch/AAP
Labor leader Anthony Albanese speaks to the media while visiting the Tritium EV battery charger manufacturing line in Brisbane.
Labor leader Anthony Albanese speaks to the media while visiting the Tritium EV battery charger manufacturing line in Brisbane. Photograph: Lukas Coch/AAP
Labor leader Anthony Albanese and Labor candidate for the seat of Dickson, Ali France, watch a drone during a meeting with staff from veterans’ organisation Disaster Relief Australia in Brisbane.
Labor leader Anthony Albanese and Labor candidate for the seat of Dickson, Ali France, watch a drone during a meeting with staff from veterans’ organisation Disaster Relief Australia in Brisbane. Photograph: Lukas Coch/AAP

Fist bumping a robonaut was a highlight of prime minister Scott Morrison’s day campaigning. AAP was there:

Prime minister Scott Morrison at a rally for Liberal party supporters in Perth.
Prime minister Scott Morrison at a rally for Liberal party supporters in Perth. Photograph: Mick Tsikas/AAP
Liberal senator Bridget McKenzie, prime minister Scott Morrison and attorney general Michaelia Cash leave after speaking at the West Australian Chamber of Minerals and Energy at the Perth Convention Centre.
Liberal senator Bridget McKenzie, prime minister Scott Morrison and attorney general Michaelia Cash leave after speaking at the West Australian Chamber of Minerals and Energy at the Perth Convention Centre. Photograph: Mick Tsikas/AAP
Prime minister Scott Morrison fist bumps a NASA robonaut at Woodside Karda Robotics in Perth.
Prime minister Scott Morrison fist bumps a NASA robonaut at Woodside Karda Robotics in Perth. Photograph: Mick Tsikas/AAP

We have heard quite a bit about the cashless welfare card today. In case there’s any doubt, here’s Luke Henriques-Gomes on Labor’s pledge:

Tomorrow is shaping up to be another interesting day:

From Seven’s state political reporter Sharnelle Vella. Eeeek, indeed:

ABC host Greg Jennett asks Dutton about comments he made over the weekend about Australians potentially becoming part of the supply chain for US or UK submarines under the Aukus agreement. Jennett asks if that would mean a lifting of the existing US ban on military assets being built overseas.

Dutton says there’s a way to go yet, but that there’s “a collaboration like we’ve never seen before” between the countries:

So we’ll have more to say over the course of the remaining period in the 18 month consultation. But we’re a very significant partner of the US. They are incredibly important to peace and stability within the Indo-Pacific.

The defence minister, Peter Dutton, is on the ABC, talking generally about the situation in Solomon Islands. US president Joe Biden’s Pacific adviser, Kurt Campbell, has been in the region, as tensions continue over a potential security agreement with China. Dutton says it’s a relationship-strengthening exercise. Dutton says China is a different country now:

They’re heading down a particular path, as I say, and we should be cognisant of that, honest about it, and should be calling out the behaviour where we don’t think it’s ... consistent with our own values.

Updated

The Campaign catchup is here! Today, Jane Lee is talking to Paul Karp about scare campaigns, and whether they work:

Sorry, east coast. Khaled Al Khawaldeh reports the Easter sunshine is coming to an end:

Yikes, that’s a national positive result of about one in three:

Shorten is talking about his NDIS policy launch (you can see all the details in this liveblog post from this morning). He says:

I’m sure that with more competent management, we are reducing the red tape, we’re not having to get people with permanent disability to have to prove [they still have a disability] every year and get a new medical report to prove [it], which is quite a demeaning process.

Updated

Morrison has finished up talking about a visit to a hospital with his wife, Jenny, and the importance of continual glucose monitoring for people with diabetes – a technology that the Coalition has promised to subsidise.

And with that, I’ll switch over to the ABC, where Labor’s Bill Shorten is talking about the NDIS.

Updated

It’s all up to you, Aussies, says Scott Morrison:

I have made only one bet as prime minister, just one, and I’m not talking about on the Sharks. The only bet I make is ... I bet on Australians. Each and every time.

We don’t think governments are the answer. We don’t think markets are the answer. We think Australians are the answer.

And he likens criticisms of his government to armchair critics of football matches.

“It’s a lot harder to step up yourself, mate,” he says.

Updated

Morrison says Australia’s resources industry is “leading the world” in safety and is also “driving down emissions”. He says:

When I go to those events overseas, and I talk about the fact that we’ve been able to get our emissions down by 20%, we haven’t done it through taxes.

How handy, we have a factcheck on that claim:

Updated

The internet connection is a little wiggy, but I think we’re on the third or fourth case study about people having a go and getting a go.

There’s a Kaylee, a Drew (trade apprentices), a Ryan (runs a floristry business), a Ken (OK, that’s Ken Wyatt, the Indigenous Australians minister), a Jim (small business owner), a Sam, a Rick. Scott Morrison says:

Nothing lights me up more than a young person getting a job.

Updated

The Coalition’s home guarantee scheme means it underwrites loans for single mums (Morrison’s using a specific woman, Nicole, and her son, David, as a case study):

She was wanting to have a go, and so we made sure she got a go.

Scott Morrison is in WA giving a rallying speech in front of a host of nodders wearing Australian flag masks.

The prime minister’s talking about home ownership as being “central” and one of “the greatest aspirations that Australians have”.

Updated

More self-silencing?

Updated

Optus Stadium is where Scott Morrison was booed at the footy last year ... although if reports on Anthony Albanese’s Bluesfest appearance are anything to go by, one person’s boo is another’s rousing cheer.

Updated

A little more on David Speirs, who was today elected Liberal leader in South Australia. He said he would adopt a centrist agenda. The ABC reports that he said:

I think you can expect a traditional centre-right approach from my term as leader. I think most Australians want a party that’s pretty much politically centre.

There’s no reason to doubt a politician’s word, of course. But Speirs also reportedly told a pentecostal congregation to “forget” the separation of church and state. InDaily reported last year:

Speirs, who led the House of Assembly charge against the recent Termination of Pregnancy Bill introduced by attorney general and Liberal moderate Vickie Chapman, said his amendments helped “ensure that we have the most conservative abortion laws in the nation … the best of a bad bunch”.

David Speirs during the leadership ballet at Parliament House in Adelaide today
David Speirs during the leadership ballet at Parliament House in Adelaide today. Photograph: David Mariuz/AAP

Updated

The Coalition has pledged to match Labor’s promise on $38m over three years for Disaster Relief Australia. See below – Amy Remeikis wrote about it at around 9am.

The Coalition says the national veteran volunteer service program will engage more veterans and their families in disaster resilience, recovery and relief operations.

Updated

Josh Taylor makes a fair point:

National Covid summary

Here are the latest coronavirus numbers from around Australia today, as the country records at least 18 deaths from Covid-19:

ACT

  • Deaths: 0
  • Cases: 816
  • In hospital: 64 (with 2 people in ICU)

NSW

  • Deaths: 8
  • Cases: 10,856
  • In hospital: 1,623 (with 70 people in ICU)

Northern Territory

  • Deaths: 0
  • Cases: 475
  • In hospital: 43 (with 10 people in ICU)

Queensland

  • Deaths: 0
  • Cases: 6,467
  • In hospital: 564 (with 20 people in ICU)

South Australia

  • Deaths: 3
  • Cases: 3,829
  • In hospital: 245 (with 11 people in ICU)

Tasmania

  • Deaths: 0
  • Cases: 1,418
  • In hospital: 47 (with 1 person in ICU)

Victoria

  • Deaths: 7
  • Cases: 8,976
  • In hospital: 443 (with 10 people in ICU)

Western Australia

  • Deaths: 0
  • Cases: 6,107
  • In hospital: 247 (with 6 people in ICU)

Big thanks to Amy Remeikis, and big... something to the first leaders’ debate. I actually enjoy them (don’t tell anyone) even when I’m throwing things at the telly.

Tory Shepherd is here to cover the afternoon off with you all, so I will hand you over to her more than capable hands.

Thank you for joining me today – I’ll be back tomorrow, when both leaders will be in Queensland for the first debate between the pair.

Check back for all the updates and in the meantime, take care of you.

AAP has taken a look at how much impact leaders’ debates actually have on people’s votes:

Voters will have an opportunity to watch the Liberal and Labor leaders’ election pitches but research shows less than a third will tune in.

Scott Morrison and Anthony Albanese will go head-to-head for the first time in the campaign during a debate in Brisbane on Wednesday.

The pair will face questions from audience members during what is being billed a “people’s forum” of undecided voters hosted by Sky News and the Courier-Mail.

Yet political scientist Dr Sarah Cameron told AAP interest in leaders’ debates has declined over time and a majority of voters would not watch on Wednesday.

Research on trends in Australian political opinion showed just 30% of voters watched one or more of the debates in 2019.

The last time nearly half of voters watched the debate was in the 2010 election campaign, Cameron said.

Dr Jill Sheppard, a political lecturer at the Australian National University, said both leaders would view the debate as something to get through without slip-ups or replayable gaffes.

She said:

The debates where leaders have really shined have been when they have showed off their policy prowess and that hasn’t happened for probably 20 years.

Leaders go into the debates trying to ensure they minimise the risk of making mistakes and it’s inevitably more a series of talking points than robust back-and-forth.

Viewers also tended to deem the winner of the debate as whoever they preferred before it started, she said.

Updated

Sarah Martin and Michael McGowan have taken a look at Katherine Deves again and found she spoke of playing a key role in Tasmanian Liberal senator’s Claire Chandler’s private member bill that seeks to ban trans women from playing women’s sport (there is already legislation and rules that address this issue, which sporting codes have reported is not an issue for them).

The Liberal party’s controversial candidate for the seat of Warringah, Katherine Deves, claimed a key role in developing legislation to exclude trans women from women’s sport that has been slammed by equality advocates as “divisive and unnecessary”.

Speaking at an event organised by a group called the Coalition for Biological Reality on the issue of “gender identity in law” in Hobart in February, Deves claimed she had worked with the Tasmanian senator Claire Chandler on developing the controversial “save women’s sport” bill.

“Here we are in less than 18 months [since] we started this campaign there is a bill tabled in federal parliament to clarify and preserve our rights,” she said at the event, at which Chandler also spoke.

“And we did this with nothing more than determination, grit and a bit of courage, and of course the indomitable senator Chandler.”

Updated

Meanwhile, the US still wants Australia to increase its 2030 emission reduction pledge, as Daniel Hurst reports. Given the focus once again on power plans, this should be receiving more attention than it is getting

The US will urge Australia to increase its 2030 emission reduction pledge this year, with a senior official declaring it was “a long time ago” when the Abbott government set the target the Morrison government says is “fixed”.

The assistant US secretary of state for environmental affairs, Monica Medina, said the US was “determined that everyone raise ambition” in tackling the climate crisis in a bid to avoid “greater destruction”.

In an interview with Guardian Australia from Palau in the western Pacific, where she attended an oceans conference, Medina signalled that the US was particularly focused on countries that did not commit to deeper cuts at the climate summit in Glasgow late last year.

“We’re calling on every country that didn’t increase their target to raise it,” she said when asked whether Australia should lift its 2030 target this year.

“We have to stay within 1.5 degrees [of heating]. Every tenth of a degree above that leads to greater disruption, greater destruction, and we can’t get those back.”

Updated

Adam Morton has asked to see the modelling the government is using to claim Labor’s rewire-the-nation plan will see an increase in power prices – and did not receive a response.

His story:

Labor has accused Angus Taylor of attempting to repeat past “climate scare campaigns” and called on the energy minister to release government modelling that he claims shows electricity price rises would have a “devastating impact” if Labor is elected.

News Corp tabloids on Tuesday published stories on their front pages claiming government modelling showed consumers would on average be $560 a year worse off by 2032-33 under an ALP policy to accelerate the construction of new electricity transmission links.

Taylor, who is also the emissions reduction minister, issued a press release making the same claim, but the statement did not explain how the numbers were reached or who did the analysis. His office did not respond to a request for the modelling on Tuesday morning.

Updated

Wonder how many ISP addresses for these searches came from newsrooms just double checking?

Updated

This is the Sky News political editor saying this:

Q: My understanding is that the department has been briefing groups about the new agriculture visa. Let’s not expect anybody to arrive from Vietnam until we can set the tax rate for the Pacific, for the Pacific Australia mobility and the new agriculture visa. If that’s the case, which side of the parliament decided not to hear that legislation in the dying days of the parliament? And another really quick one – could you each tell us when the last time you visited a working farm was?

Julie Collins:

So, in terms of the legislation, it obviously was not prioritised by the government in terms of the program. The government sets the sitting schedule for federal parliament. It did not prioritise this legislation. There was a heap of legislation that the government needed to get through in a hurry, including the budget bills. It needed to get the budget bills through both houses within a day – the Tuesday night was the budget. Wednesday it needed to get both bills through.

And then there was a whole heap of other legislation the government also wanted to get through and just raised through the parliament. And we said: you’ve got to have a proper process for all of this legislation and you need to prioritise it. It’s the government that sets the agenda for parliament. It’s the government that says what priority legislation is. There are plenty of pieces of agriculture legislation that didn’t get through the parliament before parliament was dissolved, and the government should take responsibility for that. That is the government’s issue, totally the government’s issue. We do not set the parliamentary agenda, the government does. We don’t, as an opposition. Let me be very clear about that.

When was she last on a working farm?

Last week in the Hawkesbury.

David Littleproud:

So look, that’s not necessarily correct. What happens at the end of the last parliamentary sitting, there is a whole list of legislation that we sit down – and it’s not all argy-bargy in Parliament House. We sit there and look at legislative agenda. What are the things that have a bipartisan approach? What are the things that we all agree on, that we can guillotine debate with some extremities on the left side and the right side that we don’t always necessarily want to hear from? What are the ones that we can agree on?

Collins:

And we supported this. We said we’d support this.

Littleproud:

I gave you the respect. It’s mutual sometimes.

Collins:

And were you agreed as a Coalition.

Littleproud at a previous appearance at the National Press Club in Canberra
Littleproud at a past appearance at the press club in Canberra. Photograph: Mick Tsikas/AAP

Littleproud:

No, no, I’d like to answer the question, please. What we do is that the Senate leaders sat down, sat down with Penny Wong and said: these are the legislation that we want to push through and guillotine debate, because if you have the debate, it just takes too long and we don’t get through as many bills as we want. So part of that was a piece of legislation that would take the tax rate as it is for backpackers to – for an agricultural visa worker who came in from 32.5 cents down to 15 cents. The Labor party said no, we’re not going to allow that to be guillotined. We won’t allow that to happen.

Collins:

There was heaps and heaps of legislation you wanted to rush through the parliament.

Littleproud:

After the demonisation of your political masters the AWU – who walked into embassies and high commissions and said don’t allow your citizens to come to Australia because they’ll be exploited – the hypocrisy to sit there with a bill that would have meant that the tax rate was reduced and it was equitable to everyone else is the most brazen piece of hypocrisy I’ve ever seen. This was an opportunity to accepted a signal – a signal to Vietnam, a sovereign country, that wants to send its citizens here, that signed up as a sovereign country, and send a signal to say no, I’m not going to do that. That’s more about politics than it is about good policy.

When was Littleproud last on a working farm?

Last Saturday, up in central Queensland at a BBQ.

Updated

David Littleproud and Julie Collins are debating agriculture and regional and rural policies at the press club (where the ABC’s Lucy Barbour is doing an outstanding job of moderating).

Agriculture is worth about $80bn to the Australian economy, but often comes off second best to the mining sector when the interests overlap.

Updated

Record number of Australians enrol to vote

The AEC seems a little taken aback by the number of new enrolments. But it has had an excellent social media presence, where staff have worked very hard to engage with people as humans, answer questions, dispel disinformation and even have some fun. It’s helped.

Here is electoral commissioner Tom Rogers talking about the more than 17.2 million Australians now on the roll – which is 96% of the eligible voting public:

Yesterday was the biggest single day of enrolment in Australian history, with 214,000 enrolment applications received – an unmitigated success for the election and Australian democracy.

We can’t confirm a final figure just yet but with more than 700,000 enrolment applications received this week, the remarkable state of the roll in Australia is something that is simply not seen in most places around the world.

Quite frankly it is a modern democratic miracle.

Our enrolment teams worked through Easter and have continued to implement processes and systems that ensure Australian enrolment is not just world leading but also secure. We had almost 1,000 staff working in our offices all around Australia over the Easter weekend, making sure we could meet this extraordinary demand.

The systems operated smoothly and securely under the load and Australia now has the highest base for democratic participation it has ever had.

Australians should feel great pride in this achievement and confidence that it sets the foundation for election results to reflect the will of the people.

Voters casting ballots in the Sydney electorate of Wentworth at the last election
Voters casting ballots in the Sydney electorate of Wentworth at the last election. Photograph: Bianca de Marchi/AAP

Updated

Police in Western Australia have charged a 43-year-old man with 134 child exploitation offences.

Detectives searched the man’s home on 8 February and seized a number of electronic devices including mobile phones, hard drives and a laptop. He was charged at that time with possessing child exploitation material and several drug offences and was remanded in custody following a court appearance on 9 February. He remains in prison.

In a statement today, police said the man was charged with a total of 134 child exploitation offences following a further search of the property and another property in south-western WA.

The charges include 38 counts of sexually penetrating a child of or over the age of 13 and under the age of 16, 58 counts of indecent dealing with a child of or over the age of 13 and under the age of 16, and 34 counts of indecently recording a child of or over the age of 13 and under the age of 16.

He was also charged with two counts of indecent dealing and two counts of indecently recording a child under the age of 13.

He was due to appear in the Midland magistrates court on those 134 charges today.

Updated

The RBA has released the minutes of its April board meeting when they left the cash rate target unchanged at a record 0.1%. (Interestingly, the cash rate is falling short of that low target, and so it hasn’t been 0.1%, in case anybody asks Anthony Albanese or Scott Morrison again.)

Anyway, a few takeaways from the minutes ... including that they don’t tell us much we didn’t know. That probably means investors won’t move their bets much as to the timing of rate rises.

Markets reckon the central bank won’t act until June but will keep lifting rates for months and months to come:

An interesting point is that the surge in inflation globally “had resulted in average real wages contracting at their fastest pace in many years”.

The RBA said:

Given the outlook for inflation in many advanced economies, it was considered unlikely that growth in real wages would turn positive for some time.

As for Australia, wage growth was gradual, with private sector workers leading any pick-up, with those on EBAs seeing “subdued” increases:

This shift had been mostly evident in individual pay arrangements; wage increases provided in enterprise bargaining agreements had reportedly remained around the subdued rates seen in late 2021.

Inflation, meanwhile, will continue to lift “over coming quarters”, with fuel, food and other commodity prices leading the increases – as you would know already.

However, there was uncertainty about whether these price adjustments had represented a one-off shift in the level of prices or the start of a period of ongoing price increases,” the RBA said, implying they don’t yet see the need to slam the brakes on the economy to stop inflation running away.

Inflation had picked up and a further increase was expected, with measures of underlying inflation in the March quarter expected to be above 3%, it said. That’s a safe bet, with UBS expecting 4.5% and other banks in that range.

Large increases in global interest rates were also seen to be a risk to some emerging market economies with weaker economic fundamentals because this combination had led to sharp capital outflows in the past, it said.

Anyway, in sum, the RBA will await “over coming months important additional evidence”, so we can probably rule out any May rate rise prior to the elections on the 21st.

Separately, the ABS has posted stats on household spending for the year to February.

Spending has picked up again after sinking:

The 15% increase in spending on transport is probably not surprising given fuel prices, but why we spent a fifth more on clothing and footwear is curious.

That Victorians should lead the spending binge is also interesting, as is the subdued spending in NSW.

Perhaps some retail therapy going on down south?

Updated

The United Workers Union is expecting aged care workers to strike during the federal election. I spoke with the UWU’s aged care director, Carolyn Smith, this morning. She told me her members at five aged care providers across the country have voted overwhelmingly to take industrial action, including strikes.

The five aged care providers collectively employ 7,000 workers. Three more ballots are due in the next week. Smith said the timing of any industrial action was yet to be decided, but flagged it was highly likely to take place prior to the 21 May election:

There is a very strong mood for action and there is a very strong mood for action before the election. Aged care workers have been ignored for so long and they know this is their moment to make a point.

Asked what message aged care workers wanted to send the community, she said:

They are sick of propping up a broken system. They are sick of their hard work not quite making up for the chronic understaffing in the system, so they are physically and emotionally exhausted by never really giving the quality of care that they know the people they are looking after deserve.

Updated

Here was Anthony Albanese ruling out a deal with the crossbench to form government this morning (he was talking to Brisbane radio 4BC):

There will be no deal with the independents and crossbenchers. I’m seeking to form a ... government in my own right. I’m the only person running for prime minister who can form government in their own right. And on coalmines, our position is very clear that there are environmental processes to go through. If projects stack up environmentally and commercially, they go ahead and we welcome the jobs.

The idea that either major party will send people back to the polls or willingly accept opposition rather than do a deal with a form a minority government is absolutely ridiculous.

Updated

Q: According to latest Newspoll, 29% of voters would choose to support a minor party or independent. No matter what way this falls, is it inevitable Australians are looking at three years of horse trading politics?

Scott Morrison:

Well, I think that would be a very uncertain and unstable outcome for Australia. If we had three years of an unstable and uncertain parliament with all sorts of deals being done on this day and that day*. That’s not the stable and certain leadership that the country needs. What they need is the stability and certainty that we have been able to deliver over these past three years.

So that is in the hands of Australians, and elections and these campaigns are an opportunity to set out all those options very clearly. Now, only by voting for the Liberals and Nationals can you ensure that the strong economic leadership that we’ve provided, the strong economic plan that has taken us through this pandemic and setting us up for decades of opportunity, particularly in Western Australia, that’s the stability and certainty that Australia needs.

(A reporter repeats the question.)

Morrison:

What it is is a summary of the political situation that’s happening right now and there are five weeks to go, and I’m looking forward to every single day to have the opportunity, as I’m doing right here with my colleagues and my team, Kristy McSweeney in the seat of Swan and right across the country, I’ve been able to make it really clear. This election is a choice. You can vote for the stability and certainty that we’ve been age to provide.

You can vote for the chaos and instability of independents. You can vote for the unknown of a Labor party who has a leader that now opposes everything he previously supported and supports everything he previously opposed. A Labor party that you know can’t manage money. A Labor party that can’t even tell you what they stand for any more.

* This is how the Senate works, and how the government has passed legislation in the Senate for the past nine years.

Updated

Q: Your party is warning that electricity prices will go up under Labor. Jim Chalmers says your government is adding to the bin fire of lies that your government tells about renewable energy. So are you lying?

Scott Morrison:

Jim Chalmers, good old Sneaky Jim. He’s the one who’s been telling the lies. It was Jimmy Chalmers yesterday who was out pedalling this lie seeking to scare pensioners ...

Q: About electricity ...

Morrison:

I’m happy to come to prices, electricity prices, but you raised Jim Chalmers and you raised Jim Chalmers as being some sort of model of virtue*.

That hasn’t been my experience of Sneaky Jim.**

But when it comes to the issue of electricity prices, this isn’t just the government. Tony Wood from the Grattan Institute has said today that Labor’s policy, their poles and wires policy, is a bit of a mess, end up building stuff at the wrong place at the wrong time***.

That is what he has said. There’s been similar critical comments from the Victorian energy policy centre, [frontier] economics. I mean, this is like Labor’s aged care policy which fell apart after a couple of days when they didn’t know how many nurses they needed****.

When their healthcare policy fell apart because they hadn’t costed it properly but he said he had. See, government’s hard. Government is complex. Government requires an understanding of how the economy works and how the mechanisms of government work, and that’s what we’ve demonstrated. I mean take jobkeeper for example. That was – that is the single largest economic intervention of a government in Australia’s history. We had to bring that together in a matter of weeks. We didn’t rush it. Plenty of people tried to make us rush it. We weren’t going to do that. We were going to get it right.

How you design policy and understand the implications of that policy is incredibly important, and what Labor’s electricity policy shows is they don’t understand the consequences of the decision they’re making

* The reporter only mentioned Jim Chalmers’s name

** Morrison, who has criticised Anthony Albanese for calling him names and repeatedly said people need to disagree better, has now used this name for Jim Chalmers multiple times

*** Here is what Tony Wood said, as reported by the Herald Sun this morning:

Grattan Institute energy program director Tony Wood said Labor’s $20bn promise would help reduce the cost of transmission by bringing down the cost of capital, but it did not solve the “fundamental problem” of deciding when and how new poles and wires should be delivered.

He said that if projects were built too soon “then someone is carrying the cost”.

“It’s a bit of a mess,” Mr Wood said.

“We absolutely need to sort out the investment test under which these projects are ­approved and built so that they meet the test of the best long-term interests of consumers.”

“It doesn’t make any sense for the government to say we’re just going to go ahead and do it … you will end up building stuff at the wrong place at the wrong time.”

Labor’s policy is only to build the projects that have been independently assessed as being necessary.

**** Labor’s aged care policy follows a recommendation from the royal commission. The government has not said how it will address the health care worker shortage.

Updated

Q: On the issue of a deal with the independents, would you prefer to be in opposition than do any deal to get you into a minority government?

Scott Morrison:

I would prefer for the country’s sake that we have the stability and certainty of a Liberal party-National government that has taken us through ...

The journalist repeats the question.

Morrison:

Well, that is the choice that Australians have to make. Do they want a Liberal National government that has taken Australia through one of the most difficult times this country has seen since the second world war and the Great Depression, who has a clear economic plan, particularly here for Western Australia ... Or a Labor opposition supported by the Greens, their views change from one day to the next. They flip and they flop. They’re for something, they’re against something. They’ve had three years. But the arm chair critic who wishes to become the prime minister of Australia is finding out how difficult it is when you put your hands on the wheel, and this is just the campaign. I can assure you running the country is a lot harder than running a campaign. And if he can’t hack the campaign I can assure you he won’t be able to go close to run a country.

That doesn’t answer the question.

Updated

Q: You talk about the pile on on Katherine Deves, but the criticism is coming from within the Liberal party [with Matt Kean] and Trent Zimmerman calling for her to be dumped. They’re prepared to lose votes in progressive seats as a result of this?

Scott Morrison:

Well, I wasn’t saying where the commentary was coming from. I was simply saying that in selecting Katherine I have selected someone together with the premier in New South Wales and Christine, who is a woman raising three girls, who has always stood up for women and girls in sport, and I’m not going to allow a pile on on her, to silence her, and I think there are many Australians who agree with me about that.

Q: Katherine Deves has threatened to derail the first few weeks of the campaign and pain. Do you believe the Liberal party needs a stronger vetting process to ensure these issues don’t come up?

Morrison:

I don’t agree with your analysis and the question.

Updated

Q: You said this election is a choice. It is obvious from the polls but a lot of Australians don’t like either choice. Why haven’t you been able to capitalise on Anthony Albanese’s mistakes in terms of the Coalition’s primary vote?

Scott Morrison:

You’re right. It is a choice. It’s absolutely a choice. Elections are always about choices. And there are two alternatives. There is a Liberal-National Coalition government ... or a Labor government supported by the Greens led by Anthony Albanese. They are the two outcomes.

I am advocating a choice for a Liberal-National government led by myself, because over the last three years. Since I was elected at the last election, we have the lowest death rate, one of the lowest rates in the world as a result of Covid, we are one of the strongest advanced economies in the world coming through Covid, one of the highest vaccination rates in the world.

On the big calls ... ensured that Australia has come through the most difficult challenges in the last three years. Australia has performed well under our government. That has been based on having an economic plan and the stability and certainty of us being able to pursue that through the parliament, which has enabled us to set up Australia for what I believe is going to be a time of great opportunity in the years ahead, but also a time of great challenge.

You are right, it is a choice, and over the next five weeks, people will be seeking to make that choice. It’s a choice between a government that we know, and a Labor party that you don’t, that has had three years to tell you what their economic plan was, and they cannot even remember what the unemployment figure is.

Scott Morrison during today’s press conference after visiting Woodside Karda Robotics in Perth.
Scott Morrison during today’s press conference after visiting Woodside Karda Robotics in Perth. Photograph: Mick Tsikas/AAP

Updated

Morrison says he won't allow Katherine Deves to be 'silenced'

Q: The comments from Katherine Deves caused [issues]. Why won’t you disendorse her, and secondly, how are you preparing for your first event tomorrow night?

Scott Morrison:

On the issue raised in New South Wales, I went into some detail about that on the weekend, as you would know. And the comments were made, she regrets* [them], and that is not how she is proposing to go forward in highlighting the very important issue that she has been a strong campaigner on.

She is a woman, standing up for women**, and girls and their access to fair sport in this country***. I’m not going to allow her to be silenced. I’m not going to allow her to be pushed aside as the pile on comes in to try and silence her.

I will stand up with her, my team is standing up with her, and we will make sure that she won’t be silenced.

I together with the [NSW] premier and the former president of the Liberal party, first ever president of the Liberal party, have to make some choices about the campaign, half of them were women.

I chose the woman who put herself through the solicitor’s administration board and stood up [for] women and girls in sport, and who was raising three of her own girls in that electorate right now, living in Manly.

I think she will make a great member of parliament ... if she is elected as the member for Warringah, and I don’t think she should be silenced because she has views that others don’t agree with.

* Some of the comments are as recent as earlier this year.

** Trans women are women.

*** There are already rules in place to deal with this issue. No sporting body appears to be calling for it any more. And Deves’s comments were not just about sport.

Updated

'I won't be doing any deals with independents': Morrison

Q: Anthony Albanese this morning ruled out a deal with the independents. Can you make the same promise?

Scott Morrison:

I won’t be doing any deals with independents. The reason for that is this. I think Australians need to be very clear about the choice here. The last three years have been extremely challenging and difficult. As a government, we haven’t seen challenges like this for generations

You have to go back to the second world war, the great depression, to see the intensity of the challenges that our government has had to face over the past three years. One of the great strengths we have had to deal with is that we have the strongest economy of advanced economies coming out of this pandemic.

One of the lowest death rates from the pandemic of any country in the world, and one of the highest vaccination rates, particularly here in WA, of any country in the world. We were able to achieve that because we had stability and certainty in government and in the parliament.

A vote for these independents ... is a vote for uncertainty, and instability in incredibly uncertain times. It’s the Forest Gump principle: you never know what you’re going to get.

And in a time of uncertainty [a vote] for those independents is a vote for chaos in our parliament, which will only hurt and impact on Australians running their businesses, trying to stay on the jobs, keeping their families together and ensuring that they can get through the challenging times ahead. That is why I don’t support those votes for independents, and I have no plans whatsoever to be doing any deals with them.

Updated

Q: In the resources sector, which you spoke about today, vaccine mandates have cost jobs. In WA mask mandates are still in place, a pass to get into the state, you need to show your proof of vaccination when you go to a restaurant. Is it time that WA comes in line with the rest of the country and scraps these restrictions and would you like to see a united Australia where people are not confused about what they have to do in different parts of the country?

Scott Morrison:

Of course, this is something we have been working to put some time and in Western Australia they have been on a different sequence to the rest of the country. Western Australia has had some great success of course during the course of the pandemic.

As the pandemic set in, states had very different experiences. As a result, they are having different arrangements. I want to be clear when it comes to vaccine mandates, they have been unilaterally applied by state governments under their own rules, under their own constitutional authority. The only mandate that has been supported by the commonwealth related to those working in high-risk health situations and those working in aged care.

Those mandates were a decision of state governments, they have the authority for those decisions, they had the responsibility of those decisions, they have taken their own advice on those matters, and I am sure that they will continue to, whether it is here in Western Australia or other parts of the country, where all of those types of things as you are referring to.

Yes they have been removed and thank goodness for that. Hopefully that will follow through with close contact rules and as we go forward. We will make their own judgement and I would like to see us continue to move to a more universal set of rules.

Updated

Q: Can you rule out adding pensioners to the cashless debit card and will you do a preference deal with Clive Palmer?

Scott Morrison:

The answer to the second question is no. I made that clear when I was last in Western Australia ... I’ve already answered that question. The second point you make is what I think is a despicable lie, which has been told by the Labor party.

And they are seeking to do it in secret, the Labor party is ringing up people, sending out brochures, writing to pensioners and scaring them, that there be some suggestion that our government would be applying the debit card to pensioners. It is simply not true.

Anthony Albanese needs to come clear on this, he needs to rule this out, because it is not true. And it is not just me saying it, the director of the Council on the Ageing actually wrote to the Labor party, concerned about this scare campaign, frightened, his people were contacting him saying that they were being scared of it.

And they were in fear of it. The Labor party is frightening the pensioners about something that is a complete and utter lie.

Updated

Stuart Robert says something, and then Bridget McKenzie follows up with “how exciting was that”, which may be the first time that phrase has been uttered in follow up to anything Robert has ever said.

Updated

Scott Morrison holds press conference in Perth

It is all about the resource sector so far in Scott Morrison’s press conference. He repeats what is his favourite line today:

There’s a big difference between a McGowan Labor government and a Albanese Labor government – they don’t support the resource sector that our government does and the McGowan government has here in Western Australia.

... This will be a close election. It will be a choice between a Liberal and National government and one supported by the Greens. And if it is a Labor government supported by the Greens, that is bad news for the resources sector, because the Greens want to shut the mining industry down.

The Greens do want more climate action than Labor is offering, yes. But Morrison leaves himself open to the obvious question with that line – what happens if he has to do a deal with independents who are running on a climate platform? What compromises would a Morrison government have to make in that case?

Updated

There are a couple more questions on the gig economy and comments the Parramatta candidate (chosen by Anthony Albanese) Andrew Charlton had previously made about Uber drivers liking their higher level of pay, but my transcription needs a bit of work, so I’ll revisit that in a moment.

Q: I want to ask about the comments you made on breakfast radio this morning. You spoke to Neil Breen and you said that your plan is very clear, ‘offshore processing began when I was deputy prime minister in 2013. We turned back boats, we had resettlement in third countries’. You were deputy prime minister in June 2013 through September of that year. Between that period, some 3,960 people arrived illegally in Australia on 48 boats. You didn’t turn back the boats. No, no. What comfort to people have you will turn them?

Anthony Albanese:

We have said that we support operation sovereign borders. We have said we support it. The offshore processing system, we said we support boat turn backs, we said we support settlement in third countries.

There is a difference we have on temporary protection visas. We have been very clear, we have been very clear about the policies that we support, very clear going forward. We will continue to support them.

One of the things I said on radio this morning was that the government said that if you agreed to the New Zealand model, that would open up the whole system again. The truth is, they delayed on that, they delayed on that, for year after year. We have been calling upon them to accept it, and they waited until just before the election before they said that.

And here is that bit from the Brisbane radio 4BC interview:

Breen: I know you’ve done three years ... like the border protection policies.

Albanese: That’s not right. That’s not right.

Breen: But it does seem to, you might say it’s not right, but it seems to the public that you’ve had three years. And then all of a sudden we’ve got to the election campaign and you’ve got problems with some of these policies?

Albanese: Well, that’s not right, our plan is very clear. Offshore processing, of course, began when I was deputy prime minister back in 2013.

Breen: So we keep offshore processing and turn back the boats?

Albanese: We turn back the boats. We have settlement in third countries, we’ve been saying. Talk about scrambling, Neil, how’s this for a definition of scrambling – New Zealand did a deal. Julia Gillard was prime minister, John Key was the prime minister of New Zealand a long time ago, and they did a deal whereby New Zealand would take people from Nauru or PNG and settled them in New Zealand. The government said if you do that, it’ll all open up … everything will start again. You can’t possibly do that until the eve of the election and all of a sudden it was now OK to do so.

So we’ve been saying for ages, it would have saved so much money if that deal had been dealt with at the time. And you could have had people settled in New Zealand each and every year, which is what the deal on offer from New Zealand was. What’s changed? All that’s changed, Neil, is an election campaign. This government haven’t been governing in Australia’s interests, they’ve been governing in their own interests.

Updated

Q: You accuse the Coalition of launching a scare campaign, isn’t Labor doing the same thing on pensioners on the cashless debit card? When has the Coalition minister ever said that pensioners will be added to the system?

Anthony Albanese:

Here is what Anne Ruston said. Here is what Anne Ruston said that people can make their own judgement ... In 2020, during this term of this parliament, this minister said this: ‘We are seeking to put all income management onto the universal platform, which is the cashless debit card.’ I might see if Jim wants to add something.

A very breathless reporter asks: “As leader of the party can we please ask about the cashless debit card?”

Jim Chalmers:

We can be very clear about this. Labor will abolish the cashless debit card, the government will keep it and they are talking about expanding it. The prime minister during the course of this term, in September 2019, said the cashless debit card commended itself to wider application. The minister said, as Anthony reminded you, in 2020, he talked about this being the national platform.

Labor will abolish the cashless debit card, the Liberals and Nationals will not.

Updated

Q: Just on Katherine Deves, are you concerned that the transgender community is being dragged into the middle of a political debate? Is this a tactic to try to gain votes from a community that voted against same-sex marriage?

Anthony Albanese:

This is a debate that is divisive within the community but it’s also divisive within the Liberal party. And the Liberal party, I’ll leave it to them to sort it out. You’ve got Matt Kean making comments, you’ve got Trent Zimmerman in north Sydney, in the seat next to Warringah, saying that the candidate for Warringah should be disendorsed.

This is just another [example] of the chaos and division that is there within the Liberal party. And I make this point. Scott Morrison’s last captain’s pick before the last election was a fellow called Craig Kelly. Craig Kelly. And Craig Kelly is now continuing to run as an independent.

Updated

Q: You can’t get away from the fact that voters are still struggling to find reasons to elect you. How are you going deal with that? How are you going to give them reasons when they say they don’t know who you are or what you’ll do when you’re prime minister?

Anthony Albanese:

The cracker of a reason is right here. This is about the future. This is about what the government denies.

They deny the role that the transformation that will occur in not just the Australian economy. We’re talking about a transformation of the global economy. And what we see at international conferences is Australia go along and be in the naughty corner with Saudi Arabia, with Brazil, with a couple of countries, trying to oppose the tide, the tide that is occurring in terms of the transformation of the global economy.

... I want to back Australian science. I want to back Australian jobs. I want to back Australian industries. This government, this government don’t.

They say that the vehicles that will be charged by these stations will end the weekend. They say that this is going backwards and will hurt Australians.

... My agenda is about optimism, is about creating opportunity, is about backing Australian science, is about backing Australian industry and backing Australian jobs. I want a high productivity, good wage economy going forward. This prime minister is incapable of doing it.

Updated

Q: Just on the greenfields [workplace agreements], Morrison today said that he would guarantee greenfields extended from four to six years. This is standalone, this isn’t with the omnibus. Are you guys going to support this standalone measure? Shorten did ahead of 2019. Will you commit to doing so?

Tony Burke:

What Scott Morrison announced today is all over the place. It’s different to what he said two days ago. Let’s not forget how he introduced this. How was it taken out of the Senate?

They voted to get rid of their own legislation on this. The government is all over the place. What Scott Morrison is saying today is the opposite in some way of what he was saying two days ago, and what he’s referring to today, where he’s talking about the annual wage review, is a lower rate of increase than what’s happening under current greenfields. We announced the industrial relations policies that we would be taking to the election more than a year ago, and unlike the government our industrial relations policies uniformly deliver secure jobs, better pay and a fairer system

Updated

Q: On climate change, your short term 2030 target is 43% [emissions reduction].

Anthony Albanese:

Correct.

Q: The UN is saying we actually need at least 45 to keep below 1.5C warming. The climate change authority also says between 45 and 60. Why have you gone 43, why have you not gone 45 or higher?

Albanese:

Because what we didn’t do, and we explained this in full when we announced our policy, was say, ‘OK, let’s pick a number and work back from there’. What we did we went, ‘What makes good policy?’ when rewiring the nation was announced in 2019. This has been around for three years and the government have three years later got front page splashes in tabloids based upon not quite sure what. Angus Taylor can’t say what it’s based upon in interviews he’s given this morning. We did the hard yards on that.

We also looked at other measures that we would put in place, including for electric vehicles. For example, removing the fringe benefits tax will make an enormous difference in terms of the price of that because one way that you get vehicles into the Australian market is either through direct government purchases or through company fleets. And that makes an enormous difference.

We have a range of policies out there – community batteries. What we did was we worked through all of the policies and then RepuTex did the modelling and it found that would reduce emissions by 43% by 2030. That’s how you do good policy.

Updated

Q: Really quickly if you don’t mind. Labor is six points ahead, same as last time. The Coalition primary vote is behind Labor’s but personal support for yourself has fallen. What do you make of these results?

Anthony Albanese:

I’m not a commentator, that’s your job.

Q: You must have an opinion on that.

Albanese:

That’s your job to commentate on the polls and there’ll be a lot of polling between now and election day.

Updated

'I’ve been underestimated my whole life': Albanese

Q: In an interview this morning you said that the government has underestimated you. How?

Anthony Albanese:

Well, I’ve been underestimated my whole life. My whole life has been one whereby I haven’t got a leg up. I have fought for everything that I have got. I have a long period in public life. I have learnt something new each and every day. I lead a team that’s united. I lead a team that has plans for the future.

This government are still relying upon, today, another scare campaign based upon a lie. Based upon the same untruths that they put forward during the 2019 campaign. They said that electric vehicles would end the weekend and we have seen the growth here ... in terms of charging stations being produced at this factory right now.

These jobs are secure jobs. They’ll grow. We met with company leaders earlier this morning, and they have done an amazing job. They’re looking at expansion here in Australia.

This is an example of the opportunity that is there for embracing the future, not being scared of it and not being terrified of it to the point whereby you just dismiss the future.

So I have been underestimated my whole life. I will continue to put forward a really strong agenda for Australia’s future, and that will contrast with this government that have nothing to say about the present, ignore it, pretend this isn’t happening.

Updated

Australia losing green energy opportunities due to Coalition inaction, Albanese says

Here is Anthony Albanese’s message for the day (including a line he likes so much he says it twice):

This is a government that struggles with the present and don’t learn from the past. No plan for the future, struggle with the present and don’t learn from the past.

Which is why, during the last election campaign, you might recall that Scott Morrison said that electric vehicles would end the weekend. He said you couldn’t tow your trailer, you couldn’t tow your boat, all complete nonsense, complete nonsense going forward.

He said that batteries, charging the big battery, was as useful as the big banana or the big prawn. He said that a 50% renewable energy target was nuts – that was his quote during that time.

And his minister at the time, given he’s there in WA now spruiking the benefits of hydrogen, last election when Labor had a policy on hydrogen, the minister said that it was snake oil. That ... nothing would be ready for decades.

The delay, prevarication and inaction from this government has meant that we’re missing out on opportunities. There’s such a thing as first mover now, we’ve lost that advantage. Now, we’ve lost that, but what we need to do is embrace the action that is there from climate change which will actually be good for our economy and good for jobs.

And yet what today’s scare campaign really highlights is that nothing has changed for this government. All they’re left with is a scare campaign, no substance, which is why Scott Morrison went to the Glasgow conference, gave an empty speech to an empty room and has nothing to say about Australia’s future.=

Updated

Anthony Albanese hits back at Coalition's climate 'scare campaign'

Anthony Albanese is in Queensland for the fourth day. He is talking about support for natural disaster relief, power prices, Labor’s energy plan and the NDIS.

This is all in his opening spiel. Albanese appears to be addressing criticism from some sectors that Labor isn’t offering an alternative to the Coalition, by laying out a bunch of policies put forward.

But once again we see just a scare campaign. And I wonder whether Dave Sharma and Josh Frydenberg and Trent Zimmerman and all of those people who suddenly have discovered that, yes, they support net zero by 2050, agree that somehow renewables are going to lead to higher costs, which is what the basic assumption of this so-called attack is based upon.

Anthony Albanese and Labor candidate for Dickson Ali France watch a drone while meeting staff from veterans’ organisation Disaster Relief Australia in Brisbane today.
Anthony Albanese and Labor candidate for Dickson Ali France watch a drone while meeting staff from veterans’ organisation Disaster Relief Australia in Brisbane today. Photograph: Lukas Coch/AAP

Updated

Scott Morrison has finished up his event with the WA resources industry, where his main message seemed to be: Anthony Albanese is not Mark McGowan.

Morrison has made an art form out of stating the obvious and then using it as a campaign message. He said:

Think about this. Federal Labor under Anthony Albanese is not the same as state Labor under Mark McGowan. They are two completely different things. They have very little in common, especially when it comes to these important economic issues that are important to the future of Western Australia.

Galaxy brain thinking there.

Updated

Queensland records 6,467 new Covid cases

Queensland has recorded 6,467 new Covid cases and no further deaths. There are 564 people with Covid in hospital in the state, 20 of whom are in ICU.

Scott Morrison says liberal democracies must 'hold the line' against autocracies

Scott Morrison has said liberal democracies must “hold the line when it comes to the impact of autocracies seeking to impose their will on other countries”.

The prime minister made the comment this morning after being asked about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and expectations the conflict could continue for an extended period.

He was asked for his assessment of Russia’s “endgame”.

Morrison repeated his previous remarks to the Lowy Institute about the need to push back against an emerging “arc of autocracy”.

He said it was not in Australia’s interests for autocracies like China and Russia to try to upend global rules and norms.

We have seen that bullying, we’ve seen that coercion in our own region, we’ve seen it from China, we’ve seen it from Russia, we’ve seen it from other nations from time to time, and the world needs to deal with this.

The shadow of Scott Morrison as he speaks to the WA Chamber of Minerals and Energy at the Perth Convention Centre on Tuesday.
The shadow of Scott Morrison as he speaks to the WA Chamber of Minerals and Energy at the Perth Convention Centre on Tuesday. Photograph: Mick Tsikas/AAP

Morrison suggested members of the Quad (Australia, the US, Japan and India) and the Five Eyes (Australia, New Zealand, the US, the UK and Canada) had “a real job” to “hold the line” against autocracies seeking to impose their will.

On Ukraine, he said Australia “has been there with them all the way”. Australia (like its allies) doesn’t have troops on the ground, but it has supplied lethal and non-lethal military equipment and is now sending ADF Bushmaster vehicles.

Morrison said Ukraine was “amazed” that Australia was providing such support from “half a world away”. He added:

We can and we should. And we won’t sit passively and allow the complete turning of the tables on our world international order by those who would seek to change it by sheer force and coercion and it sends a message to all those others who would seek to try, that Australia is no soft touch under my government when it comes to protecting not just our national security, but the peace and freedom of our region as well, working with other like-minded leaders.

A quick reminder that Labor shares the Coalition’s assessment of the current strategic challenges, and has pledged to spend at least 2% of GDP on defence.

Marise Payne has previously said support for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine is shared across the parliament.

Updated

Bill Shorten also addressed announcing the NDIS policy without Anthony Albanese being there, saying “he can’t be everywhere”.

Updated

And on the polls, Bill Shorten says:

First of all, you go mad if you read the polls everyday. There is literally no upside to your mental health or anyone else is to read those polls. The reason why cliches last the test of time is they happen to be true.

The only poll which counts is on election day. Anthony is outlining our policies, we are outlining our policies, Claire [O’Neil] is outlining a fantastic aged care policy, which is a black hole for the government.

I’ve outlined a national disability insurance scheme policy. It is a way to reduce costs but not stop kids from getting necessary speech pathology. Taking red tape and constant confrontation out of dealing with the National Disability Insurance Agency. Again I would say that for a person who is of a profound disability dealing with the red tape and government, you can trust Labor to cut out the red tape and really that is what matters – quality of life in the basics.

Updated

Asked about the role of the Administrative Appeals Tribunal in NDIS disputes, Bill Shorten says:

The right for people to go to the AAT will still exist but there is no way we should be spending $30m in eight months on expensive lawyers. What has happened is this government has given up managing the scheme.

Updated

Bill Shorten promises NDIS overhaul under Labor

Luke Henriques-Gomes will give you his take of this event, but here is some of what Bill Shorten has had to say as Labor launches its NDIS policy:

Today, Labor is putting forward [our] disability policy, which is to restore trust for people with disability and their carers and the government. The NDIS, under the current Coalition Morrison government, has been engaging in an undeclared war, cutting literally thousands and thousands of participants’ plans. Kids with autism are not getting the early intervention support they deserve.

[People who] suffer a serious mental illness are not getting the support they deserve and there is a crisis in terms of housing. Labor is proposing to fix the problems. We don’t need to [shave] money, we need to stop expensive consultants, the top end of town lawyers growing rich on being paid taxpayer money to stop people getting their wheelchairs or home shower modifications, or early childhood intervention.

Labor wants disability back in the driving seat and a broader national disability strategy and a national autism strategy, so people with disability in this country have a fair start in life.

Bill Shorten says Labor will ensure people with disability get a fair start in life.
Bill Shorten says Labor will ensure people with disability get a fair start in life. Photograph: Mark Hunt/REX/Shutterstock

Updated

Bill Shorten popped up on the Nine Network earlier this morning.

Here is what he had to say about the election campaign so far:

I think it is about the remaining five weeks. I was on your show last week. We agreed if you could rerun the first couple of days of last week you’d like to. But I don’t forget the last three years.

Mr Morrison is a clever politician but I don’t forget that he was the one who absolved himself of responsibility when the bushfires were on, he was the one who said getting the vaccine wasn’t a race.

I think in an election campaign Mr Morrison is trying to get out his magic wand and forget about the last three years. I’m competitive and I think Australians don’t deserves the Liberals and they don’t deserve another third term.

Updated

Scott Morrison announces two new hydrogen hubs for WA

The federal government has announced the Pilbara in Western Australia’s north and Kwinana in Perth will become the home of two new hydrogen hubs, with $140m in government funding going towards the hubs as well as $6m to investigate two new development projects.

Here is the announcement:

Two new hydrogen hubs will be created in the Pilbara and Kwinana (Perth) and will receive $140 million, as well $6 million to investigate two new development projects in Western Australia, creating more than 3,600 jobs, and $67 million to develop two carbon capture and storage hubs and support the appraisal of a third potential storage site in WA.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the Government would also boost Western Australia’s critical minerals sector by investing almost $8 million in two strategically critical projects, securing more jobs and important supply chain industries.

“Securing Western Australia’s economy is absolutely critical to locking in stronger future for Australia and my Government will continue to back the resource, mining, mineral and energy sector in WA by creating more jobs and cutting red tape,” the Prime Minister said.

“Western Australia is a world leader in critical minerals and these investments are just the beginning of our commitment to the sector, alongside our new hydrogen hubs, which backs in the state’s status as an economic powerhouse for the whole country.

“These investments will also turbocharge the development of Australia’s critical minerals and clean hydrogen industries, helping achieve the government’s vision to make Australia a global producer and exporter of clean hydrogen by 2030, while stimulating a surge in regions across WA.”

Updated

Our social affairs and inequality editor Luke Henriques-Gomes is at the Labor launch of its NDIS policy.

Updated

Outgoing Liberal NSW MP Catherine Cusack to vote for Greens candidate in election

You have to hand it to Catherine Cusack. The outgoing Liberal NSW upper house MP is going ALL the way in.

Updated

David Speirs elected as SA Liberal party leader

David Speirs, pronounced as “Speers”, has been elected by his colleagues as the new South Australian Liberal leader.

That’s going to make for a little confusion at times for political watchers.

Spiers, the former SA environment minister, replaces former premier Steven Marshall, who resigned as party leader after losing the SA election.

David Speirs has been named SA Liberal leader.
David Speirs has been named SA Liberal leader. Photograph: Roy Vandervegt/AAP

Updated

A warning – this piece might bring up some issues for some people with loved ones in residential care, or people who have lost loved ones in residential care.

But it is important to know what carers within the aged care sector are seeing happening. Vitally so.

Everyone who urged their family, neighbours, baristas and respected rivals to enrol, take a bow.

Updated

Meanwhile...

NSW announces new body to manage floods rebuild

During a trip to Lismore on Tuesday, New South Wales premier Dominic Perrottet has announced the creation of a state body to manage the rebuilding of flood-affected areas.

The Northern Rivers Reconstruction Corporation is expected to run for between three and five years and will use the findings from the independent flood inquiry to inform its operation.

Perrottet said:

We know that getting people back on their feet, getting people back into homes, rebuilding towns and communities takes time. This cooperation will ensure we build back stronger, better, and in a way that protects people well into the future. This is not going to be a short-term cooperation.

He said it would leave the northern rivers, where thousands of people are still displaced, “in a much stronger place than they were before when these floods occurred”.

That’s what’s most important, no point just rebuilding the same way. We need to rebuild in a way that builds resilience going forward.

NSW premier Dominic Perrottet.
NSW premier Dominic Perrottet. Photograph: Jason O’Brien/AAP

An advisory board will also be put together by deputy premier Paul Toole in a bid to ensure local voices are involved in the rebuilding efforts.

Toole said:

The Northern Rivers Reconstruction Corporation is being established so they’re able to work alongside councils. They’re able to assess. They’re able to put those designs in place and able to build the infrastructure that is needed here in the communities. Whether that be roads, whether that be telecommunications, whether that be around housing.

He said job creation would also be a focus for the agency to build the region’s economy.

Updated

Kean 'very worried' over Deves candidacy in Warringah

I have been meaning to transcribe this, but we have just seen it broadcast again, which makes it a little easier.

NSW treasurer Matt Kean has once again led the Liberal vanguard against having someone like Katherine Deves in the party. Deves was handpicked by Scott Morrison to run in Warringah against independent Zali Steggall, but her transphobic comments (which include wider disparaging comments about the LGBTIQ community) have become a campaign flashpoint. Some of the comments, which include op-eds she wrote, were made as recently as this year, although Morrison has attempted to spin it as Deves has “learned” from her past. Morrison is continuing to back in Deves, but Kean told ABC RN Deves candidacy risks Liberal “moderates” losing their seats:

Well, I am very worried. I think that Trent Zimmerman is one of the best people that is serving in our parliament. I mean, he’s been my mentor and he’s been one of my heroes. You know, Dave Sharma is another outstanding Liberal in the Liberal party. And I want to make sure that they’re able to continue to play a key role in shaping the direction of our country.

Q: Does this hurt their chances?

Kean:

Well, I think it does. And I’m very concerned about that. And I’ll certainly be doing everything that I can to support Trent Zimmerman and Dave Sharma and people like that, and I don’t think having candidates that want to spruik the politics of division is in the interests of the party or in the interests of those people candidates.

Katherine Deves, the Liberal candidate for Warringah.
Katherine Deves, the Liberal candidate for Warringah. Photograph: Liberal Party of NSW

Updated

Speaking of mayors, Bundaberg mayor and former LNP state minister Jack Dempsey announced he will be running as an independent against Keith Pitt in the electorate of Hinkler.

Dempsey is also wildly popular – but like Matt Burnett, it is in his patch – which isn’t the entire electorate. So Dempsey is expected to give Pitt a scare, but not enough to unseat the resources minister.

Barnaby Joyce is still in central Queensland.

The Nationals are a little worried about the electorate of Flynn – Labor have preselected local mayor, Matt Burnett, who is wildly popular in his patch. But former LNP state MP Col Boyce is expected to hold the seat.

Business ups pressure to ease Covid isolation rules

NSW and Victorian business lobby groups want a further easing of covid isolation rules, as AAP reports:

Business groups are calling for the easing of the seven-day isolation requirement for household contacts of people with Covid-19.

Business NSW and the Victorian Chamber of Commerce and Industry say the rules should be relaxed to ease staffing shortages, wanting those deemed close contacts to be allowed to work and undergo daily rapid antigen tests instead.

Business NSW chief executive Daniel Hunter said with such high vaccination rates, Australians have demonstrated a capacity to live and work with the virus.

“The current isolation rules are providing a barrier to businesses as healthy people are forced to isolate unnecessarily,” he said in a statement on Tuesday.

With NSW and Victorian airport workers now exempt from household contact rules, there was an “inconsistency and unfairness”.

“This needs to be fixed so that all businesses can have fair access to workers,” he said.

“Business needs certainty and we know that they are already struggling with supply chain issues and staff shortages.”

Victorian chamber chief executive Paul Guerra said staff shortages continued to hamper business.

“We need to release the handbrake and enable businesses to operate at the maximum capacity possible and lead our economic recovery,” he said.

Updated

Seems like both leaders are making announcements/pledges today in order to be able to talk about the record of their opponent.

Scott Morrison will pledge to the mining industry his government won’t put any additional taxes or raise existing taxes which would adversely impact the industry. No one is talking mining taxes in the major parties, but Morrison will use that as a way to dive back into Labor’s carbon price.

Meanwhile, Anthony Albanese is promising $38m in funding over three years to Disaster Relief Australia, a veteran-led organisation which helps communities impacted by natural disasters, which gives him a platform to re-prosecute Morrison’s response to the bushfires, pandemic and floods.

Updated

These two are debating each other on Sky News tonight

Former South Australian senator Nick Xenophon, who is making another tilt at the Senate, wants a royal commission into housing affordability in Australia.

With house prices rising in Adelaide, and around the country by almost a quarter in just a year, the issue of young Australians being able to afford to buy their own home is becoming more and more vexed, and there are policy failures all round at a local, state and federal government level.

Only a royal commission can tackle this issue head-on by looking at a range of solutions that will get us back on track to make the dream of home ownership attainable once again.”

Not sure a royal commission is needed – we know why house prices are so expensive. But one of the reasons governments don’t do anything about it is because most voters are home owners, who are quite happy their house prices are increasing. And we all know how people reacted over Labor’s end-negative-gearing policy at the last election.

Nick Xenophon.
Nick Xenophon. Photograph: Mike Bowers/The Guardian

Updated

NSW reports eight Covid deaths and Victoria reports seven

Fifteen lives lost to Covid in NSW and Victoria.

Updated

Bill Shorten and Linda Burney will make the NDIS campaign promise announcement at 10am.

Updated

And on the other side of the coin:

Labor’s Chris Bowen has been very quick in response:

Labor’s climate and energy policies, including our plan to rewire Australia’s ageing electricity grid, have been modelled – not by Labor, but by the country’s top energy economists, RepuTex.

This is the same firm that the government has previously used – including to model the electricity market.

RepuTex finds that Rewiring the Nation will cut power prices by delivering the experts’ blueprint for the grid more cheaply, and by bringing low-cost renewables into the grid more quickly.

That’s why Labor’s policies have been backed by the Business Council of Australia, the Australian Industry Group, the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and the National Farmers’ Federation.

Importantly, Rewiring the Nation will be delivered by independent experts, and only projects that stack up will receive support.

Federal shadow minister for climate change and energy, Chris Bowen.
Federal shadow minister for climate change and energy, Chris Bowen. Photograph: Darren England/AAP

Updated

Angus Taylor has released a media release on the government modelling which claims power prices will increase under Labor. But there is no detail on the modelling which led to the claim, no explanations of how it came to this figure, and no information on what assumptions were made as part of the modelling. (Modelling can tell you anything you want – it all depends on the input.)

Here is what Taylor claims:

Energy consumers would be left $560 per year worse off by 2032-33, on average across the country, under Labor’s plan to increase the size of the transmission network to almost $100bn.

That’s another $560 Australian families will need to find every year to pay their energy bills.

Poles and wire charges – which make up around 46% of a typical household bill – will surge under Labor’s plan.

Updated

Anthony Albanese has had a chat to Brisbane radio 4BC, where he was asked about the reports in the Australian newspaper that Kevin Rudd was in line to be Australia’s ambassador to the US, if Labor won government.

“I’ve had no discussions about anyone being an ambassador to any place,” he said.

“Yesterday, can I make this point, it was ‘Kevin Rudd isn’t going to be on the campaign, he’d gone missing’, the same journals today are appointing him ambassador. Seriously. They need to get over the obsession.”

‘Seriously. They need to get over the obsession,’ Anthony Albanese says of News Corp papers.
Anthony Albanese, pictured here in Brisbane on Sunday. Photograph: Lukas Coch/AAP

Updated

In case you missed this yesterday, Daniel Hurst has an update on the cost of breaking the French submarine contract – you won’t find out the cost until after the election.

Australian voters are unlikely to be told the full cost of scrapping the French submarine deal before the election, with Peter Dutton signalling the negotiations will not be wrapped up until after July.

The defence minister said on Monday the talks with France’s Naval Group would “take some time” and the information would not be released publicly until after those figures were settled.

Good morning

Well, now that the Easter long weekend is over, the campaigning is about to get under way today, with the gloves all the way off.

Scott Morrison is still in Western Australia where he will promise $250m for mining jobs. It’s all about “clean” “hydrogen hubs” and rare earth minerals (like lithium for batteries) but we don’t know if the hydrogen hubs are green or blue. Green uses renewable energy, while blue uses coal and fossil fuels. Angus Taylor and the government like to refer to blue hydrogen as “clean” when it’s not, so watch out for that.

Labor is campaigning on an overhaul of the NDIS. Bill Shorten will be announcing a review (like a Productivity Commission review) in Melbourne, to look at the growing issues within the insurance scheme and how best to address them. Anthony Albanese is expected to stay in Queensland, where he will face Morrison for the first time since the campaign began, at tomorrow’s Brisbane leaders’ debate.

Speaking of debates, David Littleproud and Julie Collins will debate each other at the National Press Club today. Barnaby Joyce is still leading the Wombat Trail, spending money where ever he goes, as he works to shore up Nationals electorates.

Meanwhile, the latest Newspoll, first published in the Australian, shows Albanese’s personal approval ratings have dropped since the campaign began but both parties are struggling to win primary support, potentially leading to a minority parliament. And it’s not just the polls – astrologist Jessica Adams reported to her followers that on 21 May, Mercury will be in retrograde and Jupiter will be in Aries and the last time that happened during an election was 2010 – when there was a hung parliament.

The Coalition is still just focused on Labor though. After spending yesterday reanimating “The Boat” debate (despite having no intelligence or reasoning to do so) like it was once again 2001, 2004 or 2007), today it has provided government modelling to the News Corp tabloids to claim Labor’s plan to “rewire the nation” will raise power prices. This seems largely based on feels. The Grattan Institute has largely welcomed the policy. Labor says it will cut power prices by just over $300 annually.

It’s only a matter of time before someone will ask us to check under our beds.

You’ve got me, Amy Remeikis, as usual to take you through the day’s events. Katharine Murphy, Sarah Martin, Daniel Hurst, Paul Karp and Josh Butler are on the case in Canberra and the entire Guardian team is looking at issues across the nation. It’s a five-coffee day. I can feel it.

Ready? Let’s get into it.

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