Morrison hails close ties with India and Albanese pledges $970m for Medicare – as it happened

Immigration minister Alex Hawke and prime minister Scott Morrison at the Hindu Council of Australia meet and greet in Parramatta on day 34 of the election campaign. Photograph: Mick Tsikas/AAP

9.44am BST

What we learned today, Saturday 14 May

We’re going to wrap things up for the evening. Here’s a recap of the day’s main events:

• Scott Morrison reiterated his new pitch to voters, promising a “gear change” if re-elected next weekend.

• Anthony Albanese accused Morrison of breaking “faith and trust” with the US following a report in Nine Newspapers that the prime minister delayed consulting Labor about the Aukus deal for fourth-and-a-half months.

• The Coalition announced $20m to expand its high school sports program Sporting Schools and $4.8m for surf life saving clubs.

• The Labor party pledged $970m for Medicare.

• Rain eased in Queensland but moderate to major flood warnings remained in place for part’s of the state’s south-east.

Thanks again for joining us. We will see you tomorrow as we enter the final week of the 2022 federal election campaign.

Updated at 10.34am BST

9.39am BST

At the Hindu Council of Australia event, Scott and Jenny Morrison, ministers Alex Hawke and Ben Morton and various candidates including for Parramatta, Maria Kovacic, were presented with orange scarves.

As eagle-eyed readers in my Twitter feed have noted, these are symbols of the Hindu nationalist organisation Vishva Hindu Parishad.

Scott and Jenny Morrison at the Hindu Council of Australia meet and greet in Parramatta. Photograph: Mick Tsikas/AAP

Scott Morrison and Liberal party colleagues at the Hindu Council of Australia event on Saturday. Photograph: Mick Tsikas/AAP

Anthony Albanese and Kristina Keneally did the same when they visited the Hindu Council on Friday, prompting controversy because of the VHP’s connection to rightwing Hindu organisations blamed for violence against other religious minorites in India:

These are Australian MPs @AlboMP (left)⁩ & ⁦@KKeneally (right). They are both wearing the scarf of the VHP.

The VHP is the religious wing of the RSS. RSS is a Nazi-inspired paramilitary dedicated to eradicating minorities from India. Why are Australian MPs endorsing it? pic.twitter.com/WrBt5PxRLg

— Pieter Friedrich (@FriedrichPieter) May 9, 2022

Nevertheless, as the pictures show, neither Liberal nor Labor leaders saw any problem donning the scarves.

Updated at 10.33am BST