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Dutton campaign plane leaves for destination unknown
Josh Butler
Good morning from the Dutton campaign, which is finally taking off from Canberra â destination unknown at this stage. The journalists following the campaigns, for the prime minister or opposition leader, generally arenât told by the leaderâs staff where weâre headed until the plane has taken off.
We do know Dutton is in Brisbane at the moment, as heâs been doing some morning TV. Anthony Albanese is also starting his day in the sunshine state (even though itâs pouring rain all over the east coast at the moment).
Weâll give you an update when we land â wherever that ends up being.
Key events
Dan Jervis-Bardy
Why is Dickson the PMâs start line?
Howâs that for an early shot across the bow?
Anthony Albanese will start day one of the campaign in none other opposition leader Peter Duttonâs seat of Dickson in Brisbaneâs northern suburbs (as below, weâre just waiting for that presser to start).
Dutton holds the seat on a slender 1.7% margin â so itâs winnable on paper â but the choice of campaign location is clearly more about sending a message.
Albanese will hold a presser conference shortly at one of Laborâs urgent care clinics alongside his Dickson candidate, Ali France, the health minister, Mark Butler, and the treasurer, Jim Chalmers.
Expect Albanese to not just spruik Laborâs health agenda, including its plans to establish 50 new urgent care clinics if re-elected, but also draw attention to Duttonâs record as health minister under Tony Abbott â including his attempt to introduce a $7 GP co-payment.
We are currently waiting on the PM, who is due to hold a press conference in ⌠Dickson, which of course is Peter Duttonâs electorate.
Dutton claims comparisons to Trump show PM doesnât have a plan
Dutton is then asked about the PMâs attempt to liken the opposition leader to the US president, Donald Trump.
Dutton of course spun that around into a counterattack about the economy:
If the PM has that attack, know that they donât have a plan.
If the PM had done a better job over the past three years, if the country was better off, the economy was better off, the PM will be telling a different story.
It is about failure of the Albanese government. It shows that you and our country cannot afford three more years of Labor.
Dutton disputes assessment his campaign has started out on the back foot
Building on that, Dutton has told reporters in Brisbane he did not agree his campaign has started on the back foot.
Asked if he felt comfortable being characterised as the âunderdogâ, Dutton had this to say:
We are the underdog, but our job is to make sure we talk to Australians about our positive plan for our country.
It is about managing the economy and making sure we have the dream of home ownership realised again for young Australians and I think defence and keeping your country safe in an uncertain time is
Josh Butler
Opposition leader says gas plan will be in place by end of the year if Liberals win government
Peter Dutton is doing some morning TV interviews from Brisbane, talking up his budget reply from Thursday night (doesnât that feel like an age ago …) and his plans on a gas reservation and cutting fuel excise.
On Channel 7âs Sunrise, the opposition leader says his plan to boost local gas supply would help bring down prices economy-wide, helping cut costs across the supply chain.
âIf the gas companies are telling you that this is bad, because because, you know, frankly, many of them are gaming the system,â Dutton told Sunrise.
âI want to be on the side of consumers, and when you see big energy users like BlueScope making steel for houses and right across the economy, when they say that itâs good because their gas price is going to come down, and therefore they can pass on savings to consumers … thatâs exactly what we need now.â
Dutton pledged that âby the end of this year, this calendar year, we can bring that gas into the systemâ.
âWe can do it straight away, because the gas is there. Itâs being produced now. It doesnât require any infrastructure. Itâs a matter of turning it back into the economy.â
Dan Jervis-Bardy
Greens in Laborâs crosshairs in Brisbane
Good morning from a very soggy Brisbane, where the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, will begin the first full day of campaigning in the 3 May federal election.
Queensland hasnât been a happy hunting ground for Labor – it holds just five of the stateâs 30 lower house seats.
But the government believes it can gain ground in the sunshine state and is targeting the Greens-held seats of Griffith and Brisbane in inner-city Brisbane, as well as Liberal-held Leichhardt in far-north Queensland.
Clinging to a two-seat majority and with losses expected in suburban Melbourne and across NSW, Labor will almost certainly need to pick up seats in other parts of the country to retain power in its own right.
Labor is desperate to defeat the Greensâ housing spokesman, Max Chandler-Mather, to regain Kevin Ruddâs old seat of Griffith.
But insiders believe the partyâs best shot might be in Stephen Batesâ seat of Brisbane, which is shaping as a three-way Greens-Labor-Liberal contest.
Albanese made his opening re-election pitch on Friday morning, contrasting Labor as a safe pair of hands with a plan for Australiaâs future against Peter Duttonâs âpromise to cutâ.
The prime minister will campaign heavily on health, including a $8.5bn boost to Medicare and plans for 50 new Medicare urgent care clinics.
Good morning, Mostafa Rachwani with you from rainy Sydney, to take you through the latest from the election campaigns.
Coalitionâs gas plan unlikely to lower prices, experts say
As mentioned, our top story is that a range of experts think Peter Duttonâs gas plan wonât work â or at least there is not enough detail for them to know.
Australian Energy Producers, the body representing the gas industry, said Duttonâs plan to âartificially reduce pricesâ was a âdamaging market intervention that will drive away investment and exacerbate the supply challenges in the longer termâ.
Our reporter Graham Readfearn also spoke to Joshua Runciman, lead analyst for Australian gas at the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis, who said Duttonâs idea of diverting LNG exports to domestic markets was the quickest way to materially increase domestic supply.
But he said exporters could respond by ramping down investments in production that could mean âthere might not be much spare gasâ.
Read Grahamâs full story:
In this weekâs Back-to-back Barries podcast, Barrie Cassidy and Tony Barry analyse budget week and what promises to be a tight election, with a campaign where every advantage is sought and every mistake regretted.
Also on the table: when political husbands go rogue; and whether the second coming of Donald Trump could actually bolster the progressive vote.
Listen here:
Dutton campaign plane leaves for destination unknown
Josh Butler
Good morning from the Dutton campaign, which is finally taking off from Canberra â destination unknown at this stage. The journalists following the campaigns, for the prime minister or opposition leader, generally arenât told by the leaderâs staff where weâre headed until the plane has taken off.
We do know Dutton is in Brisbane at the moment, as heâs been doing some morning TV. Anthony Albanese is also starting his day in the sunshine state (even though itâs pouring rain all over the east coast at the moment).
Weâll give you an update when we land â wherever that ends up being.
Welcome
Good morning and welcome to our live coverage on the first full day of campaigning in the 2025 federal election. Iâm Martin Farrer with some of the overnight stories before Mostafa Rachwani takes the reins shortly.
Anthony Albanese is set to spend the day campaigning in Brisbane today with Labor hoping to gain ground in Queensland where it holds five of the 30 electorates. The Greens leader, Adam Bandt, will also be in Brisbane where he will hold a rally today as the party aims to retain the three electorates it won in Queensland. We will be with them and the Coalition leader, Peter Dutton, as they crack into the campaign.
Our top election story this morning is that a range of experts on the energy industry have criticised Peter Duttonâs plan to bring down prices by increasing supply â and were also critical of the lack of detail about it might be achieved. More reaction coming up.
Weâre also looking at two bellwether seats â one in Sydney and one in Melbourne â to see how they are likely to swing this time. Our Krishani Dhanji reports that Bennelong and Chisholm have both been altered by boundary changes and have significant number of Chinese Australian voters, which could make it difficult for Labor to hold them.