Federal election live: CBA rates hike to hit day before election
Former PM John Howard has doubled down on his comments that there is no housing crisis in Australia, saying mortgage holders will still benefit from record low interest rates despite the RBA’s shock increase.
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Interest rates will go up on the day before election for many as Scott Morrison refused to offer any apology, instead vowing his economic shield will help pull Australia through – if he’s re-elected.
The Commonwealth Bank was first to react, matching the Reserve Bank of Australia and lifting its home-loan variable interest rates by 0.25% p.a in an announcement made at 6.15pm set to come into effect from May 20.
The rise brings the standard variable interest rate for owner-occupiers paying principal and interest to 4.8 per cent, while the equivalent home-loan rate for investors will increase to 5.38 per cent.
The ANZ will be even quicker to bring in the hike, changing its rates from Friday, May 13. Rates will go up by 0.25 per cent take the standard variable rate to 4.64 per cent for owner occupiers.
The 25 basis point change will increase monthly repayments by $57 on an average home loan of $450,000 for an owner occupier paying principal and interest.
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“While this change will impact customers in different ways, home loan customers are generally well placed to manage rising rates with around 70 per cent of accounts ahead on repayments – many of them by two years or more. Household and business deposits are also at record highs,’’
ANZ Group Executive Australia Retail, Maile Carnegie said.
ANZ, NAB, and Westpac had all predicted a 0.15 per cent raise at the start of May, while the Commonwealth Bank had been expecting a rate rise in June. All four were caught off guard by the central bank’s decision to increase the cash rate by 25 basis points, a scenario few saw coming.
The Prime Minister wanted to fight this election based on his economic credentials, but faced with skyrocketing inflation and high petrol prices, a rate rise could spell bad news for the government.
Addressing the media after news of 0.25 per cent in the official cash rate to 0.35 per cent, Scott Morrison sought to downplay the impact his stimulus measures had on the decision.
Instead, he defended the “economic shield” he deployed to get Australia through the pandemic and pointed to the war in Ukraine as another major factor behind the rate rise.
When asked if he would follow in the footsteps of John Howard – the last prime minister who faced a rate hike mid election – and apologise to voters, Mr Morrison declined to answer.
He did, however, say he had “sympathy” with Australians who will be bracing for higher mortgage repayments in the wash up.
However, he said he didn’t believe it would be what cost him the election.
“What today is about is what Australians have seen as a result of our economy coming out of this pandemic,” he said.
With inflation already above what the Budget papers predicted – 5.1 per cent compared to 4.25 per cent – Mr Morrison was quizzed on if Australians could trust him now his own budget could be considered out of date.
But the Prime Minister didn’t agree with the question.
“There are many swings and roundabouts in what goes into a budget,” he said.
“There are many different figures that make up the ultimate outcomes. And so to pick one figure here or one figure there, I think doesn't properly reflect the complexity of what goes into a budget.
HOWARD: RATE HIKE IS NO CRISIS
Former Prime Minister John Howard has doubled down on his comments that there is no housing crisis in Australia, saying mortgage holders will still benefit from record low interest rates.
Mr Howard said while much has been made of the impact of rising costs of living hurting Scott Morrison’s re-election chances, he believed Australians were smarter than that.
“People know that interest rates are at record lows,’’ Mr Howard told Sky New’s Paul Murray Live program on Tuesday night.
“They will accept that interest rates have to return to a more normal level.’’
“When you talk about the cash rate going from 0.1 to 0.35 per cent that is not a crisis.”
Mr Howard said the Coalition remained the safest bet for mortgage holders, warning people hurt by rising living costs against lodging a protest vote.
He said voters had a choice between a Labor-led government or a Coalition-led government.
The former PM particularly warned conservative voters about giving their votes to the so-called teal independents, Clive Palmer or Pauline Hanson’s One Nation party.
“If any of those candidates are successful it will take a seat away from Liberals and give it to the Labor people.’’
“You will knock the Liberal government out of power.
“This is a very tight election.’’
He said it was not a time for ‘short term rebukes’ or protest votes.
“In the end you can only form a government led by either the Coalition or the Labor Party.
“There’s no sort of paradise in between. That’s a mythology.’’
He said anti-liberal groupies should not be supported by people who previously had backed the Coalition.
“You are taking one off our list and giving it to the Labor Party.’’
Mr Howard was previously asked about the growing pressures on home buyers while campaigning in Brisbane and denied there was a housing crisis.
"The cost of housing in this country is much higher than we would like, but a lot of the reasons for housing being expensive in Australia has been baked into the system over the years.
"And may I say, because of planning and other decisions made by state and local governments to push up the cost of housing."
PM SAYS COSTS WILL INCREASE
Mr Morrison acknowledged the cost of living will increase but insisted many Australians have taken precautions and are prepared.
“Throughout the course of the pandemic we have seen (Australians) double their buffers on their mortgages and move from variable rates to fixed rates … we’ve also seen them strengthen their own balance sheets.”
Despite repeatedly claiming Tuesday’s decision was not political, Mr Morrison used the opportunity to jab his opponent for his cash rate gaffe earlier in the campaign.
Seeking to spin the RBA’s decision, Mr Morrison said now was not the time to elect an “untested and untried” Labor.
“Who do you want to rely on to ensure that we can minimise the impact of these pressures on your households and your business,” he said.
“We know (Anthony Albanese) doesn’t have an economic plan and we’re less than three weeks away from the election. “(He) didn’t even know what the cash rate was.”
WHY THE RBA SAYS IT LIFTED RATES
The RBA board on Tuesday afternoon set the stage for several hikes over the coming months as it weans the economy off emergency policy settings it has enjoyed for 18 months.
The case for a rate rise has intensified in recent weeks as conflict in Eastern Europe and ongoing Covid disruptions exacerbate existing supply chain pressures, sending consumer prices soaring.
In a statement released immediately after the decision, RBA Governor Philip Lowe said “now was the right time to begin withdrawing some of the extraordinary monetary support that was put in place to help the Australian economy during the pandemic”.
“The economy has proven to be resilient and inflation has picked up more quickly, and to a higher level, than was expected,” he explained.
“There is also evidence that wages growth is picking up. Given this, and the very low level of interest rates, it is appropriate to start the process of normalising monetary conditions.
“The resilience of the Australian economy is particularly evident in the labour market, with the unemployment rate declining over recent months to 4 per cent and labour force participation increasing to a record high.
“Both job vacancies and job ads are also at high levels. The central forecast is for the unemployment rate to decline to around 3½ per cent by early 2023 and remain around this level thereafter. This would be the lowest rate of unemployment in almost 50 years.”
While noting that “the outlook for economic growth in Australia also remains positive”, Dr Lowe said there were “ongoing uncertainties” about the global economy rising due to the Covid pandemic, the war in Ukraine and “declining consumer purchasing power from higher inflation”.
EXPLAINED: WHAT RATE RISE MEANS FOR YOU
PM SAYS JOBS BEST PROTECTION
Asked by News Corp what use that “shield” will be once economic stimulus – such as the $420 tax relief and fuel excise cut – runs out, Mr Morrison pointed to his lower taxes plan.
“You know what banks look at most of all when they're assessing someone for a home loan,” he asked.
“A job.”
“If we kept the income tax rates at the level we inherited from the Labor Party, you would be paying $50 more a week, every single week going forward.
His comments came as video has emerged of a much younger Mr Morrison arguing a government should not be elected if interest rates were to rise.
Mr Morrison, then just a backbencher dressed in his now infamous “sharkies tie” delivered the speech to parliament in March 2008.
In the speech, he claimed during the 2007 election campaign that Kevin Rudd had set expectations he was going to tackle the cost of living. He argued, the then-Prime Minister had yet to deliver.
“(Labor) made a range of claims about what the government at the time was saying about interest rates,” he said.
“You could argue that it was somewhat successful in prosecuting an argument that, if interest rates were to rise, the government should be accountable for those things and, as a result, the government should not be elected.
“If it is good for this government, it is good for us.”
LABOR SEIZES ON RATES HIKE
Shadow Treasurer Jim Chalmers – in a press conference immediately after the announcement – said it was a major crisis.
“This is a full-blown cost of living crisis on Scott Morrison’s watch,” he said.
“The lies and scare campaigns have blown up in his face.”
Mr Chalmers said Labor was reasonable about external factors that can impact inflation but ‘there are things leaders can do’.
Labor leader Anthony Albanese and Mr Chalmers said Mr Morrison's economic credibility was now "completely shredded".
"It was hard enough to make ends meet under Scott Morrison and today it got even harder for millions of Australians," Mr Albanese said.
“Even before today’s decision Australians were facing a full-blown costs of living crisis on his watch.
“Scott Morrison’s economic credibility was already in tatters, now it’s completely shredded. “After almost a decade of this Liberal-National Government, the costs of essentials are out of control, real wages are falling, and now interest rates are rising by a quarter of a per cent.
“Everything is going up except wages and now interest rate rises are part of the pain.
“When things are going well in the economy Scott Morrison takes all the credit, but when things get difficult he takes none of the responsibility. He can’t have it both ways.”
Mr Albanese acknowledged the RBA is an independent body and makes its own decisions free from political interference.
“We’ve been responsible and reasonable about the causes of today’s decision," he said.
“But governments have a role to play in easing cost of living pressures, and in creating secure jobs which put upward pressure on wages.
“All Scott Morrison and Josh Frydenberg have is a plan to get them through the election, and one-off payments timed to land during the campaign and end after.
“Labor has a plan for a better future beyond the election, which is designed to: grow the economy without adding to inflationary pressures; ease cost of living pressures; get real wages growing again; and to get economic bang for buck from a Budget heaving with a trillion dollars in Liberal-National debt.
“This Prime Minister and this Government have an excuse for everything and a plan for nothing, and it's hardworking Australians who are paying the price once again.”
RATE RISE ‘NOT ABOUT POLITICS’
Earlier, attempting to distance himself from a looming interest hike set to plunge hundreds of thousands of Australians into further mortgage stress, Mr Morrison has declared the cash rate is “not about politics”.
Asked if he would take any responsibility for the financial pressure homeowners are expected to face if the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) raises the cash rate, the Prime Minister said “it is not about me”.
Even as he called back to Labor leader Anthony Albanese’s campaign day one gaffe forgetting the current rate of 0.1 per cent, Mr Morrison fired an extraordinary broadside at the media for asking if he was worried voters would punish the government at the ballot box if their mortgage rates went up.
“Sometimes you guys always see things through a totally political lens,” he said.
“I don’t. And Australians don’t.”
Mr Morrison said Australians “know” there are pressures on interest rates.
“That is why … so many of them have been switching to fixed rates,” he said. “At least I know what it is, the cash rate.”
Spruiking the Coalition’s changes to expand access to the seniors card, which grants holders access to cheaper medicines, transport and electricity, Mr Morrison was also asked if he would allow older Australians to take on more working hours without it impacting their pension.
Pensioners have argued there is no incentive to take on more than about one day of work a fortnight before their extra earnings cut into the amount of pension they receive.
But Mr Morrison said the government was not looking to change this. “Those who have worked hard all their life and are on a pension or a self-funded retirees don’t necessarily want to be forced back to work,” he said.
“And when they do (work) … certainly what they are earning far outweighs what they get in their pension.”
As the RBA prepares to meet on Tuesday, two-fifths of respondents to comparison site Finder’s April Consumer Sentiment Tracker survey admitted to struggling to make home loan or rent payments.
“Inflation figures out last week have confirmed that, overall, the cost of living has increased by 5.1 per cent,” Finder money editor Sarah Megginson said.
“Prices are going up on everyday items while mortgages are also getting more expensive.”
While more borrowers will be stretched, SQM Head of research Louis Christopher did not expect widespread forced sales or loan defaults unless the RBA kept hiking the cash rate up to “circa 4 per cent”, which would see average lending rates reach up to 7 per cent.
“I think provided we don’t see a real acceleration of inflation from this point, we probably won’t see a lending rate of 7 per cent,” he said.
“But if inflation continues to accelerate, (it) could be on the cards.
“The RBA will face some very difficult decisions. They could well be cornered into making a decision between trying to put the inflation genie back in the bottle or … a recession.”
OLD FRIENDS … OR ‘A THREAT’ TO ALBO?
Labor frontbencher Tanya Plibersek has brushed off speculation about her absence from the frontline of the election campaign as “a storm in a teacup”.
The opposition education spokeswoman campaigned in Western Australia on Tuesday, two days after she was noticeably absent from Labor’s official campaign launch in Perth.
Questions had swirled for more than a week before that over whether Ms Plibersek had been sidelined from Anthony Albanese’s campaign.
And on morning television on Tuesday, former leader Bill Shorten had a punchy exchange with a Nine presenter who said: “Albo is threatened by Tanya. We all know that, Bill. Stop pulling our leg.”
Ms Plibersek and Mr Albanese have denied she has been benched, and she will reportedly join her leader on the campaign trail this week.
“We’ve been friends a long time,” she told reporters on Tuesday, saying she had known Mr Albanese since she was 14.
“I am absolutely focused on winning this election and making Anthony Albanese the next prime minister of Australia. That’ll be a great day for this country.”
Earlier, Mr Shorten also said the controversy was “a storm in a teacup”.
“Australia is a big place. Not all of us move around in a giant group with Anthony Albanese on the plane during the election campaign,” he told Nine.
“We are out there winning votes all over Australia … Anthony has a strong team, as opposed to Mr Morrison running a one-man band.”
Today host Chris O’Keefe hit back by saying: “Sorry, Albo is threatened by Tanya, it is very, very clear. Just like you, Bill, were threatened by Albanese back in 2019. You know how this works.”
O’Keefe said Mr Albanese would be “looking over his shoulder” at Ms Plibersek.
“Tanya is sitting there doing the numbers about what will happen if it doesn’t go well,” O’Keefe said. “She will be the leader of the Labor Party. We all know that, Bill. Stop pulling our leg.”
Mr Shorten wouldn’t be drawn on the speculation, instead taking a swipe of his own by suggesting the TV host “do some boxercise”.
“Chris, I get you’ve got a job to do to be sensationalist, but sometimes the gap between fact and fiction becomes so wide I’ve got to call it out – and I’m calling you out, Chris,” Mr Shorten said.
“I understand that it is Tuesday morning and you want to get the punch in with the boxing gloves, maybe go do some boxercise and don’t make stuff up.”
PM MOBBED AT SECOND MULTICULTURAL EVENT
The Prime Minister received a hero’s welcome when he entered the White Horse club in Chisholm.
After being mobbed at an Eid celebration just a day earlier, a selfie with Scott Morrison was the main prize at a multicultural event in Box Hill on Tuesday.
Daniel Gao, a year 12 student and captain of Caulfield Grammar, was just one of the many who nabbed a moment with the Prime Minister.
His mother, a volunteer with Liberal MP Gladys Liu, beamed with pride as her son chatted away about his studies.
Talking with NewsCorp, Gao said he had met with many Liberal politicians – Alan Tudge and Michael Sukkar, and was hoping to push for further funding for youth mental health initiatives.
“I think it’s a fantastic first start,” he said. “I'm saying in terms of trying to achieve more change and be better: There are still things that can be done.”
After a turn about the room to meet with locals, Mr Morrison took to the lectern to make his pitch to around 100 voters.
He joked about his ancestors' migrant past. He said: “We all came to Australia, In my case, they came in chains” and stressed the strength of Australia rested on multiculturalism.
But he also made repeated references to faith and the right of the attendees to be able to raise their children “within their own values”.
“Simply those waves of migration, coming for that better life and the values of Australia … the freedom to practice your faith and the freedom for you to raise your children according to your beliefs and according to your values,” he said.
“And I vow to continue to seek to protect them.”
Held by Ms Liu by just 1100 votes, the Coalition’s most marginal seat is a must win if Scott Morrison is to retain the keys to the Lodge on May 21.
“Everyone knows Gladys,” Mr Morrison joked.
ALBO ZINGER: PM HAS ‘WEDGE-ISLATION’
Mr Albanese has accused Mr Morrison of growing desperate after the Prime Minister claimed interest rate rises “weren’t political”.
Speaking to reporters in Gosford to spruik Labor’s new housing scheme, the Opposition Leader dismissed Mr Morrison’s comments.
“This is a prime minister who is getting really, really desperate and the comments are getting more and more extreme,” Mr Albanese said.
“For this guy to say that anything is not political, this is a guy who gets up in the morning and what he has for breakfast is political.”
Mr Albanese noted that Mr Morrison took his personal photographer to the Lodge with him while he was quarantining there.
He accused Mr Morrison of always thinking “how can we wedge Labor on this issue” rather than making decisions in the national interest.
“This guy, for (him) everything is an opportunity to play politics. He doesn’t have legislation, he has wedge-islation.”
Labor frontbencher Jason Clare ran with Mr Albanese’s slightly clumsy line. “I reckon in the cabinet room there’s sour cream and sweet chilli sauce, there’s so many wedges there,” Mr Clare said.
HOUSING PLAN ‘NOT A DEATH TAX’
Labor frontbencher Jason Clare has hit back at Coalition accusations that Labor’s cornerstone housing policy is “effectively a death tax”.
Mr Albanese at the weekend unveiled Labor’s Help to Buy scheme that he says will make it easier for 10,000 Australians per year to buy a home.
He was out on Tuesday spruiking the policy, which would see the government take an equity stake of up to 40 per cent in a newly purchased property.
News Corp can reveal that homeowners under the scheme won’t be able to rent out their home if they need to move, and there would be strict rules on whether owners could pass on their home to their kids if they pass away.
Labor says its policy could save the amount people will have to pay on their mortgage by up to $380,000.
But the Coalition has claimed it would force children to sell their parents’ home when they die if they don’t meet the eligibility criteria.
Deputy Labor leader Richard Marles confirmed that in that scenario, the children could either buy out the government’s stake or the home would be put up for sale.
“Obviously if their children also qualify for the scheme in circumstances where they are of low and modest incomes, then they’re able to maintain the property in that way and the property can pass on to them,” Mr Marles said on Sky News.
“If the child doesn’t qualify, well then those kids would have … an option of buying the government out. If they don’t take up that option … the property would then be sold.”
Mr Clare said the claim the policy was a death tax had “more baloney than a New York deli”.
“What we’re doing here is helping Australians to pass on their wealth to their kids rather than passing on nothing because they’re renting for the rest of their life,” Mr Clare said.
“If they qualify under the eligibility rules, everything is sweet. Nothing changes. If they earn more than that, they start to buy back the government’s equity.”
Mr Clare said this aspect of the policy followed the Victorian government’s shared equity scheme.
“It’s the way it works: if you go from earning $90,000 to $150,000, there’s a two-year grace period and you start to pay it back,” he said.
“This is sensible. This is about helping Australians who need a little bit of help.”
Mr Albanese met with dental receptionist Lydia Pulley, 21, who pays $550 per week to rent in East Gosford, in the NSW Central Coast electorate of Robertson.
Ms Pulley, who earns a combined income of $92,000 a year with her partner, would be eligible for Labor’s shared equity scheme, in which the government would take up to 40 per cent stake in a home.
Labor was set to seize on comments from Prime Minister Scott Morrison – made in a 2008 Sky News interview – in which he labelled a shared equity scheme as “a really good opportunity”.
Today he described Labor’s proposal as “insane”, saying “if your household income goes above $120,000 a year (the eligibility cap for couples), Anthony Albanese will put a for sale sign on your lawn”.
MORRISON IN SURVIVOR MODE
Mr Morrison has made a flying visit to Labor-held Dunkley in Melbourne’s outer suburbs ahead of the expected interest rate rise this afternoon.
Dunkley is one of the two Victorian seats that fell to Labor in 2019 and it’s hoped high-profile candidate Sharn Coombs, a former Survivor contestant, will get the Coalition across the line.
Mr Morrison was greeted by a passer-by yelling “Go Albo” and “Scotty from marketing” as he arrived at a fruit shop.
One older woman who stopped to ask what the commotion was about responded: “Oh, ew, no thank you,” before scurrying away.
But others locals said they were excited Mr Morrison had stopped by Mount Eliza on a balmy Tuesday morning.
Inside the Palamara Village Fruits store – where a head of lettuce sets you back $4.99 – the Prime Minister stopped to chat with the owner about the impact of rising grocery prices.
Steve Palamara told Mr Morrison he expected prices would only rise “even higher in the next couple of months” but noted he was able to keep staff on during the pandemic thanks to JobKeeper.
“I’m so pleased you’ve been able to keep people in jobs,” Mr Morrison said.
He was invited to peel several ears of corn that would be put on display for customers to pick up during the day – but declined to take a bite after being informed they could be eaten raw.
Mr Morrison again sought to distance himself from the impending interest rate rise this afternoon.
He said Australians knew that it was “significant pressure” overseas that was causing rates and inflation to rise – not his government.
“Australians know what’s causing (the rising cost of living),” he said.
“It’s why today, while cost-of-living pressures are very real and families are feeling them, it’s far worse overseas.”
He pointed to the “shields” the Coalition had put in place, such as the $250 handout to low income earners and pensioners, but declined to directly address what Australians could do once that money dries up.
“A strong economy with Australians in work is always going to mean we’re more able to continue to provide support,” Mr Morrison said.
“I remember when rates were falling back in 2019, the Labor Party attacked us for rates falling and they said that was because of a weak economy. Now they want to make the argument that if rates rise that it’s because of economic management. Well, they can’t have it both ways.”
ALBO TALKS UP PLAN TO CUT SCRIPT COSTS
Mr Albanese has reflected on the importance of his local pharmacy while growing up as he spruiked his plan to cut the price of prescription medicine by $12.50.
Visiting a pharmacy in Wadalba with local MP Emma McBride, Mr Albanese said medicines are getting so expensive that people doing it tough need to decide which prescriptions to fill.
Mr Albanese said that when he was growing up his local pharmacy was a “centre of life”. “
Growing up, it was just me and mum. The pharmacy was sort of up the hill. When mum was crook the pharmacist would deliver, do everything,” he told Wadalba Amcal+ owner Ross Diebert.
Mr Albanese was pictured with Forxiga – a diabetes medicine he said would be cheaper under his government.
Earlier, he spoke with PBS user Maggie Issa about the cost of medicines. Labor holds the central coast seat of Dobell on a margin of just 1.5 per cent.
DUTTON: WHY I DIDN’T GO TO SOLOMONS
Defence Minister Peter Dutton has revealed why the government didn’t go to the Solomon Islands while firing a subtle dig at Labor.
During an interview on the Today Show, Mr Dutton said it wasn’t just “as simple as turning up there and thumping the desk”.
He said: “They’re a sovereign country. I think we’ve traversed all of this over the last couple of weeks. But we took the advice of the security chiefs, the intelligence chiefs with all of the information that they had.
“Labor’s playing cheap politics with it but the fact is that in our region, we have incredible relationships and as Prime Minister Sogavare pointed out, his problem is not with Australia.”
Mr Dutton slammed Labor and their defence policy, claiming “the last Labor prime minister with an interest in defence was in the 1940s.”
‘ACTIVISTS’ DEFACE FRYDENBERG POSTERS
Mr Frydenberg has posted security camera footage of ‘environmental extremists’ caught vandalising his campaign boards.
Mr Frydenberg shared the CCTV stills to Twitter showing two people allegedly marking his campaign material.
“This is a criminal offence, with the footage passed on to police,” he wrote.
“Hundreds of my boards have been defaced over recent weeks, including swastikas and obscene language.
“This is not the first time environmental extremists have attacked our property – with Extinction Rebellion damaging our office, setting off flares, harassing staff, and requiring emergency services to be diverted from their important work to intervene and make arrests.”
Security cameras have caught environmental extremists in the act of vandalising my campaign boards. This is a criminal offence, with the footage passed on to police.
— Josh Frydenberg (@JoshFrydenberg) May 2, 2022
Hundreds of my boards have been defaced over recent weeks, including swastikas and obscene language. pic.twitter.com/CXxFEvcBit
HANSON’S VACCINE BATTLEGROUND
One Nation leader Pauline Hanson has vowed to fight “indoctrination” of Australian children “in regards to climate change and gender theory”.
Speaking to right-wing shock jock Alan Jones’s new online program, Ms Hanson attacked both major parties and said she was particularly determined to unseat six moderate Liberals who “don’t belong there, they should be in the Greens”.
The former fish and chip shop owner said she had not had a Covid vaccine because “I’m very careful what I put into my body” and didn’t want UN and WHO (World Health Organisation bureaucrats “taking away my freedoms, my rights and my choices”.
“I’m putting in a call to all the premiers out there: They must get over this, this stupidity that’s going on,” she said.
“Give back the workers their jobs, the teachers, the nurses, doctors, paramedics, everyone, firefighters, police that are denied the right to actually work in this country and stop bringing foreign workers into your country.
“So I’m putting out a plea to all these people promote this – vaccine mandates is one of the biggest issues that’s going to hit this election and the political parties will feel the brunt of that.”
NEXT TWO DEBATES LOCKED IN
The ABC has been snubbed after Scott Morrison and Anthony Albanese agreed on a third and likely final leaders’ debate.
Sky News hosted the first debate on April 20 and Channel 9 clinched the second, scheduled for Sunday, May 8. The third debate will now be held on Channel 7 on Wednesday, May 11, hosted by the network’s political editor Mark Riley.
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