Opposition Leader Peter Dutton outlines his vision if he is elected Prime Minister
Peter Dutton has outlined his alternative vision as PM in a major speech to Parliament, billing the election as a “sliding door moment” for Australia.
Federal Election
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Liberal leader Peter Dutton pledged to slash migration by 25 per cent to tackle the housing crisis, lower the cost of gas bills and offer a one-off cut to petrol excise if he is elected Prime Minister.
Outlining his alternative vision in a major speech to Parliament, Mr Dutton has warned voters now face a clear choice ahead of the election which he billed as a “sliding door moment” for the nation.
The cost of living is the centrepiece of his election pitch, with the opposition leader promising to allow workers to raid their super for up to $50,000 for a house deposit and a plan to deliver cheaper gas, cheaper petrol and reining in inflation.
Warning Australians simply can’t afford another three years of the Labor Government he’s vowed his plan to cut fuel excise will deliver relief faster than a tax cut.
Housing and migration
Slashing the migration program is the centrepiece of Mr Dutton’s new plan to tackle the housing crisis – along with allowing workers to cash in their superannuation for a $50,000 deposit top-up.
“I don’t want young Australians locked out of the property market – or having to rely on the bank of mum and dad,” Mr Dutton said.
“I want to see fewer Australians homeless and more Australians in homes.
“Under Labor, migration will continue to put pressure on housing, infrastructure, and services.
“But under the Coalition, we will cut the migration intake to free up housing and restore the great Australian dream of home ownership.
“We will cut the permanent migration program by 25 per cent. We will ban foreign investors and temporary residents from purchasing existing Australian homes for two years.
“We will set stricter caps on foreign students to relieve stress on rental markets.”
Mr Dutton said a Liberal Government would also invest $5 billion in essential infrastructure to get stalled housing projects off the ground and unlock 500,000 homes.
“And we will allow first home buyers to access up to $50,000 of their super for a home deposit,’’ he said.
Reducing the cost of energy
Mr Dutton told Parliament that the skyrocketing energy costs was the key to Labor’s cost-of-living crisis.
“And that’s due to Anthony Albanese and Chris Bowen’s reckless renewables-only policy trainwreck,’’ he said.
“Australians are paying some of the highest power prices in the world. The Albanese Government has broken its core energy promise.
“Your electricity bill hasn’t come down by $275, as Labor promised on 97 occasions. Rather, Australians are paying up to $1,300 more than Labor promised.”
The Liberal leader said that gas was the key to making electricity and keeping the lights on.
“Tonight, I announce our National Gas Plan.
“This plan will prioritise domestic gas supply, address shortfalls, and reduce energy prices for Australians.
“We will immediately introduce an east coast gas reservation.
“This will secure an additional 10 to 20 per cent of the east coast’s demand – gas which would otherwise be exported.
“Gas sold on the domestic market will be decoupled from overseas markets to protect Australia from international price shocks.”
Reining-in inflationary spending
The Liberal leader said that the Albanese Government had increased spending as a share of the economy more than any other government since the recession of the early 1990s.
“Tonight, I announce that a Dutton Coalition Government will rein in key inflationary, ineffectual, and imprudent spending measures of the Albanese Labor Government,” he said.
“We will end the reckless $20 billion Rewiring the Nation Fund.
“We will stop the $10 billion Housing Australia Future Fund – under which not a single additional new home has been built.
“We will scrap Labor’s $16 billion of production tax credits over the next decade for critical minerals and green hydrogen.
“And we will reverse Labor’s increase of 41,000 Canberra-based public servants – saving $7 billion a year once in place, and well over $10 billion over the forward estimates.”
Health
Accusing the Albanese Government of “smears and scare campaigns” over Medicare, Mr Dutton said he was committed to improving bulk billing.
“There’s no greater sign of the Albanese Government’s desperation than its Mediscare campaign – Labor’s third attempt in less than a decade,” he said.
“But while Labor peddles falsehoods, we will remind Australians of the facts.
“On this Government’s watch, bulk billing nationally has fallen by 11 per cent.
“We will invest $9 billion into health.
“Tonight, I announce that a Dutton Coalition Government will invest an additional $400 million into youth mental health services.”
Social cohesion, crime and national security
Mr Dutton said Australians “tell me they’ve never been more worried about crime and division.”
“It started with the Prime Minister’s Voice referendum, which sought to divide our country by ancestry and race,’’ he said.
“He then left a vacuum of leadership following the crime wave in Alice Springs and the antisemitism on the steps of the Sydney Opera House.
“All too often, this Prime Minister is too weak, too late, and too equivocal. This Government has released 300 hardcore criminals from immigration detention into the community – with more than a third having reoffended.
“We will again stop the boats – just as we did in 2013.”
Leadership
Mr Dutton said voters now face a clear choice.
“Soon, you will have a say in determining the future of our great country,’’ Mr Dutton said.
“In my travels across the country, Australians tell me they’re working hard, but can’t get ahead.
“Stories of rent and mortgage stress. Stories of power, shopping, and insurance bills going through the roof.
“The truth is, Australians can’t afford three more years of the Albanese Government.”
Mr Dutton also confirmed he will repeal Labor’s tax cuts and made no apology for preferring to deliver petrol excise relief at the bowser.
“Jim Chalmers’ so- called tax cut ‘top up’ is simply a tax cut cop-out,’’ he said.
“Labor will spend $17 billion of taxpayers’ money to give you back 70 cents a day – in 15 months’ time.
“And yet, a family with a typical mortgage is $50,000 worse off under Labor. Frankly, it’s insulting.
“We oppose these tax cuts and will repeal them – because they come at a great cost to the economy with little cost relief for Australians.
“Instead, we will provide immediate cost-of-living relief for Australians.
“I say to Australians tonight, at this election, you can make the right choice.
“Let’s get our country back on track.”
The battle lines have now been drawn, with the Coalition announcing it will deliver cheaper petrol from this year and the Albanese Government promising a permanent tax cut – but it’s only worth $5 a week next year.
Combined with previous tax cuts that Mr Dutton will not repeal, the top-ups take the tax cuts for average workers to around $50 a week.
The Liberals have confirmed they will repeal the new $5 a week tax cuts if elected and the Labor Party has confirmed they won’t match the fuel excise cut.
When will the PM call the election?
The Prime Minister is now expected to call the election as early as Friday, visiting the Governor-General Sam Mostyn and asking her to dissolve Parliament.
Labor sources said strategists are planning a 5-week “quick and dirty” May election campaign, confirming the Prime Minister has no appetite to drag it out into a 6-week election campaign.
That option is regarded as too expensive and exhausting for voters who are set to be bombarded with election ads from this weekend.
Blunder as election accidentally announced
In an embarrassing blunder on Thursday, the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet also accidentally announced the election.
The Department was forced to apologise after mistakenly announcing the government has entered caretaker mode.
“The government is now operating in accordance with caretaker conventions pending the outcome of the 2025 federal election,” the deleted post said.
Tax cuts v petrol excise cuts
The Coalition is vowing to scrap Labor’s modest $5 a week tax cuts, instead plumping for a one-off reduction in fuel excise for a year.
Instead, Mr Dutton wants to temporarily halve fuel excise if he is elected Prime Minister, in a promise he says could save a two-car family up to $1500.
It will cost $6 billion in revenue foregone in a single year. That’s around half of the value of the Treasurer’s tax cuts over four years.
It would mean for petrol and diesel, excise rates will be reduced from 50.8 cents to 25.4 cents per litre.
“The Coalition is committed to supporting families and businesses and alleviating the cost-of-living pressure that everyone, right across the country, is feeling right now,” Mr Dutton told news.com.au.
“If elected, we will halve fuel excise for 12 months.
“And if elected, we will deliver this cost-of-living relief immediately – whereas people have to wait 15 months for Labor’s 70 cents a day tax tweak.
“This cost-of-living relief will make a real difference to families and small businesses – everyone from tradies, to mums and dads, to older Australians, and to transport delivery workers.”
How much could you save?
A household with one vehicle filling up once a week will save around $14 a week, according to the Liberal Party – an average benefit of around $700-$750 over 12 months (based on a 55-litre tank).
For households with two cars who fill up once a week, they will save around $28 a week on average – or close to $1500 over 12 months.
“The commute to work, taking the kids to school or sport, the family drive, or the trip to the shops will all cost less under the Coalition,” Mr Dutton said.
Mr Dutton pledged that the legislation enacting the excise cut would be introduced on the first sitting day of the next parliament, allowing the cut to come into effect as quickly as possible.
The Morrison Government was the last to offer a pre-election fuel excise cut in 2022, but it wasn’t enough to win the election.
Labor’s tax cuts
Australians can expect a tax cut of an extra $5 a week for anyone earning more than $45,000 from next year in a surprise election bribe that will be hard-pressed buying most voters a cup of coffee.
But building on existing stage three tax cuts brought in by Labor last year, the changes will deliver the average worker a total tax cut of $2548 a year or about $50 a week.
“I understand there’s always an appetite for governments to do more,” Treasurer Jim Chalmers said.
“We’ve got budget constraints. But it’s not the only thing we are doing in cost of living. It goes hand-in-hand with more bulk billing, cheaper medicines.
“The total value is $50 a week. It includes the $150 energy rebate.”
The federal government is billing the changes as a double tax cut because they also increased the Medicare levy low income thresholds.
This means that one million Australians on lower incomes will continue to be exempt from paying more tax under the Medicare levy, or will continue to pay it at a reduced rate.
Over the next decade from 2024, the average Aussie will pay $30,000 less tax than they would have if the Morrison Government and the Albanese Government had not embarked on and then implemented tax reform.
Despite offering a stipend so small it would barely buy a weekly cup of coffee, the cost to the budget is huge, because it’s delivered to every full-time worker.
In fact, the cost to the budget in terms of revenue foregone for the extra tax cut is $17 billion by 2030 – an impost the Treasurer insisted was worth it to help relieve bracket creep and reward workers.
Wild sledges fly in Parliament
Earlier, wild sledges were flung in Parliament during the last sitting before Australians head to the polls with Peter Dutton slammed as a “Temu Trump” prompting the Speaker Milton Dick to intervene.
The Temu Trump gibe is a reference to the bargain basement website that ships heavily discounted consumer goods, primarily sourced from Chinese suppliers directly to consumers.
During question time, the little-known Greens MP Stephen Bates asked why the Prime Minister wanted to invite US president Donald Trump to Australia.
“My question is to the Prime Minister. Prime Minister, why would you invite Donald Trump to Australia when you have a Temu Trump sitting right next to you!,” he said.
But the Speaker of the House ruled the question out of order.
“Australia has a longstanding relationship with the United States, it’s been an important ally since the Second World War,’’ Mr Albanese responded.
“President Trump was elected by the American people last October. We respect democratic outcomes in Australia. It’s something that I’m very proud of, that we have orderly transitions of power, and we had that between when Mr Morrison lost the election.”
Earlier, Jim Chalmers said the government will not match the Coalition’s fuel excise pledge and has refused to concede the Coalition plan would save the average taxpayer $750 for one year only.
“The Coalition doesn’t have any plans to help people with the cost of living in an enduring way and what it means is the economic policy that they will take to the election is higher taxes for every taxpayer, secret cuts to pay for nuclear reactors and no ongoing help with the cost of living,” the Treasurer told Sky News.
Originally published as Opposition Leader Peter Dutton outlines his vision if he is elected Prime Minister
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