Federal Election 2025: Anthony Albanese and Peter Dutton campaign on day 10
Shadow treasurer Angus Taylor has written to Treasury to demand daily briefings during the election campaign, as the Trump tariffs hit the economy.
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Shadow treasurer Angus Taylor is demanding daily briefings from Treasury following the ASX bloodbath that wiped $110bn off the market after Donald Trump sparked a global trade war.
Mr Taylor has written to Treasury boss Steven Kennedy seeking the updates, after Treasurer Jim Chalmers released the pre-election finacial outlook on Monday,
In his letter to Mr Kennedy, Mr Taylor argued both major parties needed to be prepared to respond to the “potential impacts of a US recession and domestic sell off”.
The meetings will focus on “unfolding market developments and their implications for the Australian and global economy.”
While politicians are limited in seeking policy advice from departments under caretaker mode, Mr Taylor has requested the Treasury briefings.
The meetings would also be attended by Peter Dutton (when available), the Coalition’s finance spokeswoman Jane Hume and up to two represenatives from their offices.
“We believe this is critical, noting the ongoing impacts on financial markets, their implications for the macroeconomy and Australians’ living standards and wealth, and the posibility of major policy decisions having to be taken during the election period,” Mr Taylor wrote.
Treasurer Jim Chalmers said the Coalition had been briefed on PEFO, as per the requirements of caretaker mode.
‘Rav4’: Dutton’s odd answer on women issue
Peter Dutton has side stepped questions on whether the Coalition has a problem with appealing to women voters, instead attacking Labor for the rising cost of a Ford Ranger and Toyota RAV4 hybrid.
Mr Dutton did eventually concede the Coalition has “work to do,” after prompting by journalists, however his answer did not include the word “women”.
“There’ll be scores of polling between now and the election and we’ve got work to do – there’s no question about that,” he said.
“We are the underdog in this race, but we’re the only party that can provide support to Australians in a very uncertain age.
“We’re the only party that can manage the economy through difficulties, if we see a global recession or recession in the United States.”
Prior to his answer he spoke at length about Labor’s Medicare and work from home “scare campaigns” and how Labor would increase the cost of cars through its vehicle efficiency standards.
“Do you know Labor hasn’t spoken much about this, but I think it’s really important to focus on if you’re a (young tradie) who’s out in the market at the moment … believe it or not, but under Chris Bowen’s renewables-only plan, that Ford Ranger is going up by $14,400,” he said.
“Now I just don’t think that families can afford to pay 25c more for petrol under Labor, and $14,000 more for a ute under Labor.
“For one of the most popular cars in the Australian market, the Toyota RAV4 hybrid, it goes up by $9000 by 2029 under Labor.”
After further prompting, including a question on whether the Coalition needed more female representation in the party, Mr Dutton said he wanted Coalition policies to help women.
“We want to help women, young women, and we want to make sure that we can do that in a vibrant economy,” he said, pointing to the 29,000 businesses which have gone under since 2022.
“So are we going to be a better government for women and for families because we manage the economy more effectively, and we’ve demonstrated that over time, and we’ll do it again.”
Taylor to seek daily Treasury briefings following ASX bloodbath
Shadow Treasurer Angus Taylor has written to Treasury boss Steven Kennedy seeking daily briefings following the ASX bloodbath that wiped $110bn off the market following Donald Trump’s global trade war.
The meetings will focus on “unfolding market developments and their implications for the Australian and global economy,” with Mr Taylor arguing both major parties need to be prepared to respond to the “potential impacts of a US recession and domestic sell off,” the letter reads.
While politicians are limited in seeking policy advice from departments under caretaker mode, Mr Taylor has requested the information following a horror day on the share market.
“We believe this is critical, noting the ongoing impacts on financial markets, their implications for the macro-economy and Australians’ living standards and wealth, and the possibility of major policy decisions having to be taken during the election period,” Mr Taylor wrote.
The meetings would also be attended by Peter Dutton (when available), the Coalition’s finance spokeswoman Jane Hume and up to two represenatives from their offices.
‘Got it wrong’: Dutton’s backflip on WFH
Peter Dutton has backflipped on his controversial plan to force public servants back into the office, as the Prime Minister ramped up his attack on the plan.
The Opposition Leader has admitted the Coalition “made a mistake” with the WFH policy and will no longer mandate a minimum number of office days.
“We’ve made a mistake in relation to the policy. We apologise for that,” Mr Dutton told the Today show.
“And I think it’s important that we say that and recognise it.”
He later told Adelaide radio 5AA that a Coalition government would “have exactly the same arrangements in place, under the EBAs, that Labor has in place now”.
“We’ve made a mistake in relation to the policy and we’ve allowed the Labor Party to misrepresent it to somehow make women fear that the Liberal Party is not in favour of flexible working arrangements which is just nonsense,” Mr Dutton said.
“We admit that we’ve got it wrong and I think we’ve been very frank and forthright this morning saying that we’ve got that policy wrong. And we admit the mistake.”
The softened stance follows negative polling from Redbridge which showed the policy was particularly unpopular among female voters who may use flexible working arrangements to balance parenting duties.
The Coalition has also said its plans to slash the commonwealth public service by 41,000 jobs will be done through natural attrition and job freezes rather than forced redundancies.
Dutton arrives to fourth petrol pit stop in style
In the fourth petrol pit stop in four days, Mr Dutton made a statement by arriving in a customised fuel tanker.
The metres-long vehicle was emblazoned with the script: Save 25c per litre. Vote Liberal.
Mr Dutton, who was all smiles exiting the tanker, then fuelled up a Nicolle Flint campaign car – the Liberal candidate for Boothby.
He made brief remarks to the media at the Perrys gas station in the seat of Adelaide.
It’s not exactly marginal and is held by Labor’s Steve Georganas on 11.9 per cent.
Mr Dutton said Mr Albanese’s refusal to match the 80/20 funding split of the $1bn Greater Adelaide Freight Bypass upgrade was a “blow” to the Labor party.
“Standing here in South Australia, it shows that they’re not serious about what is a very important project, and I want to make sure that we can get this project up and running quickly.”
However he wouldn’t answer recurrent questions on whether the Coalition would change anymore policies after it dumped its call to force public servants back into the office.
‘New Peter Dutton’: Albo’s sledge after WFH backflip
Anthony Albanese has accused Peter Dutton of “pretending” pledges to cut the public service and change work-from-home arrangements now won’t go ahead after the Opposition Leader revealed a backflip.
“Today we have the extraordinary position of Peter Dutton, having defended his attack on working from home, is now pretending that that program won’t proceed,” Mr Albanese said from Melbourne.
“He said very clearly that women should just go and job share, that they shouldn’t worry about working full time. There were plenty of job sharing opportunities there in dismissing the opposition to this plan.”
Mr Albanese accused Mr Dutton of opposing multiple workplace reform measures, including Same Job, Sam Pay – which the Opposition Leader has ruled out reversing – before his about face on Sunday evening.
“This is a new Peter Dutton who has discovered work rights,” he said, mockingly.
“Peter Dutton wants to undermine work rights, and in particular, doesn’t understand modern families, doesn’t understand the important role that women and men play in organising their families and organising appropriate work conditions wherever it is possible.
“We know that working from home is complete productivity.
“We know also it’s an urban congestion issue, because if you take everyone who is currently working from home and put them in a car and put them on a road, you’re going to have more congestion.
“It is a productivity decreasing policy that the Coalition have had, and today he wants to pretend, after three years of not developing hardly any policies at all, that all he’s got left now is the nuclear plan that will cost $600bn some of the savings from the public serving cuts have just disappeared as well, apparently.
“So therefore there will have to be even more deeper cuts.”
‘Everything is money’: Child’s message to PM
A small child had a message for the Prime Minister when he visited their home in Melbourne’s outer suburb of Wallan to spruik work-from-home – “everything is money”.
And, they’re not wrong, with cost of living being front and centre of the campaign this year.
Anthony Albanese has claimed families would be worse off under seemingly now aborted plans by the Coalition to slash work-from-home arrangements for the public service.
The PM said the reversal of Covid-era conditions would force women into job-sharing part-time work, and would eventually flow on to the private sector as well.
That is something Mr Dutton has rejected as fear-mongering.
In any case, work-from-home and the DOGE-style cuts the Coalition has also started to water down – no forced redundancies, for instance – has dominated day 10 of the campaign.
Asked about being called a liar by Mr Dutton over WFH, Mr Albanese told the media in the backyard of a suburban family home that “Peter Dutton can be really nasty”.
“The truth is he should defend his own position,” Mr Albanese said.
“The truth is that everyone knows … the reason why this shouldn’t happen in the public sector is because it flows through to the private sector.’
Talk of money also canvassed world politics on Monday.
The Prime Minister confirmed Australia has been one of 50 countries to reach out to the White House over Donald Trump’s sweeping “Liberation Day” tariffs announced last week.
Mr Trump singled out Aussie beef and slapped Australia with a 10 per cent import tariff, the lowest impost of his wide-ranging tariffs.
Dutton shores up support in marginal SA seats
Peter Dutton on Monday was in the marginal seat of Sturt, where Liberal MP James Stevens clings on by a wafer thin 0.5 per cent margin.
Speaking from Glen Ormond, the suburb is also very close to the Labor-held seat of Boothby, held by Louise Miller-Frost on 3.3 per cent which the Liberals are targeting with former MP Nicolle Flint as their candidate.
The Opposition Leader is expected to face a grilling over the Coalition’s decision to dump its WFH policy which threatened to bring public servants back to the office.
Earlier on Monday, Mr Dutton admitted he “made a mistake” in his call to force workers back to the office.
Separately Mr Dutton has also announced increased 80:20 funding split of the $1bn upgrades to the Greater Adelaide Freight Bypass. Labor has currently proposed a 50:50 split.
The upgrades will help remove truck traffic between Cross Rd and Portcrush Rd.
Labor ramps up attack on WFH policy
Labor Workplace Minister Murray Watt rubbished the Coalition’s WFH backflip on Monday morning, saying it shouldn’t be believed.
“Does anyone actually believe this new position from Peter Dutton? His policy about work from home has changed about eight times in the last month,” Mr Watt told Nine’s Today show.
Overnight, Anthony Albanese said the Coalition’s WFH plan had showed Mr Dutton did not understand that “working from home, when they need to, suits many families” and that with current cost of living pressures, many families “can’t afford it any other way”.
Analysis by Labor of publicly available data, including the recent census, claims families could lose $740 per week gross – or, $38,000 per year – if women were forced to return to part-time job-sharing arrangements.
That figure is based on women losing the average two days per week undertaken at home, the average researchers found many of the 2.6 million Australian women who regularly work from home do away from the office.
Dutton’s DOGE-style rethink
Since the start of the campaign, Mr Dutton has walked back some of his earlier pledges to undertake DOGE-style cuts to the public service, as well as slashing work-from-home arrangements for government staff.
On Sunday, the Coalition announced that its plan to cull the public service workforce by 41,000 staff over five years would not include forced redundancies, and instead natural attrition, resignations, and a hiring freeze.
The Opposition said military personnel and reserves would be excluded from the cuts, and on Sunday also vowed to not mandate a minimum number of office days, in a major walk back of its government worker crackdown.
Mr Dutton has also faced mounting pressure to substantiate the detail of the Coalition’s public service cull, with reducing waste in government departments a core tenant of the Opposition’s election platform.
Mr Dutton earlier accused Labor of running a “scare campaign” over the Coalition’s call to bring public sector workers back to the office, which he said was about making sure taxpayer money was spent wisely.
“So I think people who are listening to the Labor Party lies at the moment and a scare campaign that’s underway, I’d say, Why? Why aren’t they talking about their record?” he said.
Newspoll: Labor increases lead
Anthony Albanese has crept into majority government territory based on the latest polling during the first week of the May 3 election campaign.
The Newspoll, conducted for The Australian, shows Labor has picked up one point for a 52-48 per cent lead on a two-party preferred basis.
Labor won a single-seat, majority government at the last election with 52 per cent of the vote once preferences had been dished out.
However, Labor’s underlying support sits at 33 per cent of the primary vote, trailing the Coalition’s 36 per cent forecast primary vote, the Newspoll shows.
Newspoll also asked voters to rank the respective party leaders. The perception of Mr Albanese as arrogant has fallen a couple of points to 45 per cent. But 63 per cent of voters see Peter Dutton as arrogant, up from 58 per cent in December.
The leaders are neck-and-neck on the question of whether they ‘understand’ the big issues, with the Prime Minister ahead by one point having made a small gain and overtaking Mr Dutton in recent months.
The perception that each leader is experienced and “has a vision for Australia” follows a similar trend. Mr Dutton is still seen as much more “decisive and strong”.
PM invites Premier, this time
Anthony Albanese has invited Jacinta Allan to appear at the latest campaign stop after Victoria’s unpopular premier was conspicuously absent at his events in the state last week.
Polling conducted for The Age shows just 23 per cent of Victorians want Ms Allan to retain the premiership, as the state’s massive debt and gargantuan infrastructure projects blow out.
Last week the Prime Minister allowed the South Australian and the West Australian Premiers to join the campaign trail, but the following day Ms Allan was nowhere to be seen on the campaign roadshow.
Mr Albanese’s press conference kicked off about half an hour before state parliament began that day.
On Monday, Ms Allan was invited to the Melbourne campaign stop.
Alongside the Prime Minister, Ms Allan was asked if she would feel responsible should Labor lose seats in Victoria at the May 3 federal election.
Ms Allan would “leave the commentary to others”, and answered the question by talking about infrastructure.
“What Victorians should be focused on, and what I know Victorians are focused on, is a choice – a choice between the Prime Minister and a Labor government that’s backing Medicare, that’s backing the infrastructure projects that our city and state needs and wants, as opposed to a Dutton government and a Liberal offering that is all about cuts,” she said.
“Victorians know this because we have seen all of this before.”
Mr Albanese singled out the Melbourne electorates of Menzies and Deakin as Labor targets – both in the inner east.
Irish-born former army officer and barrister Keith Wolahan holds Menzies for the Liberal Party. He is up against Labor’s candidate Gabriel Ng, a lawyer and community legal services volunteer.
Coalition housing spokesman Michael Sukkar holds Deakin. He is up against another lawyer – and former schoolteacher – Matt Gregg from Labor.
“I want to, I want to win seats like Menzies and Deakin,” Mr Albanese said on Monday.
“That’s why I was in Deakin last week, I hope Michael Sukkar is door knocking, I really hope he is, and the more media appearances, the better,” he said.
Albo’s rail pledge for Sunshine in Melbourne
Anthony Albanese is back in Melbourne on Monday to defend a multi-billion dollar rail project Peter Dutton says he will slash.
The Prime Minister has travelled to Sunshine where the federal government has pledged $2bn, if re-elected, to the Sunshine train station, with Premier Jacinta Allan by his side for the first time in the campaign.
The station is a key part of both the Melbourne Airport Rail and the Suburban Rail Loops (SRL), which Mr Dutton has pledged to dramatically roll back funding for if he is elected on May 3.
It comes as Premier Allan’s popularity continues to plummet ahead of the 2026 state election, a live opportunity for state and federal Liberals.
The seat of Fraser, where Sunshine is located, is an extremely safe one for Labor, with Labor’s Daniel Mulino nabbing 66 per cent of the vote in 2022 on two-party preferred.
The state government says its SRL, an integral long term vision for state public transport for Victorian Labor, cannot be delivered without redeveloped station at Sunshine.
So far, the Albanese government has invested $2bn for Sunshine station for track upgrades and the electrification of the Melton Line, and $5bn to link Sunshine station to the airport.
Peter Dutton last week said if elected he would pull $2.2bn in funding for the SRL, describing it as an “unfunded, cruel hoax of a project”, as well as a further $2bn from Sunshine station.
Instead, he has committed a further $1.5bn to the Melbourne Airport rail link, which he said would be matched by a future Coalition state government following the state’s 2026 ballot.
More to come
Originally published as Federal Election 2025: Anthony Albanese and Peter Dutton campaign on day 10
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