Australian election 2025: Albanese, Dutton on day 32 of May 3 election campaign
One Nation has put most Coalition candidates second on their how to vote cards, ending a 30-year-old standoff with the Liberal Party over preferences.
Peter Dutton has dodged questions on why the Liberal Party has accepted One Nation preferences, going against a 30-year-old decision in place since John Howard was prime minister.
The Opposition Leader has been frequently, stridently critical of Labor for putting the Greens second on the how to vote cards in seats across the country, arguing the Greens are an extreme party.
But when asked about the backflip by the Liberals to backflip on Mr Howard’s decision after the party disendorsed Pauline Hanson, Mr Dutton was less forthright.
One Nation has rewritten its how to vote cards, urging One Nation supporters to mark the Coalition candidate as their second preference on the ballot in most seats.
The Coalition has returned the favour, suggesting voters vote One Nation as their second preference in the vast majority of lower house seats.
“If it means saving Peter Dutton by shifting a ‘how to vote’, then we will do so,” One Nation chief of staff James Ashby told The Daily Telegraph.
On Tuesday, a reporter asked Mr Dutton, who has said he models his leadership on John Howard, to explain the turnaround.
“John Howard made a concerted decision to preference One Nation last. Why are you preferencing One Nation second in the majority of elections across the country?”
Instead of answering the question directly – several times – Mr Dutton urged voters to put the Coalition candidate first on the ballots.
“We’ve taken a decision that we want to make sure that Australians can preference us first. That’s the most important way to be able to change this government,” he said.
“And I want to make sure that we can change the government so we’ll get our country back on track. That’s the reality.
“And I want to make sure that we can support Australians with their cost of living crisis, and you do that by voting one for your Liberal National Party candidate.”
Australians are free to vote how they please, marking each box from 1 to the final number. How to vote cards are not binding.
Dutton gets the inflation rate wrong
Peter Dutton got the inflation rate wrong – sort of – during a press conference on Tuesday.
The Opposition Leader was asked a double-barrelled question firstly asking him about the vandalism on his electorate office overnight, then about inflation.
“You talk about getting inflation down. Do you know what the current inflation rate is?”
After answering on the vandalism, he said: “And 2.7 per cent is the answer to your question.”
The most recent quarterly inflation rate was 2.4 per cent for the December quarter.
But annual trimmed mean inflation was 2.7 per cent for the month of February.
“The CPI excluding volatile items and holiday travel measure rose 2.7 per cent in the 12 months to February, compared to a 2.9 per cent rise in the 12 months to January,” the Australian Bureau of Statistics reported.
But the Reserve Bank and Treasury uses the less volatile quarterly figures. The March quarter data will be released on Wednesday.
‘Stunt’: Dutton slams bizarre protest
Peter Dutton has called out anti-nuclear protesters for a “stunt” that stopped an event to announce funding to support a local junior footy club.
The anti-nuclear protesters derailed Mr Dutton’s announcement for junior sports at the Francis Ryan Sports Field, home of the St Georges Basin Dragons, with a group of young players in the marginal seat of Gilmore in NSW on Tuesday.
“The teals and Greens always pull all sorts of stunts,” the Opposition Leader told reporters at a later stop in the neighbouring seat of Whitlam.
Mr Dutton said the Coalition had been open about its plans to build seven nuclear reactor plants across the country as part of its energy policy.
“We’ve been upfront in relation to the seven sites that we’ve identified for the end-of-use coal-fired power stations where there’s already poles and wires going out so you save 28,000 new kilometres of poles and wires that Labor has to build,” Mr Dutton said.
But after the hazmat-dressed protesters entered the field, the event in the seat of Gilmore was called off.
“It would have been nice to spend more time with them but there were Greens and teal supporters dressed up and it was a stunt,” Mr Dutton said later at a press conference in the neighbouring seat of Whitlam.
“Unfortunately, the football coaches that we spoke to were really annoyed, actually, and upset at the protests.
“It made no difference to me in terms of protest activity, but it disrupted an event where we wanted to talk about helping kids play junior rugby.
“We wanted to talk about an upgrade in the change room facilities so young girls didn’t have to go into the canteen to get changed into their footy gear.”
Mr Dutton had been presented a jersey and was chatting members of the public when the nuclear protesters arrived.
The protesters never confronted the Opposition Leader directly, instead choosing to do their fake measuring on another part of the field, a short distance away.
Mr Dutton and his entourage left shortly after their arrival.
Mr Dutton postponed the announcement, with the Liberal candidate – former NSW government minister Andrew Constance – blasting the protesters for the “stunt”.
A woman who had stood near the protesters, observing their stunt with visible disapproval, told Newswire it was “ridiculous, absolutely ridiculous”.
“They make me so angry. They’re so ignorant,” Jennifer said, adding that Australia needed a “mix” of renewable energy and nuclear power.
The protesters had pretended to be scouting for the location of “Australia’s first nuclear reactor”, as the sounds of a Geiger counter and siren played nearby, sparking chaos as a group of children – not involved in the sport announcement – shouted back at them.
“I’m a ranga! I’m safe!” one of the cheekier boys, aged about ten, offered.
“I feel the radiation!” shouted another.
“Get the children away, it’s a hot zone,” one of the men shot back.
The men eventually ran out of steam and moved away after speaking to the media.
Police officers in attendance said, as the sport field was a public place, they could not intervene to get rid of them.
Having dropped the act – though not his costume – one of the protesters, who identified himself as Arthur Rorris, secretary of the South Coast Labour Council.
“We’re making the point in a humorous and creative way – we don’t believe in interrupting media conferences in any other way, we prefer to use humour – but in a creative way and an informative way,” Mr Rorris said.
“This could be Australia’s future. That’s what the alternative Prime Minister is pushing, and we’re just doing him a favour.”
Before the nuclear protesters interrupted Mr Dutton’s event in Sanctuary Point, he was approached by a far friendlier intruder.
Mr Dutton had been asking members of the local sports club about the parts of Francis Ryan Sports Field that needed upgrading, and had just examined the glorious mullet of one of the club’s young players, when Michael King, a local resident for more than 20 years, approached with his dog Benji.
“You look too old to be playing juniors,” Mr Dutton quipped as he turned to meet Mr King.
Mr Dutton asked Mr King what he felt the most important issues at the election were, suggesting electricity prices.
“Well, the main thing is that, the biggest issue at the moment, is that we find that leaders don’t really stand up. I want some of that,” he said.
“Well, we did that for you on the Voice,” Mr Dutton told him, before asking, “And what do you think of Albo?”
“Umm, well, give Albo the elbow,” Mr King said, with an accompanying arm motion.
Mr Dutton gave Mr King a jersey he himself had just been gifted by the sports club as thanks for “taking the time”. He said he’d obtain another one for himself.
Speaking to reporters a few moments later, Mr King said he was not a Liberal Party member, “just a local person that wants someone to stand up”. He said he had actually voted for the current Labor MP in Gilmore, Fiona Phillips, at the last election.
Albo hits the streets second day in a row
Anthony Albanese rolled into Market Square in Sunnybank, famous hub for Asian food outlets in Brisbane, to meet and greet voters in the key seat of Moreton.
Mr Albanese visited vendors, spoke to voters and met Walter the long-haired dachshund.
The Prime Minister was accompanied by Treasurer Jim Chalmers, Moreton candidate Julie-Ann Campbell and fiancee Jodie Haydon.
“No one tread on Walter please,” Mr Albanese enthusiastically exclaimed while holding up the pup.
One of the students Elia told Mr Albanese and Mr Chalmers he was set to have his parent teacher interview later in the afternoon.
“So Elias has got his parent teacher into today and I said to him if he’s late, he can say: ‘Sorry I’m late I was hanging out with the Prime Minister,’” Mr Chalmers said.
“You can get some photographic evidence, if you need,” Mr Albanese added, before taking a selfie with the student.
Mr Albanese snapped dozens of selfies with punters, at one point running to a pair of school girls who squealed with delight.
Tuesday’s street walk – Mr Albanese’s second in two days – was in the marginal electorate of Moreton, where longtime popular MP Graham Perrett is retiring after 18 years.
Ms Campbell, a local lawyer, will be contesting the seat for Labor, while the Liberals will also make a play with former infantry officer Henry Swindon.
Opposition Leader Peter Dutton also had yum cha at a nearby restaurant on the first day of the campaign, with the Coalition eyeing the electorate.
Pre-poll chaos continues for second day
Anthony Albanese has been confronted with another heckler, while visiting the Liberal held electorate of Bonner in Brisbane’s inner-east.
Labor’s only ever managed to hold it for one term in 2007, with the seat in blue hands otherwise since its creation in 2004.
But Labor sources believe the seat currently held on a marginal 3.4 per cent by Liberal MP Ross Vasta is in play for the May 3 election.
However, Mr Albanese’s visit to the St Peter’s Parish pre-poll centre was interrupted by a rogue heckler, believed to be associated with the Liberal Democrats.
While the Prime Minister was speaking to votes, the man repeatedly shouted out: “What’s a woman?”
At this point the heckler was about 4m away from Mr Albanese and was blocked by the large press group.
He also said: “What are you going to do about the price of housing?”
Tensions become inflamed for a moment when a man holding a Labor sign softly asked him to go away.
The man responded with: “Oh, he needs to hear me, and you don’t need to put that in my face,” and batted the sign away.
Classic election campaign behaviour also occurred, with Mr Albanese holding a bouncing baby of a Labor-supporter.
“He’s got a good grip,” he said, after handing the tot, Owen, back to his mum while playing with the infant’s hands.
In what has been a very dog-centric day, we also spotted another pooch wearing a Labor bandana that read: “No one held back, no one left behind”.
PM doesn’t walk back attack on credit ratings agencies
Anthony Albanese has stood firm in his critique of credit rating agency S&P after it warned that Australia’s AAA credit rating was “at risk” because of a raft of big spending pre-election promises.
Responding to the assessment on 7.30 on Monday, Mr Albanese said there was” no suggestion” Australia’s rating was at risk and claimed S&P analysts would have been “beside themselves” that his government had “turned” a $78bn Coalition deficit into a $22bm $15bn surplus.
Despite multiple questions questioning whether he believed S&P’s initial analysis was incorrect, Mr Albanese refused to engage and went back to his talking points spruiking his two surpluses.
Jim Chalmers also said “there would be no reason to believe” Australia’s AAA credit rating would be downgraded under a re-elected Labor government.
“Because we’ve shown it not just an enthusiasm for responsible economic management, but we’ve got a good record of responsible economic management,” the Treasurer said.
“I invite you to recall what the budget looked like on the day that we came to office.”
Dutton grilled again on candidate’s offensive tweets
Peter Dutton has been grilled again about the Liberal Party’s candidate in a Western Sydney seat, this time by 2GB radio host Mark Levy.
Vivek Singha, the Liberal running in Fowler, has apologised and shut down his Twitter account after it emerged that he’d posted a series of derogatory comments about Indigenous Australians.
There is no hint, as of yet, that the party is considering disendorsing him.
Mr Dutton was asked about Mr Singha multiple times during his press conference on Monday. He responded by noting the candidate’s apology, and then by pivoting to some of the more unsavoury views in other political parties.
Mr Levy was not satisfied with that.
“I wanted to ask you: when it comes to the candidates you’re running under the Liberal banner, are you comfortable with all of them at the moment?” he asked.
“Well, there are some who have disappointed with some of the comments that they’ve made, and I’ve been very clear about that, but 99 per cent of our candidates are exceptional,” Mr Dutton said.
“I’ve got to be honest with you. I’m really, really disappointed that the Liberal Party is endorsing a bloke by the name of Vivek Singha,” said Mr Levy.
“He’s referred to Aboriginals as ‘sleeping lazybags’. He’s also had a crack at Tanya Plibersek for not protecting her daughter, who was a victim of domestic violence.
“Surely you, as a former police officer, would suggest that you should not be endorsing someone like that, given the such vile comments he made on social media?”
“Well Mark, again, I’ve condemned the comments, and the candidate has apologised for them, and I think that’s important. But I agree with you, the comments shouldn’t have been made in the first place. But not everyone has a perfect record,” Mr Dutton reiterated.
Dutton’s office vandalised for third time
Peter Dutton’s electorate office in Brisbane has been vandalised for a third time in the election campaign.
The office building in Arana Hills in Brisbane’s north was splashed with red paint and covered in signs, condemning the Opposition Leader on Gaza and other issues overnight.
Mr Dutton later described the incident as “outrageous” and raised issues with safety around voting at the moment.
“We can have disagreements, that’s fine, but we need to do it better than we have been at the moment,” Mr Dutton said.
“And to see Greens supporters and others out there shouting at booths. You know, we employ security guards now at booths.
“And you see the vandalism. That is outrageous.
“We want to support our democratic processes, but I don’t want to see a situation where we’ve got people who are being intimidated.”
One flyer read: “Dutton says he can find ‘common ground’ with Trump and praises the US interference with Gaza.”
Another said: “Dutton opposes tertiary education funding and public housing initiatives but used 6k of taxpayers’ money for company at Gina Rinehart’s birthday party.”
“Dutton wants to stop accepting refugees from Gaza but invites millionaires from overseas to settle here,” another flyer said.
The incident follows recent comments from the Opposition Leader on the Welcome to Country being “overdone” and attacks on the Greens for being anti-Semitic and “Jew haters”.
While Mr Dutton said welcome to country should reserved for important events, such as the opening of parliament, it should be respected if held.
It follows neo-Nazis booing the welcome to country at the Anzac Day Dawn Service in Melbourne last week.
Queensland Police have charged a woman following investigations into a wilful damage offence at a Dawson Parade property in Arana Hills this morning.
Around 2.30am police were called to Wye Street in Mitchelton following reports of four people in a red sedan acting suspiciously. An 18-year-old Chapel Hill woman has been charged with one count of wilful damage and is expected to appear before Brisbane Magistrates Court on May 20.
Mr Dutton’s Dickson electorate office has been vandalised on two other occasions since the May 3 election was called on March 29.
‘A good man’: Shoppers meet Dutton at farmers market
Peter Dutton was joined by the local Liberal candidate in Gilmore, Andrew Constance, as he toured a farmers market in Nowra, on the NSW south coast.
The Opposition Leader was led around the store by its three proprietors Paul Sassall, Jeffrey Coe and Chris Rae, who spoke to him about various cost of living issues. They said they’d noticed their customers were electing to buy lower cost options.
Mr Dutton chatted to a few the shoppers he encountered as he wound his way between the various aisles.
One woman, who greeted him warmly, said she had been impressed by his performance on A Current Affair on Monday night.
“I did like his ideas and his thoughts,” she said, adding that he seemed like a “nice” person.
“I like his strength,” another shopper told NewsWire.
“I like his quietness, that we don’t have to prove ourselves shouting and carrying on. I have faith in him. I believe he’s a good man who, the old fashioned (idea) of being there for women and children. I think he’s a good man.”
Noone heckled Mr Dutton – most shoppers seemed rather nonplussed by his presence. One older gentleman, stuck behind the pack of cameras, journalists and staff, reacted with a resigned: “How long’s it going to take?”
And as for eggs? Mr Dutton managed to avoid them after he got caught short of knowing how much a dozen went for during the final leaders’ debate on Sunday night.
In case you’re wondering, the cheapest price for a dozen free range eggs was $9.49 – a fair bit higher than Mr Dutton’s guess of $4.20 during Sunday night’s final debate.
‘Fair Dinkum’: Labor grilled on power bills
Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles has been told he sounds “just as confused as the PM” during a heated conversation on power prices, after he was asked to reveal if his electricity bills had gone up after Anthony Albanese refused to do so.
“Anthony Albanese appeared on 2GB yesterday, and he refused to reveal if his electricity bill has gone up over the last few years since he became Prime Minister, so we’re going to put the question on you instead,” radio host Ben Fordham said.
Mr Marles also refused to answer if his power bills had increased since Labor came to power, but did concede that there were factors that contributed to the increased cost of energy bills.
“We have seen global inflation around the world … there has been a cost of living challenge in Australia,” Mr Marles said before being interrupted.
When pressed by Mr Fordham to give a “fair dinkum” answer, Mr Marles responded: “Well, what I know is that my energy prices would be higher, but for the rebates that our government has put in place”.
Mr Marles defended providing the energy rebate to all Australians rather than means testing the payment, because “it would make it more expensive”.
“If the Liberals have had their way over the last three years, $7200 is the amount of money that average families would be worse off,” he added.
On 7.30 on Monday night, Mr Albanese was also grilled on whether he regretted promising a $275 reduction in energy price at the last election.
“Do you wish you hadn’t said it? Do you wish you hadn’t made that prediction?” host Sarah Ferguson asked him, bringing him back to the pledge from 2022.
“Look, Sarah, you cannot look back. What you can do is look forward. And what you do in looking forward is make sure that you address (the question of) what is the cheapest form of energy going forward,” Mr Albanese said.
Leaders’ marginal seats blitz continues
Anthony Albanese and Peter Dutton are continuing their final day blitz of marginal seats that could determine the outcome of Saturday’s federal election.
The Prime Minister is in Brisbane, where he is laser-focused on winning the inner-city seats of Griffith, Ryan and Brisbane from the Greens who surprisingly won the three seats in 2022.
In his second campaign appearance to Griffith, Mr Albanese visited a near-completed social and affordable housing construction site in the suburb of Stones Corner.
The electorate is held by popular MP and the minor party’s housing spokesman Max Chandler-Mather who has consistently used the last term of parliament to criticise Labor on its housing policy, pushing for further action.
He also holds the seat on a safe 10.5 per cent margin, with Labor’s Renee Coffey tasked with winning back the seat.
Mr Albanese was accompanied by Treasurer Jim Chalmers, Health Minister Mark Butler and Ms Coffey.
On Monday, Mr Albanese made lightning visits to the key marginal Sydney seats of Bennelong, Banks and Fowler.
The Prime Minister made a longer campaign stop on the NSW Central Coast, where he is trying to sandbag a number of seats including Robertson where he made a domestic violence funding announcement.
The Opposition Leader likewise spent time on The Central Coast, with visits to Paterson and Robertson, before attending a supporters event in the most marginal Labor seat in the country, Bennelong.
The Sydney seat – once held by Liberal Party legend and former prime minister John Howard – is a key target for Mr Dutton, despite some controversy around candidate Scott Yung.
On Tuesday, Mr Dutton will start the campaign in the southeastern NSW seat of Gilmore, another marginal seat where the Liberals are hoping former NSW government minister Andrew Constance can finally win it from Labor’s Fiona Phillips.
Mr Constance lost to Ms Phillips in 2022, albeit by a tiny fraction of the votes cast.
Since then Mr Constance has also tried to get a spot in the Senate, but lost Liberal preselection to Maria Kovacic.
Gilmore was on the list of 28 marginal electorates the Dutton campaign said it was planning to visit in the final week.
Ryan breaks silence on volunteers
Teal MP for Kooyong Monique Ryan says she is happy for the Australian Electoral Commission to investigate allegations that volunteers with alleged links to the Chinese Communist Party were directed to campaign for her.
The Age has reported that some of the Kooyong MPs volunteers were filmed saying they were told to vote for the MP by the president of the Hubei Association.
Speaking to Sky News on Tuesday, Dr Ryan said the man in question had attended events and roundtables she had hosted for the Chinese community in Kooyong, but she had no direct relationship with him.
“I’ve never had a one-on-one meeting with him and I’ve never had his support in any direct way,” Dr Ryan said.
“In the interest of full transparency I’ve contacted the AEC and the Department of Parliamentary Services agency and given them the details I gave to The Age yesterday about my relationship with those volunteers and (man).”
Coalition home affairs spokesman James Paterson has called for an investigation, saying if true, it could amount to foreign interference.
Ms Ryan’s extended interview on Sky News outside an early polling centre followed frosty encounter with Morning Agenda host Laura Jayes last week.
In Tuesday’s interview, which covered the Chinese volunteers issue, controversy over her husband removing a corflute of Liberal candidate Amelia Hamer, and her prospects on Saturday.
Dr Ryan famously won Kooyong from then treasurer Josh Frydenberg, usurping the seat from the Liberals for the first time.
“I think it’s gonna be really close,” Dr Ryan said.
‘So biased’: Dutton unleashes on media
Peter Dutton has unleashed on much of the nation’s news media, calling the journalists who have covered him throughout the campaign “so biased”, and labelling them “activists”.
The Liberal leader made those comments during an interview with Sky News Australia host Sharri Markson on Monday night.
Ms Markson suggested he had “faced a very hostile media”.
“It’s extraordinary to watch the daily press conferences,” she said.
“Albanese is often given what we call Dorothy Dixers, whereas you face hostile interrogations from the press back.”
(Dorothy Dixer is the term we use for the pre-scripted questions asked of government ministers by their own MPs during Question Time. Which are, notoriously, less than probative.)
“You’ve described The Guardian and the ABC as ‘the hate media’. Do you think that sort of media, and others like them, actually hate mainstream Australian values?” Ms Markson said.
“I just think they’re so biased, and many of them just activists, not journalists, that their position becomes counter-productive,” Mr Dutton responded.
“And they’re playing to a particular audience, to a Green voter. And frankly, as the Prime Minister has demonstrated, his whole government has been about, ‘How do we please the inner city Green voter in Sydney and Melbourne?’
“That’s why he has taken such a soft stance in relation to anti-Semitism. It’s why he’s allowed the preferencing of Green members, (despite) knowing that they’re anti-Semitic and knowing that they’re Jew haters. That’s the reality. And knowing that their economic policies are going to harm people in the suburbs and in regional areas.
“I think people see through that. And I think the left-wing media, frankly, by polling day, I think will be counter-productive in what they’re doing.”
Greens leader Adam Bandt already expressed anger at some of that rhetoric on Monday – the charge that Greens are “anti-Semitic” and “Jew haters”.
“Those comments are reprehensible, offensive and utterly untrue, and moreover they are dangerous at a time when far-right movements are emboldened by Donald Trump’s presidency,” Mr Bandt said.
“The Liberals are resorting to dangerous lies because their campaign is in free fall. I will not be lectured to by someone who has made a career out of punching down and trying to use race to win votes.”
Back to the interview. Ms Markson expressed scepticism that the focus group showcased by Channel 7 immediately after it hosted the final election debate on Sunday night was really composed of undecided voters.
She cited the overwhelming margin the group gave to Anthony Albanese, over Mr Dutton, on the cost of living.
We should note that the same audience marked Mr Dutton significantly higher than the Prime Minister on both Indigenous affairs and defence.
“Do you really think those voters were undecided? It didn’t seem like it,” said Ms Markson.
“Well, I was a little emotional, because there was one journalist out of The Sydney Morning Herald that gave it to me that said I won the (debate).
“It’s about the nicest thing – the kindest thing they’ve said about me during this campaign.”
More to come
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