Federal election 2025 live updates: Albanese, Dutton campaign on day 25
Chaos broke out at an early voting centre in Western Sydney on Tuesday, after a truck bearing signage for a Liberal candidate crashed into the building.
An early voting centre in western Sydney was unable to open for the first day of pre-poll on Tuesday after a Liberal Party campaign truck crashed into the site.
The truck, emblazoned with campaign material for Greenway Liberal candidate Rattan Virk rammed into a portico at Quakers Hill Community Centre on Monday, where it remained today as workers tried to remove the vehicle from a collapsed roof.
Video from the aftermath of the crash shows a man ripping off the signage after the crash.
A spokesperson for the NSW Liberal Party apologised for the incident in a statement to NewsWire, but did not address the footage of the signage being torn off.
“Yesterday, a truck delivering materials to Quakers Hill Community Hall dislodged a portico,” the spokesperson said.
“We sincerely regret any inconvenience this has caused for the local community.
“The local campaign proactively contacted the appropriate authorities and fully cooperated, following instructions when they arrived to assist at the hall.”
Greenway is currently held by Communications Minister Michelle Rowland on a less than 8 per cent margin.
“The AEC can confirm that the Quaker’s Hill Pre-Poll Voting Centre was not open today as a result of damage to the building,” a AEC spokesperson told NewsWire.
“A notice about the closure of the centre is available on the doors and it’s been temporarily removed from the AEC’s where to vote tool for when voters search for polling places,” the statement continued.
“The AEC is still assessing the damage to this facility and will make a decision about whether the facility can be used or will need to be relocated in coming days.”
More than half of Australia’s 18 million enrolled voters are expected to cast their vote ahead of the May 3 federal election.
Pope’s death pauses campaign
The first votes in the May 3 federal election will be cast from Tuesday, as campaigning is overshadowed by the death of Pope Francis.
Anthony Albanese and Peter Dutton are still expected to front the third leaders’ debate on Tuesday night, but the Prime Minister and Opposition Leader have cancelled planned events for Tuesday.
The Opposition Leader has said “today’s not the day for big politicking”.
Mr Dutton says he will spend the day “reflecting” instead of engaging in “overt politicking” on Tuesday, out of respect for Pope Francis.
He is expected to attend a church service, while Mr Albanese attended mass at Melbourne’s St Patrick’s Cathedral early on Tuesday. 
Dutton attends mass for Pope
Opposition Leader Peter Dutton is attending St Mary’s Cathedral for the 1.10pm thanksgiving mass for Pope Francis in Sydney.
He sat in the front pew alongside former governor-general Peter Cosgrove and his wife Lynne as well as Colonel Michael Miller, the Official Secretary to the Governor of NSW.
Speaking to the hundreds in the congregation, Sydney Archbishop Anthony Fisher thanked Mr Dutton for his attendance.
Archbishop Fisher said Pope Francis was a “man of God and of the people”.
He said he will be remembered for “holding up the hand of mercy” to all of humanity.
“I met Pope Francis maybe 20 times,” he said.
“He was as informal as an Australian and very easy to talk to.
“May he rest in peace and rise in glory.”
Mr Dutton made some brief remarks after the service, saying it was “appropriate” to have a “pause” of campaigning on Tuesday.
He said Pope Francis was “always dedicated to the much less fortunate”.
“I’m very humbled to be have been here,” he said about the St Mary’s Cathedral service in Sydney.
PM mourns ‘people’s Pope’
A solemn Anthony Albanese has given a second public tribute to Pope Francis, after pausing his campaigning to pay his respects to the late Pontiff.
The Prime Minister said while he “tried not to talk about my faith in public,” he said his Catholicism was “just part of me”.
He described Pope Francis, who died on Easter Monday at the age of 88, as one of the most “significant” Holy Fathers.
“The change that he led was significant indeed, and he of course, advocated for reforms that weren’t universally supported as well,” he told reporters in Melbourne.
“He had courage and he showed true leadership that.”
Governor-General Sam Mostyn is expected to represent Australia at Pope Francis’ funeral, which is expected within six days, Mr Albanese said.
Mr Albanese spoke glowingly of the late Pontiff, describing him as “one of the most consequential leaders of this century and of our lifetime”.
“He was tireless in advocating for the powerless, campaigning against poverty, for the rights of working people and for protecting our natural environment,” Mr Albanese said.
“Pope Francis stayed true to his origins as pontiff. He never rose above small acts of kindness and compassion.
“There was a gentleness about him, but it was a gentleness that contained such inner strength.”
Australia’s ambassador designate to the Holy See, Keith Pitt, has also been aiding with the logistics.
Mr Pitt, a former Morrison government minister, was unable to present his credentials to the Pope because of his illness.
Mr Albanese said he didn’t believe Pope Francis’ death would greatly impact the May 3 election.
He said it was important to acknowledge that Australia was a secular country.
“People will, I think, separate these things,” he said.
“We have a secular democracy in Australia but people will, particularly people of Catholic faith, they will take time to reflect over coming, days coming.”
Ryan shuns on-air Sky News interview
Teals MP Monique Ryan has refused to speak to Sky News presenter Laura Jayes outside an early polling booth in the Melbourne seat of Kooyong.
Jayes said the rebuff was not in the spirit of transparency Dr Ryan had campaigned on in 2022.
“We’re not out here to ask her any tricky questions,” Jayes said.
“It’s just in the interest of transparency, which is the platform that the Teals fight on.
“But everyone else can make up their mind.”
Jayes, who was broadcasting from the key seat on Tuesday, had asked Dr Ryan’s team for an on-air interview before starting her program, which they declined.
She then approached Dr Ryan while she was handing at how to vote cards during a live cross outside the polling centre in Malvern, when the incident occurred.
When asked how the campaign was going, she said: “It’s going well, thank you Laura, but I am here to engage with voters.”
“We’re at pre-poll. It’s in the middle of an election campaign, so I’m not sure that it’s really ideal to be interrupting that process.”
Dr Ryan politely declined to answer any further questions, before turning away from Jayes.
Negative nuclear campaign ‘rocks its socks off’
Labor’s campaign tactic of targeting the Coalition on its nuclear policy is “rating its socks off” in getting through to voters, leading pollster Kos Samaras from Redbridge Group says.
“They’ve successfully been able to basically build a narrative that Peter Dutton is going to build these nuclear reactors with money that he’s going to harvest via cuts,” Mr Samaras said in a panel discussion at the National Press Club on Tuesday.
“When we test that proposition, it rates its socks off.”
He said the negative nuclear campaign was helping the Albanese “lock in the Labor base”.
But he says it’s not why the Coalition is losing young voters to minor parties and other independents.
“That’s more to do with a loss of confidence that they don’t have an economic plan,” Mr Samaras said.
Fellow pollster Jessica Ellgood from Ipsos said the nuclear topic was “not high on people’s list”.
She said when people were asked what were the things that concern them “people don’t mention nuclear”.
“They’re only mentioning it because Peter Dutton is mentioning it every now and again,”
“But what the Liberals failed to do is connect the need to nuclear through to a successful clean energy policy.”
The Coalition has pledged to build seven nuclear reactor plants around the country, one of the cornerstones of its plan to bring down energy costs.
Labor has said the nuclear plan would cost $600bn, which the government says would come from cuts in other areas.
Early voting gets underway
Early voting polls have opened across the country ahead of the May 3 election.
Data from the Australian Electoral Commission indicates that more than half of the 18 million Australians who are enrolled to vote in the election will do so early.
The locations of voting booths and their opening hours are available on the AEC’s website.
Both leaders have indicated that although voters will head to the booths from Tuesday, there will be disruptions to campaigning in light of the death of Pope Francis.
“I don’t think there’s any need for over-the-top politics today. I think we can respectfully put our positions,” Peter Dutton said.
Although when asked about the news polls that found voters’ biggest concern about the
Coalition was his personality, the Opposition Leader said his party was focused on law and order, fuel price cuts and getting young people into homes.
“We have a chance to course correct to get the country back on track and that is what we are concentrating on,” he said.
“That is what the election will be contested on – not the personalities and mud being thrown by Labor.”
Anthony Albanese also indicated that his plans have changed today so that he can pay respect to the Pope and show his support for members of the Catholic community.
Bandt appeals to renters at early polling
Greens leader Adam Bandt and candidate Samantha Ratnam have showed up at pre-polling in the inner Melbourne electorate of Wills.
Labor’s Peter Khalil holds the seat on 4.6 per cent margin but it has been a key target for the Greens – who currently have four seats in the lower house – over the past decade.
Mr Bandt used the first day of pre-polling to talk up the chances of a hung parliament, and call on renters to make their voices heard.
“Renters and first home buyers are in the box seat this election and have a once-in-a-generation chance to take real action on the housing and rental crisis,” he said.
“The Greens have secured real wins for the community in the past term of parliament.
“We’ve secured three guaranteed days of childcare for our kids, we’ve secured billions of dollars worth of funding for social and affordable housing.
“But we want to do more.”
PM heads to mass, Pope’s death briefly pauses campaigning
Anthony Albanese has attended early morning Mass following the death of Pope Francis.
The Prime Minister’s campaign team have paused campaign activities on Tuesday morning, however at this stage he is expected to attend the Channel 9 leaders debate later tonight.
Mr Albanese, who has spoken about the importance of his Catholic faith attended the regularly scheduled 7am service at Melbourne’s St Patrick’s Cathedral on early Tuesday morning.
He was greeted by the Cathedral’s Dean Monsignor Stuart Hall.
Mr Albanese was visibly emotionally on Monday, when he fronted cameras to pay tribute to Pope Francis.
As a sign of respect, he also announced that all flags of the Commonwealth of Australia will be flown at half-mast on Tuesday.
While Mr Albanese will not share remarks following the Mass, the Prime Minister remembered the late 88-year-old as compassionate, and devout “modernist”.
“Pope Francis lived out his faith and vocation in word and deed,” he said.
“He was truly inspirational in his modest way of life and at his weekly audiences, he demonstrated his commitment to peace, equality and inclusion.
“Pope Francis’s Love for humanity was powerful and profound.”
Not the time for ‘body blows of politics’: Dutton
Opposition Leader Peter Dutton says he will spend the day “reflecting” instead of engaging in “overt politicking” on Tuesday, out of respect for Pope Francis.
Mr Dutton has returned to Sydney from Orange to attend a mass at St Mary’s Cathedral, to pay his respects to Pope Francis. The mass will begin at 1.10pm.
Speaking on ABC News earlier on Tuesday, Mr Dutton said he had planned to be in Orange to campaign with Nationals leader David Littleproud in the hotly contested seat of Calare, held by former Nationals MP-turned-independent Andrew Gee.
“I don’t think it’s a day for overt politicking at all,” Mr Dutton said.
“I think the day is best spent reflecting. Obviously, pre-polling, etc, opens today and all of that will continue on but I don’t think there’s a place for the body blows of politics today.”
Mr Dutton later confirmed he would pause campaigning,
“We made commitments to do television this morning but I think the rest of the day really is probably best left in reflection as opposed to being out there overt politicking and I think that’s something most people would respect,” he said.
Nationals leader David Littleproud and Greens leader Adam Bandt have also paid their respects to the late Pope.
People from all faiths will mourn the loss of Pope Francis tonight - he was a strong voice for peace, compassion and refugees.
— Adam Bandt (@AdamBandt) April 21, 2025
Even as his health faded, Pope Francis was a tireless advocate for Palestine, calling people in Gaza even from his hospital bed. Vale.
Coalition launches renewed attack on Labor
The Coalition has accused the Labor government of being soft on crime after Anthony Albanese refused to match their $750m crime prevention election pledge.
The package – dubbed “Operation Safer Communities” – was a focal point of Peter Dutton’s campaigning on Monday, and would implement a national drug strike team and a 12-month pilot of a National Child Sex Offender Disclosure Scheme.
The Opposition Leader’s plan received no support from the Prime Minister, who said his government had already put in place a national child offender system that enabled co-operation between states and set up a national firearms register.
The Coalition has since released new analysis of criminal courts data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), claiming it highlighted a 7.5 per cent increase in youth offenders facing charges since 2021-22, coinciding with Mr Albanese coming into power.
The data indicates that while the number of youth offenders before the courts increased from 21,744 in 2021-22 to 23,419 in 2023-24, those figures were still lower than they were a decade ago.
There were 29,290 youths before the courts in 2013-14 and 27,028 in 2017-18.
Coalition campaign spokesman James Paterson said the figures were “yet another in the series of youth crime statistics” to go up under Labor.
“The numbers do not lie. Under the last Coalition government, it is clear these numbers were coming down,” he said.
“But now, under Labor, Australians are less safe, less secure and youth crime is spiralling out of control.”
The ABS warns the Covid-19 pandemic resulted in restrictions that affected the volume of defendants finalised in the courts during the period analysed, which needs to be considered when comparing data for 2021–22 to other years.
The government body also flagged that more recently, courts have begun to resolve backlogs created or compounded by restrictions during the peak Covid-19 period, potentially inflating the figures.
More to come
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