Thanks for reading our live coverage this Easter Monday. We’re going to close the blog for the night, but we’ll be back bright and early tomorrow.
Here’s a reminder of what made headlines today:
- Prime Minister Scott Morrison has been forced to clarify his comments after stumbling over the JobSeeker rate this morning. Morrison incorrectly stated that the payment was $46 a week when quizzed by journalists. It is $46 a day. Asked hours later whether he knew what the JobSeeker rate was, Morrison said:“$46 a day”. Questioned how he got the figure wrong earlier, Morrison said: “I misspoke”.
- The country recorded 35,882 new COVID-19 cases and 10 deaths. There were 397,971 active cases and 3162 people in hospital with the virus, of whom 138 were in intensive care units.
- Labor leader Anthony Albanese ratcheted up the opposition’s attack on the prime minister’s pick for health minister, Anne Ruston. “This is a health minister now designate, if they’re successful in the election, who we know will undermine Medicare,” Albanese said during today’s press conference in Brisbane. Yesterday, Ruston was forced to defend her comments about Medicare’s sustainability in 2014 – when Australia was on track for a balanced budget – as Labor claimed her nomination would spell the end of universal healthcare.
- Morrison amped up the government’s attack on Labor’s border protection policies while speaking from Perth. Labor backs two of the Coalition’s policies when it comes to boat arrivals: offshore detention and boat turnbacks. But the opposition does not support temporary protection visas, arguing they force refugees into years of limbo. “When Labor abolished temporary protection visas in 2008, the armada of people smugglers’ boats came to Australia and that was the launching point,” the PM said.
Australians aged 18 and older only have until 8pm tonight to enrol to vote in the upcoming federal election or change their details. According to the Australian Electoral Commission, almost 63,000 new voters have been added over the last seven days.