Election 2022 LIVE updates: Scott Morrison, Anthony Albanese rule out independent deals to form government; Labor to review NDIS

Thanks for reading our live coverage today. We’re going to wrap the blog for the night but Broede Carmody will be back in the morning.

Here’s a reminder of what made news today:

• Prime Minister Scott Morrison denounced as a “despicable lie” Labor’s claims the Coalition is planning to force old age pensioners onto a cashless debit card to access their benefits. “The Labor Party is bringing up people, sending out brochures, writing to pensioners and scaring them, that there be some suggestion that our government would be applying the debit card to pensioners,” Morrison said from Perth. Labor leader Anthony Albanese said on Brisbane radio this morning that Morrison’s pick for health minister, Anne Ruston, supported a plan to put pensioners onto a cashless debit card. Ruston has denied the claim.
• Morrison has continued to stick by the embattled Liberal candidate for Warringah Katherine Deves, who has come under fire for her comments about the transgender community, despite calls from other Liberals to dump her and fears for nearby seats. He has insisted he will not allow her to be “silenced” for her views on transgender women’s participation in women’s sport.
• Monday was Australia’s biggest electoral enrolment day in the nation’s history, with 214,000 applications submitted to the Australian Electoral Commission. The commission estimates 17.2 million Australians will be enrolled to vote in the May federal election, or the equivalent of about 96 per cent of eligible voters. Final enrolment figures are yet to be released but more than 700,000 applications were submitted this week alone.
• Albanese has thrown down the gauntlet to the Coalition on climate change for the first time, slamming the Morrison government’s record on renewable energy as he defended a marginal inner-Brisbane seat from a Greens challenger. Albanese campaigned in Griffith where he ditched his previous caution over climate policy in an attempt to seize a strategic advantage on an issue that dogged the opposition in the 2019 campaign.
• Morrison and Albanese have guaranteed they won’t do deals with independents to form government, opening the door for a chaotic political fallout if neither side wins the 76 seats needed to secure a majority. The rejection from both leaders could mean Australians will be forced to another poll in the event of a hung parliament and crossbench MPs refuse to back supply for either side.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has been campaigning in Western Australia and recently spoke on local radio station 6PR.

He sought to differentiate the popular Labor Premier Mark McGowan to Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison campaigning in Perth on Tuesday. Credit: James Brickwood

“Mark McGowan at a state level is completely different to Anthony Albanese at a federal level,” Morrison said.

“They’re chalk and cheese … I think I have a lot more in common frankly with [Mark McGowan] when it comes to driving the economy.”

As political reporter Anthony Galloway wrote today, Western Australia is key to the opposition’s hopes of winning government.

Labor is hoping West Australians are still furious with Morrison for siding with Clive Palmer over their uber-popular Labor premier on the question of border closures.

Melbourne Airport’s chief executive Lyell Strambi will step down at the end of June after seven years running the city’s main airport, and will be replaced by his second in command, Lorie Argus.

The airport announced the move on Tuesday afternoon.

Melbourne Airport chief executive Lyell Strambi has announced his resignation. Credit: Chris Hopkins

Ms Argus is currently the airport’s chief of aviation and has been with the company for seven years following 10 years in senior roles at Virgin Australia.

Mr Strambi said that during his time as CEO, the airport had seen “record highs and record lows”.

“I’ve been particularly proud and humbled by the way our people handled the Covid-19 crisis and the drive and commitment they show to keep improving, even in the toughest of circumstances,” he said.

Ms Argus said the airport would continue its recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, which had been a ”
difficult few years for Melbourne”.

“I’m proud to take on the leadership of Melbourne Airport’s team and look forward to delivering the upgrades that are so critical for both the airport and Victoria,” she said.

“The third runway project will ensure we have capacity to cater for our state’s growing population and freight task for decades to come, and our terminal upgrades will provide passengers with a world-class airport experience.”

As chief political correspondent David Crowe reported this morning, Labor will launch a sweeping review of the National Disability Insurance Scheme in a pledge to make the $30.8 billion system deliver better services to more than 500,000 people if it forms government.

The overhaul would begin with a review of “excessive” contracts with consultants including lawyers who are making crucial decisions about service plans for vulnerable Australians.

Bill Shorten has vowed to crack down on lawyers and consultants “rorting” the NDIS.Credit: Joe Armao

Labor disability services spokesman Bill Shorten spoke about the plan on ABC this afternoon, pledging to cut red tape.

He said the government had spent about $30 million in the last eight months on high-priced lawyers to help justify cutting people’s packages.

“At the moment .. half a million people receive an individual package support under the NDIS, but thousands, thousands of people are stuck in the courts trying to fight against the Morrison government cuts to their packages,” Shorten said.

“So that people don’t have to spend money on expensive lawyers, we want to resolve the outstanding issues, fix them because you want to restore trust to the scheme.”

Independent candidate for North Sydney Kylea Tink has accused her Liberal opponent Trent Zimmerman of being “missing in action” regarding inflammatory comments about transgender people made by his fellow Liberal Katherine Deves in the neighbouring electorate of Warringah.

Zimmerman, who was the first openly gay person to be elected to the House of Representatives in 2015, said he was “angry and disappointed about some of the comments [Deves] has made in the past”.

But he stopped short of saying Deves should be removed as the candidate.

Asked whether Deves should remain the candidate, the North Sydney MP said “she will be the candidate”.

But Tink, one of the so-called “climate independents” seeking to oust Liberals in blue-ribbon seats, criticised Zimmerman for not condemning Deves, whose graphic tweets on the “mutilation” of trans people have drawn condemnation.

Jacqueline Maley has the full story. 

The country has recorded 38,944 new COVID-19 cases and 18 deaths.

There are 377,649 active infections and 3276 people in hospital with the virus, of whom 144 are in intensive care units.

Here’s a breakdown of the daily cases reported in each state and territory.

NSW: 10,856

Victoria: 8976

Queensland: 6467

Western Australia: 6107

South Australia: 3829

Tasmania: 1418

ACT: 816

Northern Territory: 475

Monday was Australia’s biggest electoral enrolment day in the nation’s history, with 214,000 applications submitted to the Australian Electoral Commission.

The commission estimates 17.2 million Australians will be enrolled to vote in the May federal election, or the equivalent of about 96 per cent of eligible voters.

About 96 per cent of eligible Australians will be registered to vote at the May election.Credit: Chris Hopkins

Final enrolment figures are yet to be released but more than 700,000 applications were submitted this week alone.

Commissioner Tom Rogers said the state of the roll in Australia was “something that is simply not seen in most places around the world”.

“Quite frankly it is a modern democratic miracle,” he said.

Almost 1000 electoral staff worked through the Easter weekend to ensure the commission met the demand.

“The systems operated smoothly and securely under the load and Australia now has the highest base for democratic participation it has ever had,” Rogers said.

“Australians should feel great pride in this achievement and confidence that it sets the foundation for election results to reflect the will of the people.“

The majority of people who had enrolled to vote since the election was called on April 10 were young Australians aged 18 to 24, Rogers said.

Good afternoon and thanks for reading our live coverage. My name’s Daniella White and I’m taking over the blog for the rest of the day from Broede Carmody, who will be back tomorrow morning.

Here’s a reminder of what has made headlines today so far.

• NSW Treasurer Matt Kean had some strong words for the Liberal candidate for Warringah this morning, declaring Katherine Deves was “not fit for office” over her comments about transgender issues. During an appearance on the ABC’s RN Breakfast, the senior NSW Liberal said his party stood for “dignity and respect” for all individuals and was not a place for “bile and bigotry”. But this afternoon, Prime Minister Scott Morrison went strongly into bat for Deves, saying “I’m not going to allow her to be silenced”.
• Morrison has ruled out doing any deals with independent MPs in order to form government, after refusing to rule out such a move yesterday. “I won’t be doing any deals with independents,” Morrison said during today’s press conference. The PM said Australia faced an uncertain future and his government was best placed to address the challenges. Earlier today, Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce refused to rule out negotiating with the independents. Asked several times if he was willing to negotiate with independents, he told Sky News he would “not go down a hypothetical path” on the issue.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison campaigning in Perth on Tuesday. Credit: James Brickwood

• Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese is in Brisbane today visiting Tritium, an electric vehicle charging station, and talking up his party’s climate policies. The Labor leader used a press conference to say Australia lost a “first-mover advantage” in clean technologies under the Coalition government.
• Labor is also fired up today over claims by Energy and Emissions Reduction Minister Angus Taylor that Labor’s renewable energy policy would raise power prices by $560 for an annual household energy bill within a decade. In turn, Labor is attacking the Coalition when it comes to climate change and promoting the benefits of more ambitious emission reduction targets.

Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese campaigning in Queensland on Tuesday. Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

• Labor’s home affairs spokeswoman Kristina Keneally slammed the Coalition’s criticism of the opposition’s border protection policies as a “desperate attempt from a desperate prime minister that is trying to distract from the fact that when the bushfires came, he went to Hawaii”. Home Affairs Minister Karen Andrews spoke on RN Breakfast earlier and emphasised the Coalition’s perceived electoral strength when it comes to borders, claiming that Labor could not say it supported Operation Sovereign Borders if it did not endorse the use of temporary protection visas.

• Prime Minister Scott Morrison denounced as a “despicable lie” Labor’s claims the Coalition was planning to force old age pensioners onto a cashless debit card to access their benefits. “The Labor Party is bringing up people, sending out brochures, writing to pensioners and scaring them, that there be some suggestion that our government would be applying the debit card to pensioners,” Morrison said from Perth.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has denounced as a “despicable lie” Labor’s claims the Coalition is planning to force old age pensioners onto a cashless debit card to access their benefits.

“The Labor Party is bringing up people, sending out brochures, writing to pensioners and scaring them, that there be some suggestion that our government would be applying the debit card to pensioners,” Morrison said from Perth.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison, with senators Bridget McKenzie, left, and Michaelia Cash. Credit: James Brickwood

“Anthony Albanese needs to come clear on this. He needs to rule this out because it is not true.”

Morrison said Council on the Ageing chief executive Ian Yates had said there was no factual basis to what Labor had said about the Coalition’s policy on the cashless debit card.

Albanese said on Brisbane radio this morning that Morrison’s pick for health minister, Anne Ruston, supported a plan to put pensioners onto a cashless debit card. Ruston has denied the claim.

“We never have and we never will have a plan to force age pensioners onto the cashless debit card,” the Liberal senator said yesterday.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has once again backed Katherine Deves, the controversial Liberal candidate for the Sydney seat of Warringah, who is under fire for past comments about transgender people.

“I’m not going to allow her to be silenced. I’m not going to allow her to be pushed aside as the pile-on comes in to try and silence her,” Morrison told reporters from Perth.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison on the campaign trail in Perth today. Credit: James Brickwood

“I’ll stand up with her. My team is standing up with her and we will make sure that she won’t be silenced. I know there’s plenty of people who would like to do that.”

Deves, the co-founder of Save Women’s Sport, has been running a campaign to have trans women banned from women’s sports. Recent comments she made in the course of that campaign – including several now-deleted tweets – have been unearthed and attracted accusations of transphobia. She has since apologised.

Morrison says Deves would make a great member of parliament. During today’s press conference, he reiterated that he had chosen her from a field of “one woman and two blokes” who had put themselves forward for the seat of Warringah.

“I chose the woman who put herself through the solicitor’s administration board, who stood up for women and girls in sport, and who was raising three of her own girls,” the PM said.

“I think she has learned from her advocacy in her private life [that] the better way to do things [is] to take things forward as a member of parliament.

“I don’t think she should be silenced because she has views that don’t agree with others.”