Federal election 2025 as it happened: Labor spruiks legal push to protect penalty rates; Coalition offers tax breaks for small businesses

Thanks for following our coverage of today’s election campaign. Here’s a quick recap of what happened today:

• Albanese and Dutton both visited the Royal Easter Show in Sydney’s western suburbs.
• Dutton said Labor had weakened border security and worsened the housing crisis with its immigration policies.
• The opposition leader clarified his belief in climate change and challenged Albanese to a debate on nuclear power.
• The Coalition promised financial incentives for new and small businesses, including tax offsets and deductions for investments made in digital tools.
• Dutton accused the prime minister of hiding information after being declined a request for a briefing on Russia’s apparent bid to host military aircraft out of Indonesia.
• The prime minister slammed Dutton for requesting those briefings, and for “flat-Earth stuff” when it came to acknowledging climate change.
• Albanese said he would continue to push for the release of Australian Oscar Jenkins.
• Education Minister Jason Clare said Dutton was “dressed up as a lamb” after Liberal Senator Jane Hume this morning said she supported bringing people back into the office despite the Coalition backflipping on its policy to end work from home for public servants.
• Albanese said Vegemite was once again allowed in Canadian cafes following diplomatic efforts.
• Labor promised to introduce laws to protect penalty rates. Dutton labelled it a “stunt”.

That’s it for today, thanks for reading. We are pausing our live coverage as the campaign takes a break for Easter, but join us early on Monday as Labor and the Coalition ramp up again for the final weeks of campaigning. Have a good Easter weekend.

Australian retailers and industry groups say Labor’s promise to lock in penalty rates could reduce some workers’ salaries while forcing business to close down under the strain.

Labor announced today that if re-elected it would pass new laws to prevent any reductions to workers’ penalty rates, which apply to about 3 million employees.

Australian Retail Association chief industry affairs officer Fleur Brown said her organisation had already made a proposal to the Fair Work Commission for an upgrade to the award wages for retail managers, contingent on them forgoing penalty rates for an earning increase.

“Retail managers [could] opt into an annualised salary which provides greater income and financial stability and would see them on average $5,841.65 better off annually,” Brown said.

The association issued a joint statement with Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Council of Small Business Organisations Australia.

They said that increased workplace regulation, like new laws to cement penalty rates, would threaten the survival of Australian businesses and undermine opportunities for job growth and creation.

“Tying Australian businesses up in knots around workplace systems has the effect of strangling growth – and that means less jobs and lower wages,” said chief executive Andrew McKellar.

A Melbourne surgeon has apologised and confirmed he is being investigated by the health regulator and the hospital where he works after tearing down Victorian MP Monique Ryan’s election sign and stomping on it.

On Friday this masthead revealed that Professor Greg Malham had been seen in a video circulating on social media ripping the teal candidate’s corflute from a hedge, before putting it in his boot then dumping it in a rubbish skip and covering it in rubble.

Ryan is a teal candidate for the key seat of Kooyong.

Malham can be heard praising US President Donald Trump, addressing “the boys” and telling men how to “bury the body” in the video, which outraged anti-violence campaigners and politicians.

“Just finishing the job, boys. Always gotta bury the body,” he says in the recording. “Always remember boys, bury the body under concrete.”

Today, Malham – who has worked as a spine surgeon at hospitals including the Epworth private hospital in Richmond – issued a statement to this masthead saying there was no excuse for his behaviour.

He also confirmed that he was under investigation by the Epworth and had reported himself to the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency.

Read the full story here.

Another week on the campaign trail means we only have two weeks left of word salads being lobbed at a frequency that’s impossible to truly digest.

It’s difficult to know where to look. In addition to promises and statistic-based sledges from Anthony Albanese and Peter Dutton, we’ve had Jacinta Nampijinpa Price’s “Make America Great Again” references, false claims the Indonesian president had publicly announced a request from Russia to base planes in Australia’s near neighbour, speculation about the nature of the relationship between the prime minister and cabinet minister Tanya Plibersek, Penny Wong retirement rumours, and Jim Chalmers calling the second leaders’ debate victory early. And that’s just from senior Labor and Coalition members.

Fear not. Read a full fact-check of pledges made in week three on the campaign trail here.

Tanya Plibersek, Anthony Albanese, Peter Dutton and Jacinta Nampijinpa Price have made headlines.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen/James Brickwood

Albanese and Dutton have slowed down over the Easter weekend, making fewer appearances than they have been for the past few weeks of the campaign.

Today, both leaders converged on the Sydney Easter Show where they patted animals, spoke to children and spruiked their policies.

We’ve been tracking their movements since the election was called. Here’s a map showing whether Albanese and Dutton have passed by your suburb or town.

Peter Dutton prides himself on his gut feel for politics, born of having to defend one of the most marginal seats in his home state of Queensland for the past 24 years.

“You have to be yourself, and comfortable in your own skin,” he says, in an interview at the end of the federal election campaign’s opening week, where he’s been facing the toughest test of his political life.

Peter Dutton on the campaign trail.Credit: James Brickwood

“The best leaders have been those who have a core instinct. They have difficult issues to deal with but their instinct guides them through the first 10 items on their to-do list [on any given] day. And I’ve also seen other leaders who are tortured on items one to 10 before they get to the tough ones, and it becomes debilitating.”

Read more here.

Albanese says Labor wants “Australians to earn more and keep more of what they earn”. Dutton says the ALP’s push on penalty rates is a stunt. Watch the video.

The speed limit on Bells Creek Arterial Road appears ambiguous. After turning off the Bruce Highway towards the coast about 90 kilometres north of Brisbane, motorists make their way through the pine plantations, and forgotten paddocks, into the massive Aura housing development, advised only to slow down – to 70km/h – for a few roundabouts connecting side streets yet to open.

Baringa, one of four greenfield suburbs being built in Aura, is a microcosm of the interstate and international migration transforming the state’s south-east. That growth is also evident in voter enrolments for the federal seat of Fisher in which it sits, 11.5 per cent above the average electorate (almost 15,000 additional voters) and ripe for redistribution. There are currently five seats in Australia with double-digit enrolment deviation, and all are in south-east Queensland.

Aura, the so-called City of Colour, will see a community the size of Port Macquarie or Shepparton settle in between the beach and the Bruce Highway.Credit: Dan Peled

The speed limit on Bells Creek Arterial Road appears ambiguous. After turning off the Bruce Highway towards the coast about 90 kilometres north of Brisbane, motorists make their way through the pine plantations, and forgotten paddocks, into the massive Aura housing development, advised only to slow down – to 70km/h – for a few roundabouts connecting side streets yet to open.

Baringa, one of four greenfield suburbs being built in Aura, is a microcosm of the interstate and international migration transforming the state’s south-east. That growth is also evident in voter enrolments for the federal seat of Fisher in which it sits, 11.5 per cent above the average electorate (almost 15,000 additional voters) and ripe for redistribution. There are currently five seats in Australia with double-digit enrolment deviation, and all are in south-east Queensland.

Read the full story here.

The prime minister has wished a happy Easter to “happy little Vegemites” as diplomatic efforts have ensured that Canadians will again enjoy the popular Aussie spread. Watch the video.

Labor has pledged a fresh funding injection to extend the Revive Live program, providing support for Australia’s live music venues and festivals.

The election commitment extends the program to 2026-27 with an additional investment of $16.4 million, adding to $8.6 million pledged in the 2025-2026 budget. The total investment amounts to $25 million.

The initiative is available to majority Australian-owned live music venues and contemporary music festivals that showcase Australian artists.

Arts Minister Tony Burke said venue and festival owners across Australia had told him the program had provided the support they needed to continue hosting and promoting live music.

“Gigs have always been a huge part of my life. I know the vital role live music venues and festivals play in providing local artists with the chance to perform, develop and grow audiences,” Burke said.

“This increased funding for Revive Live will help to ensure that the music we make here is the soundtrack to Australia.”