Federal election 2025: Albanese, Dutton on day 32 of May 3 election campaign
Peter Dutton made a passionate plea for change on A Current Affair on Monday night, taking aim at what he called the “scourge” of domestic violence in Australia.
Opposition Leader Peter Dutton has expressed his heartbreak at the death of NSW teenager Audrey Griffin and pledged to “change the culture” to address Australia’s domestic violence scourge.
Audrey was allegedly murdered by 53-year-old Adrian Torrens, who confessed to the killing before committing suicide in his cell at the Metropolitan Remand and Reception Centre in Silverwater last Thursday.
Speaking with A Current Affair on Monday night, Mr Dutton called for all parts of government to work together to end the “scourge” of domestic violence.
“It’s just completely and utterly unacceptable,” he said.
“It’s a part of our culture that needs to be addressed.
“I can’t think of a higher priority for us as a country than for leaders across parties, across and territories and the Commonwealth coming together to work out how we stop this scourge, because these cases are just horrific.
“There are many angles to the treatment of women, the demeaning of women, sexual assault, financial coercion … which is why I think that everybody needs to be at the table to work out what we can do to turn the dial and to change the culture.”
Mr Dutton said his 10 years as a police officer and 23 years in parliament had given him a “tough edge”, but he was nonetheless a sensitive man who cared passionately about people.
“In the end, you know, I’m a father of three,” he said.
“I care very passionately about people. And when you look at the tough decisions I’ve taken … kicking out sex offenders and people who have committed acts of sexual assault against children, by getting ridding of them out of the country.”
Ms Griffin’s mother Kathleen, speaking with ACA before Mr Dutton’s appearance, asked viewers to get on board and “make change”.
“She wasn’t a number,” she said.
“She’s just not somebody …. she’s just not another person that just gets brushed under the carpet.”
Angus Taylor’s Dream Job
One of the possible contenders for the Liberal leadership if Peter Dutton loses Saturday’s federal election has refused to rule out making a play expected if the Opposition Leader.
Shadow treasurer Angus Taylor was asked point blank on Sky News on Monday if he would put his hand up.
“If the coalition does lose on the weekend, will you run for Opposition Leader?” Sky political editor Andrew Clennell said.
“You know, there is one job I want, Andrew, and that’s Jim Chalmers’ job because he’s not up to it,” Mr Taylor said in response, without specifically ruling out a challenge.
“He’s out of his depth, he’s out of touch. We can do better.
“We need someone with a private sector background who understands business, who understands investment, who understands what it is to grow a growing economy.
“Jim Chalmers doesn’t understand any of that because he’s a doctor of speed, not a doctor of economics.”
Mr Taylor, who will release the Coalition’s election policy costings in the next few days, has been seen as a potential rival to Mr Dutton who has been struggling in the opinion polls.
Dutton speaks to particularly cheeky kid
Peter Dutton has popped up in Gosford, on the NSW Central Coast, in the seat of Robertson, currently held by Labor’s Gordon Reid.
The seat is being recontested by Liberal Lucy Wicks, whom Mr Reid beat at the last election.
Mr Dutton, his wife Kirrily and Ms Wicks visited a local cafe, South End Social, where he spoke to two different groups of people.
The first (adorable) group was a father named Joel with his two kids Noah, 4, and Chelsea, 2.
Mr Dutton sat down with the family and started by having a quite lengthy a conversation with Noah, who turned out to be quite the talkative little rascal, particularly when he was making fun of the Opposition Leader for being bald.
“He doesn’t have hair!” he said, pointing, with what can only be described as immense delight.
“Where’s my hair gone? What’s happening?” Mr Dutton said.
“Umm, it cut off,” pronounced Noah.
That cuteness continued for a couple of minutes, before Mr Dutton got on with the more substantive point of the sit-down. He spoke to Joel about the cost of living pressures residents of the Central Coast currently face.
Joel said he knew of many “friends and neighbours” in the community who were “struggling to make ends meet”.
Mr Dutton responded by talking about his proposed cut to the fuel excise.
Joel highlighted energy prices as well, which prompted Mr Dutton to give a breakdown of the Coalition’s energy policies.
‘Game changer’: Women’s advocate praises Liberal policy
Peter Dutton’s visit to a cafe in Gosford also tied into the announcement that the Coalition will give $20m in funding for a domestic violence trauma recovery centre for women and children on the Central Coast.
He met with Sara Forster, chief executive of the Central Coast Community Women’s Health Centre, and Ian Lynch of Pacific Link Housing, which is a major local community housing provider.
The Central Coast Trauma Recovery Centre, based in the Gosford area, will be designed to offer counselling, mental health and social services, as well as childcare facilities, legal help, return to work assistance and rooms for remote court appearances.
It will be developed in partnership between Ms Foster and Mr Lynch’s organisations.
“As a former police officer who attended numerous domestic violence call-outs, I know the trauma and lifelong impacts that can occur as a result of these horrific crimes,” Mr Dutton said.
“A government I lead will be focused on delivering real change so that families, women and children are safer and we work toward reducing the impact of family and domestic violence.”
During the cafe visit, Ms Foster spoke about the challenges that women fleeing domestic violence face. Mr Dutton mostly just listened.
She and Mr Lynch then joined Mr Dutton and local Liberal candidate Lucy Wicks to speak to the media.
“This is just the most wonderful announcement today,” Ms Foster said.
“Day in and day out, as a frontline service, we are seeing women walking into our service and often having to wait six to eight weeks for support during a crisis related to domestic, family or sexual violence.
“This is really a game changer. It’s a specialist facility, and it’s not just for women, it’s also for children.
“We know that children are the pathway to prevention, and by getting the appropriate wraparound support for children, honouring them as victims within their own right, that’s a really important step forward.”
Wild scenes as Albo hits polling booths
A pro-Palestinian supporter has yelled at Anthony Albanese as the Prime Minister visited an early polling booth in a key southwestern Sydney seat.
During the short visit to the seat of marginal seat of Banks, held by the Coalition’s foreign affairs spokesman David Coleman, passer-bys yelled out: “Free Palestine” as the Prime Minister mingled with the crowd.
There was also a tense moment when senate candidate for Fatima Payman’s party Emanie Darwiche hurled a lengthy rant at Mr Albanese while he was greeting supporters and voters.
“What do you have to say to Palestinians?” she screamed.
“What do you have to say to working Australians? I work three jobs and I can’t take a photo with the big man? My taxpayer dollars fund your position.”
It wasn’t all bad press though, at another point another passer by yelled out: “Albo, you sick c**t.”
Both Anthony Albanese and Peter Dutton are targeting key marginal seats in NSW on Monday.
The Prime Minister started the day on The Central Coast, in the bellwether seat of Robertson which the Liberals are hoping to win back, before moving to Bennelong in Sydney.
Labor’s Jerome Laxale wrested the seat from the Liberals following the retirement of John Alexander in 2022.
But the margins have become tighter since the redistribution last year.
Mr Albanese will visit a pre-polling booth in the suburb of Eastwood in Sydney’s north west.
The snap five-minute event saw Mr Albanese traverse a long line of Liberal volunteers supporting candidate Scott Yung.
Chaos ensued with volunteers dressed in red flocking to take photos with the leader, while blue-shirted Liberals attempted to get their signs into the photo op.
In an unfortunate turn of events, the also started pelting down with rain during the brief visit.
Naturally, things subsided as soon as both Prime Minister and frenzied media pack were returned to their vehicles.
Mr Albanese then headed to Sydney’s southwest, with the Prime Minister making a bold pop in to the electorate of Banks held by the Coalition’s foreign affairs spokesman David Coleman.
The senior Liberal MP holds the seat on a 2.6 per cent margin and will be contested by Labor’s Zhi Soon.
The Opposition Leader is in Paterson – also in the NSW Hunter Valley – to tour a food distribution business.
It’s another marginal seat in the region the Liberals believe is vulnerable.
Paterson is held by Labor’s Meryl Swanson of 2.6 per cent, with Laurence Antcliff contesting for the Liberal Party.
Mr Dutton’s day got off to a rocky start when the bus carrying the media pack covering his campaign become stuck on a median strip in the middle of the Sydney CBD for more than half an hour.
Albo makes rare street walk in key seat
For one of the few times in four weeks of the election campaign, the Prime Minister has mixed with the voting public in a street walk.
Leaders on both sides of politics have avoided the street walk – once a staple of Australian election campaigning – mainly because of security concerns early.
But Anthony Albanese made the effort on Monday, accompanying Labor candidate to meet locals in Cabramatta Plaza in the must win seat of Fowler in western Sydney.
The traditionally very safe Labor seat was won by independent Dai Le in 2022, after Labor parachuted in Senator Kristina Keneally in favour of local Tu Le.
Tu Le is now trying to win back the seat against the popular community candidate.
Mr Albanese’s arrival in the electorate coincides with controversy around Liberal candidate Vivek Singha who has been forced to apologise over 2023 social media posts which featured derogatory language against Indigenous Australians.
It was a selfie-palooza on the iconic Cabramatta plaza, with both Mr Albanese and Ms Le snapping photos with punters.
A pair of boys aged 12 and 13 asked what the commotion is about before a journalist tells them it’s Prime Minister Albo.
They look a bit confused and responded: “Ronaldo?”, referring to football legend Cristiano Ronaldo.
At one point, Mr Albanese was past Pho’ 54, a popular Vietnamese eatery and goes: “I’d love to stop for some food but …”
Dutton cuddles baby on campaign trail
Peter Dutton has posed for photos with a baby and met with a group of mums in the Labor-held NSW seat Shortland on The Central Coast.
The Opposition Leader was joined by his wife Kirilly, Shortland Liberal candidate Emma King and her seven-month-old son, at Papatya Cafe in the waterside suburb of Markspoint.
The Liberal leader ordered a tea and chatted with the women about issues facing them as they juggle work and family life.
Among the women he spoke with was mother-of-three and nurse Leonie Hall. She told Mr Dutton about the challenges of juggling shift work, and the pressure on health care in the region.
She said GPs in the area have closed their books and it’s hard for families to find bulk-billing doctors.
When Mr Dutton met with solicitor and mother-of-two Jade Doyle, he asked: “Two children you said? And is that it?”
His question prompted a laugh around the table.
“That’s it,” Ms Doyle said.
Ms Doyle told Mr Dutton her father had worked as a police officer in sex crimes and the Liberal leader spoke about how it was tough but rewarding work.
She said her two brothers were also in the force and it was “pretty cool” to have a former cop vying to be PM.
Mr Dutton also meet with cafe owners Ashley and Sebiha Patfield and their eight-year-old daughter Isabelle.
Ms Patfield said the first-time business owners spoke about the increasing cost pressures facing them.
Welcome to Country not for Anzac Day: Dutton
Peter Dutton says he doesn’t believe Welcome to Country should be performed at Anzac Day services, but says it is a matter for organisers.
The issue blew up last week when a neo-Nazi allegedly booed as Bunurong elder Uncle Mark Brown as he made the welcome at the Anzac Day Dawn Service at Melbourne’s Shrine of Remembrance.
Labor campaign spokesman Jason Clare earlier on Monday said he hoped Welcome to Country ceremonies would not become a “political football” playing into the hands of neo-Nazis.
“Remember where all of this began on Friday, it spawned out of the actions of Neo-Nazis interrupting an Anzac Day Dawn Service,” Mr Clare told the ABC.
“I don’t think any of us want to find ourselves on the same side of this argument as Neo-Nazis.”
Mr Dutton, who has previously said the welcome to country was “overdone” but should be respected, was grilled during a campaign stop press conference on Monday.
“You have said that it is overused and should happen at very significant events. Would you consider Anzac Day Dawn Service events significant enough?” a reporter asked.
“No,” said Mr Dutton.
“It is ultimately for the organisers of the events, and they can make the decision based on what their membership and their board wants to do. But that is a decision for them, and I respect that.
“But listening to a lot of veterans in the space, Anzac Day is about our veterans, about 103,000 Australians who have died in the service of our country.
“I think if you are listening to their sentiment, and we are respectful of that sentiment on Anzac Day, I think the majority view would be that they don’t want it on that day.”
Mr Dutton was several questions on the topic, including whether airline Qantas should read out an Acknowledgement of Country when they land at their destination.
“I think that is over the top. I have been very clear about that,” Mr Dutton said.
“Do you think they should stop doing it?” he was asked.
“I think it should be reserved for significant events of our country,” Mr Dutton said.
“The biggest effort should be about how we stop that crime that we saw taking place in Darwin, how do we stop those communities from being less safe, how can we invest in those communities? That is the practical solution I want to provide.
“The Prime Minister tied himself in knots last night in relation to this issue.”
Election cash splash threatens Australia’s AAA credit rating
Australia’s long held AAA credit rating is at risk as both the major parties splash the cash ahead of the May 3 election.
S & P Global says Australia’s budget is already stretched on slower global growth, with a big spending election only adding to a larger budget deficit and higher national debt.
S & P analyst Anthony Walker said both parties have announced competing tax policies, which run the risk of eroding Australia’s revenue growth.
“How the elected government funds its campaign pledges and rising spending will be crucial for maintaining the [AAA] rating,” Mr Walker said.
Mr Walker warned these policies could put pressure on Australia’s budget.
“These commitments, however, will need to be funded at a time when the government is grappling with rising international trade tensions, economic uncertainty, and fast-growing structural spending in areas such as the National Disability Insurance Scheme, defence, health, aged care, and interest on government debt,” Mr Walker said.
Treasurer Jim Chalmers will release the Albanese government’s election policy costings on Tuesday afternoon, while shadow treasurer Angus Taylor follow suit with the coalition’s numbers later in the week.
Australia has held its ‘AAA’ credit rating since February 17, 2003 when it was bumped up from AA+
Currently just 11 sovereign countries have a AAA rating out of the 139 S & P Global rates.
Mr Walker said it is expected Australia’s back-to-back surpluses will come to an end and the budget will slip back into deficit in fiscal year 2025.
“At the same time, lax fiscal discipline at the state level has seen big-spending state governments remain in large deficits,” he said.
“This could drive the general government fiscal deficit wider to 2-2.5 per cent of GDP, a level rarely seen since the immediate aftermath of the global financial crisis (outside of pandemic-affected years).”
“If major election commitments aren’t funded via additional revenues or savings, the deficit could widen further.”
Dutton pressured over controversial candidate
Peter Dutton has been pushed a couple of times about the Liberal Party’s candidate in Fowler, a seat in Western Sydney, for posting derogatory remarks on social media.
That candidate, Vivek Singha, has apologised and shut down his Twitter account after the ABC reported he had repeatedly made offensive comments about Indigenous Australians.
“He made insensitive and offensive remarks about Tanya Plibersek’s family, also,” the first questioner on that matter pointed out to Mr Dutton.
“Is this the standard you will accept for Liberal candidates running in this election, and indeed if elected, for your government? And do you not have a better candidate?”
Mr Dutton responded by quickly noting that Mr Singha had apologised, before pivoting to an attack on other parties for some of their more outlandish candidates and views.
“A couple of points. He has apologised for the comments, and so he should have. They were inappropriate and shouldn’t have been made,” the Liberal leader conceded.
“I won’t take a lecture from the Prime Minister, who has a relationship with the Greens, is accepting preferences from the Greens in his own seat. This is an anti-Semitic, Jew-hating party.
“They have been involved in all sorts of horrible doxxing and comments online that are repugnant, but not repudiated by the Prime Minister.
“The Prime Minister has a candidate in Dickson, one in Flynn and elsewhere where they have conducted themselves appallingly. I am not going to take a lecture from the Prime Minister.”
“This is your candidate. Is that the standard you accept?” the journalist pressed.
“One each,” Mr Dutton said.
The issue came up again later, though.
“Regarding your candidate for Fowler. You played a game of whataboutism earlier when asked about it. Isn’t it true that if a Labor candidate had made these derogatory remarks about Indigenous Australians, you would be calling for that candidate to stand down or be disendorsed?” a reporter asked.
“I answered that question earlier,” Mr Dutton claimed.
“No you didn’t,” the reporter protested, before another interjected.
“Mr Dutton, aren’t you being tricky with the truth not to answer today? You’ve had a go at Anthony Albanese for not being transparent, for lying. Aren’t you being tricky with your own truth at the moment? Why won’t you answer that question?” the other journalist asked.
“No. I have answered these questions before. The red herrings and all the rest of the distractions that people want to throw out there, they aren’t dealing with the reality of the week.
“This week is about cost of living, about what will decide the election. And what will decide the election is whether or not Australians will decide they can afford three more years of Labor, and I don’t think they will.”
‘Delulu’ Dutton has ‘no solutions’, Albo
Anthony Albanese says Peter Dutton has been exposed for having “no solutions” and “doesn’t know the price of Australian values”, as the election campaign enters the final five days.
Both the Prime Minister and Opposition Leader failed to correctly answer how much a dozen eggs costs when asked on the Seven Network’s Final Showdown debate.
Mr Albanese’s response of $7 was closer to the $8-plus price charged in supermarkets, than Mr Dutton’s $4.20.
Speaking about Mr Dutton’s mistake, the Prime Minister said “those sort of things can happen … that’s the truth so I’m not going to … add an explanation”.
However, when asked what Mr Dutton’s flop says about his opponent, Mr Albanese was blunter.
“I think, importantly, he doesn’t know the price of Australian values right across the board,” Mr Albanese said.
“The thing about eggs that I know, because I hear it, is that people are struggling to find eggs on the supermarket shelf, and we know that inflation is a real issue, the cost of living,” he said.
“The difference in this election is that Peter Dutton has spent three years identifying problems and saying somehow that the government is responsible as if global inflation has not occurred, as if we haven’t had the biggest energy crisis since the 1970s.
“But the truth is that this election campaign has exposed that he has no solutions. You know, dare I say he’s delulu with no solution, and that has come through during this campaign.”
Question that brought Dutton undone
Peter Dutton left the audience of the final leaders’ debate gobsmacked when he could not answer how much a dozen eggs cost.
The question during the final election leaders’ debate on Sunday night might not have been about policy, but it was the question that went to the heart of the cost-of-living crisis faced by struggling families.
During a quickfire round on the Seven Network’s Final Showdown, both Anthony Albanese and Mr Dutton were asked about the cost of a dozen eggs.
The Opposition Leader left audience members stunned by his answer of “about $4.20,” with some audibly laughing at his guess.
“It was shocking to see how somebody can be so out of touch with a carton of a dozen eggs,” one of the members of Seven’s “jury” said.
“Everybody pretty much burst into laughter when he said that. It was surprising.”
The Prime Minister’s answer was closer to the mark, with moderator Mark Riley declaring a dozen eggs would set a shopper back $8.80 from Coles and $8.50 from Woolworths.
“It’s $7 if you can find them because it’s hard to find them at the moment,” he said.
Mr Dutton’s slip was reflected in the result of the Final Showdown, with 50 per cent of the 60 undecided voters giving the debate win to Mr Albanese.
Only 25 per cent of the audience of undecided voters, selected by Roy Morgan and tasked with choosing the winner, chose Mr Dutton as the winner, while the remaining 25 per cent were still undecided.
The audience split on the question on the cost-of-living was more striking, with 65 per cent siding with Mr Albanese, and just 16 per cent siding with Mr Dutton, while 19 per cent remained undecided.
According to figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics, the price of eggs increased by 11.9 per cent between February 2024 and 2025. This was due to the 2024 bird flu outbreak in Victoria which forced Australia chicken flock to be culled by 10 per cent.
The Coalition’s campaign spokesman James Paterson defended the response, and said it was an “objective fact” that “cost of living has gone backwards on Labor’s watch”.
“I want to be respectful of the audience views and their opinions,” he told Seven following the debate.
“Grocery prices up 30 per cent, electricity prices up 32 per cent, gas prices up 30 per cent.
“We have had the worst fall in living standards in Australian history and the worst in the developed world in the last couple of years.”
Mr Dutton was later pushed on the egg question during a press conference on the NSW Central Coast.
“The point that most families have made to us is the cost of everything has gone up. The cost of everything has gone up in the household budget,” Mr Dutton replied.
“I was talking to people in Far North Queensland this morning. Their insurance bill has doubled.
“We are talking about it going up by 35 per cent – their lived experience is that it is doubling.
“It is not just food, and it is not just electricity, it is insurance. It is the cost of everything under this government that continues to rise.”
Asked why Mr Dutton appeared to be unable to get that message “across to people,” Senator Paterson said he believed Australians were aware that “this Prime Minister has failed”.
“I think Australians know when they go to the supermarket checkout and it’s worse than was just the week before, every week it gets worse,” he said.
“There is no reason to expect a second term Albanese government would be better than a first term Albanese government in reducing the cost-of-living.”
Dutton’s egg blunder ‘can be forgiven’: Hume
The Coalition’s finance spokeswoman says Peter Dutton “can be forgiven” for getting the price of a dozen eggs wrong during the fourth and final leaders’ debate.
Going into damage control on Monday, Jane Hume said her boss had not “made pancakes at home” for some time.
“I think that Peter can be forgiven for not knowing the price of a dozen eggs,” she told Sky News.
“It’s been a fair while since he’s probably made pancakes at home. He’s been very busy on the road, travelling right around Australia, talking to ordinary Australians about what’s important to them, and they are telling him that the cost of living has been their number one issue.”
Asked if she knew what the cost of eggs were, Senator Hume said: “I’m afraid … I absolutely do.”
“After the rally yesterday, I went to my mother’s house and cooked bacon and eggs and sausages and baked beans for my kids and for my mother, as I do most Sundays,” she said.
“And unfortunately, the dozen eggs that I bought on the way home were nearly $10, but they were free range, so I think I got stung.”
PM hits crucial election bellwether
Anthony Albanese has become the first leader to visit the NSW Central Coast seat of Robertson – a key election bellwether seat which will be closely watched by election analysts.
The term refers to swinging electorates which predict the outcome of the election. In 2022, it was won by Labor’s Gordon Reid, who prised it from longtime Liberal MP Lucy Wicks.
The Prime Minister visited community housing provider Pacific Link Housing to announce the Coast Women’s and Children’s Trauma Recovery Centre in East Gosford, a new $20m initiative to help victims of domestic and sexual violence.
Mr Albanese was joined by Health Minister Mark Butler, Social Services Minister Amanda Rishworth, Senator Deb O’Neill and finance Jodie Haydon.
Dutton siding with ‘Neo-Nazis’ on Welcome to Country: minister
Peter Dutton has found himself siding with “Neo-Nazis” on Welcome to Country ceremonies, according to a senior minister.
During the final leaders debate on Sunday, the Opposition Leader said the ceremonies were “overdone”, but called them a “respectful thing to do” in certain formal circumstances, such as opening parliament.
Labor campaign spokesman Jason Clare on Monday said he hoped Welcome to Country ceremonies would not become a “political football”.
“This is about a bit of respect and organisations and individuals make their own choices about whether they organise welcomes to country,” Mr Clare told the ABC.
“Remember where all of this began on Friday, it spawned out of the actions of Neo-Nazis interrupting an Anzac Day Dawn Service.
“I don’t think any of us want to find ourselves on the same side of this argument as Neo-Nazis.”
Mr Dutton has long-held that ceremonies were losing their value, but largely left the matter to opposition Indigenous affairs spokeswoman Jacinta Nampijinpa Price.
Coalition attack dog Barnaby Joyce earlier backed Mr Dutton in a testy morning show appearance with Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek.
“I certainly don’t want to be welcomed back to my own hometown. I think veterans have a genuine concern, if they’ve signed on the dotted line to sign for this nation, they don’t believe they need to be welcomed to it,” he said.
“They’ve absolutely proven their loyalty to this nation. I think there’s time and place for everything, but we’ve got to be a lot more discerning about how we do this.”
Ms Plibersek took a different view, saying it was no “skin off anyone’s nose to show respect”.
“But as someone who attends a lot of events, I really like learning about the history and culture of the area that I’m visiting,” she said.
Grim news for Dutton in latest Newspoll
More than half of all voters believe Peter Dutton and the Coalition are not ready to govern the nation, according to the latest Newspoll.
The poll, published by The Australian six days before the May 3 election, revealed 62 per cent of the 1254 voters surveyed between April 21 and 24 did not believe Mr Dutton and his team had what it takes to assume power.
This marks a seven point increase from polling done in February this year.
The feeling was strongest among women, with 66 per cent holding little or no confidence in the Coalition, compared to 58 per cent of men.
Things were not much better for Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Labor, with only 39 per cent of voters believing the party should be re-elected for a second term.
Both leaders will be stepping up the pace on Monday, with just five days of campaigning left before Saturday’s election.
Early polling will also resume on Monday, with 2.4 million Australians having already cast their votes in the four days of pre-polling so far.
Labor defiant on Greens question
Health Minister Mark Butler has maintained Labor “will not do a deal” with the Greens if it fails to secure enough seats to govern a majority.
There are five days to go before Australians cast their ballots in the federal election.
While polls show Labor’s fortunes have changed for the better in the past five weeks of intense campaigning, a hung parliament is still possible.
Mr Butler said on Monday the party remained “focused on majority government”.
“We think majority government is what Australia needs right now in a globally very volatile, uncertain time,” he told Nine’s Today.
“Australia needs stability. We need certainty and continuity. And that’s what a Labor government will give them.”
In a jab to the opposition, Mr Butler said Labor was “not a party of coalition unlike the Liberal Party”.
“Whatever the result, whether it’s … a majority or slightly short of a majority, if we are commissioned to form government, we will put Labor’s platform to the parliament and we’ll put it without any deals,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Greens have been preparing a list of demands to put to Anthony Albanese should he need to strike a deal.
They include blocking new coal and gas projects, expanding Medicare to cover dental health, reforming negative gearing and capital gains tax, ending logging in native forests, and introducing free universal early childhood education.
Liberal candidate forced to apologise
The Liberal candidate in Fowler, a key seat in Western Sydney, has apologised and shut down his Twitter account after it emerged that he’d published derogatory posts about Indigenous Australians.
Vivek Singha’s account abruptly became inactive on Sunday afternoon after the ABC contacted the Liberals for comment.
“I apologise for the social media posts, I should not have expressed myself in that way and I sincerely regret doing so,” the candidate said in a statement to the national broadcaster.
The posts in question came during 2023, before the unsuccessful referendum on creating a Voice to parliament.
Mr Singh was not expected to win Fowler, where the independent incumbent Dai Le is mainly facing competition from Labor’s Tu Le.
Liberal Leader Peter Dutton was later asked about his candidate’s actions at a press conference in the seat of Paterson.
“He has apologised for the comments and so he should have,” Mr Dutton said.
“They were inappropriate and shouldn’t have been made. He has apologised for them.”
Mr Dutton said he “won’t take a lecture from the Prime Minister who has a relationship with the Greens.”
“He is preferencing a Green number 2. This is an anti-Semitic Jew-hating party,” Mr Dutton said.
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