Federal Election 2025: Anthony Albanese and Peter Dutton campaign on day nine
The Prime Minister is rallying the Labor faithful in Brisbane as the Opposition Leader hits seats in Melbourne and Tassie on day 9 of the election campaign.
The Prime Minister has rallied the party faithful in Brisbane on Sunday morning against what he described as the Liberal’s “regime of cruelty”, accusing Peter Dutton of “running away from questions” about his $600bn nuclear plan.
Anthony Albanese joined Queenslander, Treasurer Jim Chalmers, for his Building Australia’s Future speech, which highlighted Labor’s investment in Medicare and cost of living while taking wide swipes at the Coalition.
Mr Albanese said Mr Dutton was “running away from questions about their promises to cut wages and increase taxes and trying to run and hide from the cuts they will make to education and health to pay for their $600bn nuclear reactors.
“My opponent started his campaign measuring-up the curtains at Kirribilli House while telling everyone else they can’t work from home,” Mr Albanese said.
“Some Queenslander. He’s dreaming about Sydney Harbour – we’re upgrading the Bruce Highway”.
In a further swipe, Mr Albanese said he “felt sympathy” for Mr Dutton’s opposition cabinet, specifically “poor old Angus” Taylor – the shadow treasurer – and described previous Liberal governments as a “regime of systematic cruelty”.
“It tells you everything that the policy our opponents brag about the most, the thing that really gets them excited is sacking over 40,000 people.
“These Liberal cuts would mean the return of Robodebt. A regime of systematic cruelty that hounded some of the most vulnerable people in Australia for money they never owed. “
Mr Albanese said Mr Dutton’s promised DOGE-style cuts on the public service would go “much deeper because this time they need to find $600bn to pay for their nuclear reactors”.
“That money won’t come from the private sector, they don’t want to touch it,” the PM said.
“But the money has to come from somewhere.”
As has become typical of the campaign so far, Mr Albanese spruiked the “green and gold” Medicare card during his speech at the State Library of Queensland, including Labor’s expansion of bulk billing and new Urgent Care Clinics.
The Prime Minister described the May 3 vote as a “make or break moment” for Medicare, and said Labor had less than three years to “repair the decade of damage the Liberals inflicted on Australia’s health system” after their 2022 ouster.
He also spruiked the party’s cost of living measures, including energy rebates and a solar energy battery program announced on Saturday, as well as Labor’s funding to state schools and targeting of alleged price-gouging at Aussie supermarkets.
‘Will not compromise’: Trump looms large in Albo rallying cry
With US tariffs very much still on the mind of many Australian and world leaders, Mr Albanese also used his speech to take a swipe at the new US-led trade regime.
“Just this week, new tariffs and trade tensions. We cannot choose what challenges will arise. But we can determine how we respond.
“That’s why we made it clear to the United States that our Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme is not up for negotiation.
“That’s why we spelled out the fact we will not compromise biosecurity standards for Queensland beef.
“Our government deals with global challenges, the Australian way, the Labor way.
“Navigating the rough seas, while always keeping our eyes on the horizon.”
Mr Albanese added later: “We didn’t settle for a knock-off version of another nation’s healthcare system, we created Medicare.”
“That’s the way forward for us now. Our own way,” he said.
“The future we want is not an American-style wages system. Not American levels of student debt. And never, ever American health care.
“In this time of uncertainty, we should not try and be more like someone else, or somewhere else. We only need to trust in what makes us Australian.
“Our place in the world. Our values. Our people.
“This is not a time for cutting and wrecking, for thinking small, punching down, aiming low or looking back.”
Mr Albanese returned to Brisbane on Saturday night after visiting flood-ravaged regions in the state’s west, having kicked off the campaign here last week.
Labor, the Liberals and the Greens are looking to either hold on to, or make, gains in Brisbane’s suburbs.
Duelling rallies: Dutton revs up Tassie Libs
Tasmanian Berries was washed in a sea of blue for the Tasmanian Liberals campaign launch.
The event was held in Labor’s seat of Lyons which will be closely watched following the retirement of incumbent Brian Mitchell.
Former state Labor opposition leader Rebecca White will be contesting the seat against the Liberal’s Susie Bower.
Out of the state’s five seats, Labor and Liberal hold two each, with the final seat belonging to beloved independent Andrew Wilkie.
Outside of the Tasmanian Liberal team, the event was also attended by Liberal Tasmanian Premier Jeremy Rockliff, Mr Dutton and his wife Kirrily.
Mr Rockcliff said the election was a “sliding doors moment”.
“We know that life wasn’t meant to be easy but it’s certainly been a lot harder under Albanese, under a Labor government,” he told the 150-strong audience.
“A Labor-Green government is bad news for anyone who wears a high-vis, and bad news for their families,” he said later.
Both Mr Dutton also warned against the consequences of a Labor-Greens coalition – a key Opposition attack line.
Mr Dutton warned Labor’s economic handling would make Australia less prepared to weather “economic headwinds,” also referencing his experience as assistant treasurer under Peter Costello in the Howard government.
“But it wasn’t easy, particularly in those early years; Labor had got done a lot of damage,” he told the party faithful.
“And when Labor does damage, it’s hard to undo, but also makes us less prepared for whatever economic headwinds might be just around the corner.”
Mr Dutton questioned whether Mr Albanese or Greens Leader Adam Bandt could handle “the next Covid, the next avian bird flu, the next conflict, the next economic disruption”.
Not arriving to Canberra empty-handed, Mr Dutton committed $40m fund to grow Tasmania’s timber farming industry, plus $80m to duplicate the Bass Highway in Tasmania between Launceston and Deloraine.
Liberal candidate dumped
The Liberal party has dumped a candidate who told a podcast women should not be in the army, just days before the close of nominations.
News.com on Sunday reported that Benjamin Britton, the party’s candidate for the NSW seat of Whitlam, would be replaced after he blamed “diversity and equity quotas, Marxist ideology and woke ideologies” for weakening Australia’s defence.
Mr Britton, who served Australia in the 3rd Battalion Royal Australian Regiment, lost endorsement for the Wollongong-area seat being vacated by financial services minister Stephen Jones, who is retiring from parliament.
“The administrative committee of the NSW division met today and has endorsed Nathaniel Smith as the Liberal candidate for the seat of Whitlam,’’ a Liberal spokesperson said.
“This follows a decision to dis-endorse Benjamin Britton over views expressed which were not previously disclosed and are inconsistent with the party’s position.”
Candidate nominations close at midday on Thursday with the ballot draw to be held on Friday.
Dutton marks third petrol station pit stop
Marking the third petrol station visit of the election campaign, Peter Dutton pulled into Ampol Carrick Roadhouse in Launceston on Sunday to again spruik the plan to cut the fuel excise by 25c a litre for a year.
Driving to the bowser himself, the Opposition Leader arrived at servo about 17km west of Launceston, alongside Bass MP Bridget Archer and Liberal candidate for Lyons Susie Bowers.
Prices at the bowser were 189.9c a litre for unleaded petrol, 202.9c for Amplify 95 and 193.9c for diesel.
The total came to $80.95 for about 42l for unleaded petrol, with the Coalition’s 25c excise cut it would have been $70.29, a discount of $10.66.
Mr Dutton said he tried to get behind the wheel as much as he could.
“I enjoy driving. I try and get out of the AFP car as much as I can,” he said.
“And if it’s an option between my teenage son driving or me, I’d rather be the one driving.”
The visit was in the electorate of Lyons, which Labor’s Brian Mitchell holds on a slim margin of 0.9 per cent.
However it was a border collie named Bear who stole the show at the quick visit, demanding lots of pats and belly rubs from Mr Dutton.
His owner Georgia Whishaw, a junior agronomist backed the fuel cut.
“That would be very good,” she said.
“I do a lot of work on the road, a lot of driving between Ross and Davenport.”
‘Always knows best’: Wong calls out Dutton
Penny Wong has slammed Peter Dutton as a “stubborn” leader, failing to provide election policies that make sense.
Pointing to Mr Dutton’s policies on nuclear energy, gas supply, the Port of Darwin and now international student caps, she said the previous Coalition government was responsible for some of the issues.
“They have not learned. This comes back to this man, Peter Dutton’s stubbornness, like he always knows best,” Senator Wong told ABC Insiders on Sunday.
“They have not learned from their approach previously, so now they have bowled up the (nuclear reactor) policy that will cost $600bn, he will have to find that somewhere.”
The Foreign Minister also joked about his announcement that a Coalition government would return the Port of Darwin to Australian hands and Sunday’s release of caps for international students.
“I’ve got to say, I had a wry smile to myself when I read that. I thought, this is the bloke who is now announcing a policy he opposed,” she said.
“He opposed our caps on students. He’s also a bloke who announced a policy to buy back a port he helped sell. I think everybody knows what sort of leader Peter Dutton is.”
Albo’s battery plan ‘too expensive’: Dutton
Peter Dutton released details on the Coalition’s policy on foreign student caps on Sunday, making the announcement at a new housing estate in the outer Melbourne suburb of Donnybrook.
For those unfamiliar with the area, it’s an hour and a half on public transport from University of Melbourne and two hours to Monash University – a point made by one journalist.
Mr Dutton said the foreign student policy was primarily about ensuring Australians could get into homes but said university students would separately save through cuts to the Coalition’s proposed 25c per litre fuel excise cut.
“This policy is about making sure that Australians can afford homes again,” Mr Dutton said.
“In relation to the travel time that you raise, if you’re spending an hour and a half in a car, even a little Mazda 2, or if you’ve got a bigger, sort of gas guzzling car, you’re probably going to save as a university student.
“So two tanks a week … that’s probably 30 bucks a week you’re going to save as a university student.”
Notably, when Mr Dutton announced a $1.5bn funding boost to build the Melbourne Airport Rail Loop, the Coalition chose to launch the commitment in an area that wasn’t even close to the proposed line.
Asked by journalists about the location, Coalition infrastructure spokeswoman Bridget McKenzie joked the politicians went where they were told.
Albo’s battery plan ‘too expensive’: Dutton
Peter Dutton says Labor is expecting people on lower incomes to subsidise household batteries, through their taxes, for people on higher incomes.
The Prime Minister on Sunday will outline Labor’s policy to provide a 30 per cent battery discount to households that by a battery to store energy from solar panels, saying it would reduce their electricity bills.
“I’m strongly supportive of batteries, but they’re very expensive,” Mr Dutton said in Melbourne on Sunday.
He said Labor’s battery policy was “proof” power prices would increase if the government was returned at the May 3 election.
“Mr Albanese is promising higher electricity prices at this election, his admission today that he’s going to have to compensate people with batteries because his power prices will go up in the next term of government,” he said.
“I just think people will see through it.”
Power prices are a key factor in the election campaign, with Mr Dutton yet to reveal how the Coalition’s gas policy would reduce household electricity prices.
It’s now been 11 days since Mr Dutton first promised to force gas giants to increase supply and inject more gas into the energy grid.
Day Nine: Batteries and international students
The Prime Minister has returned to Brisbane for a major campaign speech in the battleground city where Labor, the Liberals and the Greens are all hoping to come home grinning on election day.
Anthony Albanese will announce the Cheaper Home Batteries Program, will include an up to $4000 reduction in the upfront cost of installing an 11.5kWh virtual power plant-ready battery – a typical size for a household – alongside new or existing solar.
“Labor’s number one priority is delivering cost of living relief,” Mr Albanese said.
“That’s why we want to make sure Australians have access to cheaper, cleaner energy.”
Labor seat nabs second Dutton visit
Peter Dutton will tour another housing construction in Donnybrook – his second visit to the outer Melbourne suburb in four days.
The suburb is in Labor’s electorate of McEwan, held by Rob Mitchell on a 3.8 per cent margin.
Liberal candidate Jason McClintock has been tasked with turning the seat blue.
Mr Dutton will be announcing his plan to slash international student arrivals by 80,000 next academic year if the Coalition wins the May 3 election.
The highly anticipated announcement is aimed at cracking down on migration and relieving housing pressures on domestic students.
Second week of campaigning
Mr Albanese returned to the Queensland capital on Saturday night after visiting the flood zones around Longreach following once-in-a-lifetime floods that have devastated local land holdings.
The trip isn’t the first for Mr Albanese who kicked off the election campaign in Brisbane last week, travelling to Opposition Leader Peter Dutton’s own electorate of Dickson to spruik investments in Medicare.
The Liberal leader was himself in Brisbane – missing the PM’s press bus by mere metres – while the Greens, including leader Adam Brandt, also held a “keep Dutton out” rally in the city on the same day.
For his part, Mr Dutton spent Saturday in the Northern Territory after he pledged to return the Port of Darwin to Australian-preferred hands, a pledge he was beaten to the punch by Mr Albanese.
Mr Albanese called into ABC Radio Darwin hours before Mr Dutton was due to make his announcement and made a similar pledge, but on Saturday remained extremely tight lipped on the details.
The Prime Minister refused to provide a timeline for the port to be returned to either private Australian or public hands, and accused Mr Dutton of “talking on the run” when he said it could be done in six months.
More to come
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