Dutton: Coalition won’t ‘shy away’ from nuclear
The first question to Dutton is on this story by Benita Kolovos, that Victorian Liberal leader Brad Battin won’t support nuclear.
The reporter also points out that Dutton hasn’t visited a potential nuclear site… so what’s going on?
We need to have the latest technology in the system, we need to have gas as an interim… nuclear is a key part of the policy. We do not shy away from it. The government is out there talking about the cost, the cost of our plan is $263bn less than the Labor party plan.
He doesn’t actually address the comments from Battin.
Key events
Josh Butler
Circling back to Anthony Albanese’s press conference earlier this morning
That was a… well… wide-ranging press conference from the prime minister. Two days on from the major parties both making monster housing announcements, Anthony Albanese only got a couple questions on the policies. He again backed in his government’s thinking over the concerns of leading economists, saying their policies addressed both supply and demand:
I’m not sure they [critics] have looked at all the detail, frankly.
The PM also went off on a long glowing review of his local Marrickville golf club, via a birthday party for a dog, and said he’d be watching Star Wars on 4 May – the day after the election.
Vegemite, Anzac Day, and the process of how he runs his press conferences (he takes questions from “boy, girl, boy, girl”, in case you’re wondering – even though he doesn’t always).
The campaign is now rolling out of Hobart and heading to Melbourne, for a housing estate.
For a bit of a behind the scenes look at how these campaigns work, the media bus got into some strife on our way out of the Medicare clinic, with the vehicle struggling to make it down the driveway without leaving massive scrapes on the bitumen.
The driver got us all to get off the bus, to lessen the weight, and then navigate over the bump. A great cheer went up as he managed to get down the drive without gouging out any more concrete. Off we go to the airport and then to Victoria.
Luca Ittimani
Australian shares continue slow climb upwards
Australian shares continued their slow climb upwards this morning, as investors kept up their cautious optimism and businesses adjusted to US tariffs.
The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 rose to 7,790 points, half a percentage point above Monday afternoon, which was the highest close since tariffs were announced on Thursday, 3 April, local time.
Investors have had to contend with wild swings in share prices triggered by changes to the US trade policies, as businesses account for highers costs and China retaliates with its own tariff hikes.
All the major banks rose, while critical minerals producers Iluka Resources and Lynas Rare Earths picked up ground, rising 2.6% and nearly 3.5% respectively.
Mining giant BHP picked up 0.63%, though fellow miner Mineral Resources lost some of its Monday gains, falling almost 3.3%.
Gold miners saw the biggest falls on Tuesday morning, with Ora Banda down 5.1%, Regis 2% and Genesis Minerals nearly 1.5%, losing ground from their rises last week on the back of high gold prices.
Dutton asked if he stands by comments Trump a ‘big thinker’ and ‘deal maker’
There’s a few questions which have gone unanswered today, including one to Dutton on whether he stands by his comments calling Donald Trump a “big thinker” and a “deal maker”.
Dutton says the election is “a contest between Anthony Albanese and myself” and goes straight to his housing and cost of living policies.
There’s no mention of Trump in the response (and journo Ben Westcott protests that he didn’t answer the question).
Dutton then gets another on whether he’s happy with the trajectory of the Coalition’s campaign.
He says he’s the “underdog”, something he’s been saying pretty consistently, and points out that no opposition has won against a first term government since 1931.
I believe we can win the next election but we are the underdogs, no question. The prime minister is running a scare campaign because he’s ashamed of his records.
Both leaders have been littered with questions over the last 48 hours on how they’re going to pay for their promises. Particularly when the budget is forecasting a decade of deficits, and the Coalition has spent a lot of time accusing Labor of over spending and not having any budget restraint.
Dutton again won’t really answer the question on how the promises will be paid for, immediately attacking Labor for their tax cuts being “built in” to the budget.
[Labor] have built in a cost in the budget, we do not do that in relation to the tax policy, we do not do it in relation to our fuel tax cuts.
It’s exactly the principle we applied with jobseeker and jobkeeper over Covid, where we provided short term, interim, targeted assistance to people, and that’s what we’re doing now. So that is economically sustainable, it’s responsible.
Dutton fields more questions on whether he’ll help his kids buy a house
Yesterday Dutton wouldn’t say whether he’d help his son Harry (who he’s wheeled out to this press conference today) get into a home.
Harry had said it was looking nearly impossible to get a deposit in the near future, despite “saving like mad”.
The prime minister and I might be able to help our kids but it’s not about us, it’s about how we can help millions of Australians across generations realise the dream of home ownership like we did, like our parents and grandparents did.
Seems like again, there’s no more clarity for Harry.
Dutton: ‘We want to see wages increase’
Dutton says he wants to see wages increase to help Australians get into the housing market, but won’t say whether they should increase faster than house prices.
He repeats the line he said this morning that he doesn’t want to house prices drop, saying “that would be a disaster”.
A generation ago prices were not as high as they are now and the disposable income required to service the loan to pay for the mortgage repayments is nowhere near where it is today. We have to accept the modern reality …
We have an independent umpire with wages and many a vibrant economy to make the wages growth.
Dutton bats away costings questions on nuclear and defence
On nuclear, Dutton is also asked about how much decommissioning coal fired power stations – where the Coalition has promised to replace them with nuclear plans – will cost. Dutton won’t put a figure on it, and doesn’t seem to directly answer the question:
Look at the work of Frontier Economics. Our plan is 44% cheaper than the renewables-only plan so any assets [that] have an end-of-life issue to deal with, the same for coal-fired power stations that are extended by the Labor government at the moment because they know they cannot keep the lights on without them.
Dutton is also asked about defence spending, which he’s promised to increase. He’s asked whether an increase in defence spending will have to be delayed or slowed because of the spending commitments that have been announced.
What we’ve said all along is that we’re committed to additional funding in defence, and you can’t live in the world that we live in at the moment and pretend that you can’t invest into defence.
Again he won’t directly answer the question, but says announcements will be made in due course. He’s pushed again whether defence spending will increase on a slower trajectory, but Dutton bats it away, saying “next one”.
Dutton: Coalition won’t ‘shy away’ from nuclear
The first question to Dutton is on this story by Benita Kolovos, that Victorian Liberal leader Brad Battin won’t support nuclear.
The reporter also points out that Dutton hasn’t visited a potential nuclear site… so what’s going on?
We need to have the latest technology in the system, we need to have gas as an interim… nuclear is a key part of the policy. We do not shy away from it. The government is out there talking about the cost, the cost of our plan is $263bn less than the Labor party plan.
He doesn’t actually address the comments from Battin.
Liberal’s Sukkar claims Labor ‘happy for you to be a lifelong renter’
Peter Dutton is now standing up with his shadow housing minister, Michael Sukkar, in Bacchus Marsh, on the outskirts of Melbourne.
It’s in the seat of Hawke, which is an area the Coalition has been hoping to gain significant ground in.
Sukkar starts, accusing Labor of being “very happy for you to be a lifelong renter”
So far we haven’t heard anything new this morning from either party – both have been trying to sell their policies from the weekend (and justify them against significant criticisms from economists). Dutton says:
We will give $1,200 of your money back to you. We are going to make sure home ownership is a reality again by cutting migration, by giving tax deductibility to first home buyers, allowing people access the super to get their deposit together
Albanese and Gallagher again avoid costings questions
Albanese and Gallagher are asked again how exactly they’ll be paying for their commitments.
Albanese says not every new commitment that’s been made is “new money” – meaning some of it has been provisioned in the budget or the mid-year economic update (MYEFO) that was released at the end of last year.
We put a lot into MYEFO, and we did a lot of work in the lead-up to the budget. So, a range of things that have been seen as ‘new’ investments are not. Are things that we’ve already accounted for.
But he doesn’t specify there which commitments were already provisioned in that budget update.
Gallagher says the same and adds there’ll be more details on costings and how the new promises will be paid for, which will be released “in the normal course of events”.
Our responsible decisions and commitments have been and will be accounted for, and it’s in stark contrast to the opposition, who are out spending doing these massive one-off sugar hits and not accounting for a $600bn nuclear plan
PM stands with Canadian cafe owner on Vegemite dispute and calls Marmite ‘rubbish’
Albanese says he ‘stands’ with an Australian cafe owner in Canada whose Vegemite was reportedly banned due to not not meeting Canadian standards. (Original story here.)
Albanese says it’s “odd” Canada is letting Marmite in (the spread’s British rival) which he calls “rubbish”.
I stand with the Aussie cafe owner … ! I can confirm here today that I am pro-Vegemite. And, indeed, I actually put a lot of Vegemite on my toast when I ate bread.
I did hear the report on that. It’s rather odd that they’re letting Marmite in – which is rubbish, frankly. Let’s be clear here. Pro-Vegemite, anti-Marmite. That’s my position.
His response garnered a fair few laughs from the press pack.
Albanese agrees supply-side measures only way to deal with housing without increasing prices
Our own Josh Butler, who’s with the PM, asks why he’s not listening to the advice of economic experts who have been critical of Labor’s housing plan. Albanese says he doesn’t reckon the experts have looked at all the detail of what Labor has promised.
I’m not sure that I’ve they’ve looked at all of the detail, frankly. Because some of the things that they’ve spoken about don’t match what we’re actually doing …
But the key difference between the two approaches is supply. We have a supply-side answer on public housing through the housing Australia future fund. On private rentals through the build-to-rent scheme.
Albanese says he “agrees” that if there are only demand side-measures then you will have upward pressure on housing prices.
He’s then pushed on what Treasury has told them about the impact Labor’s policy will have. The government has said the modelling shows there won’t be “significant” increase in prices, but Albanese won’t say what “significant” actually means in dollar terms.
He argues that the government won’t release cabinet documents, despite being pushed a few times:
We don’t release Cabinet papers … I’m not saying that house prices will rise … We don’t release Treasury documentation. You have the figure. The idea that they put a precise dollar [figure] on something is not right.
