Teal crossbench will ‘never come our way’: Coalition leader Peter Dutton
On the prospect of minority government and negotiations with the teal independents, Dutton ruled out a deal with the Greens “particularly given now that we know they’re a racist, antisemitic party” and suggested that the “teals will only ever support a Labor government”.
In the same breath, Dutton says he will “talk with the crossbench” but suggested “they will never come our way”.
Despite this, Dutton added he expected independents to support a Coalition government if it managed to secure 72 seats.
It would be unusual that if we were able to achieve 72 and we were a number of seats ahead of the Labor party, that there wouldn’t be a guarantee of supply and confidence from the crossbench, but some of them will only ever support the Labor party.
Key events
Nationals leader David Littleproud is riding high after a negative poll showing the Coalition leads Labor 52 to 48 on a two-party preferred basis.
Speaking to Weekend Today on Sunday morning, Littleproud said the slide in poll numbers for Labor came down to cost of living issues and that a future government had “get back to basics”.
Tthink one of the most telling factors in this poll is that 55 per cent of Australians think that the country is heading in the wrong direction. They’ve asked themselves, do they feel better off and do they feel safer after three years of Anthony Albanese? And what we’ve got to do is continue to articulate the common sense solutions to address that cost-of-living.
That’s a sensible energy grid that drives down, not just your power bill, but your food bill and a sensible migration bill, a migration policy that actually helps to build some homes, brings the right people in, and banning foreigners from competing with you.
Election poll places Coalition in pole position
Labor has a mountain to climb to prevent Peter Dutton from forming government at the next election, with polling predicting a coalition wave in outer suburbs, AAP reports.
The coalition will be just two seats short of forming government in its own right at the next federal election, polling has found, but the opposition leader, Peter Dutton, has cast doubt on his party securing the support of independents.
Latest modelling by YouGov released on Sunday projected the coalition to win 73 seats in the 150-member House of Representatives, well ahead of Labor on 66.
The result, if replicated at the election, which is due to take place by 17 May, would leave Dutton to become Australia’s next prime minister, said YouGov director of public data Paul Smith.
It would also make Labor the first single-term federal government since 1931.
Haemorrhaging votes in working class outer suburbs, Labor was on track to lose 15 seats but gain three from the Greens in Brisbane and one from independent Dai Le in western Sydney.
Two government ministers were set to lose their seats – Pat Conroy in Shortland and Kristy McBain in Eden-Monaro.
Labor’s primary vote share was projected to slip below 30% while the coalition’s would lift to 37.4%.
But that was only the model’s central result out of a range of possible outcomes, with the Coalition on course to secure between 65 and 80 seats, Labour taking 59-72, the Greens 1-3, and independents 7-10.
Dutton pledges to reappoint sacked home affairs secretary Michael Pezzullo
Dutton also signalled that he would re-appoint former home affairs secretary Michael Pezzullo if re-elected, saying he was “unfairly vilified” by the Labor government.
I think he was vilified unfairly by the government, and I would make a decision in relation to appointments, if we’re fortunate enough to win government.
Pezzullo was sacked after an independent inquiry found he had breached the government’s code of conduct 14 times, including using his power for personal benefit.
You can read more about what happened here:
Dutton links immigration to housing crisis
On migration, Dutton doubles down for his calls to reinstate visa categories for high net worth individuals and made a pitch to Chinese families, but it was net migration that drew his ire.
Asked about people arriving on student visas, staying past the end date and applying for humanitarian visas, Dutton said: “if the visa has an end date, the expectation is that they leave our country at the time of their end date.”
At the moment, just to put this into perspective, you’ve got students who are getting to the end of their visa period and applying for humanitarian visas with no merit whatsoever, but they’re here for seven years because with work rights, because that’s how long it takes for the matters to be resolved through the courts.
Referring to a phrase former immigration minister Amanda Vanstone borrowed from an Indonesian counterpart and popularised, Dutton said the Australian government didn’t just have “sugar on the table”:
The Australian government, at the moment, has a sugar bag on the table and is providing incentive for people to stay, not to leave, which is part of the housing crisis.
Teal crossbench will ‘never come our way’: Coalition leader Peter Dutton
On the prospect of minority government and negotiations with the teal independents, Dutton ruled out a deal with the Greens “particularly given now that we know they’re a racist, antisemitic party” and suggested that the “teals will only ever support a Labor government”.
In the same breath, Dutton says he will “talk with the crossbench” but suggested “they will never come our way”.
Despite this, Dutton added he expected independents to support a Coalition government if it managed to secure 72 seats.
It would be unusual that if we were able to achieve 72 and we were a number of seats ahead of the Labor party, that there wouldn’t be a guarantee of supply and confidence from the crossbench, but some of them will only ever support the Labor party.
Dutton pledges tax cuts, if affordable
During his interview, Peter Dutton claimed power bills have increased by $1,000 or 34%. Pushed on this, Dutton did not clarify the source for this figure.
What the opposition did make clear was that a re-elected Coalition government would continue to pursue tax cuts.
We want to reduce taxes wherever possible, but we’ll be dictated to by how much money is left in the bank. We’re not going to act in an irresponsible way. The liberal party, the Coalition, will always manage the economy more effectively than Labor, and we do that by spending in a reasonable, responsible, pragmatic way. And if we can afford tax cuts, then they’ll be delivered.
In addition, Dutton once again flagged that his government would seek to slash the public service, saying the money spent on salaries could be “used for paying off debt”.
‘Townsville would be in darkness now’: Dutton on government’s energy policy
Asked about climate and the Paris agreement – specifically what he would do now the US has pulled out of the pact for a second time – Dutton has alleged that “Townsville would be in darkness now” with the government’s current approach to energy policy as diesel generators are needed to power communities hit hard.
We need base load power. We also need to have an eye on price.
Dutton suggested the Albanese government’s focus on green hydrogen and “other emerging technologies” is “pie in the sky stuff”.
Elsewhere Dutton repeats a familiar suggestion of the country’s oil and gas producers that there is a shortage of gas on the east coast owing to interference by climate and environment groups.
According a recent IEEFA analysis, the shortages emerged after Australia took the decision to export gas from the east coast gas market 10 years ago through Queensland’s LNG export terminals.
Dutton shapes trans rights debate around women’s sport
Asked about his stance on trans rights, Dutton restated his view that “there being two sexes and a group of people, obviously, outside of male and female”, referring to a “small group” who are intersex or indeterminate.
Dutton said he was “not interested in what’s happening in people’s bedrooms, I’ve got no interest in people’s relationships”.
He however suggested “there’s a real live debate about what happens in women’s sport” – a familiar talking point among anti-trans activists.
I think girls and women should be protected. And I do think that a young girl who wants to compete in the 2032 Olympics, but can’t place at the moment because she’s got biological males competing against her. I think that’s a real problem.
Trump ‘not an Obama, not a bush, he’s very different character’: Dutton
On Donald Trump himself, Dutton describes him as, first of all, “a businessman” who is unlike his predecessors, but suggests “I don’t think you’re taking everything he says literally.” On tariffs, he says that Trump has signalled there is “room to move” and that “we need to cut him a bit of slack”.
He’s not a Reagan, he’s not a Clinton, he’s not an Obama, not a Bush, he’s a very different character.
Dutton would leave Rudd as ambassador to US until Trump turns on him
Dutton also appeared to hedge on the future of Kevin Rudd as Australian ambassador to the US, saying that “if he’s the best person for the job, then he should stay in the job” – but:
If it turns out that he’s had no access to the White House and no real influence in relation to this issue, or whatever the next issue might be, then you would have to, you would have to reassess his position. But at the moment, we’re being told that he’s effective in his advocacy in the administration. I suppose time will tell.
However Dutton said that his “instinct” would be to leave Rudd in his job unless the Trump administration turns on him, “then that would make it very difficult”.
PM should have been ‘on a plane to US’ to talk tariffs with Trump: Dutton
The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, ‘should have been on a plane to the US’ to talk tariffs with the US president, Donald Trump, opposition leader Peter Dutton says.
Dutton has given a long, sit-down interview to Sky News on Sunday which opened with a discussion of the tariff issue. Dutton says the prospect of tariff being imposed on Australian goods is “not in the best interest of the relationship” with the US and says it should be resolved quickly.
There also appears to be some recognition that the Australia-US relationship may be on shaky ground; Dutton criticised the government for not engaging more fully with the US, saying no government minister had been to the US since Penny Wong was present for the inaugeration.
Dutton was corrected on this as Defence Minister Richard Marles travelled to the US with a $800m cheque to help rebuild a US nuclear submarine shipyard.
It doesn’t seem to have made any difference at all.
Dutton also raised the prospect of pressure on Australian manufacturing from rising input costs, rising energy costs and rising insurance – all things have had their prices rising owing to costs associated with climate change.
It is also worth remembering the downturn in manufacturing began under previous Coalition governments when the Abbott government oversaw the shutdown of the Australian car industry with the closure of domestic manufacturing at General Motors Holden, Toyota and Ford.
Banning hate speech would combat antisemitism: Spender
Australia already has strong immigration laws that allow it to deport people who are engaged in antisocial behaviour and says parliament should focus on acting to ban hate speech in order to combat anti-Jewish hate, Spender says.
We need to stop antisemitism at its source, and that is, part of that is about the hate and hate that gets provoked, that gets whipped up, particularly by some of the hate preachers, but also by some of the neo-Nazi people who have been particularly persecuting the LGBTQIA community as well.
And that’s a wrap.
Nuclear power can’t be delivered fast enough for climate crisis: Spender
On nuclear power, Spender says she is not “anti-nuclear power” but says it is not going to deliver the outcomes on climate change that are needed in the next 10 years.
Even putting climate aside, the issue is that 90% of our coal-fired power stations are going to close in the next 10 years so we need to transition in the next 10 years.
Spender says the best course of action is “staying the course, actually backing renewables, giving business the certainty to continue to invest”.
