Dutton’s fifth petrol station in five days
Peter Dutton is visiting his fifth petrol station today, this time with the Liberal candidate for Werriwa, Sam Kayal.
After a tricky day yesterday, Dutton is again trying to pump up his fuel policy again with the public, you might say.
Key events
Caitlin Cassidy
Coaition announces $3.8m early reading program
Henderson was in Epping to announce a $3.8m early reading program alongside the shadow minister for early education, Angie Bell, the Liberal candidate for Parramatta, Katie Mullins, and the chief executive of United Way, Clayton Noble.
The “ready to read” program would provide 12,500 children under five a book per month over four years to support early literacy development, to be rolled out in disadvantaged areas. It’s based on the Imagination Library initiative of the Dolly Parton Foundation and licensed to United Way Australia.
Henderson said the program would be a “gamechanger for families”.
We know how important reading is to support early literacy and to give them a start that they need when they start school. We do know from research that children who are not read to are six times more likely to be behind in their developmental milestones.
Asked if she was a fan of Parton, Henderson replied:
Dolly Parton? I love her music but I love her Imagination Library, and this is an absolute gamechanger for so many young children right across this country.
Caitlin Cassidy
Sarah Henderson accuses Labor of education ‘scare campaign’
The shadow education minister, Sarah Henderson, has said Labor’s claims that a Coalition government could disband the department of education are “absolutely false”, accusing her counterpart of launching a “scare campaign” with no foundation.
Speaking in Epping, north-west of central Sydney, on Tuesday morning, Henderson was asked whether there was waste in the department of education, as the opposition leader has flagged, and scope for hiring freezes.
She said the Coalition had made their position “very clear” that there would be “absolutely no cuts” to the public service.
This, again, is another scare campaign from Labor, which has no foundation. We are, frankly, sick of Labor’s lies. They’ve told lies about education funding. They’ve told lies about health funding. We’ve also committed to a health and education funding guarantee, one of the very first bills that will be passed under a Dutton government.
Pointed to a letter sent by the education minister, Jason Clare, to private school bodies on Monday, which warned a Peter Dutton government may attempt to “dictate” what students were taught, Henderson repeated that Labor was “telling lies” and the Coalition had committed to school funding, adding concern remained over the curriculum.
“It’s not fit for purpose … we are listening to teachers and parents and principals who say that the current curriculum is impossible to teach, so we want a best practice, internationally aligned curriculum, knowledge rich, simple, easy to teach, which advances every young Australian. And we’ll have more to say about that during the campaign.”
Thousands of NSW doctors have walked off the job today. Our health reporter Natasha May has been down at Westmead Hospital:
Environmental group welcomes Victorian insulation announcement
In response to the news that Victoria’s Allan government is cutting the cost of installing insulation in Victorian homes, Environment Victoria’s senior climate and energy adviser, Dr Kat Lucas-Healey, said:
We welcome today’s announcement from the Allan government that will make a real difference to people’s lives. Insulation is the single biggest thing we can do to keep our homes comfortable and spend less on cooling and heating.
In a cost-of-living crisis, Victorians will welcome this announcement that will provide real help to make their homes more comfortable, cut energy bills and help the environment with affordable and effective home insulation.
Anyone who has experienced living in an uninsulated home knows what a difference adding ceiling insulation makes. It means less time running the heater or finding other ways to stay warm. The reintroduction of ceiling insulation into Victoria energy upgrades will make it that much cheaper to install, safe in the knowledge it is being installed by trained and regulated providers.
Candidate slips up on urgent care clinics under proposed Liberal policy
Seems like there was a bit of a mix-up this morning from the Coalition on their health policy.
The Liberal candidate for Lyons, Susie Bower, said this morning on ABC radio that a Coalition government “will need to be working out” whether the urgent care clinics Labor has set up will still be bulk-billed.
We’ve since clarified with the shadow health minister’s office that if the Liberals are elected the clinics will be bulk-billed and they’ve promised to ensure the service operates to full capacity, including making sure all centres are open for the extended hours that they’re supposed to be.
So it could have been just a slip up.
But you can have a read of the exchange below – between Bower, the Labor candidate for Lyons, Rebecca White, and the host, Leon Compton:
Compton: Under the Liberal party’s policy, Susie Bower, would your urgent care clinics be offering bulk billing services to people that attend?
Bower: So that’s something that we will need to be working out. But also something else that we’re looking at in particular is X-ray. So that’s something we want to discuss.
White: That’s delivered already in Medicare.
Compton: Rebecca, just hold for one moment. Has the Liberal party made a commitment that if urgent care clinics are established under Peter Dutton, you will be able to access them with just your Medicare card?
Bower: I have — I’m not aware that that is, um, a policy at the moment. It’s something that we’ll be looking at.
Victoria announces ceiling insulation discount to reduce energy bills and power consumption
Adeshola Ore
Moving off the campaign trail for a moment…
The Victorian government will slash the cost of ceiling insulation for households in a bid to reduce energy bills.
The Jacinta Allan government announced an expansion of the state’s energy upgrades program on Tuesday morning. It estimates the discounts will help households save about $400 a year on their power bills due to insulation reducing energy consumption.
The government says almost 60% of Victorian homes have no ceiling insulation or are underinsulated.
Households with no insulation will be eligible for the first stage of the discount, which the government says will halve the average ceiling insulation install costs of $3,000 to $1,500.
Dutton’s fifth petrol station in five days
Peter Dutton is visiting his fifth petrol station today, this time with the Liberal candidate for Werriwa, Sam Kayal.
After a tricky day yesterday, Dutton is again trying to pump up his fuel policy again with the public, you might say.
Labor’s $1bn mental health committment lauded as ‘landmark investment’ for young people
Mental health groups and psychiatrists have welcomed the $1bn mental health commitment from Labor, calling it a “landmark investment”, particularly for young people.
Mental Health Australia says rates of mental ill-health among young people rose by 50% from 2007 to 2022, and now two in five young people experience a mental health condition in any given year.
Its CEO, Carolyn Nikoloski, says more support is necessary against the backdrop of the cost of living crisis.
This is a landmark investment that recognises the challenges the community is facing, particularly young people.
At a time when people need support the most, one in five people delayed or did not see a health professional for their mental health due to cost in 2023-24 … commitments to free and accessible care are more important than ever, and will help deliver more equitable care across our communities.
The Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists (RANCP) has welcomed the additional funding for 1,200 new mental health workers.
The group says the investment will help bring the healthcare system to a point where “no Australian falls through the cracks”. RANZCP’s president, Dr Elizabeth Moore, said:
This investment will increase the number of psychiatrists, psychologists, GPs and peer workers available to the community … You can’t run a mental health system without the workforce. Clinics and hospitals are just buildings and rooms without the people at the frontlines.
Jonathan Barrett
ASX rises in early trading while fears persist
Australian shares are up 0.8% in early trading this morning, as fears of a full-blown trade war keep many investors on the sidelines.
The S&P/ASX 200 was trading at 7,400 points in the opening minutes, up from yesterday’s close of 7,343.
The benchmark is still down almost 14% from its February highs.
Share markets around the world have been gripped by concerns that Donald Trump’s tariff regime, and retaliatory imposts from rival economies, will upend global economic growth.
Traders will need to weigh up Trump’s latest threat to raise his tariffs on China by an additional 50% from 9 April if Beijing doesn’t withdraw its own retaliatory tariffs of 34%.
Wall Street experienced a volatile session overnight, after speculation of a pause in the tariff program, which briefly lifted share prices, was later denied by the White House.
Dumped Liberal candidate claims NSW division plotting to ‘stab Dutton in the back’
Ben Britton – who was dumped by the Liberal party as a candidate for the NSW seat of Whitlam after some controversial views were revealed by the Guardian, has spoken out on 2GB, calling his dumping a “witch hunt”, and accusing the NSW division of stabbing Peter Dutton in the back.
Britton says he’s quit the Liberal party and will continue to run as an independent. He told Ben Fordham that he wouldn’t sign up to a faction and “wouldn’t be controlled” which he claims led to the decision.
It’s a witch hunt because they didn’t want me there. And it’s the factions within the party that didn’t want me there. It’s because I wouldn’t, you know, sign up to a faction. I wouldn’t be controlled. I wouldn’t be told what to say …
And at the end of the day, what’s occurring within the New South Wales division right now is a systematic plot from the left, the left faction working hand in glove with members of the right faction who are traitors to stab Peter Dutton in the back and sure he doesn’t get elected as the prime minister, so they can roll him as leader. That’s what’s happening.
Britton expressed controversial views, including that women should not serve in ADF combat roles amid range of controversial views.
You can read Sarah Basford-Canales’ piece on that here:
Albanese recalls ‘confronting’ moment on youth mental health
Jumping back to a little earlier in the press conference, the PM got a bit emotion when talking about mental health and how he’s seen it impact those around him.
He was asked, as the father of a young man, how important it is to discuss mental health at the dinner table.
Albanese said he preferred not to discuss what he says with his son, but said generally it’s “quite clear that young men, and young women, have issues that we need to talk about more”.
He then recalled a moment when he was shocked as a young man when a friend’s niece ended up in hospital with an eating disorder. He says she nearly died:
[She] ended up in RPA with an eating disorder, and that was really confronting. I was still pretty young at the time. I haven’t seen anything like that. She almost died. She is now well, she is now well, and has children of her own. But that was really confronting.
He also remembers Charlotte, a young woman who took her own life, which her mum believes was in part due to social media. Albanese says Charlotte’s story was one of the things that led to the government taking action on social media.
ASX to open modestly higher after Monday plunge
Jonathan Barrett
Australian shares are expected to open slightly higher this morning, erasing some of the steep losses triggered by Donald Trump’s “liberation day” tariff regime.
Futures prices are pointing towards a 0.7% lift in the S&P/ASX 200 to around 7,400 points when the market opens.
The benchmark briefly traded under 7,200 yesterday, before closing at 7,343 points, down more than 4% on the day in the worst ASX session recorded in five years.
Fund managers told Guardian Australia they are looking for signs of a truce in the tariff tit-for-tat, especially between the US and China, to signal a recovery in equities may be on the cards.
While Trump’s new tariff regime sparked an initial sell-off across global share markets last week, plans to hit the US with retaliatory imposts from major economies, including China and the EU, have heightened risks of a global recession.
Overnight, Trump threatened to raise his tariffs on China by an additional 50% from 9 April if China doesn’t withdraw its owns retaliatory tariffs of 34% by Tuesday.
Albanese heckled by protester during press conference
Albanese has been interrupted by a protester who shouts at the PM that his government has approved more coalmines during its term. She says:
Mr Albanese, you say you care about young people and yet since being elected your government has approved 33 new coal and gas projects…
She keeps shouting as security take her out of the building.
Patrick McGorry had earlier said climate change was one of the “megatrends” that are conspiring to make the lives and futures of young people much more challenging and pessimistic”.
Albanese says he was ‘very proud’ to host Asean as questions raised about economic pivot to China
Albanese says he wants Australia’s relationship to be strengthened further with Asean countries.
He’s asked whether the government is concerned that countries across Asia could pivot towards China, in response to the US slapping big tariffs on them. Australia hosted the Asean meeting in March last year, which Albanese says he was “very proud” to host.
I was really proud that every single leader came, no deputies, no representatives, every single leader, and that’s a direct result of the hard work that my government has done to turn those relationships around.
Our relationship with Indonesia has never been stronger, never been stronger, and the work that we’ve done there, but with other nations in ASEAN as well, and one of our responses to the decision of last Thursday will be to build … the idea of business missions, we’ve had business missions to Indonesia, to India, to Laos, to the region, to China as well, that have been important in terms of those economic relationships.
