Key events
Peter Dutton has now joined ABC News Breakfast, again expressing his condolences for Pope Francis.
He says “I don’t think it’s a day for overt politicking at all”, and while he’s done morning media, he’ll spend the rest of the day in reflection.
I don’t think it’s a day for overt politicking at all. I think the day is best spent reflecting. Obviously, pre-polling, etc, opens today and all of that will continue on but I don’t think there’s a place for the body blows of politics today.
On the Today show a moment ago, Dutton also confirmed he would continue ahead with the Channel 9 leaders debate with Anthony Albanese tonight.
Dutton accuses Labor of throwing mud at him
On Sunrise, Peter Dutton was skewered by host Nat Barr on his personal popularity in the polls. Barr asks why some voters say they won’t vote for the Coalition because of Dutton.
Dutton starts saying “today is not the day for politicking” but accuses the government of throwing mud at him.
[Labor] have spent $20m on negativity over the course of the last few months. Most based on a lie, frankly, in relation to the Medicare campaigning. The bulk-billing rates have dropped under this government…
If you throw mud in the game and put $20m behind it, it has an impact.
Barr tries to pin him on what impact his personality is having, but Dutton continues to blame Labor for mud slinging.
He says that Labor is also playing a heavy game of defence, having to sandbag its at-risk seats.
You will see where the government is spending money at the moment in their defending seats at the moment. They are not on the offence.
Adeshola Ore
Monsignor Stuart Hall, the dean of St Patrick’s Cathedral in Melbourne, tells mourners that the “beloved” Pope Francis called out to a range of voices including the dispossessed.
He says Christians around the world are saddened by the death of Francis, but rejoice in him returning home.
A portrait of Francis is displayed in the cathedral, with some people kneeling before the photograph.
Dutton and Bandt pay respects to Pope Francis
Peter Dutton says his thoughts and prayers are with the Catholic community mourning the passing of Pope Francis.
The opposition leader joined Sunrise earlier, paying respects to the Pope:
We saw a compassionate man, someone who was full of mercy and who always took care of those he saw in need … So our thoughts and prayers are with the Catholic community today.
Overnight, Greens leader Adam Bandt released a statement on X:
People from all faiths will mourn the loss of Pope Francis tonight – he was a strong voice for peace, compassion and refugees.
Even as his health faded, Pope Francis was a tireless advocate for Palestine, calling people in Gaza even from his hospital bed. Vale.
In pictures – Albanese attends mass to pay tribute to pope
Anthony Albanese is attending mass this morning at Melbourne’s St Patrick’s Cathedral to pay tribute to Pope Francis.
Katy Gallagher, who is also the minister for women, is making a speech today launching Labor’s women policy, which she says will have a focus on women’s safety.
Gallagher tells News Breakfast safety is one of the biggest barriers to gender equality in the country, and points to fixing healthcare, wages and housing to help women facing violence.
She’s asked about the thousands of women who are turned away from women’s legal services every year. Gallagher says:
We have funded more money into front-line services, more money into community legal services so that they actually have continuity of funding.
A new funding partnership for community legal services, called the National Access to Justice Partnership increases funding for services, comes into effect in July this year.
But groups including the Law Council of Australia were concerned the additional funding would still fall short of what had been recommended by a review of the previous partnership.
Adeshola Ore
Anthony Albanese is attending mass at Melbourne’s St Patrick’s Cathedral to pay tribute to Pope Francis.
The cathedral opened early this morning to allow worshippers to pray ahead of its usual 7am weekday mass.
The prime minister, himself a Catholic, is among about 50 attendees at the service.
Albanese on Monday led tributes for Francis, describing him as a “devoted champion and a loving father.”
Albanese ‘deeply affected’ by pope’s death, Gallagher says
The finance minister, Katy Gallagher, says the prime minister was “deeply affected” by Pope Francis’s passing, and is attending mass in Melbourne this morning.
Anthony Albanese has cancelled some of his plans this morning, and Gallagher tells ABC News Breakfast the immediate response from the government has been to “pause and pay respect”.
As someone who was born as a Catholic and raised and went to a Catholic school, it’s been a deep part of his [Albanese’s] upbringing… Today, his plans have changed. He won’t be doing the events that he had originally planned. But some events will go on, but obviously, it will be, I think, toned down, and respectful of the fact that we have lost a significant world leader overnight.
Gallagher is asked who would attend the Pope’s funeral, she says those arrangements will be worked out.
The immediate response has been to pause and to pay respect to the passing of Pope Francis. But those, as you would expect, those arrangements will be made and it is appropriate that an Australian representative attend.
Good morning
Krishani Dhanji here. Many thanks to Martin Farrer for getting us started.
As the world mourns the death of Pope Francis, Australia’s party leaders will continue to pay their respects. The campaign trail will likely be a little quieter today.
Early voting is opening across the country, and time is running out for politicians to pitch themselves to voters.
While most of the Labor camp’s significant announcements have been made, we’re still waiting on an announcement from the opposition on defence spending.
We’ll follow all of that today.
Early voting begins today in federal election
Political hopefuls are running out of time to unveil and sell their major policies as Australians begin to cast their votes in the federal election.
The first ballots will be cast today as early voting begins ahead of the 3 May poll, with millions expected to skip the lines on election day.
It has sparked warnings about parties not having enough time to sell their messages if they keep policies up their sleeves for too long.
The Coalition still has at least one major announcement to come on its defence spending allocation, while it is yet to specify what public service jobs are on the line as it aims to reduce the commonwealth payroll by 40,000 people.
Labor has seized on the coalition not balancing its spending with enough cost-saving measures to launch attacks about “secret cuts” as it campaigns heavily on Medicare and other health initiatives.
“When Peter Dutton cuts, Australians will pay,” has been the government’s tagline, which was used again Anthony Albanese yesterday in a visit to an urgent care clinic in the marginal NSW south coast seat of Gilmore.
Albanese called it “extraordinary arrogance” for the opposition leader not to tell Australians where all the flagged cuts will come from until after the election.
Dutton has said he needs the resources of government to determine areas of waste to be targeted.
Both major parties have promised to release the full costing of their policies before 3 May.
Coalition MPs have defended delaying policy announcements until late in the campaign, saying they will unveil them when Australians are paying the most attention.
But that approach could come back to bite the party if 2022’s early voter turnout of more than 5.5 million people is anything to go by.
Analysts expect many voters going away for the upcoming Anzac Day long weekend and school holidays will take advantage of pre-polling, meaning parties may have to change tack.
“If they’ve got something that they want to have a maximum impact, they can’t reveal it at the last minute the way they used to,” the University of Tasmania public policy associate professor Kate Crowley told AAP.
Pre-polling is becoming more popular as voters turn away from major parties, which means Labor and the coalition need to strategise about how election sweeteners are offered during a campaign, she said.
– via AAP
Melbourne bishop Mykola Bychok praises ‘strong defender of life’
After the death of Francis last night at the age of 88, cardinals from around the world, including Ukrainian-born Melbourne bishop Mykola Bychok, will now gather in Rome to decide his successor.
Bychok, who was made a cardinal by the late pope, was on his way to the Middle East when the news broke and will now travel on to Rome.
He said in a statement last night that Francis “was a strong defender of life and the dignity of every person”:
Each Pontiff imparts his own personal character on the Church. The Holy Father Francis was a Pope for the marginalised and those on the periphery. He was a man of simple piety who strove to bring the church closer to people. His gave freely of his gifts and had a unique personal approach to all he met. He lived according to his motto Miserando atque Eligendo (“Lowly but chosen”).
Pope Francis was a Pope of peace. In a world devastated by war he called for peace and justice. I am grateful for the late Holy Father’s frequent appeals for a just peace in Ukraine and for the efforts of the Holy See that he oversaw, known and secret, that in some way helped bring relief to the imprisoned and suffering.
The Holy Father was a strong defender of life and the dignity of every person. He worked for the healing of divisions between East and West and for a greater understanding of other faiths, building on that which we have in common rather than our differences.
Welcome
Good morning and welcome to our live news blog. I’m Martin Farrer with some of the top overnight stories and then it’ll be Krishani Dhanji to take you through the day.
The Australian flag will be flown at half-mast on all official buildings today as the nation pays tribute to Pope Francis who died last night aged 88. Anthony Albanese made an emotional tribute to the pontiff last night and paid his respects at St Patrick’s Cathedral in Melbourne. We have reporters at the cathedral this morning and also at St Mary’s in Sydney as masses are expected to honour the first pope to come from the southern hemisphere. We’ll have all the news as it happens.
Our top election story this morning is that Allegra Spender has denounced “anonymous and misleading” pamphlets distributed in her electorate of Wentworth, with the independent MP calling it the “sort of smear campaign” that “turns people off politics”.
Some people will be able to switch from the campaign messages from today because pre-poll voting begins across the country. The Australian Electoral Commission is holding an event in the Northern Territory to promote its remote voter services operation. We’ll have news as it happens.
