Key events
The opposition leader is now taking questions from press in Cairns, where he is campaigning.
Guardian Australia political reporter Sarah Basford Canales asked him whether he still pledges to not display the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander flags in official news conferences if he is elected, after hecklers interrupted the Welcome to Country at yesterday’s Melbourne and Perth ANZAC Day dawn services.
Dutton answered, affirming his policy as prime minister would be “to stand behind one flag … because I want out country to be united under one flag”:
[ANZAC Day] is not a place for political statements. It’s not a place for anything other than respect. And I think that’s very important to point out. And I just say to that near 100% of Australians who were at Anzac Day ceremonies yesterday conducted themselves in a way that we should all be very proud of, but we should condemn those bad actions.
In relation to a welcome to country, if an organiser of a particular event decides that there’s a welcome to country, then people can respect that decision.
In relation to the flag, the point I’ve made … as prime minister, my policy to stand behind one flag is because I want our country to be united under one flag, and I want our country to be as good as it can be, and we can’t we can’t be as good as we can be, if we’re separating people into different groupings. Every Australian, whether you came here as a migrant from Greece or from Asia or any part of the world in 1800s or you came here in 2018 or if you can trace your family tree back 60,000 years. We are all equal Australians, and we can respect the Indigenous flag and the Torres Strait Island flag, but we unite under one flag, as every other … comparable country does, and that’s how we can help close the gap.
Dutton pledged an additional $21bn in defence spending this week. He said “it’s an uncertain world” when speaking about the promise on Weekend Today earlier this morning:
We’ve announced an increase of $21 billion over the next five years, which will help acquire the capability and support our men and women in uniform … But if you’re concerned about what you’re seeing in the world at the moment in the Middle East, in Asia, if you look at what’s happening in Europe with Russia and Ukraine, you know, it’s an uncertain world and now is not the time to have a Prime Minister who’s weak and out of his depth. We need to make sure that we keep our country safe …”
When asked where that $21bn pledged in defence spending is coming from he did not have an answer:
Well, it’s over the next five years. So in year five we achieved the 2.5%. We’re not going forward with some of Labour’s programs which lock in spending every year. And that allows us the ability to invest into defence.
Opposition leader Peter Dutton is speaking on Weekend Today about his federal election campaign. Asked “have you run out of time to turn it around?”, he says:
There are literally millions of Australians who are still undecided. And I think the next week will allow them to decide whether they want to continue with three more years under labor …
Dutton went on to list his campaign promises – “a 25 cent a litre cut to fuel to help families. It’s $1,200 back of your own money that you’ve paid in taxes to help you get through Labour’s cost of living crisis … Making home ownership a reality again for young Australians, with our five point plan for home ownership … Keeping our communities safe and keeping our country safe as well.”
He was pushed on by the host: “But if polls are to believed, none of that is sticking.”
Dutton responded that “the race is on”.
There are 30% of people who are undecided at the moment and the race is on as to whether people think our country can afford three more years of Anthony Albanese.
Josh Butler
The Greens want to lower the retirement age to 65, and boost the age pension to above the poverty line, in their latest progressive policy announcement.
Party leader, Adam Bandt, will make the announcement in Richmond, the electorate around Byron Bay, today – one of the seats the Greens are whispering about potentially flipping on election night. They would seek to make the pension policy one of their priorities in the next term of parliament.
“By lowering the pension age from 67 to 65, recipients who benefit would on average receive $18,000 more a year. This includes those moving from JobSeeker to the age pension,” the Greens said in a statement.
There are currently 54,295 JobSeeker recipients who are aged over 65. Since 2017 the proportion of people older than 65 receiving JobSeeker, DSP or the carer payment has doubled.”
The Greens say the change would largely benefit older women, who are more likely to face poverty in old age than men are.
“In a wealthy country like ours, no one should retire into poverty… There is a poverty crisis among older Australians and it’s worse for older women, who are one of the fastest growing groups facing homelessness,” Bandt said.
Greens candidate for Richmond, Mandy Nolan said her local area had oine of the highest housing and rent prices in Australia.
“Yet the pension has remained below the poverty line. In a wealthy country, housing stress and homelessness should not be an issue for our elders,” she said.
Rafqa Touma
Thank you to Martin Farrer for kicking off the blog this morning. I’ll be rolling your live news updates from here – let’s go.
Welcome
Good morning and welcome to our live news blog. I’m Martin Farrer with the top overnight stories and then it’ll be Rafqa Touma to take you through the day.
The Greens are out of the blocks first today with another of their policy announcements, this time a policy that would lower the retirement age to 65, and boost the age pension to above the poverty line. Adam Bandt says Australia is a wealthy country and people should not suffer poverty in their old age. More coming up.
As thoughts turn to actually voting – and some have already done so – we have a guide to the minority parties on your ballot paper – the ones you might want to back and the ones you might not want to see in the Senate. More coming up.
In the week when the Coalition launched its policies to tackle domestic violence, our reporters have asked every police jurisdiction how it assesses risk in family violence offenders to get a better understanding of how the system should work. More coming up.
