Category Archives: Labor party

Guardian Essential poll: Labor loses ground in first week of campaign but remains ahead of Coalition

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Albanese’s disapproval rate rose by five points but over half of all respondents still believe Labor will win the next election

Labor appears to have lost ground in the opening week of the federal election campaign according to the latest Guardian Essential poll, but a majority of respondents still think Anthony Albanese will be Australia’s next prime minister.

The latest survey of 1,020 respondents shows Labor’s standing in the two-party preferred “plus” measure is down three points in a fortnight, and there has been a two point increase in the number of undecided voters. But 55% of respondents believe Labor will win on 21 May.

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Australian politics live: PM says Coalition ‘won’t be doing any deals’ with independents; green energy ‘first mover advantage’ lost, says Albanese

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Record number of Australians enrol to vote; Morrison says he won’t allow embattled Warringah candidate to be ‘silenced’; Australia losing green energy opportunities due to Coalition inaction, Albanese says; Shorten launches Labor’s NDIS policy; nation records 18 Covid deaths. Follow all the latest news

These two are debating each other on Sky News tonight

Former South Australian senator Nick Xenophon, who is making another tilt at the Senate, wants a royal commission into housing affordability in Australia.

With house prices rising in Adelaide, and around the country by almost a quarter in just a year, the issue of young Australians being able to afford to buy their own home is becoming more and more vexed, and there are policy failures all round at a local, state and federal government level.

Only a royal commission can tackle this issue head-on by looking at a range of solutions that will get us back on track to make the dream of home ownership attainable once again.”

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Cashless welfare: Labor vows to end compulsory use of basics card

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Opposition last year committed to scrapping the cashless debit card and says continued use of basics card will be voluntary

Labor has given a clear signal it will end the basics card as a compulsory scheme, allowing more than 20,000 welfare recipients in the Northern Territory to exit the program.

Anthony Albanese last year committed to scrapping the cashless debit card, which operates in trial sites in Western Australia, Queensland and South Australia and until recently was run solely by the private banking provider Indue.

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US calls on Australia to increase 2030 emission reduction pledge to help prevent ‘greater destruction’

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Senior official says US ‘determined that everyone raise ambition’ in tackling climate crisis and stresses need to keep heating below 1.5C

The US will urge Australia to increase its 2030 emission reduction pledge this year, with a senior official declaring it was “a long time ago” when the Abbott government set the target the Morrison government says is “fixed”.

The assistant US secretary of state for environmental affairs, Monica Medina, said the US was “determined that everyone raise ambition” in tackling the climate crisis in a bid to avoid “greater destruction”.

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Australian politics live: Morrison to visit Perth as Liberal divisions grow over Katherine Deves; Albanese gets mixed reception at Bluesfest

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Anthony Albanese gets mixed reception at Bluesfest in Byron Bay, while Scott Morrison has a brain fade moment at a press conference and walks away from a young woman asking him about climate policy; NSW records four Covid deaths and Victoria one. Follow all the latest news

New South Wales has released its Covid numbers for the last 24 hours, with 11,166 new cases and sadly four deaths.

It might be a little later today before we hear from the Liberal campaign, given the time difference with Western Australia.

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Ruston will ‘take the universal out of universal healthcare’, Labor says – as it happened

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Labor says Anne Ruston as health minister if Coalition re-elected should ‘send a shiver down the spine’; WA records eight Covid deaths, NSW six, Victoria two and Tasmania one. This blog is now closed

Marise Payne has told the ABC’s Insiders she does not share the views expressed by Katherine Deves about transgender and gender diverse people that have prompted calls for her to be dropped as the candidate for Warringah.

She tells host David Speers:

I don’t share Ms Deves’ comments that she has made, but importantly she has apologised and withdrawn those views and as the prime minister said yesterday, in public life, we do have to be very careful about the way we express our opinions.

It is a matter for the organisation in New South Wales. I need to get on with my job, that’s what I’m doing. I don’t agree with the remarks she made, I’ve made that explicitly clear.

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Anne Ruston defends past comments that Medicare ‘is not sustainable’ after PM names her as health minister if re-elected

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Minister says Coalition is ‘not cutting Medicare’ as Labor accuses her of wanting ‘to take the universal out of universal healthcare’

Labor says the appointment of Anne Ruston to the health portfolio in a re-elected Coalition government would mean cuts to Medicare, pointing to past comments by the senator that the costs of the health scheme were unsustainable.

The prime minister, Scott Morrison, announced on Sunday that Ruston would take over the health and aged care ministry vacated by the retiring Greg Hunt, if the Coalition wins the election on 21 May.

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NSW Liberals should decide whether Katherine Deves is disendorsed, Marise Payne says

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Foreign minister says she has made it ‘explicitly clear’ she does not agree with comments made by Warringah candidate

Senior government frontbencher Marise Payne has distanced herself from the controversial Liberal candidate for the Sydney seat of Warringah, saying it is a matter for the party organisation whether Katherine Deves is disendorsed.

The foreign minister was pointed in her remarks on the range of captain’s picks overseen by Scott Morrison in lieu of normal preselection processes in New South Wales, telling the ABC’s Insiders program: “Some of them are fabulous candidates.”

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AEC warns Australian political parties over ‘misleading’ postal vote applications

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Forms sent back via political parties can be used to harvest personal information about voters

The Australian Electoral Commission has written to political parties warning against distributing “potentially misleading” postal vote applications to residents.

Political parties have sent out forms to voters where they can register with the AEC to vote via mail. However, the forms are sent back via the political parties and can be used to harvest personal information about those voters to target later.

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Anthony Albanese says PM’s broken federal Icac promise ‘fails the laugh test’ as Chalmers defends Labor campaign

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Shadow treasurer says Labor ‘match-fit’ for campaign and denies first week was a ‘shitshow’

Anthony Albanese has attacked Scott Morrison for blaming a lack of Labor support as the reason he couldn’t legislate his proposed anti-corruption commission, saying the argument “fails the laugh test”, as the federal opposition defended their rocky start to the election campaign.

On Saturday, as Labor unveiled a commitment to legislate a national anti-corruption commission by the end of 2022 if elected, both the prime minister and opposition leader faced questions over their ideal model for an integrity body, with Albanese suggesting Labor’s version would be stronger than the Coalition’s proposal that was widely panned and opposed by some government MPs.

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Another election year leads to another Victorian debate about the East West Link proposal

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Analysis: Like clockwork, an announcement is made to revive the ‘zombie’ toll road project

Almost seven years after Victoria’s Labor government scrapped a billion-dollar contract to construct the East West Link, the project – once dubbed a “zombie” by the state’s treasurer – refuses to die.

The federal Coalition has previously pushed the case for the project. But this time, it was the state opposition reviving it by announcing it would build the underground tunnel to connect Melbourne’s Eastern Freeway to CityLink if was elected at the November election.

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Australia news live updates: One Nation dumps Brisbane candidate; Anthony Albanese and Jenny Morrison attend same Easter service; 26 Covid deaths

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Rebecca Lloyd reportedly ditched from One Nation because she refused to work with party leaders; airport staff shortages cause baggage issues; more aged care deaths in 2022 than first two pandemic years combined; campaign trail ‘truce’ for Easter weekend; NSW records 16 Covid deaths, Victoria records seven deaths; Queensland records two deaths; first election debate confirmed for 20 April. Follow all today’s news

NSW has recorded 16 Covid deaths and more than 15,000 cases.

Queues are so far moving faster than expected at major airports, after a week of huge delays. There were some concerns about another chaotic day at the airport on Good Friday. About 80,000 passengers were due to travel through Sydney airport alone.

Queues are moving well at Sydney airport even as hundreds of people fill the country’s busiest airport as they head out for Easter holidays.

Airports around the country will remain busy over the break and school holiday period.

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‘Massive policy failure’: retired judges blast Morrison’s broken promise on federal Icac

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Former supreme court judge Anthony Whealy says Coalition’s explanation for not legislating a promised anti-corruption commission is ‘spurious’

Retired judges have criticised the Morrison government’s broken promise on the federal anti-corruption commission as a “massive policy failure”, saying the Coalition’s explanation for walking away from the pledge was “spurious”.

The Coalition is under pressure over its failure to introduce legislation establishing its proposed anti-corruption commission, despite promising to do so prior to the last election.

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PM cancels afternoon campaigning – as it happened

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Members of Scott Morrison’s security detail injured during campaigning in Tasmania; at least 45 more Covid deaths around Australia, with 21 in NSW. This blog is now closed

If you are in Sydney, you can have a little treat – free public transport (for 12 days).

As AAP reports:

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Australian Medical Association disappointed by major party funding inaction amid hospital crisis

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AMA chief to call on Anthony Albanese to ‘stand for health’, saying funding boost is urgent to alleviate pressure on medical system

The head of Australia’s peak medical body will meet with the Labor leader, Anthony Albanese, to urge him to reconsider his “small target” strategy on health. Dr Omar Khorshid will warn that substantial funding is urgently needed to address the crisis in the country’s hospitals.

The message from the Australian Medical Association president comes after Albanese called him on Thursday morning in response to the association criticising Labor’s $135m urgent care clinic policy, announced this week, as “incoherent”.

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PM distances government from private member’s bill – as it happened

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Morrison says Warringah candidate Katherine Deves has ‘apologised’ over social media posts; nation records at least 39 Covid deaths. This blog is now closed

Adam Bandt, the Greens leader, will also be talking about the Greens’ tax and Medicare plans at the National Press Club today, as Sarah Martin reports:

The Fireproof protests continue in Sydney:

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Christian lobby groups push major parties to support unamended religious discrimination bill

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FamilyVoice says Labor not to blame for ‘Morrison’s failure’ to pass bill as Albanese pledges to extend school chaplaincy program with secular pastoral care

Christian lobby groups are pressing both major parties to recommit to the unamended religious discrimination bill as Labor guarantees to extend the chaplaincy program with a secular choice for schools.

Guardian Australia understands Labor has told FamilyVoice it has “consistently supported” the $61m-a-year chaplaincy program but will move to give schools the option of a secular pastoral care worker.

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Labor to commit $135m to trial 50 urgent care clinics intended to ease pressure on hospitals

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Announcement comes alongside policies to strengthen Medicare and ‘make it easier to see a doctor’ as ambulance wait times blow out

Anthony Albanese is set to announce Labor’s first major health commitment of the election campaign: $135m to trial 50 new urgent care clinics meant to ease pressure on hospitals.

The clinics will be based at GP surgeries and community health centres in at least 50 locations across the country. Labor says they will be modelled on a similar scheme operating in New Zealand.

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Australia politics live updates: Joyce announces $1.5bn Darwin port facility; Coalition costing of Labor policies ‘laughable’, says Gallagher

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Deputy PM promises $1.5bn investment for new Darwin port; Labor senator takes shot at Coalition’s ‘dodgy costings unit’; Scott Morrison promises to create 1.3m new jobs in the next five years; Anthony Albanese announces greater mental health support for regions; nation records 38 more Covid deaths. Follow all the day’s news

Scott Morrison has called in to Adelaide radio station FiveAA to speak with David Penberthy.

Penberthy wanted to know whether Morrison’s standing contributed to the collapse in the Liberal party’s vote in the recent South Australian state election.

It’s a federal election.

It’s a macro number that we do right across the economy.

I think prime minister Ardern was appropriate when she said she wasn’t going to engage in a domestic election in Australia. I would say this – this is a recommendation of the royal commission. This is a recommendation that arises out of the situation that we see older Australians facing. Neglect, people are being neglected.

Now, what we are saying is let’s work to bring in more nurses to the sector ... a lot of nurses leave the sector every year, or leave their employer. We need to train more Australians to get into this workforce, and yes, as is currently the place, migration will be part of the story but not all of the story.

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Plibersek says election ‘a test of leadership, not memory’ after Albanese mistake – As it happened

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The PM campaigned in Gilmore in NSW, while Labor leader is in Bass in Tasmania; Tanya Plibersek defends Anthony Albanese after opposition leader addresses his rates stumble; phone voting available for people in isolation on election day; NSW reports three Covid deaths and Victoria one. This blog is now closed

Scott Morrison just appeared on ABC breakfast TV, where he was asked about his relationship with the Liberal candidate for Gilmore, Andrew Constance.

Q: Andrew Constance said that you got the welcome that you deserved [in the region after the bushfires]. Emotions are still running deep in the bushfire-affected communities. Are you concerned about that being repeated today?

With Andrew Constance being part of my team and choosing to be part of that team, I think that that addresses it. Andrew and I spoke not long after the terrible experiences that particularly he and others and so many went through, and we worked the issue. We ensured that we addressed thing like small business payment and we got the money on the grouped and supported people in the areas that the federal government were responsible for. And I really thank Andrew for the way that we came together and really started to work together to address those issues. He’s a fine advocate for this part of Australia on the south coast of New South Wales.

He’s demonstrated that time again. And the fact that he wants to be part of my team and is running here as our Liberal candidate in Gilmore, I think that that addresses those issues fairly, squarely, that we’ve actually addressed the short comings that he was outlining at the time and we’ve gone forward with a strong plan to ensure that we’re providing that support. Not just in relation to the fires, but in relation to other natural disasters. And we’ve seen so many of those over the last three years.

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