It’s certainly been a big day – we finally have a date for the upcoming federal election! Here’s everything we learned today:
Anthony Albanese announced the federal election will be held on 3 May.
Making his pitch, the prime minister said the choice was clear and “your vote has never been more important”.
The influence of Donald Trump on the Australian election is already evident, with Albanese saying “we do not need to copy from any other nation to make Australia even better and stronger”.
The PM also said he is aiming for a majority, something his ministers repeated through the day.
The Nationals leader, David Littleproud, too, noted the influence of independents, arguing they were the “nation’s biggest threat in the regions.”
Peter Dutton also made his election pitch, telling voters the election is “a choice about who can better manage our economy”.
The press pack trailingAlbanese touched down in Brisbane this afternoon in the first stop of the five-week election campaign. Dutton’s plane is expected to leave Canberra tomorrow morning.
The Australian Electoral Commissionannounced more voters are on the electoral roll than ever before.
Qatar deal helping cheaper fares take off: Virgin boss
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has given Virgin Australia and Qatar Airways the final go-ahead for a five-year partnership expected to double flights between Australia and Doha.
As AAP reports, Virgin Australia CEO Dave Emerson says the “positive benefits” are already being seen:
Already we are seeing some of the positive benefits of the partnership, including increased sale activity on air fares between Australia and Europe, the Middle East and Africa thanks to increased competition.
We are pleased to welcome Qatar Airways as not just a strategic partner, but a part owner in Virgin Australia.
For more on how this deal affects the overall Australian aviation industry, you can read our analysis from Elias Visontay and Jonathan Barrett below:
AWU lashes Coalition gas reservation policy as ‘cynical hoax’ that doesn’t address gas retention problem
The Australian Workers Union has denounced Peter Dutton’s gas reservation policy as a “cynical hoax” that misleads Australians instead of “genuinely addressing the nation’s gas retention problem”.
The AWU said it had long called for a gas reservation scheme, but argues what is proposed by the Coalition is “either inept or bad faith”.
In a statement, the union said that under the Coalition’s plan, only east coast LNG spot cargoes – small amounts of gas sold overseas on a one-off basis – would be reserved for domestic use, amounting to 1% of the gas Australia produces each year.
Put another way, reserving east coast spot cargoes for east coast users would leave the eastern states paying the same high prices for over 85% of their gas.
The national secretary, Paul Farrow, said:
Dutton’s proposal would leave east coast workers, households, and manufacturers stuck paying exorbitant global prices most of the time … It’s clear this is a plan crafted in consultation with the gas industry to dupe voters, allowing producers to continue exporting our gas at huge profits while Australian consumers and businesses get short-changed.
Tink says Queensland is ‘dark horse’ in 2025 election
Asked if she thinks she can make a dent in Peter Dutton’s vote, Kylea Tink said “Queensland is the dark horse in the 2025 election” – pointing to the fact Anthony Albanesehas arrived there as his first stop on the campaign.
Ellie Smith is running here in Dixon and she is a cracking candidate. What is most telling about it is that she is running because her community has asked her to.
It’s not like myself or anybody from the Community Independents Project, or anybody from Climate 200, had anything to do with this seat actually turning around and going ‘maybe we want somebody else to actually represent us’ …
The two major parties have gotten too lost in pursuing their own political ideologies, so Community Independents is about taking your voice and your vote back.
Tink on power of crossbench: ‘Many of us were discounted in 2022’
Outgoing independent MP Kylea Tink has been speaking with ABC Afternoon Briefing this afternoon.
As we reported earlier, she will travel to Queensland this weekend to support independent candidates – including the one aiming for Peter Dutton’s seat – after being appointed director of the Community Independents Project.
Tink said people were “shocked to see the size of the crossbench grow” after the 2022 election.
We had the largest crossbench in the history of Australian politics and we have proven to have been a constructive force in politics in the last two years … In 2022, many of us were discounted and seen as a bit of a flash in the pan.
Kylea Tink last year. Photograph: Mike Bowers/The Guardian
Equality Australia has warned certain members of Australia’s LGBTQ+ community against travelling to the US.
In a travel advice document, it says the advice applies to those with a gender X marker on their passport, with identity documents with gender markers or a name different to those assigned at birth, and those with a track record of LGBTQ+ activism.
Travel to the US carries serious risks that should be considered before planning any travel, particularly if you fall under one of the above categories.
It outlined a number of potential risks, including the refusal of a visa, denial of entry, mistreatment and arbitrary detention. The document also lists advice for prior to travelling, during travel, with resources for further information.
Krishani Dhanji reported in January that gender-diverse Australians applying to stay in the US long-term could face visa delays and be forced to use their gender designation at birth on forms following Donald Trump’s executive order on gender.
Burney says government needs to be involved in truth-telling, but it’s not ‘be-all and end-all’
Linda Burney was asked if she was accepting that the government could not pursue a process for truth-telling because of the no vote, and if she believed others should instead pursue a community-led process.
She answered:
When you look at the different models of truth-telling around the world – and in fact in Australia you have a judicial type processing, for example [in] Victoria; they don’t all have to be like that.
There is a place for that, but there is also a place for communities to be empowered to look at their story, to be involved with the historical society, the schools, local government, different community groups.
I think government does need to be involved, but it is not the be-all and end-all of truth telling.
Burney takes aim at Dutton for ‘walking away’ from ‘decades of bipartisanship on Aboriginal affairs’
The former Indigenous affairs minister Linda Burney is also up on ABC Afternoon Briefing – and said it was going to be a “hard election for everybody”.
The former Labor MP announced her departure as minister last year, and she stayed on as the member for Barton until the election – meaning she has now officially left parliament.
She labelled Peter Dutton as “incredibly divisive” and said it was “unforgivable” for him to walk away from “decades of bipartisanship on Aboriginal affairs”.
Burney said the “devastation” from the outcome of the voice referendum is still felt, and the issue would not go away:
The issues of constitutional recognition will not go away, and they didn’t start in 2017 with the Uluru statements. They started decades ago and they will go on for decades.
Linda Burney. Photograph: Lisa Maree Williams/Getty Images
I understand the practical realities of the no votes. I see the Northern Territory new government, I see the Queensland new government walking away from treaty and truth, but Aboriginal people will not walk away from those things.
Election analyst on decline of primary vote, influence of Trump and early predictions
Election analyst John Black has been speaking to ABC Afternoon Briefing about the “steady decline” in the primary vote by the two major parties, ahead of the upcoming election.
He said it has been trending down consistently over the past 20 years, but now there was a “dramatic drop down to 15 seats at the last election won on primary votes.”
There was only eight ALP and seven Coalition members of parliament sitting elected on primary votes. Every one of the others, 136, were determined by who did not like them all that much and voted for other parties and begrudgingly cast a preference … to them … I think we will see the same sort of thing this time.
On the influence of Trump, Black argued that if you “position yourself to be criticised by Donald Trump and defend yourself and your country’s honour, then you will do OK in this election.”
Getting criticised by Trump is going to be a big plus, and sticking up for your country an even bigger one.
Moving away from politics for a moment: The body of a 79-year-old man has been recovered in Western Australia, after he fell from his kayak into the Drysdale River.
Western Australia police said officers were called to the remote location on Monday, where the man was trapped and submerged. He was part of a group of nine people on a multi-day rafting and kayaking tour.
A multi-agency search operation has been under way since. Yesterday it turned to a recovery mission, and the body of the man was recovered from the water.
Police said the matter has been referred to WorkSafe and a report would be prepared for the coroner.
Det Supt John Hutchison said it had been an “extremely challenging search and rescue operation given the weather, difficult terrain and remote location”.
I would like to thank everyone involved in this incident, and express our sincere condolences to the family of the deceased man.
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