Australian news and politics recap April 1: Dutton wages war on woke, vows to stop indoctrination of kids
Scroll down for the latest news and updates.
Key Events
PM won’t match Coalition home loan policy
The Coalition today has announced plans to change the rules around what banks must consider when they decide how much people can borrow and whether they’ll be able to service their mortgage.
It said the existing “one-size-fits-all rule” set up when interest rates were at record lows was now stopping tens of thousands of Australians from getting a home loan, even when they could meet the repayments.
Anthony Albanese was asked if he’ll match this.
He pointed out the Government has already asked APRA to make sure banks exclude student debt from their loan calculations, as well as wiping 20 per cent off the same student debt and giving every taxpayer a tax cut.
“Peter Dutton sat in that cabinet room for the entire time of the three different prime ministers that were there under the chaotic former Coalition Government, and he didn’t once sit there and think to himself, ‘Gee, why haven’t we got a housing minister?’” Mr Albanese says.
PM asked about looming RBA decision
Asked about the Reserve Bank board’s rates decision due this afternoon, Anthony Albanese lauds the hard work of Australians in getting inflation down.
The RBA is widely expected to keep rates on hold rather than cut for the second time in a row.
“We have worked very hard with the Australian people, Australians have worked hard to get those inflation rates down,” Mr Albanese says, noting that CPI is now less than half what it was when Labor came into office.
“Our task is to continue to get inflation down further, to continue to maintain strong employment, but also importantly, to continue to have people earn more and to keep more of what they earn.”
He doesn’t speculate on what the RBA might do.
PM promises $150 million for Adelaide health centre
Anthony Albanese is now speaking at that Adelaide medical centre – although the “strengthening Medicare” banner he’s brought with him makes it look like he could be back in Perth or Brisbane.
He’s promising $150 million in Federal funding, to be matched by Flinders University, to build a new medical facility that can treat up to 100 patients at a time and will help train 1300 health professionals a year, including nurses, psychologists, physiotherapists and speech therapists.
Conveniently, the planned centre is in the marginal Labor seat of Boothby, which both major parties are looking to win on May 3.
‘Times have changed’: RBA call might not impact election
As Opposition Leader Peter Dutton campaigns in Melbourne, the Coalition has also unveiled plans to lower entry barriers for first home buyers to enter the market.
The Coalition has pledged to lower the serviceability buffer, an increased interest rate banks apply to new loan applications to check whether buyers can repay a mortgage.
The rate currently sits at three per cent, but opposition housing spokesman Michael Sukkar said the rate had been inflexible.
“Having these artificial rules in place, well-intentioned though they may be, are ultimately just blocking young Australians from ever getting finance to ever buy a home,” he told ABC Radio.
“Now that we have elevated interest rates, a serviceability buffer that has not remained flexible with those changes is just blocking first-time buyers from entering the market.”
While an interest rate cut would be well received by mortgage holders, YouGov polling director Amir Daftari said a lowering would not shift the political dial.
“The economic sentiment is still not great. People are not seeing the tangible benefits yet, but I think there’s still a positive outlook there,” he told AAP
“Times have changed and that might be a bit of an advantage for Labor.”
Rates decision to linger over cost-of-living election
A looming call on interest rates is set to cast a shadow on the election campaign, as major party leaders sharpen their pitches on the cost of living.
The central bank will hand down its latest cash rate decision on Tuesday afternoon. Economists say a cut is unlikely, but its decision will have an impact on the election.
It’s the only time the Reserve Bank will make an interest rate decision during the election campaign, the first since it cut for the first time in almost five years in February.
It comes as Prime Minister Anthony Albanese shifts his campaign to Adelaide, announcing $150 million to expand a healthcare centre in the city.
Health Minister Mark Butler said the commitment would reduce pressures on health practices as well as reduce medical costs, alongside the government’s measures to expand bulk billing.
“It will increase and broaden that pipeline of new health workers,” Mr Butler told ABC TV on Tuesday.
“We’ll provide additional medical school places to all the big medical schools in Australia. More doctors, nurses, and health workers is critical to strengthening Medicare.”
Albo hopes $150m will be just what the doctor ordered to secure SA votes
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has chosen Adelaide as his next stop in his bid for reelection.
Mr Albanese will tour Flinders Medical Centre in the Labor-held electorate of Boothby to ramp up his healthcare message to voters.
The Prime Minister will visit the medical precinct to announce that a re-elected Albanese Labor Government will work with the State Labor Government of Peter Malinauskas to deliver a new Flinders HealthCARE Centre.
He will announce a $150 million investment which will be matched by another $150 million from Flinders University to deliver a new state of the art facility.
Labor has pledged an $8.5b boost to Medicare bulk billing as its election campaign centrepiece and has repeatedly attacked the Coalition as untrustworthy on healthcare, even though the Opposition has promised to match the multibillion dollar fund.
‘Pay some board’: Dutton wants son to cough up cash
In a lighter campaign moment, Peter Dutton has joked about charging his 20-year-old son board while speaking to constituents in his outer Brisbane seat of Dickson.
Appearing on Sky’s Paul Murray’s Pub Test on Monday night, the Opposition Leader spoke to voters in his very marginal outer Brisbane seat of Dickson, which he holds on an ultra-thin 1.7 per cent margin.
When asked by a local about how Australia would acquire the tradies to build the 600,000 homes promised by the Coalition through a mix of its housing and migration policies, Mr Dutton responded before going on to joke about charging his son Harry rent.
“Harry will be embarrassed to hear me call him out, but Harry’s just gone into his second year of apprenticeship as a carpenter,” he said to laughter as the camera panned to Harry.
“He’s got a boost in his pay, which means he can start to pay some board at home. I’m not holding my breath for that, but I’ll see.”
Dutton prepared to axe major rail project if elected
A $13 billion airport line at the centre of a major infrastructure federal coalition election offering could sound the death knell for a suburban rail loop, if the opposition wins government.
Opposition Leader Peter Dutton has pledged to pump an additional $1.5 billion into Melbourne’s airport rail to shorten travel from the city to half an hour and reduce congestion on the arterial Tullamarine Freeway.
The additional $1.5 billion - which would take the Commonwealth share to $6.5 billion, or half of the estimated cost - would be matched by a future Victorian Coalition Government, Mr Dutton said.
The next state election isn’t until November 2026.
The catch is that the money will come from the axing of Federal Labor’s $2.2 billion commitment to the suburban rail loop, if the coalition wins the May 3 national election.
That would all but put the final nail in the coffin of the contentious project, as the debt-laden state struggles to find funding.
