Australian news and politics recap April 30: Albo deflects campaign lying claims by targeting Dutton’s record

On inflation, Angus Taylor warned of a potential resurgence despite expectations of a near-term rate cut: “It’s a widespread view that inflation is going to go back up. The IMF… is predicting it will go up to 3 per cent, well outside the target range.”

He emphasised “boosting growth and investment and cutting red tape” to counter “21… months of GDP per capita going backwards,” while avoiding direct commentary on RBA decisions: “I don’t get into commentary on the RBA, unlike some of my opponents.”

Shadow Treasurer Angus Taylor has insisted the Coalition’s election costings will reveal a “stronger Budget position than Labor’s,” but declined to specify exact figures when pressed on timing.

“We’ll release them in the next day or so… You won’t need to wait long, but I’ll give you a sneak preview. You’ll see a stronger economic position, a stronger budget position than Labor’s,” he told ABC News Breakfast on Wednesday morning.

He framed the delay as standard practice: “As did Labor at the last election. As is the convention.”

Taylor pledged to address both government and household budgets, stating: “There’s two budgets we’ve got to fix here… the household Budget and the Government Budget. You’ll see a stronger position from us on both.”

The remarks come as Labor intensifies scrutiny over uncosted Coalition policies, including nuclear energy and tax cuts.

Mr Taylor dismissed calls for urgency, stating: “We need to get updates on the latest economic position before we put out our final numbers.”

Peter Dutton has openly sledged the ABC in several radio interviews this morning.

While doing the breakfast radio rounds in Melbourne he was asked if he would stream the national broadcaster’s election night coverage at the weekend.

“I’ll not be watching it on ABC,” he declared.

Asked who would be in his “war room” on election night, the Opposition leader said: “Look, it’ll be family, it’ll be close advisors, and all of those, you know, sort of geeky analysts”.

He also joked about the ABC when addressing his poor AFL kicking abilities after a footy he kicked accidently struck a cameraman while in Darwin for a sporting announcement in week two of the campaign.

Mr Dutton had been having a kick-to-kick with local kids when his ball hit a cameraman, causing his forehead to bleed.

After NOVA radio hosts joked that it had been a cameraman from ABC, Mr Dutton joked: “That’s who I was aiming for but one from Channel 10 got hit.”

Dr Sophie Scamps, the Sydney MP backed by Climate 200, has apologised to the family of Keith Titmuss, including his mother Lafo, after her remarks linking climate change to health risks drew criticism.

“Of course, if there is any distress or upset… deeply sorry if there is any upset or distress. Our community was heartbroken for their family I must say… love and best wishes and deep apologies if there was any… well sorry, she (Lafo) is upset…” Dr Scamps said while being interviewed on Wednesday morning on 2GB’s Ben Fordham show.

Fordham interjected: “Yeah I was just going to say – you’ve said it a few times ‘if there was any upset’. Clearly she is really, really really upset.” Dr Scamps replied: “Yeah so – deeply sorry for that upset.”

However, the Mackellar MP then added: “I didn’t actually mention the young man by name nor did I say it was directly linked to climate change. The question was – what are doctors worried about with increasing temperatures. There is a concern from doctors all around the world… we had the hottest year on record last year… and the last 10 hottest years have been in the last 10 years. Whatever we have, we have a warming climate. It is very unfortunate that I’ve upset the family but it’s all about even healthy young people… our bodies are not adapted to dealing with humidity.”

When Fordham pressed her on why she hadn’t apologised earlier after the distress was brought to her attention by the Daily Telegraph, Dr Scamps responded: “I don’t have their number… it was great to have this opportunity today to say that I am deeply sorry to the family today.”

Peter Dutton has had a humorous debrief about mistakenly guessing the cost of a dozen eggs.

It was a question posed to him on Channel 7’s leaders debate held on Sunday evening.

The Opposition Leader was asked first and guessed $4.20, while Prime Minister Anthony Albanese guessed $7.

Channel 7 presenter and moderator Natalie Barr corrected them both and said it was closer to $8.30.

But it can be higher than that, with eggs marked up to $14.99 at a supermarket Mr Dutton visited in Nowra on Tuesday.

Speaking on Melbourne’s NOVA fm on Wednesday morning, Mr Dutton shared a laugh about the clear fail.

When discussing his debate appearance, the host said: “The bloody price of eggs?”

Mr Dutton jokingly said “that’ll get you”.

“I think maybe we should have written it down on a piece of paper and then compared notes (with Mr Albanese),” he added.

Opposition leader Peter Dutton has joked that media shadowing his election campaign “drinking and eating too much on the plane” prompted their bus to get stuck.

While speaking in a light-hearted radio interview on Fox FM on Wednesday, Mr Dutton was asked about the media’s bus delay in central Sydney on Monday morning.

The bus had got stuck on a median strip, with the driver having to wedge plywood under the tyres to free it.

“It’s a media bus, so it’s not… ours but the I just think (they’re) either drinking and eating too much on the plane,” he joked.

“So, there’s extra weight on the bus and that’s the only explanation, otherwise, Murray’s (bus service) is a great company.”

Opposition leader Peter Dutton has said the Coalition can make communities a safer place during his rounds on breakfast radio in Melbourne.

Speaking to NOVA and Fox FM on Wednesday, he claimed the Coalition were the only party tackling community safety.

“I think particularly in Victoria, people are concerned about crime,” he told NOVA.

“We’re the only party to announce a huge crime policy.

“There are some Australians that we’ve spoken to, particularly in Victoria… a woman who had a machete held to her throat (it’s) completely changed her way of life.”

Mr Dutton declared he wanted to crackdown on gang crime while later speaking with Fox FM.

“We’ve announced a $750 million package. We want to crush the bikie gangs and the gangs that are selling drugs to our kids,” he said.

“I think we can make our communities a safer place.”

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has been forced to deny the foreign minister implied a return to the failed Voice referendum was inevitable.

In an interview with the Betoota Talks podcast, Penny Wong reflected on the 2023 vote saying, “I think we’ll look back on it in 10 years’ time, and it’ll be a bit like marriage equality, don’t you reckon?

“Like I always used to say, marriage equality took us such a bloody big fight to get that done.”

Speaking on ABC Melbourne, Mr Albanese, who ruled out reviving the Voice referendum, said her comments did not refer to an inevitable comeback.

“She didn’t say that. She did not say that. She spoke about how people will look back on what the issues were. That’s very different from saying it’s inevitable,” he insisted.

The PM referred to the Voice as a “modest proposal” that “didn’t receive the support of the Australian people.”

He added: “It was an advisory committee that was non-binding about matters that affect Indigenous Australians. It wasn’t successful.”

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Anthony Albanese reveals his partner Jodie Haydon has “regularly” received unsolicited text messages from Clive Palmer’s Trumpet of Patriots, although the minor party hasn’t discovered his phone number yet.

He describes the tens of millions of dollars being spent on the Trumpet election campaign as “an extraordinary vanity exercise that we’re seeing by Clive Palmer” but notes the double-page ads running in many newspapers this week “are good for the bottom line of media companies”.

Asked if he would ban political text messages, he says he believes “that would be a reasonable thing to do”.

“I’d be happy with that, but I’m not sure that it would fit in with other legal requirements about people having access,” he says, referencing the implied right to political communications.”

The Prime Minister has declined to pass judgment on Peter Dutton for having called the Greens a “Jew-hating party”, insisting he’s not a commentator on his opponent’s language.

“I think in general, Peter Dutton dials everything up to 11. I think that is part of his character,” Anthony Albanese says.

Given he’s speaking with a Melbourne radio station, he highlights comments from Mr Dutton earlier in the campaign and some years ago about people being afraid to go out to dinner in Melbourne because of crime.

He also runs through other inconsistencies on policy that Labor has tried to turn into attack lines.

“When it comes to policy, they haven’t done the hard policy work. They’ve continued to engage in a lot of hyperbole, a lot of criticisms of others,” he said.