Australian news and politics recap: All the big news stories from February 21, 2025

1. There’s no sugar-coating it, we’re in an election campaign. The only difference between this one and a “normal” campaign is that it hasn’t officially been called. Hopefully we can get that part of it out of the way in the next few weeks.
2. The Prime Minister is clearly trying to position himself in a more positive light heading into the campaign. Whether it’s a Women’s Weekly spread or a 90-minute podcast interview with Abbie Chatfield, it’s clearly an image he’s keen to project to voters.
3. The Opposition Leader’s biggest trump card (no pun intended) is the cost-of-living crisis. If he manages to convince voters that they’ll be better off under a Coalition government, he could be on to a winner.

Mr Dutton commended the SA Premier for not being caught up in “three-eyed fish” jokes.

He referred to Democratic and Labor governments around the world who had already taken up nucelar energy.

“Our model comes up 40 per cent cheaper than the model of renewables-only that the Prime Minister has,” he said.

“I look forward to the days ahead.

“I look forward to making the decisions that are sometimes tough but making the decisions that underpin the economy.”

Mr Dutton gave credit to Mr Albanese for supporting the Morrison government’s push for AUKUS.

He referred to the nuclear submarines that will be built as part of AUKUS, saying the deal never would have been signed if anyone thought it was unsafe.

Mr Dutton says he is not a “nucelar zealot”.

“I want to decarbonise our economy, and make sure we have sustainable energy,” he said.

“We can’t underpin an economy like ours... without having a stable energy market.”

He described the Coalition’s position on Whyalla as “more nuanced”.

“I don’t believe it’s in our country’s best interests for the Government to take an equity position in Whyallla,” he said.

Now it’s his turn to pivot into a campaign speech.

Mr Dutton says the cost of electricty is “killing the economy” and refers again to the 27,000 small businesses he claims have closed their doors under the Albanese Government.

We’re definitely in an election campaign, even if it hasn’t been called officially.

Peter Dutton, who does not hold daily press conferences, is expected to hold a second one this afternoon.

We’ll bring you all the latest from that one as it happens.

“One of the things that I hope defines my leaderership is that I’m a natural optimist,” he said.

“I do believe this is the greatest country on earth and I think our best days are ahead of us.

“With the resources we have at our disposal... there is no reason at all why ‘Bigger Better South Australia’ can’t be ‘Bigger, Better Australia’ going forward,” Mr Albanese says, referring to the Future SA event slogan.

He’s now moving to a “fireside” chat with the SA Premier Peter Malinauskas and journalist Samantha Maiden. The televised stream ended shortly afterwards.

This is very closely resembling an election campaign speech.

Mr Albanese has remninded the South Australian audience he has visited their State 21 times as Prime Minister.

He then went on to rattle off a list of what he claims are his Government’s achievements, including reducing inflation, increasing wages and keeping a lid on unemployment.

I’m not sure all of those things can be attributed to the work of the Albanese Government, but I am sure that we are heading straight for an election campaign.

“You could just feel a weight being lifted off their shoulders because they now had the certainty that their jobs will be maintained and that there’s a future there for that regional town of Whyalla in which the steelworks are the heart of that town,” Anthony Albanese said.

“It was a difficult decision on one level but on another level it’s the easiest decision that we could possibly have ever made.”

He said the $2.4 billion package was “not a bailout”.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has opened his speech by defending the process around the Whyalla steelworks, saying it went through the “proper Cabinet process”.

He also said one of the lessons of the pandemic was that “Australia can’t just be at the end of supply chains”.

“We have to not just be a quarry that digs up the magnetite, exports it overseas, waits for value to be added, waits for jobs to be created and then exports it back.

“That is not Australia’s future.”

To be fair, he’s probably preaching to the choir in talking to a South Australian audience.