Federal Election 2025: Anthony Albanese and Peter Dutton campaign on day 11

Anthony Albanese and Peter Dutton are set to duke it out in the first leaders election debate in the battleground area of Western Sydney.

Both camps landed in the city ahead of the Sky News/Daily Telegraph People’s Forum to start at 7.30pm on Tuesday.

The debate will be held in Western Sydney, and will feature questions from 100 undecided voters who will determine the winner of the clash.

This comes after the Opposition Leader on Monday was forced to overturn the Coalition’s demand to force public servants back to the office and water down its policy to axe 41,000 government workers, with the Prime Minister capitalising on the blunder.

Both leaders will also be forced confront the continued fallout of Donald Trump’s tariff war after $110bn was wiped off the ASX on Monday.

As a response, shadow treasurer Angus Taylor has requested daily briefings from Treasury, arguing the party that wins the election should be immediately prepared to respond to the fractured global economy.

The latest Newspoll also shows Labor increasing its lead over the Coalition, inching ahead 52 to 48 on a two-party preferred basis.

The Coalition is now at its lowest level since June 2024, with Australians set to go to the polls on May 3.

Dutton pivots to economy after WFH backflip

Peter Dutton is trying to brush off his bad day on the campaign trail on Monday by refocusing the campaign on the economy, as the Trump tariffs war smashes global share markets.

The Opposition Leader, who was forced to dump his work from home policy after a backlash from women voters, on Tuesday attacked Labor’s economic credentials as the world economic outlook faced turmoil.

“We’ve had seven consecutive quarters in this country of negative household growth,” Mr Dutton said on Tuesday.

“So, households have gone backwards. That hasn’t been the case in other parts of the world, including in comparable economies.

“I just don’t think Australians can afford three more years of a bad Labor government, and particularly if it’s a Labor-Greens government.

“That will see inflation come back into the system, which will force interest rates higher again.

“And that’s why interest rates will always be lower under a Coalition government.”

Mr Dutton also compared Australia’s economic performance with the G7 alliance of major industrialised economies, of which Australia is not a member.

“We have the highest core inflation rate of any of the G7 nations,” Mr Dutton said on ABC Tuesday morning. Australia is not in the G7.

The G7 is an informal group of the world’s leading industrialised nations; Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the US.

“So, interest rates have gone higher faster here than in other areas of the world,” the Opposition Leader said.

Interest rates in every G7 nation except Japan topped out higher than Australia in the past couple of years.

Meanwhile, Finance Minister Katy Gallagher defended the Albanese government’s economic record.

“We’ve been seeing a lot of uncertainty and volatility in the markets, particularly in the sharemarkets,” she told ABC Radio National.

“This is obviously a response to what’s been happening with the tariff decisions coming out of the US and the flow on from that, but I would say, I think we are in a very good position here in Australia.

“We’ve done a lot of work over the last three years to make sure that we’re in a pretty good place, strengthening our economy, getting inflation down, helping with the cost of living and repairing the budget.”

Labor’s plan for mental health ‘missing middle’

Mr Albanese is back in Sydney’s inner west on Tuesday morning to spruik Labor’s $1bn pledge for mental health, after days dominated by Peter Dutton’s surprise about-face on work-from-home and public service cuts.

Mr Albanese announced on Monday night a re-elected Labor government would splash on dozens of new and upgraded Headspace and Medicare Mental Health Care facilities across the country, as well as training for mental health specialists.

The investment would be particularly focused on the youth “missing middle” – young people with personality disorders, eating disorders, or early psychosis who require specialist ongoing care, but who often end up in the hospital system instead.

Mr Albanese will visit a Headspace facility at Ashfield – which borders the electorates of Grayndler and Reid – with Reid MP Sally Sitou, along with Health Minister Mark Butler and Assistant Health and Suicide Prevention Minister Emma McBride.

The Headspace facility is a free and confidential service where young people aged 12 to 25 and their families can access support for their mental health, with Mr Albanese expected to meet clinicians and 2010 Australian of the Year Professor Patrick McGorry AO.

Labor’s plan for mental health received wide support on Monday.

It includes 31 new and upgraded Medicare Mental Health Centres, 58 new, upgraded or expanded headspace services, 20 Youth Specialist Care Centres for young people with complex needs, and more than 1,200 training places for mental health.

It comes as Mr Albanese pitches this election as make or break for Medicare.

‘Playing catch-up’

Peter Dutton says Labor is “playing catch-up” to the Coalition on mental health after Anthony Albanese announced his $1bn policy for mental health care facilities.

“We have promised to restore from 10 to 20 the number of sessions that young people, particularly with complex presentations, can receive,” Mr Dutton told ABC TV on Tuesday morning.

“And Labor cut that from 20 to 10 services.

“We announced another $400m for the expansion of Headspace and mental health services otherwise. Labor, in some ways, is playing catch-up here.”

More to come