Hello readers, and welcome to today’s election edition of Afternoon Update.
We are officially into week two of the campaign, and we have our first proper about-face of the election thanks to Peter Dutton ditching some of his apparently unpopular flagship policies.
Meanwhile, societal angst shifted to the economy, after a catastrophic morning for the Aussie dollar and share market “bloodbath” in response to Donald Trump’s new tariff regime.
While Jim Chalmers predicted the events would lead to a rate cut in May and other effects across Australia’s economy, Treasury officials are not yet predicting a recession for the country.
Today’s big stories
Peter Dutton admitted he had “made a mistake” and “got it wrong” as he backtracked on policies to restrict work from home arrangements for public servants and sack 41,000 government employees.
Dutton first softened the policy to a return to pre-pandemic levels of remote work – when 20% of public servants worked from home – then watered it down to only apply to government workers in Canberra, before axing the policy on Monday.
Also on Monday, the opposition appeared to dilute its public service job cuts policy, with the shadow public service spokesperson, Jane Hume (pictured), clarifying the Coalition would “sensibly reduce” the APS by 41,000 positions over five years through a hiring freeze and natural attrition, with a commitment to no forced redundancies.
With Dutton’s backflip and a horror morning for the economy – $160bn was wiped off the ASX 200 and the Australian dollar sank to 59.64 US cents, its lowest point since April 2020 – stealing the headlines on Monday, you’d be forgiven for missing Anthony Albanese on the campaign trail.
The prime minister started Monday in Melbourne alongside the Victorian premier, Jacinta Allan, spruiking his previously announced $2bn upgrade to Sunshine station, emphasising one of the main difference between Labor and the Coalition’s (slightly cheaper) plan to progress a rail link to Melbourne’s Tullamarine airport.
While he might have hoped the appearance would bring supporters on board the Albo Express, he instead had to dodge questions about whether Allan’s waning popularity was akin to an oncoming freight train threatening Labor’s chances in Victoria.
What they said
“I know my rent has gone up significantly – I’m a renter.”
That’s how the Kooyong Liberal candidate, Amelia Hamer, pitched herself to voters last year, as she began laying the foundations for her campaign to oust independent Monique Ryan from the blue-ribbon Melbourne seat. However, it’s now clear that Hamer is much more than just a renter.
The grandniece of former Victorian premier Sir Rupert Hamer also owns two investment properties – an apartment in London and another in Canberra.
The opposition have built much of their campaign on attacking Labor’s performance across a range of areas, from taxation and energy management to inflation and cost of living pressures.
Sometimes zooming out on where Australia is among its fellow OECD nations can provide a little more perspective.
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The big picture
Peter Dutton may have slowly retreated on his public sector workforce policies, but the man is clearly standing behind his plan to halve the fuel excise.
On Monday, Dutton gathered media at a petrol station in Adelaide, where he pumped fuel into a van advertising Nicolle Flint, the Liberal candidate for the seat of Boothby.
It was the fourth time in four days Dutton has posed for cameras at a petrol bowser to spruik his policy that will see drivers (of petrol-reliant vehicles) save 25c a litre if elected.
Watch
Ben Britton was dumped as the Liberal candidate for the New South Wales seat of Whitlam after it was revealed he had expressed a string of controversial views (such as that Australia’s education system “brainwashed” students and that women shouldn’t serve in combat positions in the army) on fringe podcasts before his preselection.
Britton was taken off the Liberal party’s website, and the party has confirmed he was no longer being endorsed, with the party quickly replacing him with Nathaniel Smith.
And in other news …
Daily word game
Today’s starter word is: SIT. You have five goes to get the longest word including the starter word. Play Wordiply.
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