Australian election 2025: Albanese, Dutton on day 32 of May 3 election campaign

The Opposition Leaders was joined at Francis Ryan Sports Field, home of local football club the St George Basin Dragons, with a group of young players to announce the upgrade.

He had been presented a jersey, and had just chatted to a friendly member of the public who approached him during the event, when the nuclear protesters arrived.

The trio pretended to be scouting for the location of “Australia’s first nuclear reactor”, as the sounds of a geiger counter and siren played nearby, sparking chaos as a group of children – not involved in the sport announcement – shouted back at them.

“I’m a ranga! I’m safe!” one of the cheekier boys, aged about ten, offered.

“I feel the radiation!” shouted another.

“Get the children away, it’s a hot zone,” one of the men shot back.

“Stay back kids, stay back. Major, major hot zone.”

“What about the school, is that an issue?” one of the protesters said, still pretending to be measuring up a potential reactor site.

“Well, a school’s a school’s a school. I guess they have to learn about nuclear energy somehow, right?” replied his mate.

The men were eventually shepherded away, albeit not before speaking to the media.

The Coalition plans to open seven nuclear reactor plants across the country as part of its energy policy.

Dutton’s office vandalised for third time

Peter Dutton’s electorate office in Brisbane has been vandalised for a third time in the election campaign.

The office building in Arana Hills in Brisbane’s north was splashed with red paint and covered in signs, condemning the Opposition Leader on Gaza and other issues overnight.

One flyer read: “Dutton says he can find ‘common ground’ with Trump and praises the US interference with Gaza.”

Another said: “Dutton opposes tertiary education funding and public housing initiatives but used 6k of taxpayers’ money for company at Gina Rinehart’s birthday party.”

“Dutton wants to stop accepting refugees from Gaza but invites millionaires from overseas to settle here,” another flyer said.

The incident follows recent comments from the Opposition Leader on the Welcome to Country being “overdone” and attacks on the Greens for being anti-Semitic and “Jew haters”.

While Mr Dutton said welcome to country should reserved for important events, such as the opening of parliament, it should be respected if held.

It follows Neo-Nazis booing the welcome to country at the Anzac Day Dawn Service in Melbourne last week.

Queensland Police have charged a woman following investigations into a wilful damage offence at a Dawson Parade property in Arana Hills this morning.

Around 2.30am police were called to Wye Street in Mitchelton following reports of four people in a red sedan acting suspiciously. An 18-year-old Chapel Hill woman has been charged with one count of wilful damage and is expected to appear before Brisbane Magistrates Court on May 20.

Mr Dutton’s Dickson electorate office has been vandalised on two other occasions since the May 3 election was called on March 29.

‘A good man’: Shoppers meet Dutton at farmers market

Peter Dutton was joined by the local Liberal candidate in Gilmore, Andrew Constance, as he toured a farmers market in Nowra, on the NSW south coast.

The Opposition Leader was led around the store by its three proprietors Paul Sassall, Jeffrey Coe and Chris Rae, who spoke to him about various cost of living issues. They said they’d noticed their customers were electing to buy lower cost options.

Mr Dutton chatted to a few the shoppers he encountered as he wound his way between the various aisles.

One woman, who greeted him warmly, said she had been impressed by his performance on A Current Affair on Monday night.

“I did like his ideas and his thoughts,” she said, adding that he seemed like a “nice” person.

“I like his strength,” another shopper told NewsWire.

“I like his quietness, that we don’t have to prove ourselves shouting and carrying on. I have faith in him. I believe he’s a good man who, the old fashioned (idea) of being there for women and children. I think he’s a good man.”

Noone heckled Mr Dutton – most shoppers seemed rather nonplussed by his presence. One older gentleman, stuck behind the pack of cameras, journalists and staff, reacted with a resigned: “How long’s it going to take?”

And as for eggs? Mr Dutton managed to avoid them after he got caught short of knowing how much a dozen went for during the final leaders’ debate on Sunday night.

In case you’re wondering, the cheapest price for a dozen free range eggs was $9.49 – a fair bit higher than Mr Dutton’s guess of $4.20 during Sunday night’s final debate.

‘Fair Dinkum’: Labor grilled on power bills

Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles has been told he sounds “just as confused as the PM” during a heated conversation on power prices, after he was asked to reveal if his electricity bills had gone up after Anthony Albanese refused to do so.

“Anthony Albanese appeared on 2GB yesterday, and he refused to reveal if his electricity bill has gone up over the last few years since he became Prime Minister, so we’re going to put the question on you instead,” radio host Ben Fordham said.

Mr Marles also refused to answer if his power bills had increased since Labor came to power, but did concede that there were factors that contributed to the increased cost of energy bills.

“We have seen global inflation around the world … there has been a cost of living challenge in Australia,” Mr Marles said before being interrupted.

When pressed by Mr Fordham to give a “fair dinkum” answer, Mr Marles responded: “Well, what I know is that my energy prices would be higher, but for the rebates that our government has put in place”.

Mr Marles defended providing the energy rebate to all Australians rather than means testing the payment, because “it would make it more expensive”.

“If the Liberals have had their way over the last three years, $7200 is the amount of money that average families would be worse off,” he added.

On 7.30 on Monday night, Mr Albanese was also grilled on whether he regretted promising a $275 reduction in energy price at the last election.

“Do you wish you hadn’t said it? Do you wish you hadn’t made that prediction?” host Sarah Ferguson asked him, bringing him back to the pledge from 2022.

“Look, Sarah, you cannot look back. What you can do is look forward. And what you do in looking forward is make sure that you address (the question of) what is the cheapest form of energy going forward,” Mr Albanese said.

Leaders’ marginal seats blitz continues

Anthony Albanese and Peter Dutton are continuing their final day blitz of marginal seats that could determine the outcome of Saturday’s federal election.

The Prime Minister is in Brisbane, where he is laser-focused on winning the inner-city seats of Griffith, Ryan and Brisbane from the Greens who surprisingly won the three seats in 2022.

In his second campaign appearance to Griffith, Mr Albanese visited a near-completed social and affordable housing construction site in the suburb of Stones Corner.

The electorate is held by popular MP and the minor party’s housing spokesman Max Chandler-Mather who has consistently used the last term of parliament to criticise Labor on its housing policy, pushing for further action.

He also holds the seat on a safe 10.5 per cent margin, with Labor’s Renee Coffey tasked with winning back the seat.

Mr Albanese was accompanied by Treasurer Jim Chalmers, Health Minister Mark Butler and Ms Coffey.

On Monday, Mr Albanese made lightning visits to the key marginal Sydney seats of Bennelong, Banks and Fowler.

The Prime Minister made a longer campaign stop on the NSW Central Coast, where he is trying to sandbag a number of seats including Robertson where he made a domestic violence funding announcement.

The Opposition Leader likewise spent time on The Central Coast, with visits to Paterson and Robertson, before attending a supporters event in the most marginal Labor seat in the country, Bennelong.

The Sydney seat – once held by Liberal Party legend and former prime minister John Howard – is a key target for Mr Dutton, despite some controversy around candidate Scott Yung.

On Tuesday, Mr Dutton will start the campaign in the southeastern NSW seat of Gilmore, another marginal seat where the Liberals are hoping former NSW government minister Andrew Constance can finally win it from Labor’s Fiona Phillips.

Mr Constance lost to Ms Phillips in 2022, albeit by a tiny fraction of the votes cast.

Since then Mr Constance has also tried to get a spot in the Senate, but lost Liberal preselection to Maria Kovacic.

Gilmore was on the list of 28 marginal electorates the Dutton campaign said it was planning to visit in the final week.

Ryan breaks silence on volunteers

Teal MP for Kooyong Monique Ryan says she is happy for the Australian Electoral Commission to investigate allegations that volunteers with alleged links to the Chinese Communist Party were directed to campaign for her.

The Age has reported that some of the Kooyong MPs volunteers were filmed saying they were told to vote for the MP by the president of the Hubei Association.

Speaking to Sky News on Tuesday, Dr Ryan said the man in question had attended events and roundtables she had hosted for the Chinese community in Kooyong, but she had no direct relationship with him.

“I’ve never had a one-on-one meeting with him and I’ve never had his support in any direct way,” Dr Ryan said.

“In the interest of full transparency I’ve contacted the AEC and the Department of Parliamentary Services agency and given them the details I gave to The Age yesterday about my relationship with those volunteers and (man).”

Coalition home affairs spokesman James Paterson has called for an investigation, saying if true, it could amount to foreign interference.

Ms Ryan’s extended interview on Sky News outside an early polling centre followed frosty encounter with Morning Agenda host Laura Jayes last week.

In Tuesday’s interview, which covered the Chinese volunteers issue, controversy over her husband removing a corflute of Liberal candidate Amelia Hamer, and her prospects on Saturday.

Dr Ryan famously won Kooyong from then treasurer Josh Frydenberg, usurping the seat from the Liberals for the first time.

“I think it’s gonna be really close,” Dr Ryan said.

‘So biased’: Dutton unleashes on media

Peter Dutton has unleashed on much of the nation’s news media, calling the journalists who have covered him throughout the campaign “so biased”, and labelling them “activists”.

The Liberal leader made those comments during an interview with Sky News Australia host Sharri Markson on Monday night.

Ms Markson suggested he had “faced a very hostile media”.

“It’s extraordinary to watch the daily press conferences,” she said.

“Albanese is often given what we call Dorothy Dixers, whereas you face hostile interrogations from the press back.”

(Dorothy Dixer is the term we use for the pre-scripted questions asked of government ministers by their own MPs during Question Time. Which are, notoriously, less than probative.)

“You’ve described The Guardian and the ABC as ‘the hate media’. Do you think that sort of media, and others like them, actually hate mainstream Australian values?” Ms Markson said.

“I just think they’re so biased, and many of them just activists, not journalists, that their position becomes counter-productive,” Mr Dutton responded.

“And they’re playing to a particular audience, to a Green voter. And frankly, as the Prime Minister has demonstrated, his whole government has been about, ‘How do we please the inner city Green voter in Sydney and Melbourne?’

“That’s why he has taken such a soft stance in relation to anti-Semitism. It’s why he’s allowed the preferencing of Green members, (despite) knowing that they’re anti-Semitic and knowing that they’re Jew haters. That’s the reality. And knowing that their economic policies are going to harm people in the suburbs and in regional areas.

“I think people see through that. And I think the left-wing media, frankly, by polling day, I think will be counter-productive in what they’re doing.”

Greens leader Adam Bandt already expressed anger at some of that rhetoric on Monday – the charge that Greens are “anti-Semitic” and “Jew haters”.

“Those comments are reprehensible, offensive and utterly untrue, and moreover they are dangerous at a time when far-right movements are emboldened by Donald Trump’s presidency,” Mr Bandt said.

“The Liberals are resorting to dangerous lies because their campaign is in free fall. I will not be lectured to by someone who has made a career out of punching down and trying to use race to win votes.”

Back to the interview. Ms Markson expressed scepticism that the focus group showcased by Channel 7 immediately after it hosted the final election debate on Sunday night was really composed of undecided voters.

She cited the overwhelming margin the group gave to Anthony Albanese, over Mr Dutton, on the cost of living.

We should note that the same audience marked Mr Dutton significantly higher than the Prime Minister on both Indigenous affairs and defence.

“Do you really think those voters were undecided? It didn’t seem like it,” said Ms Markson.

“Well, I was a little emotional, because there was one journalist out of The Sydney Morning Herald that gave it to me that said I won the (debate).

“It’s about the nicest thing – the kindest thing they’ve said about me during this campaign.”

More to come