Australia election 2025 live: PM says Jim Chalmers ‘doesn’t need advice’ ahead of debate with Angus Taylor
Jim Chalmers ‘doesn’t need advice’ ahead of debate with Angus Taylor, PM says
The prime minister was also asked if he had any advice for the treasurer, Jim Chalmers, ahead of tonight’s debate, and said:
Jim Chalmers doesn’t need advice to debate Angus Taylor, with respect …
I saw the interview that Angus Taylor had with Billi FitzSimons. I did see that online during a flight, and my goodness, Billi FitzSimons really towelled him up, towelled up the facts that he got wrong.
A reminder that we’ll be bringing you the treasurers’ debate live right here on the blog – I’ll bring you more details on this soon.
Key events
Benita Kolovos
Burns says it has been ‘difficult’ inside Labor party at times over last few years
Both Labor MP Josh Burns and Liberal candidate Benson Saulo have been introduced to the crowd and they seem to have a favourite – Saulo got a huge round of applause.
Rebecca Davis, one of our moderators, has again asked for “respectful conversation”, “no shouting, no interrupting and no attacks on the individual”.
Now to Burns for his opening statement, which began with a joke that Saulo has “brought a few of his friends tonight”.
I’m not here to sugarcoat it. I’m not here to describe anything that hasn’t been probably the most difficult two years of my personal and professional life, it has been. Each and every person in this room knows how difficult it’s been for our community and being a member of parliament at the time when we’ve seen antisemitism at a point in which we never thought it would ever happen to our generation, but it did.
He said it’s been “difficult” to be a member of the Labor party at times over the last couple of years.
Personally, inside the Labor party, of course, it’s been difficult. Of course it has. And there’s been moments of time where I’ve spoken out against some of the policies of my party … I’ve done so because I felt that our community needed a voice inside the conversation, inside the room and inside government.
Benita Kolovos
Rabbi opens Jewish Community Forum with appeal for crowd to be respectful
Back to the Jewish Community Forum in Melbourne: Rabbi Allison Conyer is opening with a plea to the crowd to be respectful of different views in the synagogue this evening:
As Jews and as Australians, we want our voices to be heard, and in order to be heard, we also need to listen … We recognise that human beings disagree. We can look at the same thing and have many different opinions and it’s not necessarily about right or wrong. It’s about understanding.
Conyer says disagreement is “healthy”, and continues:
Some of us came here knowing exactly what we want to hear. Some of us came here a bit confused. Some of us came because we’ve got something we need to say. But I ask all of us to remember, as Jews and as Australians, that disagreement is healthy, creating social discourse is healthy.
There is no one right way … I hope that all of us can come with an open mind and an open heart and learn and be heard and listen to what is going to be said.
Join Matilda Boseley and Patrick Commins live now on Tell me more
Guardian Australia’s Tell me more is your chance to ask your burning election news questions to the people that wrote that news in the first place.
This evening, host Matilda Boseley is joined by the economics editor, Parick Commins, to chat about what a Trump trade war could mean for Australia, both economically and in the upcoming election.
If you have a question you want answered, simply pop it in the comments on YouTube or TikTok or email: australia.tellmemore@theguardian.com
Benita Kolovos
Greens candidate won’t be speaking at Jewish Community Forum
At the last election Labor, the Liberals and the Greens were separated by only a few hundred primary votes. Labor ended up winning off the back of the Greens’ preferences.
The Greens say they only need a few hundred votes to overtake Josh Burns and win the seat. But their candidate, Sonya Semmens, won’t be speaking at the event.
Last week, we reported that Semmens was told she was not welcome at the event, with the co-hosts saying it was due to the Greens’ conduct since the 7 October attacks and accusing them of spreading antisemitism – a charge the party denied.
Semmens told Guardian Australia yesterday she would now be allowed to attend the event but would not be permitted to answer questions or outline her policies on stage, as a local candidate would generally do at such a forum.
A couple of people have arrived at the event wearing T-shirts with the slogan: “Can’t vote Greens, not this time.”
Benita Kolovos
Jewish Community Forum about to kick off in Melbourne seat of Macnamara
As we wait for the debate between Jim Chalmers and Angus Taylor to kick off later this evening, another event is about to begin in the ultra marginal seat of Macnamara in Melbourne.
The Jewish Community forum will hear tonight from the Labor MP, Josh Burns, and the Liberal candidate, Benson Saulo.
The event is hosted each election by the Australian Jewish News, Australia Israel and Jewish Affairs Council, Executive Council of Australian Jewry, Jewish Community Council of Victoria, Temple Beth Israel, Zionism Victoria and the Zionist Federation of Australia.
But it has greater significance this year, amid the fallout of the Israel-Hamas war. In Macnamara, 10% of the population is Jewish, making it the second-largest Jewish electorate in Australia.
Burns, who is Jewish, is one of Labor’s most pro-Israel voices. He visited Israel after 7 October and criticised his government’s decision to vote at the UN for an end to Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian territories and to recognise the “permanent sovereignty” of the Palestinians.
But he’s been criticised by his community, who have claimed he hasn’t done enough to combat a rise in antisemitism at home.
The event tonight is being moderated by Rebecca Davis from AIJAC and Naomi Levin from JCCV.
Dutton says Coalition ‘can’t’ put dollar figure on savings from gas policy for households
Peter Dutton was also asked if the Coalition can put a dollar figure on how much its gas policy would save the average household – but he said “we can’t”.
Because the way in which the system works is that we have an economy-wide benefits … We’ve said, OK, we’ve got an abundance of natural gas. We need that as we transition and decarbonise in our energy system. We want to make sure that we can deliver that at the cheapest possible price, and we want to divert more of the gas that is coming out of the ground here into domestic use.
That means that the wholesale price of gas goes down by about 23% and the reason you can’t quantify the exact dollar is that there is that economy-wide benefit to this gas policy.
Dutton weighs in on how election campaign going so far
Peter Dutton was also on ABC Sydney Radio earlier this afternoon, to weigh in on how the campaign’s going so far.
He said most people are just “busy with their lives” right now and likely “won’t tune in, probably for another week or so”.
A lot of people delay having to make a decision. They weigh it up, you know, closer to the day. There are those people who are tragics that are following every word of it … Hopefully we’re able to, you know, at least grab some of their attention to talk about some of [our] plans.
The opposition leader was asked how damaging the Coalition’s backflip on its work from home policy has been. He said the party had “clarified that, we admit that we’ve made a mistake, and we’ve been able to move on from it”.
Christopher Knaus
DZY lawyers say high court ruling will pave way for more survivors to challenge past settlements made in unfair circumstances
Continuing from our earlier post: Lawyers for an abuse survivor say a high court ruling earlier today will pave the way for more survivors to challenge past settlements made in unfair circumstances.
The survivor, known as DZY, settled for $100,000 when confronted with insurmountable legal barriers to his planned civil action against the Christian Brothers in 2012, including a time limit on bringing historical abuse claims and the so-called “Ellis defence”, which the church used to avoid legal liability.
But new laws introduced across the country allow survivors like DZY to challenge past settlements made in unfair circumstances. DZY took a case to the high court seeking to have a past decision not to pursue compensation for economic loss set aside.
In a ruling today, the court declined to do so. But it also ruled that the power to set aside settlements was not limited to cases where either the time limit or the Ellis defence forced survivors into accepting paltry amounts.
DZY’s lawyer, Judy Courtin, said the ruling was “good news” for survivors who had entered into “highly inadequate settlements and signed deeds of release which really served only to protect the Church institutions and State bodies from providing genuine compensation to the victims of child abuse”.
Courtin told Guardian Australia:
DZY is delighted that this high court decision will benefit other victim/survivors. It is this admirable unselfishness and towering courage that make DZY a person worthy of great respect and admiration. If only the churches would take a leaf out of his book.
Dutton grateful for ‘thousands’ of well wishes after father’s heart attack
Peter Dutton was also asked about his father’s condition, after he suffered a heart attack just before last night’s leaders’ debate. The opposition leader said:
Obviously it’s on your mind, and I’m just really lucky, I’ve got amazing siblings who are there with dad at the moment, and he’s good.
I spoke to him this morning. He’s got some great care where he is, and he’s very appreciative, as I am, as our family is, for literally thousands of messages, well wishes that have come in. And I’m really, truly grateful and very touched actually by that, and yeah, I hope to get to see him very soon.
Dutton claims Albanese has ‘sympathy’ for Greens policies
Peter Dutton was asked to weigh in on the Greens’ policies outlined today at the National Press Club – including changes to negative gearing – and said:
There is an enormous amount of sympathy in Anthony Albanese’s leftwing government for the sorts of things that Adam Bandt is putting on the table. I think he would get a receptive hearing to all of the impacts, as you point out, to Forestry, etc, from the Labor party, because that’s what Tanya Plibersek believes. And Anthony Albanese is the most left-leaning prime minister or leader of the Labor party since Gough Whitlam, and he has a natural sympathy for these arguments as well.
At a press conference just this afternoon, the PM clearly ruled out changes to negative gearing (see post) and any deals with the Greens (see post).
But still, Dutton claimed on Sky News:
The prime minister will jump into bed with the Greens after the election if it means that that’s what he has to do to get into government.
Dutton reacts to outcome of last night’s leaders’ debate
The opposition leader, Peter Dutton, has been speaking with Sky News this evening – and was asked about the outcome of last night’s debate.
Anthony Albanese won 44 votes out of 100, Dutton won 35 and 21 people remained undecided.
Dutton suggested that not all voters were as undecided as they claimed, saying:
It was a great audience. And, look, I thought it was a really free-flowing conversation. I suspect there were some people in the audience who probably weren’t as swinging as they might have made out to be, but that’s OK.
Henry Belot
Private dinner fundraiser with Scott Yung and Tony Abbott cancelled
A private dinner fundraiser with the Liberal candidate for Bennelong, Scott Yung, and former prime minister, Tony Abbott, has been cancelled.
Invitations seen by Guardian Australia show the private dinner event at Le Montage – which describes itself as a “luxurious venue that embodies resort-style, noir and designer characteristics” – was scheduled to be held on 24 April.
The event was a federal fundraiser for the Bennelong Forum. It is not known why the event was cancelled and Yung, the Coalition and Abbott have been contacted for comment.
Yung held a similar dinner fundraising event with former prime minister John Howard on budget night last month. Tickets were $220 a head according to invites.
Bennelong is held by the Labor MP Jerome Laxale with a margin of just 0.1%.
Albanese rules out deal with Greens and refers to ‘previous 324 answers’
Wrapping up the press conference, Anthony Albanese was against asked whether Labor would make any preference deals with the Greens?
I’m asked about it every day. Very clearly, those things are a matter for the organisational wing.
What I’m responsible for is what the parliamentary party does. What we do is we will seek to be a majority government. We won’t negotiate with the Greens before, during, after the election, about those matters.
I’ve been very clear about that. I’ve been clear about that for a decade, and I refer you to my previous 324 answers.
PM takes aim at Coalition gas policy and ‘cookers’ in ‘his party room’
Just back tracking a little bit: earlier in Anthony Albanese’s press conference, he took aim at the Coalition’s gas policy and said:
There’s a bit of talk today about gas from Peter Dutton. Well, you know, he doesn’t need gas for his cookers. If he wants to find cookers, he can look at his party room, it’s full of it.
He got rid of the Whitlam candidate. Now another one has problems. This guy here is a shocker and people shouldn’t vote for him.
Jim Chalmers ‘doesn’t need advice’ ahead of debate with Angus Taylor, PM says
The prime minister was also asked if he had any advice for the treasurer, Jim Chalmers, ahead of tonight’s debate, and said:
Jim Chalmers doesn’t need advice to debate Angus Taylor, with respect …
I saw the interview that Angus Taylor had with Billi FitzSimons. I did see that online during a flight, and my goodness, Billi FitzSimons really towelled him up, towelled up the facts that he got wrong.
A reminder that we’ll be bringing you the treasurers’ debate live right here on the blog – I’ll bring you more details on this soon.
PM firmly rules out any negative gearing changes
Anthony Albanese also ruled out any changes to negative gearing and capital gains tax, saying:
Yes! How hard is it? For the 50th time.
