Election 2025 live updates: PM in Queensland as Dutton campaign plane takes off for destination unknown
Dutton campaign plane leaves for destination unknown
Josh Butler
Good morning from the Dutton campaign, which is finally taking off from Canberra – destination unknown at this stage. The journalists following the campaigns, for the prime minister or opposition leader, generally aren’t told by the leader’s staff where we’re headed until the plane has taken off.
We do know Dutton is in Brisbane at the moment, as he’s been doing some morning TV. Anthony Albanese is also starting his day in the sunshine state (even though it’s pouring rain all over the east coast at the moment).
We’ll give you an update when we land – wherever that ends up being.
Key events
Dan Jervis-Bardy
Good morning from a very soggy Brisbane, where the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, will begin the first full day of campaigning in the 3 May federal election.
Queensland hasn’t been a happy hunting ground for Labor – it holds just five of the state’s 30 lower house seats.
But the government believes it can gain ground in the sunshine state and is targeting the Greens-held seats of Griffith and Brisbane in inner-city Brisbane, as well as Liberal-held Leichhardt in far-north Queensland.
Clinging to a two-seat majority and with losses expected in suburban Melbourne and across NSW, Labor will almost certainly need to pick up seats in other parts of the country to retain power in its own right.
Labor is desperate to defeat the Greens’ housing spokesman, Max Chandler-Mather, to regain Kevin Rudd’s old seat of Griffith.
But insiders believe the party’s best shot might be in Stephen Bates’ seat of Brisbane, which is shaping as a three-way Greens-Labor-Liberal contest.
Albanese made his opening re-election pitch on Friday morning, contrasting Labor as a safe pair of hands with a plan for Australia’s future against Peter Dutton’s “promise to cut”.
The prime minister will campaign heavily on health, including a $8.5bn boost to Medicare and plans for 50 new Medicare urgent care clinics.
Good morning, Mostafa Rachwani with you from rainy Sydney, to take you through the latest from the election campaigns.
Coalition’s gas plan unlikely to lower prices, experts say
As mentioned, our top story is that a range of experts think Peter Dutton’s gas plan won’t work – or at least there is not enough detail for them to know.
Australian Energy Producers, the body representing the gas industry, said Dutton’s plan to “artificially reduce prices” was a “damaging market intervention that will drive away investment and exacerbate the supply challenges in the longer term”.
Our reporter Graham Readfearn also spoke to Joshua Runciman, lead analyst for Australian gas at the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis, who said Dutton’s idea of diverting LNG exports to domestic markets was the quickest way to materially increase domestic supply.
But he said exporters could respond by ramping down investments in production that could mean “there might not be much spare gas”.
Read Graham’s full story:
In this week’s Back-to-back Barries podcast, Barrie Cassidy and Tony Barry analyse budget week and what promises to be a tight election, with a campaign where every advantage is sought and every mistake regretted.
Also on the table: when political husbands go rogue; and whether the second coming of Donald Trump could actually bolster the progressive vote.
Listen here:
Dutton campaign plane leaves for destination unknown
Josh Butler
Good morning from the Dutton campaign, which is finally taking off from Canberra – destination unknown at this stage. The journalists following the campaigns, for the prime minister or opposition leader, generally aren’t told by the leader’s staff where we’re headed until the plane has taken off.
We do know Dutton is in Brisbane at the moment, as he’s been doing some morning TV. Anthony Albanese is also starting his day in the sunshine state (even though it’s pouring rain all over the east coast at the moment).
We’ll give you an update when we land – wherever that ends up being.
Welcome
Good morning and welcome to our live coverage on the first full day of campaigning in the 2025 federal election. I’m Martin Farrer with some of the overnight stories before Mostafa Rachwani takes the reins shortly.
Anthony Albanese is set to spend the day campaigning in Brisbane today with Labor hoping to gain ground in Queensland where it holds five of the 30 electorates. Greens leader Adam Bandt will also be in Brisbane where he will hold a rally today as the party aims to retain the three electorates it won in Queensland. We will be with them and the Coalition leader, Peter Dutton, as they crack into the campaign.
Our top election story this morning is that a range of experts on the energy industry have criticised Peter Dutton’s plan to bring down prices by increasing supply – and were also critical of the lack of detail about it might be achieved. More reaction coming up.
We’re also looking at two bellwether seats – one in Sydney and one in Melbourne – to see how they are likely to swing this time. Krishani Dhanji reports that Bennelong and Chisholm have both been altered by boundary changes and have significant number of Chinese Australian voters which could make it difficult for Labor to hold them.
