Peter Dutton turns to culture wars, Albanese gets defensive on credit rating

Australia Broadcast Center

29-04-2025

Welcome back to your daily election wrap. Stephanie Dalzell will catch you up on news from the campaign trail.
Political victories in Australia are never unanimous.
But Prime Minister Anthony Albanese was given a resounding win on commercial radio this morning, on a three-puppy-preferred basis.
On KIIS FM, three dogs were presented with treats on a Labor red or Liberal blue plate.
One after one, they all picked the red one.
Anthony Albanese was chosen to win the election by three dogs on commercial radio this morning.
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AAP: Jason Edwards
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"You get a tax cut too, 20 per cent off your HECS debt!" the prime minister exclaimed after the first pooch — Suki — went straight to the red plate featuring a Labor logo.
Dogs have historically been seen as harbingers of fate, and today their collective move to shun the Opposition Leader Peter Dutton's plate of offerings were symbolic.
He was struggling to catch a break.
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His electorate office was vandalised this morning, covered in red paint that wiped away any traces of the Liberal blue.
And out on the hustings in the most marginal seat in the country — the Labor-held seat of Gilmore — Dutton was forced to ditch plans to hold a press conference after the event was gatecrashed by anti-nuclear protesters from a local union.
Dutton ultimately had to flee the location, and forgo his picture opportunity at the local footy club to hold a press conference outside a random Toyota in Moss Vale.
An 18-year-old Chapel Hills woman was charged with wilful damage over graffiti at Peter Dutton's Arana Hills office.
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ABC News: Nathan Morris
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Opposition leader shifts to culture wars
As the old adage goes, a week is a long time in politics.
So what does that make the final week of an election campaign?
Enough time for Dutton to do an about-face on whether Welcome to Country ceremonies should be a part of ANZAC Day commemorations.
After initially declaring Australia should be proud to celebrate its Indigenous heritage in the wake of neo-nazis booing and heckling during a Welcome to Country ceremony at a dawn service last week, the opposition leader is now digging in over whether diggers want the ceremonies at all.
He has declared — presenting little evidence — that most don't want them.
Ken Wyatt issued a stern warning to 'politicians raising concerns about the ceremonies' on ABC"s Radio National Breakfast, saying 'stay out of it'.
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ABC News: Jake Sturmer
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The first Indigenous Australian to serve as a federal member — notably, for the Coalition — Ken Wyatt issued a stern warning to "politicians raising concerns about the ceremonies" on ABC's Radio National Breakfast, saying "stay out of it".
He also said if he had a chance to chat with Dutton, he'd say: "What you're not recognising is, Welcome to Country is just saying, 'Come into our country, you're part of it and you're welcome'.'"
By contrast, former prime minister Tony Abbott heaped praise on Dutton's stance, saying the ceremonies were "grating" and a form of "virtue signalling".
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But Dutton's comments are indicative of a strategy based on politics rather than policy, with Dutton using the crucial final week of the election campaign to shift his focus from cost-of-living to culture wars.
But just like previous promises to remove the Indigenous flag from behind press conferences and force councils to hold citizenship ceremonies on January 26, declaring Welcome to Country ceremonies shouldn't be a part of ANZAC Day commemorations — or on Qantas flights — does very little to improve the lives of people struggling with everyday concerns.
The shift in the Coalition's campaign comes at a time when questions persist about the huge disparity of life outcomes between First Nations Australians and non-indigenous Australians, and when incarceration rates among First Nations people are disproportionately high, and only getting worse.

'I didn't even ask a question!'
Politicians love to herald their AAA credit ratings with pride.
Until, of course, the same agencies who give them, warn they could take them away.
Just hours before Labor released its costings yesterday, ratings agency S&P put both parties on notice, warning their big spending agendas — coupled with little budget repair — could put Australia's coveted AAA credit rating at risk.
But Albanese has dismissed those concerns, saying on ABC's 730 there was "no suggestion" the rating was at risk.
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"They must have been beside themselves, whoever wrote that particular report, when the Coalition left us with a $78 billion deficit," he said.
The press hunted as a pack today, repeatedly seizing on those comments.
Albanese has established clear rules about no interjections from journalists during press conferences.
But not when he's the one cutting reporters off.
Albanese was so keen to talk about anything else that at one point, he began answering a journalist before they had even finished talking, going on a tangent about the Labor candidate for Fowler.
"I didn't even ask a question!" the journalist exclaimed.
Treasurer Jim Chalmers has said there will be no reason to lose the AAA debt rating if Labor is re-elected.
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ABC News: Luke Stephenson
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Treasurer Jim Chalmers then jaw-boned S&P into keeping Australia's credit rating as it stands, declaring there's no reason to downgrade it.
The significance of credit ratings are increasingly contested, with some economists arguing they're less credible than they were, and saying they shouldn't determine budget policy.
On the flip side, the better your rating, the more confident a lender feels that they'll get their money back — so they're more likely to give you better loan terms, like lower rates of interest.
Warnings of downgrades are however often weaponised by politicians to use as proof of their opponent's financial incompetence.
And the cost to political ratings — rather than credit ratings — is perhaps the biggest risk for Labor.

Canadians play the Trump card
With Canada's election contest running in parallel with Australia's, Albanese will be hoping the re-election of Canada's Liberal party bodes well for his own government.
Canada's Conservatives and Dutton's Liberals both started the year as opposition parties in poll-winning positions. But both have seen declines in their numbers placing them behind the centre-left incumbents.
The numbers took a turn — and more dramatically for the Conservatives — after Donald Trump's inauguration, and the erection of a Trumpian trade wall for allies like Canada and Australia to scale.
Suddenly the secure path to victory seemed anything but.
In Canada today, Mark Carney pulled off a previously unlikely victory, convincing voters he was the best candidate to take on Trump.
As Trump continues to loom large over the election campaign, Albanese will be hoping a win for a centre-left incumbent in Canada is an omen for his fortunes.
Good day for...
The many voters who want to tune out of this election early with another record day for early voting. The Australian Electoral Commission says 3.2 million people have already lodged a pre-poll vote.
Bad day for...
The St Georges Basin Dragons Rugby League Club, which had a different kind of photo opportunity in mind when protesters crashed Dutton's local announcement.

What to watch out for
Albanese will stick with the tradition of addressing the National Press Club tomorrow in the final week of the election campaign.
Where pollies have been
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