22-04-2025
Australia election 2025 live: Peter Dutton to pledge big boost to defence; Labor claims Coalition election cash splash over $50bn
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Good morning and welcome to our live news blog. I'm Martin Farrer with some of our top overnight stories before I hand the news baton to Krishani Dhanji.
Peter Dutton has blamed poor polling during the election campaign on Labor attack ads rather than his own performance, including two mistakes and ditching a policy to force some public servants to work from their offices. The third debate was a mostly lacklustre affair that livened up when the leaders were asked to name the other's biggest lie. Nine's three-person panel awarded the contest to Dutton by a vote of 2-1.
The opposition leader launches a big defence policy today, with a promise to lift defence spending to 2.5% of the economy. More on this soon.
Amid more turmoil on the world's financial markets thanks to Donald Trump's economic policies, there are concerns that the Australian Treasury has underestimated the threat posed by the US trade war after the International Monetary Fund slashed its outlook for Australia's economic growth in 2025. It forecast annual output will be $13bn lower this year than predicted in January and that real GDP growth will drop to 1.6%, from 2.1%. More coming up.
And in more money matters, we're reporting this morning that Australians would have to wait 70 years for affordable housing if property values follow the 'sustainable growth' path advocated by the two major parties. A leading economist calls the claims a 'con'. Share
