26-04-2025
Federal election 2025 live: PM quizzed on negative gearing as Dutton refuses to reveal 2035 emissions target
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has touched down in Tasmania in the marginal Liberal seat of Bass after visiting Melbourne.
Earlier, Mr Albanese was quizzed about whether Labor would make changes to negative gearing and capital gains tax if elected.
Meanwhile, Opposition Leader Peter Dutton has spent the morning in the Far North Queensland seat of Leichhardt where he refused to outline his 2035 emissions reduction target.
Follow all the updates from the campaign trail live.
And if you want to explore how your views compare to parties and candidates, check out our
Key Events
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13m ago
Sat 26 Apr 2025 at 5:00am
The rugged seat of Braddon
J
By Joshua Boscaini
Covering some of the most regional and remote parts of Tassie,
Braddon
is known to swing between the Labor and Liberal parties.
The winning party is usually the party that best caters to jobs in the area.
One of the big topics in the area is
salmon farming
and the debate on whether or not it's good for the area continues to rage on.
(Supplied: Tassal)
Kerrie Laffer
, a long-time local in the town of
Zeehan
hopes healthcare will be at the top of the promises list.
"We need more medical facilities…we need specialists that travel down, or transport for people that don't drive [to be more available]," Laffer says.
You can read more about it
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26m ago
Sat 26 Apr 2025 at 4:47am
The (very) marginal seat of Gilmore
S
By Sinead Mangan and regional reporters for Australia Wide
At the last election there was just 373 votes splitting the difference in
Gilmore
and it looks like it may go the same way for the election next month.
The main political football in the area is
renewable energy
and
wind farms
, with large companies pulling out of
offshore wind developments
after locals opposed the projects being put forward.
Like most of the country
rental stress
is also a big worry for the region with rents being some of the highest in the country, aside from Sydney.
The use of
Air BnBs
and
short-term rentals
in Gilmore are also playing a hand in the rental woes for residents.
You can read more here:
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Key Event
37m ago
Sat 26 Apr 2025 at 4:36am
Peter Dutton arrives in Darwin
E
By Evelyn Manfield, on the trail with Dutton
The Liberal campaign has flown into
Darwin
, which in typical dry season fashion, is serving some serious sunshine.
The
Northern Territory
is a super interesting spot this election.
It's only got two seats in the House of Representatives, which are both Labor-held, but they both could be worth keeping an eye on next Saturday.
(ABC News: Ian Cutmore)
Lingiari
is the more marginal of the two, but we're in
Solomon
, which Labor holds by
8.4 per cent
.
We're expecting this visit to focus on cost of living pressures and crime.
Crime in particular was a primary focus of the CLP's territory election campaign last year that saw
Lia Finocchiaro
sweep to victory.
She'll be meeting Dutton here.
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52m ago
Sat 26 Apr 2025 at 4:21am
Voters cast their ballots at Old Parliament House pre-poll centre
J
By Joshua Boscaini
Hundreds of voters have streamed into the pre-poll centre at
Old Parliament House
in
Canberra
to cast their vote.
We're expecting some updated figures from the
Australian Electoral Commission
a little later today about how many Australians have voted so far.
(ABC News: Joel Wilson)
(ABC News: Joel Wilson)
(ABC News: Joel Wilson)
(ABC News: Joel Wilson)
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1h ago
Sat 26 Apr 2025 at 4:06am
Could childcare decide who wins or loses Wannon?
J
By Joshua Boscaini
Childcare services are a hot topic in the electorate of
Wannon
.
The region could be called a "childcare desert" with only one space for every three children in the community.
Parents are sitting on waiting lists for years to get a spot for their children so they can get back to work.
(AAP)
Courtney Finnegan
put her three-year-old son's name down before he was born, but he didn't get a spot till he was 15 months old.
Now she needs three places with twins on the way.
"I put my name on the list even earlier this time since it's twins," Finnegan says.
"Needing two spots at once is a bit nerve wracking."
You can read more about it
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1h ago
Sat 26 Apr 2025 at 3:45am
PM serves up snags to Labor volunteers in Tasmania
N
By National affairs correspondent Jane Norman
(ABC News: Brendan Esposito)
Anthony Albanese
is on the (BBQ) tools, on a flying visit to Launceston in the ultra marginal Liberal-held seat of
Bass
.
After serving up a bunch of snags, the PM revved up the crowd of Labor supporters, urging them to dig deep over the next seven days.
(ABC News: Brendan Esposito)
"Don't leave anything in the tank!" he urged them.
"Knock on doors, make the phone calls, have a conversion with your neighbours and your friends.
"I assure you that's what I'll be doing! We'll keep going hard all the way up to 6pm next Saturday."
(ABC News: Brendan Esposito)
Bass
is one of three marginal seats in Tasmania that has a tendency of swinging from one party to the other at each election.
Ahead of polling day, Albanese is sharpening the contrast between himself and
Peter Dutton
warning the Coalition will take Australia to destination of cuts and chaos "with no coherent plan".
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1h ago
Sat 26 Apr 2025 at 3:25am
Greens want aged pension eligibility age reduced to 65
J
By Joshua Boscaini
The
Greens
say they will push to reduce the aged pension eligibility age from
67
to
65
in the next term of parliament.
In 2009, the former Rudd Labor government legislated to raise the pension eligibility age to 67.
Greens leader
Adam Bandt
says the changes would make a difference to older Australians who are struggling with the cost of living.
"It's where the retirement age used to be. We know that too many people are finding themselves in poverty at the end of their life after working hard all your like," Bandt says.
"This is a very practical thing the government could do that would see our older people who've been working hard all their lives given an extra $18,000 a year."
He says it would cost Australians
$3 billion per year
, and says the funds could come from taxing corporations.
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1h ago
Sat 26 Apr 2025 at 3:24am
PM says people from Gaza don't need to be re-screened
J
By Joshua Boscaini
The prime minister has been asked whether he would take in more people fleeing Gaza and whether there's any merit to re-screening those who have already have arrived.
He says everyone who has arrived in Australia from Gaza has been through screening.
"Everyone who is here has been through screening, not just by our country, but also of course because of the nature of people getting out of Gaza, they had to go through security checks of Israel as well," he says.
Asked if he would allow more people from Gaza into Australia, he says the government can't at the moment.
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Key Event
2h ago
Sat 26 Apr 2025 at 2:56am
Coalition seizes on report Albanese knew of Russian request to base bombers in Indonesia
A
By Andrew Thorpe
Shadow Foreign Affairs Minister
David Coleman
and Shadow Defence Minister
Andrew Hastie
have leapt on
Anthony Albanese
acknowledged
Indonesia did receive a request from Russia
to base military aircraft — reportedly long-range bombers — in the country.
If you're not sure why that's so significant, you may want to have a read of
in an attempt to sum up the saga.
Albanese earlier today
However, Hastie and Coleman have labelled the PM's reported comments a "stunning backflip" and called him out for likening the opposition's
requests for a briefing on the issue
to asking for a briefing on who faked the moon landing.
"The government needs to stop mocking the concerns of Australians who are worried about apparent attempts to establish a Russian military presence
1,300 kilometres from our territory
," Coleman and Hastie wrote in a joint press release.
"The questions [the government] must answer are: When did it become aware of Russia's request? Was it before or after
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2h ago
Sat 26 Apr 2025 at 2:38am
In pictures: Albanese and Dutton jet into key seats
J
By Joshua Boscaini
Let's take a look back at some of the photo opportunities from both
Anthony Albanese's
visit to
Chisholm
and
Peter Dutton's
stop in
Leichhardt.
(ABC News: Brendan Esposito)
(ABC News: Brendan Esposito)
(ABC News: Ian Cutmore)
(ABC News: Ian Cutmore)
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2h ago
Sat 26 Apr 2025 at 2:22am
Leichhardt 'critical' for the Coalition, Dutton says
E
By Evelyn Manfield, on the trail with Dutton
(ABC News: Ian Cutmore)
After a breakfast with supporters and a press conference inside a medical clinic,
Peter Dutton
quickly swung past a construction site to announce a
$34 million
commitment for road infrastructure to support new housing.
Party faithful at the breakfast earlier said housing was a big issue facing locals.
He's also promised to set up a new technical college in Cairns to get young people into trades earlier, plus Commonwealth-supported positions to train new doctors in the area.
Dutton said earlier this morning maintaining
Leichhardt
was "critical" to the LNP forming government.
After a few hours out and about this morning, we're now flying to our next destination.
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2h ago
Sat 26 Apr 2025 at 2:14am
What we know about the new electorate Bullwinkel
J
By Joshua Boscaini
WA's
Bullwinkel
electorate will be contested for the first time this election.
Having only been created last year, the electorate covers Perth's outer east with the rural
Avon Valley
.
Farmers in the seat of Bullwinkel in WA want to see Labor's plan to stop live exports reversed.
(ABC News)
The change in the boundaries created a really interesting mix of points of views all in the one seat!
There are
live sheep exporters
clashing with tree change folk living in the east of Perth. Sheep, tourism and grain growing are all big deals in this electorate.
One of the main issues is the phase out of the live export trade by 2028.
Protests around the electorate call for "keep the sheep" with signs on rubbish bins, fences and even socks.
Sheep farmer
Peter Boyle
says his family doesn't want to leave the industry.
"It's all a lot of money tied up and so and a lot of knowledge and wisdom tied up as well, and that's all going to go out the door," he says.
You can read more about it here:
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3h ago
Sat 26 Apr 2025 at 2:11am
A quick recap of what we learnt from Peter Dutton's press conference
A
By Andrew Thorpe
Let's take a quick look back at some of the main points that emerged from
Peter Dutton
's press conference in
Cairns
.
The opposition leader was
Leichhardt
candidate
Jeremy Neal
, who he says has a "deep understanding" of the local community;
he believes
Treasurer Jim Chalmers
the Coalition is confident it can
Dutton was unable or unwilling to
nuclear reactors
that won't be operational by then;
Jeremy Neal said he
no longer supports Donald Trump
as a result of
asked about yesterday's
Anzac Day ceremonies
are a "sacrosanct part of our culture" that
Neal believes Far North Queenslanders
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3h ago
Sat 26 Apr 2025 at 1:43am
That's a wrap on Peter Dutton's press conference
A
By Andrew Thorpe
(ABC News: Ian Cutmore)
The final question for the opposition leader is a short one: "Do you support
"That's a decision for Linda. Thank you very much," he responds.
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3h ago
Sat 26 Apr 2025 at 1:41am
What percentage of Dutton's migration cuts will come from working visas?
A
By Andrew Thorpe
Asked what percentage of his
proposed migration cuts
will consist of people on working visas — Cairns being
highly reliant on working holidaymakers
— Dutton launches into a defence of the Coalition's housing policies, the concept of home ownership and his proposal to halve the fuel excise.
Pressed to provide a specific figure, he says the Coalition will look at the advice from Treasury and central agencies once it gets into government.
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Key Event
3h ago
Sat 26 Apr 2025 at 1:36am
Far North Queenslanders don't care about my previous tweets, Jeremy Neal says
A
By Andrew Thorpe
A reporter attempts to ask short questions of both
Jeremy Neal
and
Peter Dutton
, but the opposition leader steps in to ensure the reporter limits herself to a single question.
"Mr Neal, do you still hold the view that feminists kicked out Trump?" she says, choosing to quiz the Leichhhardt candidate.
"Those tweets are long deleted," he says — which is, of course, not quite a direct answer.
"The focus for me is the cost of living in Far North Queensland, and crime," he says.
"The people of Far North Queensland aren't worried about the previous tweets I made."
(ABC News: Ian Cutmore)
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3h ago
Sat 26 Apr 2025 at 1:33am
Have the Liberals given up on winning any seats in Canberra?
A
By Andrew Thorpe
Dutton is asked about the Liberal Party's lead ACT Senate candidate,
Jacob Vadakkedathu
, who was
The ACT's two Senate seats are held by Finance Minister
Katy Gallagher
and popular independent
David Pocock
, while all three House of Representative seats in the territory are in Labor hands.
"Have the Liberals
given up
on getting back any seats in Canberra?" the reporter asks.
"I think there are people in
Canberra
, in
Eden-Monaro
,
and elsewhere, that are really concerned about the cost of living under Labor," Dutton replies.
"We can't afford to see
negative gearing abolition
, which would impact a lot of wealthy people in Canberra who have negative-geared properties."
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3h ago
Sat 26 Apr 2025 at 1:24am
Dutton says people should 'respect' event organisers' choices on Welcome to Country ceremonies
A
By Andrew Thorpe
A reporter asks Dutton about the
at yesterday's
Anzac Day dawn service
in Melbourne — specifically his stance on the ceremonies going forward, given his Indigenous Australians spokesperson,
Jacinta Nampijinpa Price
, has previously called them divisive.
"Do you think they're divisive and do you still want to drop having Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander flags in official backdrops as you said earlier this year?" the reporter asks.
Dutton calls Anzac Day ceremonies
"a sacrosanct part of our culture"
that should not be the place for political statements "or anything other than respect".
"We should condemn those bad actions," he says.
He adds that if an event's organiser decides there should be a
Welcome to Country
, then "people should respect that".
Regarding his press conference flags, Dutton reiterates his earler reasoning that as prime minister, he wants his country to be "united under one flag".
"I want our country to be as good as it can be, and we can't be as good as we can be if we're separating people into different groupings," he says.
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3h ago
Sat 26 Apr 2025 at 1:16am
Has Dutton miscalculated his rhetoric on migrants?
A
By Andrew Thorpe
The opposition leader is now asked about a
Redbridge poll
out today that puts Labor's support above 60 per cent among
young Australians
and
diverse communities
.
"Are you concerned that you've miscalculated your rhetoric on migrants?" the reporter asks.
Dutton doesn't answer directly, let alone engage with the premise of the question.
Instead, he says "there's a very different conversation" going on when his campaign travels around the country, including in
outer-metropolitan electorates
(where large migrant communities tend to be situated).
Pressed on whether demographics will be a problem for his campaign — with Gen X and millennial voters now outnumbering baby boomers — he returns to safer ground.
"The aspiration within migrant communities, small business owners, people who are investing — they're worried about an unrealised capital gains tax Labor's imposing," he says.
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Key Event
4h ago
Sat 26 Apr 2025 at 1:09am
Tariffs 'left a sour taste' in mouth of Liberal candidate who once supported Trump
A
By Andrew Thorpe
(ABC News: Ian Cutmore)
Liberal candidate
Jeremy Neal
is asked a question directly this time.
"Back on to your past social media posts — how much of a Trump supporter are you?" a reporter asks him.
Neal begins his answer with what seems like a complete non-sequitur — "Oh, we've got some very good industry up here, particularly in beef and aluminium" — but it's soon apparent he's upset about the effect of the
US president's tariffs
.
"I support Far North Queensland, and making sure those industries can thrive," he says.
"Those views are a very long time ago, and they were
deleted a very long time ago
."
So he doesn't support
Donald Trump
anymore?
"No, the tariffs have really left a sour taste in my mouth," he says.
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