Ken Wyatt says politicising welcome to country ‘just adds to the division’
Former Liberal minister Ken Wyatt is on RN Breakfast and says welcome to country ceremonies are about being welcomed into “somebody’s home or somebody’s homeland”, and believes politics should “stay out of it”.
Wyatt was the first Indigenous minister for Indigenous Australians, but lost his seat in 2022, and left the Liberal party entirely during the voice to parliament referendum over the party’s stance.
Wyatt is asked whether he’s disappointed in how Peter Dutton, who has said the ceremonies are “overdone”, has handled the issue.
I’m disappointed with anybody who doesn’t take the time to understand the importance of friendship, welcoming and acknowledging that you are part of the community and you’re being welcomed into somebody’s home country, home region, and to politicise it just adds to the division. We have enough challenges in dealing with so many issues.
I think when you start to politicise elements of Aboriginal affairs or cultural practices, then you start a process of allowing division to occur.
Key events
Shadow home affairs minister James Paterson has responded to reports that members of a separatist Christian sect have been campaigning for the Liberal party in marginal seats.
That’s despite members of the sect not voting. Paterson tells ABC News Breakfast:
There’s no religious test for participation in public life in Australia, and the Liberal Party is not going to start enforcing one. We do not ask our volunteers about their religious beliefs.
Paterson is pressed on whether the volunteer share Liberal values and whether enough has been done to vet them?
Paterson pushes back:
Are you suggesting that we should interview potential volunteers about their religious beliefs? … I think that would be an extraordinary thing in a country that has no official state religion, that has freedom of religion, that we would say that some people are not welcome to participate in the political process because of their beliefs.
Dutton appears hesitant to back royal commission into domestic violence
Peter Dutton has appeared hesitant to commit to a royal commission into domestic violence, speaking to 4BC radio this morning.
Dutton spoke to the program in May last year and said:
I think there’s a strong argument for a royal commission if we know that it’s going to produce the evidence that gives us a path … it’s a yes if that’s what’s required.
But today, Dutton seemed less inclined to back a full royal commission:
We will do … whatever it takes to reduce domestic violence in our country. It’s a scourge, and you can spend a lot of money on a royal commission and you can make lawyers rich, and then you end up with recommendations that seem pretty obvious anyway.
But pushed by host Peter Fegan again on whether the Coalition would support a royal commission, Dutton then says:
Well, if a royal commission is required, then yes.
Domestic violence has only become a campaign issue over the last week, after the Coalition announced a $90m package, and both major parties made other more localised announcements on housing and women’s shelters.
Dutton has previously pledged a royal commission into child sexual abuse in Indigenous communities, which has been rejected by First Nations groups.
Ken Wyatt on welcome to country on Anzac Day: ‘I don’t know what the contentious issue is’
Wyatt is asked specifically about welcome to country ceremonies on Anzac Day, and says he doesn’t know “what the contentious issue is”.
I don’t know what the contentious issue is, and whether people, as individuals, have perception that it’s political as opposed to welcoming. That becomes the matter that they raise with politicians, who then don’t go back and do their own work in terms of finding out what does welcome to country really mean, and distinguishing it from acknowledgement to country.
Back in 2020, as a minister, Wyatt led calls for the WA RSL to reverse a ban on the Aboriginal flag and welcome to country ceremonies at all of its Anzac and Remembrance Day services.
Asked what it was like to talk to the WA RSL to get them to drop that ban, Wyatt says:
It was a good, amicable conversation. It’s no different to what I’m having with you now, in terms of saying, this is about knocking on your door, looking at the opportunity of saying, ‘Hey, we’re Australians, we’re on the same continent, but all we’re doing is welcoming you to our Whadjuk country, or Gadigal, or whatever, and making people feel as though they’re part of a friendship. That’s important.
Ken Wyatt says politicising welcome to country ‘just adds to the division’
Former Liberal minister Ken Wyatt is on RN Breakfast and says welcome to country ceremonies are about being welcomed into “somebody’s home or somebody’s homeland”, and believes politics should “stay out of it”.
Wyatt was the first Indigenous minister for Indigenous Australians, but lost his seat in 2022, and left the Liberal party entirely during the voice to parliament referendum over the party’s stance.
Wyatt is asked whether he’s disappointed in how Peter Dutton, who has said the ceremonies are “overdone”, has handled the issue.
I’m disappointed with anybody who doesn’t take the time to understand the importance of friendship, welcoming and acknowledging that you are part of the community and you’re being welcomed into somebody’s home country, home region, and to politicise it just adds to the division. We have enough challenges in dealing with so many issues.
I think when you start to politicise elements of Aboriginal affairs or cultural practices, then you start a process of allowing division to occur.
Albanese says Dutton bus mishap ‘symbolic’ of his campaign
Dan Jervis-Bardy
The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, is doing a run of FM radio interviews in Brisbane after touching down in the Queensland capital very late on Monday night.
Straight off the bat on B105 Brisbane, Albanese has a dig at Peter Dutton, joking that yesterday’s mishap with the media bus following the opposition leader was “symbolic” of his campaign.
Albanese is asked about his personal opinion of his political rival.
We got on OK. This [election] is about two very different views about how the country should [be run]. I think he [Dutton] is a deeply conservative man.
Albanese confirmed he would visit a housing construction site later this morning, where he will no doubt spruik Labor efforts to build more social housing and help first-home buyers break into the market.
The prime minister has made several visits to Brisbane during the campaign with Labor targeting the seats of Griffith and Brisbane, which fell to the Greens at the 2022 election. It is also eyeing a surprise win in Liberal-held Bonner.
When asked about Liberal preferences, Paterson says One Nation won’t actually win any lower house seats
Asked about the Coalition’s decision to preference One Nation in seats across the country, something that wasn’t done under any other Liberal party from John Howard to Scott Morrison, Paterson says – somewhat unsurprisingly – that it’s a matter for the “party organisation”.
Paterson says the Liberal preferences won’t be distributed to the One Nation candidates anyway.
The Liberal party preferences will not be distributed to One Nation candidates in any set around the country, because One Nation is not in contention to win any lower house seat anywhere around the country.
They’re [Labor are] preferencing the Greens, who can win those seats and will receive Labor preferences if Labor is eliminated in some of those seats.
While Paterson might be right that One Nation won’t necessarily get enough votes for the Liberals’ preferences to go to them, it does mean that the minor rightwing party has put the Liberals as their second preference in some seats – and that could swing some seats to the Coalition’s favour.
James Paterson agrees with Dutton on welcome to country ceremonies but booing ‘not appropriate’
Following Katy Gallagher on RN Breakfast is Coalition campaign spokesperson James Paterson.
They start on welcome to country ceremonies, and Paterson says he agrees with his leader that they’re “overdone”.
Sally Sara asks Paterson why Dutton, who on Anzac Day said we should be proud to celebrate our Indigenous heritage on the day, but then said yesterday that dawn services were not “significant” enough for welcome to country ceremonies.
Paterson denies that that was a change in position, and says the booing on Anzac Day was “not appropriate”.
It is never appropriate to boo at an Anzac day ceremony for any reason, but it is especially not appropriate to boo the images of Indigenous soldiers who bravely and proudly served our country in uniform, especially when, frankly, their country didn’t treat them very well as citizens at the time.
Gallagher pressed on Labor’s spending and AAA rating warning
Labor’s costings follow a warning to both parties from ratings agency S&P yesterday that spending soaring towards post-second world war highs could threaten Australia’s AAA rating.
On the ABC’s 7.30 last night, Anthony Albanese said there was “no suggestion” the AAA rating was at risk, saying “the triple A credit rating is there”.
Katy Gallagher is asked on RN Breakfast whether Labor’s spending commitments are a risk to that rating.
The budget is actually slightly better after we have provided these costings than it was at budget time. We’ve more than fully offset the spending.
Gallagher then takes a stab at the opposition over their nuclear plan.
But host Sally Sara presses on the many years of deficits that are forecast and what Labor’s going to do about it. Gallagher says:
There’s continued work to do on budget repair. There’s no doubt about that. But we have, you know, from what we inherited when we came in to government in 2022, you know, we had a deficit in that first year of $78bn, we turned that into a surplus.
Martin Farrer
‘Final result could be closer than this poll suggests’: Roy Morgan
The latest Roy Morgan poll has Labor ahead on 53% (up 0.9% from the 2022 federal election) ahead of the Coalition on 47% (down 0.9%) on a two-party-preferred basis.
This would be enough to return Anthony Albanese to government with an increased majority but nevertheless shows a swing of 2.5% to the Coalition compared with a week ago.
The move is the result of early voting showing a bias towards the Coalition, Roy Morgan said.
Around 2.4 million Australians voted last week (representing over 13% of the total enrolment) and an analysis of early voters shows the Coalition performing better among those who had already voted. These trends suggest the final result could be closer than this poll suggests as we approach election day and we could still be facing a potential minority government if the ALP fail to gain a majority.
Despite the large two-party preferred swing, the primary support for the major parties was little changed on a week ago with the Coalition on 34.5% (up 0.5%) now just ahead of the ALP on 34% (down 0.5%).
Coalition’s policy costings to come ‘in the next couple of days’, Taylor says
While Labor’s costings are warm off the press (released yesterday afternoon), the Coalition are still waiting to put out their numbers on how they’ll pay for all of their promises.
A lot of Labor’s election commitments had already been included in their March budget and mid-year budget update back in December, and they said they’ll find $6.4bn over the forward estimates to pay for the rest of their promises through cutting consultants and contractors in the public service.
But the Coalition still has to cost all their commitments, including their nuclear plants, and backing the government’s $8.5bn spend to increase bulk-billing.
Shadow treasurer Angus Taylor tells Sunrise those numbers will come “in the next couple of days”.
You will see them in the next couple of days … and the sneak preview is you will see a stronger budget position from Labor’s costings yesterday.
Of course there are only four days left of the campaign, and the AEC expects around half of voters to put in their ballots before 3 May.
Asked whether the Coalition can afford the nuclear plant when ratings agencies are warning against excessive spending, Taylor says “we can absolutely afford it”.
Bandt says he would be ‘astounded’ if Greens not spoken to in potential hung parliament result
They say politics makes strange bedfellows, but some can be a bit stranger than others, as we saw last night on Q&A.
Greens leader Adam Bandt revealed he got a call from former Liberal PM Tony Abbott back in 2010, during the hung parliament.
He rang me. He said, “Hi Adam, it’s Tony Abbott here. I’ve always considered myself a bit of an environmentalist. I think we should talk.”
A very short conversation. A very short conversation and Peter Dutton would get the same response this time.
Julia Gillard ended up securing the support of the crossbench to form a minority government.
There’s a good chance that we could see another hung parliament in this election.
Anthony Albanese has been adamant that “no deal” will be made with the Greens, but Bandt said he’d be “astounded” if conversations weren’t had between the major parties and the whole crossbench.
Everyone says they’re not going to talk but I would be astounded if they refused to respect the parliament that the Australian people select. The flipside of that is that we’ve all got to give a bit.
Gallagher says Dutton’s welcome to country comments an attempt to distract from ‘train wreck’ campaign
Peter Dutton’s comments that welcome to country ceremonies are “overdone” has continued to shape political debate today.
Gallagher is asked whether a Labor government would continue to deliver support for welcome to country ceremonies.
Gallagher says that the ceremonies are a matter of “respect” and accuses Dutton of trying to “distract” from his campaign.
The government has a position that this is a measure of respect to support welcome to country … I think the issue that Peter Dutton has raised in the last couple of days is to distract away from the train wreck of a campaign they’re having.
Pushed on whether the government will continue to support the ceremonies financially, Gallagher says:
We haven’t made any changes to the way that we would be operating in the first term to how we would operate in the second term.
Opposition’s ‘Americanisation’ has been a factor in election campaign, Gallagher says
The finance minister, Katy Gallagher, is doing the media rounds for Labor this morning, starting on ABC News Breakfast.
While the Canadians head to the polls for an election that has been strongly coloured by Donald Trump, Gallagher is asked how much impact the Trump factor is having over here.
Gallagher says people are “pretty switched on to” the issues of the US, but what’s happening in Canada won’t necessarily happen here.
I think the contest here – and people are pretty switched on to it – is between Anthony Albanese and Peter Dutton and I think there’s certainly a feeling around the need for stability in these uncertain times …
I think when it comes to the Trump influence or the American influence, I think certainly in policies where we’ve seen, particularly from the opposition, the Americanisation of, say, Medicare or working from home, those types of things have definitely been a factor in this campaign.
Krishani Dhanji
Good morning,
Krishani Dhanji here with you, with just four days left of this election campaign.
The PM is in Queensland this morning where Labor is hopeful of gaining some territory, while Peter Dutton is starting the day in Sydney, after campaigning in the ultra marginal seat of Bennelong last night.
The countdown is on, the people are voting, the leaders’ planes and buses are traversing across the country, and we are here to bring it all to you.
Rightwing minor party boost could give Dutton ‘narrow path’ to PM
The polls aren’t all bad news for Peter Dutton – with at least one pollster thinking he still has a narrow path to minority government thanks to voters backing smaller parties.
Scott Morrison’s former media chief turned consultant Andrew Carswell said a path to victory was still possible for the Coalition.
“The path is narrow, though it’s narrowing by the day, but I think the best most can do is ignore the established polls out there at the moment, because what we’ll see on Saturday will be out of step,” he told Associated Australian Press.
“While Labor is very much the short odds to be in minority government, it will be closer than people think.”
Despite Carswell saying a majority government is “awfully difficult” for the Coalition to achieve, a rise in support for rightwing minor parties could flow back to the opposition.
“The preferences that come from One Nation, Trumpet of Patriots and other centre-right minor parties to the Coalition is dramatically higher than in 2022,” he said.
“One Nation is a party of protest, they preference away, generally speaking, from incumbent governments, and that will bring in to play some seats that will be a surprise for people on election night.”
The latest YouGov poll showed One Nation had a 10.5% primary vote, while Clive Palmer’s Trumpet of Patriots stood at 2%.
The result for Pauline Hanson’s party is more than double the result it got at the 2022 poll, when it had just under 5% of the primary vote.
In many electorates, Coalition how-to-vote cards have urged supporters to put One Nation second on their ballot.
Carswell said Victoria was still looking strong for the Coalition, particularly in outer-suburban seats where cost-of-living pressures were hitting hardest.
“The further from the CBD, the better – there is the chance of some surprises on election night in outer suburban seats,” he said.
I’ve done nothing wrong, says Bennelong candidate Scott Yung
Josh Butler
Embattled Liberal candidate Scott Yung maintains he has done nothing wrong in terms of past questions about disclosing campaign donations or the use of social media influencers, saying he had always acted “in accordance with the law”.
The Bennelong challenger also said it was “a joke” that he had been criticised for handing out Easter eggs to children as part of his campaign.
Liberal leader Peter Dutton visited Bennelong, one of the most marginal Labor seats in the country, for the first time in the election campaign on Monday night. In a low-key campaign stop at a local club, Dutton addressed a small group of supporters of Yung’s campaign, shaking hands with people clad in Liberal T-shirts and backing the candidate.
As Guardian Australia and other outlets have reported, questions have swirled over Yung’s candidacy, including over disclosures made during his 2019 tilt for a state government seat, and the use of influencers to endorse his candidacy.
Yung and the Liberal party have maintained he had done nothing wrong, and that he had made appropriate disclosures.
On Monday, media travelling with Dutton managed to ask Yung several questions at the sports club. He said “everything’s done in accordance with the law”.
“I checked the records,” he said.
Dutton’s staff, who had remained at the event after the leader had left, attempted several times to wind up the impromptu appearance by asking reporters to return to the campaign bus.
Asked about his decision to hand out chocolate eggs outside a school during a campaign stop, Yung defended it as “in the spirit of Easter”.
“Can I just say, what a joke that I got slammed for that. I think it’s in the spirit of Easter. I asked parents if I could give an Easter egg to their children,” he said.
Asked by Guardian Australia about social media influencers, Yung said: “Let me just make this very very clear again, we have not paid any social media influencers in 2019.” Asked if he had paid influencers in 2025, Yung said “no”.
Read more here:
Josh Butler
More from Josh on that Dutton interview on Sky last night:
In recent weeks Dutton has faced vigorous questioning on his nuclear and gas policies, plans to slash the public service, and his economic credentials. Dutton has sowed confusion by declining to give details about his public service plan or mooted cuts to migration, and gave public apologies for a ditched Coalition policy to wind back working from home for public servants, as well as over incorrect comments about Russia’s interactions with Indonesia over military issues.
On Sky, Dutton also again accused Labor and Albanese of “lying”, “scare campaigns”, and “completely baseless” claims.
“I think there is a turning of the mood,” Dutton claimed of his feeling about the voting public.
“There’s a big disparity in what we’re seeing, the track polling in marginal seats … There’s a lot of anger against the government, particularly in outer metro and regional areas, and I don’t think that’s been picked up in the national polls.”
‘Activists, not journalists’: Dutton doubles down on criticisms of ‘hate media’
Josh Butler
Peter Dutton has doubled down on his criticisms of the journalists covering his election campaign, calling the media “activists” and “so biased” after numerous stumbles and slip-ups at press conferences in the last month.
In an interview on Sky News last night, Dutton claimed internal Liberal track polling was “much more positive” for his election prospects than published opinion polling, which uniformly shows Labor in an election-winning position with around a 52-48 two-party lead.
A day after Dutton referred to the ABC and Guardian Australia as “hate media”, he again criticised the journalists following his campaign. Several Liberal colleagues including James Paterson and Jane Hume claimed yesterday Dutton was joking or making a “tongue in cheek” comment with his criticisms of media, but on Sky, the Liberal leader did not repeat that defence himself, nor back away from his previous comments.
Referring to the “hate media” comment, Sky host Sharri Markson asked, “Do you think that sort of media and others like them actually hate mainstream Australian values?”
Dutton said in response that some media were “so biased” and “many of them are just activists, not journalists”.
“They’re playing to a particular audience, a Green voter,” Dutton claimed.
“I think the leftwing media, by polling day, will be counter-productive in what they’re doing.”
Welcome
Good morning and welcome to our live news blog. I’m Martin Farrer with the best of the overnight stories and then it’ll be Krishani Dhanji to guide you through the day.
With the final few days of campaigning to go, our latest Essential poll shows Labor still holds an election-winning lead by 52-48 points over the Coalition on a two-party basis. The survey also reveals Peter Dutton’s personal approval rating has slipped for the fourth poll in a row. More details coming up, plus what the latest Roy Morgan poll shows, and one pollster – a former adviser to Scott Morrison – who sees hope for Dutton. We’ll be on their trail again, with Anthony Albanese campaigning in Brisbane today, while Dutton will be starting the day in Sydney.
But the opposition leader remains defiant. In a Sky News interview last night, Dutton renewed his criticisms of the journalists covering his election campaign, describing reporters as “activists” and “so biased” in coverage of his numerous stumbles and slip-ups at press conferences in the last month. We have more details, including the Coalition leader reiterating one of his favourite talking points: that those polls showing him trailing Albanese are wrong.
Plus: Liberal candidate for Bennelong, Scott Yung, insisted last night he has done nothing wrong in terms of past questions about disclosing campaign donations or the use of social media influencers, saying he had always acted “in accordance with the law”. More coming up.
