Australia live news election updates: Scott Morrison backs Warringah candidate amid Liberal revolt and sides with Tony Abbott; NSW records 18 Covid deaths

WA police have shared some further information about the light plane crash in Kununurra, in the state’s remote north, this morning.

About 8.40am, a member of the public who was fishing at Bandicoot Point, Kununurra, called police and reported what they believed was a plane crash, with the plane coming down between the river and the airport.

Shortly after, further information was received that indicated the plane was on fire. Police, St John Ambulance and DFES were deployed to the scene.

Upon arrival at the scene, emergency services confirmed the pilot and passenger both survived the crash, however both were injured.

Police and emergency services personnel are now working to treat the injured people and evacuate them by helicopter from the crash scene.

At the time of writing, the plan was to fly them to the airport, where further ambulances would be waiting to transport them to Kununurra Hospital.

Morrison has taken his family along to the Show today too.

I quite like this photo for the way it shows how intensely and inescapably media-oriented every moment is in an election campaign.

First up, allow me to bring to you … Scott Morrison walking a cow.

(He’s at the Easter Show. Campaigning.)

Thank you to the lovely Josh Taylor for helming the blog so far today. I’ll be with you for the rest of the afternoon.

And with that, I will hand you back to Stephanie Convery for the remainder of the news day.

Two people have been injured in a light plane crash in Western Australia’s remote north, AAP reports.

A fisherman reported what he believed to be a crash landing between the Ord River and East Kimberley Regional Airport at Kununurra shortly after 8.30am on Saturday.

Police say they received information soon after that the plane was on fire.

However, officers and ambulance personnel were able to quickly confirm that both the pilot and a passenger were injured but had survived.

The pair were being treated at the scene, with plans to take them by helicopter to the airport and then by ambulance to Kununurra Hospital.

The AEC commissioner, Tom Rogers, has written to political parties and candidates about the distribution of postal vote applications, saying despite the practice being legal, “it is potentially misleading and we’re concerned”.

Political parties sent out forms to voters where they can register with the AEC to vote via mail. However the forms are sent back via the political parties, and can be used to harvest personal information about those voters to target later.

This year Labor has set up howtovote.org.au and the Liberals have set up postal.vote with very little party signage to target voters.

The AEC has urged people who need to postal vote to only apply directly to the AEC.

Rogers said the commission is concerned:

There is a multitude of issues we’re seeing and it’s the number one complaint we’re receiving from Australians with thousands of pieces of correspondence received across social media and more traditional complaint channels in just days.

He said most people will not need postal votes, so there is no need for parties to send so many out. He also said wrong forms have been distributed, and some forms used the colour purple, which could potentially be confused with the AEC colour.

People have a right to know what they’re doing with their personal data. The AEC takes privacy seriously and operates under the Privacy Act, political parties don’t have to.

While we haven’t seen unauthorised postal vote applications, the use of colour and wording means someone who doesn’t examine the material in detail could mistake it for a piece of AEC communication.

Political parties send postal vote applications to residents every election but the increased variation of channels and wording this election, combined with the environment, is of concern.

Our message couldn’t be clearer – vote in person if you can, apply for a postal vote through us if you need one.

Labor shadow minister Chris Bowen is out for a week of the campaign after testing positive for Covid-19.

Independent MP Helen Haines weighs in on the federal Icac debate.

Now we have a bit of breathing room from the press conferences, let’s circle back to the PM being asked about WA senator Ben Small resigning yesterday after realising he was eligible for NZ citizenship via his father, who is a permanent resident in Australia.

The PM said he wasn’t expecting more to follow but said:

These are often technical issues, and the issues regarding former Senator Small was dealt with very efficiently – it was identified and we have addressed it and that means that as we go into this election, it can be fully remedied. So the Western Australian division has looked at those issues and I think they have handled at in the way it should be handled.

The interesting thing here is if you go back to the register that was set up after the section 44 eligibility dramas that plagued the last parliament, Small lists clearly his father as a permanent resident who was born in New Zealand. That document was uploaded in December 2020 when he was elected to the Senate via casual vacancy.

He made the declaration at the time – and continues to maintain he did not know he was eligible for NZ citizenship, but it seems no one outside of the parliament (including media) checked the file and asked questions about it in over a year.

It’s handy timing for the Liberals that they’ve perhaps gone back and checked through all their candidates as part of the federal election process now, and realised he had to resign so he could run again now.

I’ll pass you back to Josh Taylor now!