Anthony Albanese has had a chat to Brisbane radio 4BC, where he was asked about the reports in the Australian newspaper that Kevin Rudd was in line to be Australia’s ambassador to the US, if Labor won government.
“I’ve had no discussions about anyone being an ambassador to any place,” he said.
“Yesterday, can I make this point, it was ‘Kevin Rudd isn’t going to be on the campaign, he’d gone missing’, the same journals today are appointing him ambassador. Seriously. They need to get over the obsession.”
In case you missed this yesterday, Daniel Hurst has an update on the cost of breaking the French submarine contract – you won’t find out the cost until after the election.
Australian voters are unlikely to be told the full cost of scrapping the French submarine deal before the election, with Peter Dutton signalling the negotiations will not be wrapped up until after July.
The defence minister said on Monday the talks with France’s Naval Group would “take some time” and the information would not be released publicly until after those figures were settled.
Good morning
Well, now that the Easter long weekend is over, the campaigning is about to get under way today, with the gloves all the way off.
Scott Morrison is still in Western Australia where he will promise $250m for mining jobs. It’s all about “clean” “hydrogen hubs” and rare earth minerals (like lithium for batteries) but we don’t know if the hydrogen hubs are green or blue. Green uses renewable energy, while blue uses coal and fossil fuels. Angus Taylor and the government like to refer to blue hydrogen as “clean” when it’s not, so watch out for that.
Labor is campaigning on an overhaul of the NDIS. Bill Shorten will be announcing a review (like a Productivity Commission review) in Melbourne, to look at the growing issues within the insurance scheme and how best to address them. Anthony Albanese is expected to stay in Queensland, where he will face Morrison for the first time since the campaign began, at tomorrow’s Brisbane leaders’ debate.
Speaking of debates, David Littleproud and Julie Collins will debate each other at the National Press Club today. Barnaby Joyce is still leading the Wombat Trail, spending money where ever he goes, as he works to shore up Nationals electorates.
Meanwhile, the latest Newspoll, first published in the Australian, shows Albanese’s personal approval ratings have dropped since the campaign began but both parties are struggling to win primary support, potentially leading to a minority parliament. And it’s not just the polls – astrologist Jessica Adams reported to her followers that on 21 May, Mercury will be in retrograde and Jupiter will be in Aries and the last time that happened during an election was 2010 – when there was a hung parliament.
The Coalition is still just focused on Labor though. After spending yesterday reanimating “The Boat” debate (despite having no intelligence or reasoning to do so) like it was once again 2001, 2004 or 2007), today it has provided government modelling to the News Corp tabloids to claim Labor’s plan to “rewire the nation” will raise power prices. This seems largely based on feels. The Grattan Institute has largely welcomed the policy. Labor says it will cut power prices by just over $300 annually.
It’s only a matter of time before someone will ask us to check under our beds.
You’ve got me, Amy Remeikis, as usual to take you through the day’s events. Katharine Murphy, Sarah Martin, Daniel Hurst, Paul Karp and Josh Butler are on the case in Canberra and the entire Guardian team is looking at issues across the nation. It’s a five-coffee day. I can feel it.
Ready? Let’s get into it.