Ready to go.
You bet.
Born ready, my fellow Australians. This morning I visited the Governor General and her Excellency has accepted my advice. Did an election be held on Saturday third of May twenty and twenty five?
Promence Sir Anthony Albanesi's re election pitch is stark and singular, warning of cuts and chaos under a government led by Peter Dutton.
This election is a choice between Labour's plan to keep building or Peter Dutton's promise to cut. That is the choice. That is your choice, your job, your wages, your child's education, and importantly as well this scene here, your Medicare card. They're all in your hands.
Peter Dutton. It's a question of whether Australians are better off now than they were before.
Australians have built their lives and our country on the belief that if you work hard, you can get ahead and build a better future for your children. However, right now Australia is going backwards. The Prime Minister's spent the first time two.
The opposition leader has made a lot of promises about the cost of living, housing and immigration, but with scant detail from sports media. I'm Daniel James. This is seven am. Today's special correspondent for the Saturday paper, Jason gottsukis on your choice at the next election and whether having a winning personality matters for either leader over the next five weeks. It's Saturday, March twenty nine. Jason, thanks so much for
speaking with us. What did you make of the Prime minister's speech and what did it tell us about how he wants to fight selection.
Well, the Prime Minister talked about how Australia is turning the corner. He's talking about the economy there that inflation has come down from nearly seven percent to around two and a half percent over the last three.
Years today because of all the hard work that Australians have done. Inflation is down, real wages are up, Unemployment is low, interest rates are falling, and we're cutting taxpayer.
And I think the biggest moment of his press conference was when he pulled out his Medicare carden. Of course, he was also able to relate that to his mother and the sort of care that she'd been able to receive courtesy of Medicare, and he got quite emotional there. He teared up.
As an invalid pensioner, she got taken up the road after having an aneurysm, and she never left RPA, but she got the same care that Kerry Packer got. They're the Australian values. That's what I'll fight for.
He talked about the energy relief measure that the government has introduced to take one hundred and fifty dollars a year off people's power bills, and then he sort of compared all of that to the chaotic, dysfunctional Member Morrison government.
Less than three years ago. The chaotic and dysfunctional Morrison government left bulk billing in free fall, age care in crisis, and the ndis at breaking point. A decade of the Liberals keeping wages low, sending jobs offshore, and fighting about climate change left our nation open to the worst global inflation since the ninety eight.
But I thought it was the most effective line of the press conference. Was everything in Peter Dutton's record tells us that he will start by cutting medicare.
That he will start by cutting medicare, and he won't stop there. He will cut everything except your taxes.
I thought that was a very effective line.
Jason. You spent the past few months speaking with labor strategists about their plan for this election. You've also looked at the advertising campaigns they've been rolling out, So what have you found out about how they want to use Dutton as a foil.
Well, there's no question, I think, and Labor strategists have been saying this to me for months. There's no question that they think Peter Dutton is not very popular and they're going to be focusing on that very much during the course of this campaign.
They don't think that Peter Dutton is ready to govern, and.
If you look at the last News poll, it seems like a majority of voters don't think Peter Dutton is ready to govern either. So I think we're going to see the Labor Party have some positive advertising, but I think most of it is going to be on the negative side and really attacking Peter Dutton. The other thing the ALP is going to focus on is the what has been a real lucky charm for the Labor Party ever since Bob Hawk was Prime Minister, and that is
Medicare and strengthening the health system. That's always been a winner for the Labor Party. Their policy that the Prime Minister announced a few weeks ago now on Medicare, that eight point five billion that they're putting into bulk billing. I think the ALPA getting very good feedback on that from voters, and they're going to keep hammering that issue as much as they can as well.
Coming up after the break, why Dunton suddenly doesn't want to talk about nuclear.
Hi Ruby Jones Here seven Am tells stories that need to be told. Our journalism is founded on trust and independence, and now we're increasing our coverage. Every Saturday until the election. Will bring you an extra episode to break down the biggest political moments of the week. If you enjoy seven Am, the best way you can support us is by making a contribution at seven am podcast dot com dot are you forward slash support? Thanks for listening and supporting our work.
Jason on Thursday night, We've got a little insight into Peter Dutton's plans for the country when he gave his budget in reply speech. He followed that up on Friday once the election was called, what do we learn?
I think the biggest surprise of the week was when we learned that the Coalition wouldn't be supporting Labor's surprise tax cuts. Angus Taylor went on seven point thirty report straight after Treasurer Jim Chalmers had delivered the budget and called the tax cuts a cruel oaks and a bribe.
There are better structural, fundamental solutions to the cost of living crisis. That's not what's being offered by labor and so we won't support what they're doing here.
You do not support the tax cuts.
No, Well, look, let's be clear. They are a cruel huax. I mean, they are not a genuine tax cut.
And it also gave the government the opportunity to kind of wedge the Coalition on the tax cuts. They weren't expecting Peter Dutton to oppose them. It's been an enormous political gift for the government and they really pounced on that on Wednesday morning when they suddenly decided to introduce legislation to really lock the opposition into that promise to
oppose the tax cuts. But we also learned about the coalition's promise to have petro exise for twelve months if they win the election, and I think that is popular with a lot of obviously people who are spending a lot of money a week each week on petrol.
We're saying that we want to help now pensioners and families and small businesses right across the economy with a twenty five cent reduction in fuel excise. So when you go to the bowser and you fill up your car, fill up your you you're going to be paying about fourteen dollars.
But we also learned a little bit about the coalition's plan to try to lower energy costs for households with this policy to force domestic gas producers to keep some of the gas that they take out of the ground and put it into the domestic market.
Gas is used to create and generate electricity, and under our policy, we're putting gas back into the energy system and we're doing it for Australians.
Because it's quite a complex policy and it's not clear to me that it's going to lower gas prices. Peter Dutton also talked about getting rid of the Housing Australia Future Fund and the rewiring the Nation Fund, and of course Peter Dutton's promise to implement large cuts to the public service in Gambra. I think that's also risky for the Coalition because it does remind voters very much of
what Donald Trump is doing over in Washington. Donald Trump is something that the Labour Party are going to be trying to link Peter Dutton to very much during the course of this campaign. They think Trump is a big negative for Dutton and they're going to try to remind voters of that as.
Much as they can. I think over the next five weeks.
So the last couple of days, we've got a bit of an insight into some of Dutton's plans. But like you just said, he has talked a lot about cutting the public service. Do you think that's going to resonate on all with the broader electorate.
I don't think so, because during the last three years of the Morrison government, yes, on the one hand, they reduced the size of the public service, but they massively increased the number of consultants that were needed. So I'm not sure that Peter Dutton's going to be able to square this circle of He's on the one hand saying well, we'll cut public servants and we'll save money, but then who's going to deliver all all the services that people
expect government to deliver. And then what we probably see, if we're going on the coalition's recording government, is that they'll have to turn around and employ consultants and that's probably going to cost Peter had done a lot more than he saves by sacking forty one thousand public servants.
What was interesting to me was some of the stuff Dutton isn't talking about. I mean, he's been Defense minister, he's been Minister for Home Affairs and immigration, and yet in his budget reply speech you want to get into specifics from the coalition's position on defense spending or immigration numbers. What do you think that is?
Jason, Well, it's a great question, Denial, and I think the answer is that Peter Dutton probably has not worked it out himself yet. They've been all over the place when it comes to what the migration target will be. They haven't been very clear whether they're talking about reducing the permanent intake of migration, which is around one hundred and ninety thousand a year, or whether they're talking about reducing net overseas migration, which is of course a completely
different number. If he's going to cut permanent migration by as much as he said he will, they're talking about reducing I think taking it down from one ninety to one sixty, then that's really going to harm the economy because the only reason the Australian economy me has been able to stay out of recession over the last five to ten years is because we've had this quite high
migration number. And on defense, I wonder whether the reason he held back on that is because he knew alban Anthony Albanze was going to call the election and he probably thought, well, I'm going to not get as much coverage of my speech tonight as as I would normally. I have to save something for a quieter newsday. And so I wonder whether he held back for that reason. And yet when it comes to the commitments around defense.
There was also only one mention of nuclear in his budget reply speech and the first question he was asked by Generalist and Friday was why is that coalition.
Has a three hundred billion dollar plan for nuclear energy but barely got to mention last night in your budget reply?
Why was that walking back from yuclear because the elector doesn't like it?
Well, we spoke extensive about, extensively about our energy plan last night.
And does this scene to you like Peter Dutton doesn't want to speak about what was until recently his flagship policy.
I think no question. Daniel Jason Claire, the Minister for Education, who is going to be the layback campaign spokesman I think for the next four or five weeks. He gave a press conference last night after the budget in reply speech and he said, well, he thinks Stutton's nuclear policy is about as popular as a fart in an elevator. The Coalition have basically stopped talking about their nuclear policy. Instead, Peter Dutton's talking about this new gas policy that they're
going to try to implement. Peter Dutton knows that the nuclear is not polling well, people aren't buying it. I think we're probably going to start to see the layback campaign strategist trying to put more pressure on him about that. There's also this confusion about what it's going to cost. As we saw on Insiders last Sunday, not even Angus Taylor, the Shadow Treasurer, really seems to understand how much the coalition's nuclear policy.
Is going to cost. And I think it's a real weak point for them.
So Jason, over the next five weeks, you're going to be out on the campaign trail. Last election, Albanese wasn't all that crash hot on the trail. Darton is largely untested, so what your read on how they'll connect with voters and do you expect they'll try and kiss as many babies as possible.
Well, always politicians will try to kiss babies and whoever they can. I do think Anthony Albanezi he is very patchy when it comes to campaigning. He does tend to drift off and he gets into this mode where he starts to list all the things he's done in government, and it I think has the effect of turning listeners off. But I think in the last four or five weeks there are signs that Anthony Alberesi has learnt something. He's getting better. His legacy is really on the line now.
If he loses this election, it will be the first time a government has lost an election after just one term, and I think that is a huge incentive for the Prime Minister to campaign as hard as possible. Peter Dutton is untested and we have seen the evidence of that in the last few weeks. He's started to make mistakes.
You know.
Albanesi of course has been through an election campaign, so that experience is going to matter, and I think Peter Dutton is going to struggle I think a bit more than perhaps the Prime Minister will.
Well Jason, thank you for joining us, Thank you for your insights and look after your Sava of the next five weeks.
Thanks Daniel.
I hope we talk again before election day.
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