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The major headlines so far
By Pallavi Singhal
Good afternoon and thanks for joining us for our live coverage. I’m Pallavi Singhal and I’m taking over from Broede Carmody for the rest of the day.
In case you missed them, here are the major headlines from the day:
- Labor has secured the seat of Macnamara, giving it a majority government, and is also hopeful of winning Gilmore, one of two seats that remains too close to call. Labor’s Fiona Phillips is currently ahead by 130 votes in Gilmore, where about 13 per cent of the vote has yet to be counted. In Deakin, the other seat still in play, Liberal candidate Michael Sukkar is leading by about 600 votes.
Labor MP Josh Burns has been re-elected after a close contest in Macnamara.Credit:Alex Ellinghausen
- Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has told Labor caucus he is seeking to have an even bigger majority after the next election, saying: “The way that you really change the country ... is to entrench reforms. And to do that you need a long-term Labor government.”
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says his government will ‘entrench reforms’.Credit:Getty
- Former prime minister Scott Morrison will reassess his political future in the next six to 12 months, Liberal leader Peter Dutton says. A decision to leave politics would trigger a byelection in Morrison’s Sydney seat of Cook.
- Dutton also said today that he would focus on what he has nominated as the top three issues for suburban voters: the cost of living, housing affordability and transport infrastructure.
Liberals blast Morrison, Hawke over preselection debacle
By Michael Koziol
Senior Liberals will push to reduce the power of the party leader among a series of major changes to the way candidates are chosen in NSW, saying the preselection debacle under Scott Morrison must never happen again.
But in his first substantive comments since the election loss, Morrison’s close ally Alex Hawke hit back, rejecting claims he deliberately frustrated the selection process and saying the party’s biggest problem was the perception it failed to respect women and take their complaints seriously.
Scott Morrison and NSW ally Alex Hawke.Credit: Renee Nowytarger
There is widespread anger in the party over the failure to allow members to choose candidates for many seats, as well as Morrison’s captain’s pick of Katherine Deves in Warringah. Several Liberals believe her comments about transgender people contributed to the party’s losses.
In an email to party members on Tuesday, NSW Liberal senator Andrew Bragg and women’s council delegate Jane Buncle proposed several changes to the party’s constitution to prevent a repeat of the stalemate over candidate selection.
“Your rights as members of our great party were taken away before the election,” Bragg and Buncle wrote. “The Liberal Party is Australia’s most successful grassroots movement. It is not a dictatorship and we will not be successful without the engagement of you, our members.”
Which seats are still too close to call?
By Broede Carmody
As of midday, two federal seats remain too close to call.
They are Gilmore on the NSW South Coast and Deakin in Melbourne’s eastern suburbs.
Labor candidate Fiona Phillips leads in Gilmore by 130 votes, with just over 87 per cent of the vote counted.
If former NSW transport minister Andrew Constance manages to claw back the lead and take the seat, it would represent the only Labor seat to fall to the Coalition in the May 21 election. If Phillips holds on, it will give her party a two-seat majority in the House of Representatives after a speaker is appointed.
Liberal Michael Sukkar, the former housing minister, leads in Deakin by about 600 votes.
‘My objective is to grow this room,’ PM tells Labor caucus
By Broede Carmody
Labor might already have a slim majority in the House of Representatives, but that isn’t enough for Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, who is eyeing an even bigger majority at the 2025 election.
During his closing remarks to the Labor caucus, Albanese fought back tears as he thanked his colleagues for giving him the honour of being prime minister.
He said:
My objective is to grow this room. And to grow a Labor government. I think that we can do it.
And if we keep our discipline, implement the program which is there, there is no reason why we can’t continue to be even more successful than we have been at this point.
Albanese encourages his MPs to continue looking outward
By Broede Carmody
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has urged the Labor caucus to continue looking outward as he prepares to lead a majority government.
“Getting from opposition to government is tough,” he said. “Sometimes Labor looks at ourselves rather than looks outward. We looked outward for the three years.
“[As election night approached] I spoke about two elections. I said I had two dates in mind ... May 21 but, secondly, where we would be positioned in 2025 to be able to say we would do the following measures: cheaper childcare, ending the climate wars, an anti-corruption commission, more secure work, lifting wages, taking pressure off the cost of living, affordable housing measures, fee-free TAFE.
“Because the way that you really change the country ... is to entrench reforms. And to do that, you need a long-term Labor government. It’s only Labor that does the big things in this country and I want – just as universal health care and universal superannuation are part of the great Australian story, created by Labor – I want universal childcare to be part of the great Australian story.”
Watch: PM’s press conference
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has addressed the Labor caucus.
We’ll have the playback version with you soon.
‘We can deliver’: Labor MP on what sets him apart from the Greens
By Broede Carmody
As mentioned earlier this morning, the seat of Macnamara has been called for Labor, giving Anthony Albanese a majority government even after he appoints a speaker.
The MP for Macnamara, Josh Burns, was asked on ABC TV earlier today how his party could fend off challenges from the Greens in his seat and others at the 2025 election.
Labor MP Josh Burns (right) on the campaign trail last month with Labor colleagues and Father Bob Maguire. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen
Here’s his response:
A lot of young people have never seen what a Labor government can do and what a Labor government looks like. We can deliver climate action, we can deliver incredible economic reform and on the Uluru Statement from the Heart, something I’m really passionate about and I want to get cracking and working on straightaway.
A Labor government means opportunity. I hope even those people who didn’t support us, we work hard to give them some things to think about and consider voting Labor at the next election.
Victoria follows NSW and QLD in offering free flu jabs
By Marta Pascual Juanola
Victoria will offer free flu vaccines to all residents throughout June, following the path of NSW, Queensland, Western Australia and South Australia.
The move comes as common viruses such as influenza, rhinovirus and respiratory syncytial virus make a comeback after record low rates during the pandemic.
Victorian Health Minister Martin Foley.Credit:Simon Schluter
More than 15,000 influenza infections have been reported in Victoria so far this year, with experts predicting numbers could peak as early as July.
Victorian Health Minister Martin Foley said the number of infections could be under-represented in official data and warned ongoing COVID-related hospitalisations and high staff furloughing due to illness would continue to pose a challenge to the health system.
More than 3000 GP clinics and pharmacies across the state will be approached to offer the free vaccinations from tomorrow as part of the Victorian government’s $33 million package.
Peter Dutton names top three issues for suburban voters
By Broede Carmody
Peter Dutton’s breakfast media blitz has continued well into the mid-morning with an appearance on Melbourne-based radio station 3AW.
During a chat with presenter Neil Mitchell, Dutton said if he had to name the three top issues for suburban voters he would nominate cost of living, housing affordability and transport infrastructure.
Opposition Leader Peter Dutton with his deputy Sussan Ley. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen
As regular readers of this blog will know, the new Liberal leader says he wants his party to focus its policies on small businesses and people living in the suburbs.
“We’ve got to be relevant to [voters’] lives and to what they want for the country,” Dutton said.
“So it can’t be Canberra centric, it needs to be focused on what’s happening. And this is why, I think, a very significant part of our approach over the course of the next three years in the run-up to the 2025 election will be about families and small businesses, micro businesses, how we can help people in their own lives.
“It is going to be tough under Labor. Over the next few years, electricity prices are going to be higher. We know that interest rates will be higher and that they’re likely to introduce taxes.
“If you’re in a situation where, at the moment, petrol is over $2 a litre, you can’t afford to fill the car, and you can’t afford the electricity bill when it comes in. So the cost-of-living pressures, I think, are enormous.”
China says it’s ready to co-operate with Australia in the Pacific
By Eryk Bagshaw
In case you missed it, China says it is willing to co-operate with Australia in the Pacific, signalling a rhetorical and diplomatic shift following the election of the Labor government.
China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi yesterday failed to get consensus from 10 Pacific nations to sign up for Beijing’s “common development vision”, a regional security deal in exchange for trade and economic co-operation that has sparked fears of China’s economic and military ambitions in Washington and Canberra.
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi.Credit:AP
But at least half a dozen countries, including Samoa, Kiribati and Niue, have signed up for enhanced co-operation in Beijing’s trillion-dollar belt and road infrastructure investment program.
Fiji’s Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama, who hosted Wang for the Pacific foreign ministers meeting in Suva, said the region had to work together to face existential threats before signing up for any major multilateral deals.
“We put consensus first,” said Bainimarama. “Geopolitical point scoring means less than little to anyone whose community is slipping beneath the rising seas, whose job has been lost to a pandemic.”
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2022-05-31 03:27:26Z
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