Australian news and politics live: Albanese hits out at Dutton for lack of detail, Coalition says it's clear

Anthony Albanese has provided some revealing answers during a picture-led question and answer session.

Peppered with a series of images at The West Australian’s Leadership Matters breakfast today, the Prime Minister was asked what word first came to mind.

Watch the video and read the story here

Anthony Albanese has doubled down on his denial about falling off a stage earlier in the campaign, despite it being caught on camera and making a surprise admission just hours earlier that he had, in fact, fallen.

See what the PM had to say when he publicly joked about the incident for the first time at The West Australian’s Leadership Matters breakfast this morning, offering it up as an answer when asked what the worst part of his campaign had been.

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After just two days of early voting, more than one million Australians have cast their ballots at pre-polling stations.

As of Thursday morning, 1,132,161 votes had been submitted across the country, with a record-smashing 542,141 of those lodged on Tuesday when the stations opened.

See the numbers state-by-state below:

ACT 19,110

NSW 354,038

NT 10,778

QLD 243,725

SA 65,061

TAS 15,789

VIC 298,562

WA 125,098

Early voting centres will be closed on Anzac Day and Sunday, with 18,098,797 Australians enrolled to vote before polls shut on May 3.

Asked if those campaign slogans are still accurate and if the $8.5 billion investment would need to be expanded to meet their promise, Senator Gallagher said she was confident Labor’s modelling was correct.

“Well, our advice is the $8.5 billion will do that,” she said on Thursday.

“And that’s a mix of tripling the bulk billing rate but also having a practise payment for those clinics that move to full bulk billing.

“And now we expect that a number of GPs will move to those arrangements because in a business model, it will be financially viable for them to do that.

“But for example, here in the ACT where bulk billing is so low, for many people, there is no choice.

“Our job is to fund the system that drives the change.

“That gives people the opportunity to see a doctor for free.

“That’s what Labor’s about.”

Finance Minister Katy Gallagher has doubled down on Labor’s pledge that their $8.5 billion investment into Medicare will allow Australians to “see a GP for free” after Health Minister Mark Butler admitted there would still be a gap fee for people.

Amid a health debate at the National Press Club on Wednesday, Mr Butler was asked by an ABC journalist if Labor’s Medicare plan would cover doctor bills “100 per cent”.

It comes after Labor MPs and Senators have promised that voters will be able to “see a GP for free” and will “only need to take their Medicare card” to see their doctor.

Mr Butler said: “There will be Australians — we’ve been very clear about this — there will be Australians who will continue to be charged a gap fee, but we think we can get to 90 per cent for all Australians under these arrangements,” he said.

WA Premier Roger Cook has said the State Government hasn’t received a formal response from the NRL on their negotiations despite “positive” conversations behind the scenes.

Speaking alongside Prime Minister Anthony Albanese during his Perth press conference on Thursday, the State Labor leader said he was aware of the hype around news that the WA Bears side could be reinstated in the West.

“Look, can I just say I know that there are more reports in the East Coast media sports pages, with regards to the conversations that are taking place between my government and the NRL, we continue to have those negotiations,” he said.

“We haven’t had a formal response from the NRL.

“I assume they have a range of processes they need to go through to consider anything in relation to these conversations.

“I will say that conversations are positive, and we continue to look forward to those, those discussions.”

Mr Albanese was asked if the Federal Government had been asked to support WA in securing an NRL side.

“We haven’t been asked,” the PM responded.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has stated Labor has closed the door on the possibility of axing negative gearing and accused the Coalition of running a “scare campaign on the issue”.

The Coalition have accused Labor of commissioning a Treasury report on scrapping negative gearing, which the PM and Treasurer Jim Chalmers have denied.

Dr Chalmers instead, on Easter Sunday, clarified that Treasury had provided them “advice” on the topic, which he claims was different from commissioning a report.

Asked on Thursday while in Perth if it was a position he would backflip on, Mr Albanese said “not at all”.

“We have made our policies clear,” he claimed.

“Before the 2022 election campaign, there was a scare campaign, and it said ‘we’re going to do all this’. We’ve been in government for three years. We haven’t.

“The proof is in the pudding… As my mom would say.”

Opposition leader Peter Dutton claims that if Labor abolishes negative gearing, investors would flee the market, making the number of rental properties decrease and rental costs increase.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has been asked about Labor’s star candidate Ali France after she shared social media posts depicting Peter Dutton as a Nazi.

She also backed claims that Israel is an “openly racist apartheid regime” in newly unearthed posts on X.

Among the press conference the PM hosted in Perth on Thursday, Newswire journalist Jess Wang asked: “Do you believe that they were appropriate? Will you continue supporting her as the candidate of Dixon?’

The PM backed Ms France and described her as an “outstanding human being” who had “overcome adversity”, including when she lost her leg saving her child’s life.

“During the last campaign, Ali France was attacked for, quote, using her disability as an excuse for why she lived in the home that she lived in,” he said.

“Ali France is someone who lost her leg saving her child’s life when she pushed a pram forward and was hit by a motor vehicle. Ailey France is an extraordinary Australian.

“I don’t know what your tweets are like more than a decade ago or what have you. I have no idea, but people are going and attacking Ali France.

“She’s contesting Dixon. I wish her well.”

In one disturbing post obtained by news.com.au, she shares a post depicting Peter Dutton and former Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull wearing Nazi uniforms.

“It’s getting grim at Lib HQ,’’ the post she shared in March 2017 on X states.

David Littleproud promises that the first bill he will put to Parliament will be to overturn the ban on live sheep exports.

He says there is “no scientific or economic reason to phase out live sheep” exports after the reforms he, as minister, put in place after more than 2000 sheep died of heat stress on the Awassi Express.

“These animal activists are morally bankrupt, morally bankrupt. They are valuing the welfare and life of a sheep from Australia above that of a sheep from South Africa, Ethiopia or Sudan,” he says.

“For east coast politicians to cut a deal with the Animal Justice Party, just to get them elected at the last election, all at the expense of 3000 West Australian jobs, that’s not the Australian way. That’s not how Peter Dutton and I will run this country.”

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has declared Australia’s support for a National Rugby League PNG side is the “best example of soft diplomacy”.

The PM was asked about the team while in Perth on Thursday, just hours after it was revealed the NRL approved a fresh WA bid to bring back the Bears in the west.

“The PNG side is the best example of soft diplomacy that I’ve been engaged with,” he said.

“The PNG side is about economic development as well. It’s transformational. It’s about… getting young people in the most significant nation in the Pacific, that has a population greater than the rest of the Pacific combined, getting those young kids to school.

“That’s what it’s about. It’s about economic development through tourism.

“It’s about lifting them up. It’s about integration with Australia, and no better time to do it.”