Anthony Albanese has received a raucous welcome at a gym in Peter Dutton’s own seat in the Brisbane suburbs, as he spruiks Labor’s investment in Medicare and bulk billing on the first full day of campaigning.
The Prime Minister was met with applause from male and female gymgoers at the FitStop gym at the Murrumba Downs Shopping Centre, stopping for pictures and to pat a baby playing with a barbell weight at the centre on Saturday morning.
Mr Albanese has made his first campaigning stop in the electorate of Dickson to laud his government’s funding of health services at the Murrumba Downs Medical and Dental Centre, an urgent care clinic.
Mr Albanese has leaned heavily on his government’s investment in Medicare and health services during the early hours of the election campaign, including talking up the opening of 87 Urgent Care Clinics and expanded access to bulk billing.
If re-elected, Mr Albanese has pledged to open a further 50 clinics across the country and deliver an additional 18 million free GP visits each year. He has also pledged to continue to expand the PBS and fast-track training for GPs and doctors.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has received a raucous welcome at a gym in opposition leader Peter Dutton’s own seat in the Brisbane suburbs during the first full day of campaigning.
Mr Albanese was joined by Ali France, Labor’s candidate for the electorate of Dickson, who is taking her third stab at unseating the Opposition Leader after a 2.94 per cent swing against Mr Dutton on a two party preferred basis at the 2022 federal election.
Mr Albanese in Mr Dutton’s seat on the first real day of campaigning was a deliberate move to highlight the divisions on Medicare and the style of government.
“This campaign isn’t just about me versus Peter Dutton. I’m humble enough to know that it’s also about our team,”
“Their team, you look at them – they are not ready for government.
“My team is a competent, considered government that gets things done, that is making a positive difference to people’s lives.
“We are turning the corner. Let’s not go back.”
‘Trump-lite’: Dutton rebuffs ‘playbook’ claim
Opposition leader Peter Dutton has rejected claims Australia would be getting a “Donald Trump lite” if he claims victory this federal election, despite embracing some of the controversial president’s populist policies, including cutting the public service and cracking down on immigration.
The Liberal leader claimed he would bring down energy prices and touted the party’s nuclear energy plans – which he said were being embraced in the US and the UK – in an interview with Today show host Clint Stanaway, as the first full day of campaigning got underway on Saturday.
Mr Dutton is in Brisbane, a key battleground seat won by Greens MP Stephen Bates off the Liberal National Party at the 2022 election at a margin of 7.5 per cent.
Asked about his embrace of US-style policy pledges “straight out of the Trump playbook”, Mr Dutton denied Australia would get a “Donald Trump lite” in a new Liberal government, and instead recalled popular Coalition governments of the past.
“I think we’re getting a version of what Liberal governments have been like before, if you look at the Howard government,” Mr Dutton said.
“In the case of the Albanese government, there’s always a mess to clean up.
“We need to spend money wisely. Every family is feeling the pinch at the moment, and there’s 29,000 small businesses who have collapsed over the past two and a half years (and) a record number in our country of the past 12 months.
“What that means is families have lost their homes, they’ve lost their savings, and we have to make sure we can put in place an economy that works for and not against Australians.”
Mr Dutton said Australia could not afford another three years under Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, and that a Liberal government would help to build more homes and “deliver a safer community”.
On immigration, Mr Dutton claimed new arrivals “needed a place to live” and were forcing Australians out of housing.
“I’m just not going to tolerate that,” he said.
“I want to make sure we’ve got Australians front of mind, and that’s exactly what our policies indicate.”
Both Labor and the Liberals have put blame for the housing crisis in some part on increased immigration since lockdowns lifted years ago, but the actual impact it has on the market has been disputed.
Australian Institute senior economist Matt Grundoff said it was tax breaks for investors that were driving up prices in a piece released on Friday, not immigration.
“Despite what you may have been told, over the past 10 years, housing supply has actually grown faster than the population,” he said.
Opposition vow cheaper power bills in 9 months
Earlier, Peter Dutton argued belligerent gas companies who have opposed the Coalition’s plans to lower gas exports have been “gaming the system”.
Speaking to Sunrise from Brisbane on Saturday, he said injecting more gas into Australia’s grid, instead of exporting it offshore would bring down electricity prices.
“If the gas companies are telling you that this is bad, that’s because, frankly, many of them are gaming the system,” he said.
“I want to be on the side of consumers, and when you see big energy users like Blue Scope making steel for houses and right across the economy… say that it’s good because their gas price is going to come down, (and) therefore they can pass on savings to consumers.
“That is deflationary in our economy. That’s exactly what we need now.”
A BlueScope spokesperson said using locally-produced gas would be cheaper for businesses.
“We do not believe that imported gas can fulfil this need because it will be too costly once liquefaction, transport, storage and regasification costs are included,” a spokesman said.
With energy firming up to be a major election battleground, the Opposition Leader claimed increasing gas from domestic sources would bring down electricity bills by the end of this year.
“By the end of this year, this calendar year, we can bring that gas into the system,” he said.
“We’ve been working on this plan for months. We’ve been working with industry experts, and that’s how we can do it.”
Mr Dutton was also forced to defend the Coalition’s nuclear after he only mentioned the word twice in his budget reply speech.
However he said nuclear would continue to be a policy priority, stating: “Energy is the economy”.
“The Labor Party in the UK have just announced that they can’t reach net zero by 2050 without nuclear, and that’s true in our country as well,” he said.
“So we need cleaner fuel, cleaner energy. We need to make sure that we’ve got a cheaper energy like we’re paying three times the cost for electricity of other countries at the moment, and that’s what’s smashing families.”
Battle lines drawn over key Queensland seats
Labor and the Greens have taken the fight to “Keep Dutton out” to his home turf of Queensland, with both parties expected to hold events during the first full day of campaigning in the Sunshine State.
More than 500 Greens supporters are expected to join leader Adam Bandt and Brisbane MPs Stephen Bates, Max Chandler-Mather, and Elizabeth Watson-Brown at Jagera Community Hall at 9.30am.
The party vowed “rain, hail, and shine” to campaign to “deliver the most progressive government Australia has ever seen”, and warned of a potential minority government between the Liberals and Bob Katter.
The Greens have vowed hold on to their seats in Brisbane’s inner suburbs, which were snagged during the 2022 election, despite both major parties eyeing potential gains in the first battleground state of the campaign.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese flew into Brisbane on day one of the campaign, only hours after announcing in Canberra on Friday morning that the next federal election would be held in just 36 days time on May 3.
Opposition leader Peter Dutton was also in Brisbane on Friday for the first day of his five-week campaign tour, telling voters Australia was “going backwards” and accused the PM of being “out of touch” over planned tax cuts.
More to come