Albanese changes tune, Dutton eyes Sydney and another citizenship saga as campaign begins

You don’t need to look too closely to see the scars left by the 2022 election campaign. 

“This is the most comprehensive modelling ever done for any policy by any opposition in Australia’s history since federation,” then opposition leader Anthony Albanese insisted.

Albanese’s (at the time) beloved modelling was meant to be a road map for an energy policy that would see household power bills fall $275 by 2025.

Fast-forward to 2025 and not a bill cut in sight, the now prime minister has a different take. 

“RepuTex modelling was RepuTex modelling that they put out,” he said today.

The now Coalition opposition is vowing its got a plan to cut prices this year and even has modelling to prove it, or so it says.

Under questioning on RN Breakfast, campaign spokesman James Paterson was asked why it wasn’t being distributed.

“It’s not a question of it not being ready. We will release it, and it is ready, and we’ll just release it at a time of our choosing,” he said.

For Labor, the trouble with setting a standard is that you’re reminded of it when you fail to reach it.

The Coalition is setting its standard so low its more at risk of tripping over them. 

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China setting sights on Australian seas

Donald Trump was always set to be the elephant in the room of this campaign.

But it’s a title he might be challenged for if Xi Jinping has anything to say about it.

Barely weeks after a flotilla of Chinese warships made news for carrying out live fire exercises off Australia’s east coast, another ship has arrived just as the election campaign is heating up. 

“I would prefer that it wasn’t there,” Albanese told reporters on Monday. 

The PM said authorities would continue to monitor the research ship, which analysts have suggested, could be mapping the undersea environment south of Australia — including a major submarine cable connecting Sydney and Perth.

How the major parties, especially the Liberals, respond to the ship could prove critical.

After the last election, the Liberal autopsy found the party needed to rebuild it’s relationship with Chinese-Australians as a priority, having suffered major losses.

“There were a number of reasons for this, including a perception the previous government’s criticisms of the CCP government of China included the wider Chinese community more generally,” the review found.

The Coalition held seven of the biggest Chinese-Australian electorates before the 2022 election. After the poll, it held just two.

Room with a view

Peter Dutton must have really enjoyed his trip to hospitality kingpin Justin Hemmes’ harbourside mansion as a then Tropical Cyclone Alfred was making a path for the opposition leader’s Queensland electorate.

Hemmes hosted Dutton for a Liberal fundraiser at his historic Vaucluse mansion, which sits on the opposite side of Sydney Harbour to Kirribilli House.

“We would live in Kirribilli,” Dutton told radio duo Kyle and Jackie O on Monday.

“We love Sydney, love the harbour, it’s a great city and you’ve got a choice between Kirribilli or living in Canberra in The Lodge and I think you’d take Sydney any day over Canberra.”

Sydneysider Albanese picked The Lodge as his prime ministerial residence, unlike Scott Morrison, who picked Kirribilli. 

Albanese accused Dutton of “a fair bit of hubris”, while the finance minister Katy Gallagher suggested he was measuring up the drapes before voters had even cast their ballots. 

In the same interview with Kyle and Jackie O, listeners learned Dutton’s favourite cocktail is a mojito, that being a cop was like having a get out of jail free card for speeding and that the opposition leader thinks it’s unfair Jackie lost her licence for wearing her seatbelt under her arm. 

Meanwhile on commercial radio in Perth, Albanese reassured listeners he was eating healthily (with the occasional burger) and that if he wins the election he’ll spend May 4 breaking his sobriety and watching three Star Wars films. 

Exit through the gift shop

Bronwen Bock and Lucy Bradlow had the constitution in sight as they launched their bid to become job-sharing federal politicians.

Initially seeking to run in the Victorian seat of Higgins, their sights moved to the Senate after the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) abolished that seat in a redistribution.

The duo launched legal action against the AEC seeking a ruling that would allow them to jointly run for the upper house.

The court set a punishing timetable for the case to be heard before the election but it came to a grinding halt early last week after it emerged the candidates had more pressing constitutional headaches… in the form of likely South African citizenship.

Just the mere mention of “section 44” or “citizenship saga” is enough to send shivers down the spines of Katy Gallagher, Barnaby Joyce and Larissa Waters, all who had to win back their seats after being turfed from parliament.

In an email to supporters, Bock and Bradlow vowed to pursue their case after the election.

In the meantime, they’re encouraging supporters to exit their campaign via a well stocked merch shop. 

Good day for…

Australia’s news photographers and TV script writers. Dutton found himself in the passenger seat of a mining vehicle while campaigning in Labor’s NSW Hunter heartland this morning. Four minutes and two drivers later, the photo op was abandoned after the vehicle failed to launch. Dutton will be hoping its not an omen for the campaign ahead. 

Bad day for …

Nat-turned independent Andrew Gee. In a move straight of out (well done) Angus Taylor’s playbook, Gee found himself throwing a staff member in front of the bus after a social media gaffe that had Gee praising himself for being a “good guy”. The cherry on top was the offending comment, impersonating a disgruntled voters, was a reply to a Gee post bemoaning “dirty, grubby” campaign tactics at play in the election.

Well done Andrew.

What to watch out for 

We’re going to see a whole lot of polls during the next five weeks. 

Just remember, single-seat polling is the sketchiest of them all. Polls are not predictive, they offer a snapshot of the past and most importantly — the trend is your friend.

Where pollies have been

Catch up on today’s stories

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